Early Medieval Pottery from the Settlement of Albești – La Cetățea (Mureș County). A Special Decorative Element and a Problematic Chronology

In the Romanian archaeological environment, the early medieval discoveries from Albești-La Cetățea (Mureș county) have long attracted attention, especially due to the particularities presented by the pottery, which have also determined the proposed chronological classification of the site. Starting from these characteristics/peculiarities, in the present approach we proposed to re-discuss the early medieval archaeological inventory (pottery) and, considering the formal and visual characteristics (related to the identified analogies), to propose another chronological framework for the stage of habitat ante year 1000. On several pots are present a series of decorative elements with special characteristics, described as “elongated impressions” or “narrow horizontal bands features made with the comb”. Gh. Baltag believed that this ornament “appears on the Dridu type ceramics, starting from the 10 century, extending in this way the dating of Albești pottery”. The respective dates were taken over in the Romanian archaeological literature without an additional analysis of the archaeological inventory (recte…the pottery!). This decoration (the “elongated impressions/fork decoration”) is not characteristic of Dridu (A) type pottery, nor of the 9-10th centuries. According to examples of ceramic vessels (of the Danube type) decorated in this way come from earlier archaeological contexts (on the periphery of the Avar world, in various locations in the Carpathian Basin: northwest, southwest/Transdanubia, east/Transylvania), that cover chronologically almost the entire Avar Era (starting with the middle/second half of the 7th century and until the end of the 7th century). Referring to the chronology of the examples of pots decorated with “elongated impressions/fork decoration” presented (as analogies), we are of the opinion that the examples from Albești-La Cetățea (provided with this particular decorative element) cannot be dated in the 9-10th centuries. We also believe that, in Albești-La Cetățea, there was only one phase of habitation ante year 1000 (and not two, as was thought!), which can be placed in the chronological interval represented by the middle/second half of the 7-8th centuries (possibly also, the beginning of the 9th century). As for the archaeological features from the period of habitation post year 1000 (those from the 11-12th centuries) from Albești-La Cetățea, they are most likely part of another settlement.