DIN COLECȚIILE MUZEULUI NAȚIONAL AL BANATULUI DIN TIMIȘOARA. III. DEPOZITUL DE BRONZURI DE LA BANATSKI KARLOVAC (KÁROLYFALVA, KARLSDORF), SERBIA

The bronze hoard at Banatski Karlovac (Nagykárolyfalva/Karlsdorf, opš. Alibunar, South Banat District, Vojvodina, Serbia) was discovered in 1896 on the plateau at the northern edge of the town towards the Aibunar marsh (Fig. 2). From what F. Milleker found out, there would have been a total of 32 pieces: 17 socketed axes, 10 anklets, 1 bracelet, 2 spearheads, an "arm guard" and a possible helmet decoration. They shared between the landowner and the workers, 8 pieces arriving at the museum in Vršac and 5 pieces at the museum in Timișoara. A first, more detailed publication of the Banatski Karlovac bronze hoard is due to R. Rašajski. He will describe and illustrate 9 objects (5 socketed axes, 3 leg bracelets and the "arm guard ") from the collections of the museum in Vršac and 8 socketed axes from the collections of the Banat museum in Timișoara (Fig. 5). In this article, due to the mistakes regarding the dimensions and the drawing of the pieces in R. Rašajski's work, we resume the publication of the 8 socketed axes from Banatski Karlovac that are kept in the collections of the museum in Timișoara (inv. no. IV – 6147, Pl. I/1; IV – 1491, Pl. I/2; IV – 1489, Pl. I/3; IV – 1492, Pl. I/4; IV – 1488, Pl. I/5; IV – 1490, Pl. I/6; IV – 1493, Pl. I/2; IV – 1494, Pl. II/3). To these are added a spearhead (IV – 1487, Pl. I/1), otherwise mentioned in specialized literature without having been illustrated, and 2 socketed axes (inv. no. IV – 6145, Pl. II/4 ; IV – 6146, Pl. II/5). The belonging of the 2 socketed axes to the Banatski Karlovac bronze hoard is recorded in the inventory register IV of the museum in Timișoara (Fig. 6). The finds from the Banatski Karlovac bronze hoard, in the absence of other more reliable dating elements, may cover a longer period of time. That is why it seems reasonable to place it in the so-called Late Bronze II and III of the relative chronology of the eastern Carpathian Basin (Bz Bz C2/D-Ha A). The cultural milieu in which the pieces of the Banatski Karlovac bronze hoard circulated until the time of their deposition in the ground is suggested by some older or newer finds made in the same area where this hoard was discovered (Fig. 7). However, it is about that characteristic Late Bronze Age II horizon (Bz C2/Bz D and the beginning of the Ha A1 phase) in the low plain of Banat which has been attributed to the so-called Cruceni-Belegiš II ceramic style.