Ardeu

About the archaeological discoveries from Ardeu (Balşa commune, Hunedoara county), many pages have been written over time1. We tried to present a different overview on the site „Ardeu-Cetăţuie”. On this paper we set out to undertake an exploration of the mythological micro-universe, in the form in which it is still preserved among the members of the community of Ardeu village. The investigation is based on small sequences collected from local folklore, directly from the locals, during the research campaigns, as well as by the Hunedoara journalist Laura Oana. The study area is located in the south of the Apuseni Mountains3, in a place dominated by rocky cliffs (Fig. 1) and caves, where there are traces of habitation of populations from many historical times.
The walls of some fortifications, visible for centuries on top of the Cetăţuie hill, were a source of inspiration for the collective imaginary of the place, allowing the adaptation of some archetypes widespread in mythology, to the geographical framework of the place. Thus, we had the opportunity to capture details that ensure the connection with the intimate environment of popular beliefs. We noticed the persistence of a series of significant elements, with their own function, which are correlated with each other: giants and their homes, huge guardians and/or treasure owners, underground rooms and tombs of giants. In the mythical universe, the giants lived in “Colţ”, on/in Dealul Cetăţuie (Cetăţeauă), an archeological site registered in the National Archaeological Repertory and in the List of monuments and archeological sites. From the point of view of archeological research, the association of the site with the treasures brings disadvantages, and the activity of the treasure hunters can only be classified as harmful for the national cultural heritage.
The material proof of the presence of the giants at Ardeu, in antiquity, is a skeleton, or rather the accidentally unearthed head of a person with larger dimensions than the usual ones. As it is still preserved, the legends with and about giants are part of the general structure and limits of the genre, with details that are widespread, in large spaces, but also with some particular ones. These fairy tales and stories are in a process of updating, but nevertheless we tried to understand their ancestral meanings and to draw research directions.
The folklore of Ardeu village is vast unexplored land, in full  transformation, land from which representative details
are lost every day. Sequences of the mythological universe can still be recovered in Ardeu, such as the set of customs during the winter seasons, whose „piece of resistance” is represented by Căluşerii.

Rezumat. Acest studiu analizează o categorie importantă de artefacte reprezentată de obiectele din sticlă. Materialul arheologic include 10 fragmente de sticlă descoperite în timpul cercetărilor arheologice efectuate în incinta cetății dacice de la Ardeu-Cetățuie și aflate în colecțiile Muze-ului Civilizației Dacice și Romane din Deva. Fragmentele analizate provin de la vase de sticlă larg răspândite în cuprinsul Imperiului Roman, ce au fost realizate prin tehnica suflării la liber și a suflării într-o matriță. Pornind de la informațiile tehnologice, fragmentele menționate au fost împărțite în două grupe distincte pe criteriul tehnicii de producție. Mai mult, din punct de vedere funcțional, formele identificate sugerează diversitatea artefactelor de sticlă de la Ardeu, fiind descoperite: boluri, cupe, pahare, unguentaria și recipiente destinate păstrării lichidelor. Acestea au fost identificate tipologic și arată preferințele grupurilor și indivizilor ce au locuit în cadrul fortificației. Deși fragmentele de sticlă sunt puține la număr, pe baza tehnicii de pro-ducție, a contextelor de descoperire, a încadrărilor tipologice și a evenimentelor istorice petre-cute la finalul celei de-a doua epoci a fierului, circulația acestor artefacte se poate încadra în perioada cuprinsă de mijlocul secolului I dHr și începutul secolului II dHr. Pornind de la aceste artefacte, studiul de față urmărește să explice evoluția rutelor locale de aprovizionare, luând în considerare evenimentele istorice ce au influențat expansiunea influențelor romane spre comu-nitățile dacice. În afară de existența unor activități "comerciale", materialul arheologic poate sugera și alte moduri de achiziție, din moment ce unele descoperiri arheologice indică prezența unui meșter roman ce activa și locuia în incinta cetății de la Ardeu 1. Cuvinte cheie: importuri romane, sticlă, tehnici de producție, cetate dacică, Ardeu, interacțiune, modele de consum.

In the last decade and a half, because of the
restarted of the archaeological researches in Ardeu, there
were published some papers concerning the antiquties found
on the Cetățuie Hill. Between them there were presented
some items discovered fortunately in the moment when the
explotaion of the stone in the quary begun. In this paper we
are proposing to describe such kind of piece buyed by the
Museum from Deva in the year 1971.
A worker at the quarry named Părău Nichifor sold this
spearhead to the museum and it was registered at no 23386.
For all that we couldn’t find the piece phisicaly. Fortunately,
the piece was drawn and dr. Ioan Andriţoiu gived to me the
sketch. Based by this sketch (Pl. II/1) and by the description
in the General Evidence Registry (Pl. II/3) we could recover
partially the lost information.
In our opinion the piece represent a spearhead used by
the Roman cavalry. The chronology of this kind of pieces
found in the Dacian fortresses is uncertain. Regardind the
piece found in Ardeu, the incidental condition of its discovery
make the dating more difficult.