The Archaeological Museum of Alicante presented the exhibition 'The Princess of the Carpathians. An exceptional Argaric burial of San Antón (Orihuela)' in the exhibition space of the Hall. This new proposal coincides with the celebration of the International Museum Day which yesterday brought together hundreds of people, both to visit 'The Warriors of Xi'an' and to tour the MARQ's archaeological sites and monuments.
The Deputy for Culture, Juan de Dios NavarroThis morning, he visited the museum, accompanied by the managing director José Alberto Cortésand by the director Manuel OlcinaHe highlighted the uniqueness of this new proposal, which can be visited until April 2024. "We have a unique opportunity to admire this funerary trousseau and learn about its extraordinary history thanks to the long research work carried out by MARQ's team of archaeologists and technicians," said Navarro.
It is a set of pieces from the Bronze Age, more than 4,000 years oldfound in Orihuela more than a century ago by Jesuit Julio Furgús in a grave belonging to the so-called culture of El Argar. The woman lying in that tomb was adorned with two silver spirals, a copper knife wrapped in a linen handkerchief, a metal awl, as well as a handmade ceramic vessel placed in front of her head, and a set of 75 tiny gold cones perforated, barely 3 millimetres thick, at the level of her neck.
As Olcina explained, "these tiny gold cones are unique, since nothing similar has been found in the context of the Bronze Age on the Iberian Peninsula, and research points to Eastern Europe where, around the Carpathian basin and at a time contemporary to the culture of El Argar, identical pieces were made and sewn into fabrics". In this sense, the deputy added that "the most important aspect of this small exhibition lies precisely in the connection that we can establish between the objects found in Orihuela with those that have appeared in the Carpathians, more than 2,000 kilometres away".
Recent studies have shown that in Argaric society, like many others in Bronze Age Europe, women left their villages of origin to marry. In the case of the elites, it was these marriage exchanges that made it possible to forge international business alliances with families of the same social statusbut from other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean.
This discovery is the result of arduous work on the Bronze Age in general, and on the society of El Argar in particular, which has been carried out for more than fifteen years by the MARQ, with the support of the Provincial Council. In the work, led by the museum's archaeologist Juan Antonio López PadillaThe following people took part: Professor of Prehistory Francisco Javier Jover and specialists from the University of Alicante, Ricardo E. Basso and María Pastor.
