Investigations into the equipment of a Late Iron Age cavalryman from the southern Cau ca sus or the Balkans

Abstract

The Late Iron Age Padea-Panagjurski Kolonii group of southern Romania and northern Bulgaria is mainly defined by its graves with iron weapons and cavalry equipment. Such equipment in the RGZM Mainz from the period La Tène D1 is presented here. It consists of a Celtic-looking sword in its iron sheath, a round shield-boss and a large lance-head, a curved knife with sheath, a belt-clasp, as well as a »Thracian« curb bit and a pair of spurs. The objects seem mainly to be local in origin, even the sword belongs to a type particularly widespread in the East. The graves of the PPK group display a high degree of uniformity; they represent a generally homogeneous class of cavalrymen from which only the graves of Cugir and Porţilor de Fier stand out as a result of their gold jewelry. Connections with the La Tène culture are shown especially by the swords; often, though, these are specimens whose types have the focus of their distribution east of the known Celtic oppida, even though they are clearly influenced by the La Tène culture. By contrast,
the round shield-bosses, the »Thracian« curb bits and the rectangular  belt-clasps infiltrate from the region of the southern Caucasus and the lower Danube into the zone of the oppida.