Originals or local replicas? The techno-functional analysis of the disc-shaped antler cheekpieces from the Bronze Age settlement at Sărata Monteoru, south-eastern Romania

Studded disc-shaped cheekpieces were elements of the bridle used to control chariot horses in the Pokrovsk-Abashevo and Sintashta-Petrovka cultures (late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC) of the Pontic-Caspian steppe and forest-steppe area. A few such items were also found in the Carpathian-Danube region. The present paper presents the results of the investigations focused on three studded disc-shaped cheekpieces from the Bronze Age settlement at Sărata Monteoru (Romania). Computed tomography and digital microscopy were used to identify the raw material, as well as the technological processes and traces of use-wear. These studies indicated that the cheekpieces from Sărata Monteoru were made of elk antler, as were most of the disc-shaped items from the region between the Don and the southern Trans-Urals and made by a similar technique. The use-wear traces on our artefacts indicate by their manner of attachment to the bridle that they were used to control horses harnessed to chariots, the same as the disc-shaped cheekpieces of the Pokrovsk-Abashevo and Sintashta-Petrovka cultures. The results of this investigation suggest that the three cheekpieces from Sărata Monteoru are of Eastern origin, and they arrived in the Carpathian-Danube area very probably along with the horses who wore the bridle.