Preliminary Data Regarding the Newly Discovered 6th Century Necropolis at Nădlac, Arad County

Abstract

The article presents a newly discovered site identified during a rescue excavation performed in 2014 as part of the project for the construction of the motorway Nădlac – Arad, Arad County. With this occasion, two graves belonging to the Migration Period dated during the middle of the 6th century AD were discovered. Due to the topographical position of these two graves it is believed that they are part of a bigger necropolis belonging to the so-called Reihengräberfeld type of cemeteries, typical for the 6th century AD in this geographical and cultural area. Strong connections with the Merovingian milieu are observed while studying the composition of their funerary inventories, testifying for the complexity and heterogeneity of the 6th century AD group of discoveries linked with the eastern Germanic tribes known, from the ancient literary accounts, to have inhabited this region. This newly identified necropolis can be associated with the group of similar discoveries documented in the western part of Romania, the Tisza region and in the northern part of nowadays Serbia generally connected with the presence of the Gepids.