Sorin Cleșiu | Universitatea din Bucuresti (original) (raw)
Papers by Sorin Cleșiu
REVISTA DE CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE ȘI NUMISMATICE, 2022
The area under investigation is located on the southern terrace of Tâncăbești Lake, located in Sn... more The area under investigation is located on the southern terrace of Tâncăbești Lake, located in Snagov District, north of Bucharest, Ilfov County. The archaeological complexes identified consist of pits belonging to the Second Iron Age (La Tène) and a single complex, belonging most probably to the period of the 6th-7th Centuries. The ceramic fragments identified date from the2nd-1st Centuries BC, most of them being parts of jar-type vessels, decorated on the body with a girdle placed vertically
or horizontally on the pot surface. In general, these are tall jars with slightly arched walls and an upturned rim, with a straight base. In a smaller number and made of a grey or yellowish-white paste, were identified (mostly in pits) fragments of the upper part of some fruit bowls and a single conical strainer. In one of the pits, a fragmentary amphora
and several other fragments belonging to possible table amphorae were discovered at the base of the filling. In the fill of one of the pits investigated, we discovered 10 clay weights n a level mixed with fragments of adobe that preserve the imprint of wooden posts and
poles from the structure of a burnt house. From the 6th-7th Century dwelling were recovered several fragments belonging to a pot with curved-shaped walls were discovered on the hearth oven.
Cercetarea se concentrează pe aspecte legate de producția și utilizarea acestor unelte de piatră ... more Cercetarea se concentrează pe aspecte legate de producția și utilizarea acestor unelte de piatră în cadrul așezărilor eneolitice din jurul Bucureștiului. Analiza dezvăluie tipare în tehnicile de fabricație și utilizare a uneltelor, contribuind la o înțelegere mai amplă a tehnologiei litice în regiune, în perioada eneolitică. Studiul abordează, de asemenea, provocările generate de informațiile contextuale limitate disponibile pentru aceste artefacte, subliniind importanța științifică a colecției în pentru studiul procesului de prelucrare a materialului litic în așezările eneolitice din apropierea Bucureștiului.
REVISTA DE CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE ȘI NUMISMATICE, VI, 2020
Rezumat: În perioada 2019-2020, având ca principal deziderat lămurirea și completarea datelor ist... more Rezumat: În perioada 2019-2020, având ca principal deziderat lămurirea și completarea datelor istorice în zone cercetate insuficient sau deloc, au fost deschise sectoare de cercetare arheologică mai întâi în zona de nord-est (2019) unde a fost descoperită o construcție din paiantă și o porțiune din str. Soarelui, apoi în zona de nord-vest (2020), în proximitatea caselor construite de Gheorghe Duca, unde au fost identificate un bordei și două cuptoare. Din punct de vedere istoric și muzeografic, resturile acestor construcții sunt extrem de importante, nu numai pentru faptul că au fost descoperite în incinta ruinelor de la Curtea Veche, ci și pentru faptul că acestea documentează faze importante din evoluția istorică a orașului. Prin urmare, cercetarea a dezvăluit o locuință cu amplasarea cuptorului în colțul de nord-est și care a fost datată în sec. VI-VII p.Chr. și două cuptoare, datate în secolele IX-X p.Chr, dintre care unul era un cuptor pentru ars oale, iar celălalt pentru copt pâinea. De asemenea, construcția din chirpici datată la sfârșitul secolului al XVIlea și începutul secolului al XVII-lea, pe baza a două fragmente de ceramică otomană, certifică prezența clădirilor anexe de la exteriorul zidurilor palatului. În cele din urmă, sacrificând datele noi pe care o săpătură arheologică exhaustivă le oferă, aceste mărturii istorice au fost conservate in situ într-o etapă preliminară, în ideea punerii lor în valoare ca una dintre multitudinea de atracții pe care le va oferi viitorul muzeu de la Curtea Veche vizitatorilor.
by Editura Cetatea Scaun, Opriş Vasile, Ignat Theodor, Adrian Balasescu, Monica Margarit, Mădălina Dimache, Alina Iancu, Carol Căpiță, Sorin Cleșiu, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Dumitrescu Radu Gabriel, Mihai Dima, Viorel Petac, Aurelia Dutu, Dan Pîrvulescu, Dergaciova Lilia, Aurel Vilcu, Alina Pîrvulescu, Adriana Mihaela Roșca, Oana Borlean, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Ovidiu Frujina, Cristina Covataru, Ioana Manea, and Theo Zavalas
Revista de Cercetări Arheologice și Numismatice, 2020
by Dan Pîrvulescu, Opriş Vasile, Aurel Vilcu, Alina Pîrvulescu, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Ignat Theodor, Adrian Balasescu, Emanuel Petac, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Rumyana Yordanova, Mădălina Dimache, Diaconu Vasile, Ioan Alexandru Bărbat, Petre Colteanu, Sorin Cleșiu, Marius C Streinu, Oana Borlean, Paul Ciobotaru, Mihai Dima, Paul Gabriel Dumitrache, Adriana Mihaela Roșca, and Viorel Petac
Revista de Cercetări Arheologice și Numismatice, 2019
by Dan Pîrvulescu, Opriş Vasile, Ignat Theodor, Alina Pîrvulescu, Aurel Vilcu, Emanuel Petac, Viorel Petac, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Sorin Cleșiu, Raluca Popescu, Mihai Dima, Marius Neculae, Groza Horatiu Dorin, Paul Gabriel Dumitrache, Mariana Andone-Rotaru, Mădălina Dimache, and Marius C Streinu
The relationship between the deposition of human bodies in the domestic space and the deposition ... more The relationship between the deposition of human bodies in the domestic space and the deposition of isolated human bones and body parts in different contexts is a characteristic of the Late Iron Age north to the Lower Danube. The diversity of deposition practice also appears in the case of the dog skeletons found in the settlements. In the present article, we try to interpret these deposition practices using as a case study some contexts from the Late Iron Age settlement at Bucureşti-Băneasa, Strada Gârlei, in southern Romania (dated between the 2nd and the 1st century BC), investigated between 2008 and 2013. Children skeletons were discovered in C555 and C519A pits. The comparison between the structure of these pits reveals a certain contrast between their “domestic” aspect (similar to the other pits from the same settlement) and the formalism of the children deposition: placing them on the southern edge of the pits, the deposition at a certain moment of the filling, the crouched position on the right side, a certain bipolarity of the orientation of the bodies. This contrast is highlighted more clearly by the deposition of the child from pit C519A, that (also due to the discreet presence of the domestic waste) evokes a certain ceremonial gesture, characteristic of a burial act. Furthermore, a necklace of glass beads and bronze links (probably combined with iron links) builds the funerary identity of the child. In the case of pit C555, the elements with funeral characteristic are included in the continuous stream of the pits’ filling, marked by the uniformity of the its content composition, as well as by the presence of the domestic waste underneath, among and above the human body. The “melting” until blurring of the images that evoke “the domestic” and “the funerary” is highlighted by the presence of a perforated calvaria fragment belonging to an young adult in the filling of pit-house C585. The fragment was treated like an artefact, in the sense that it has been preserved, used and discarded in the pit-house filling similarly to the other disused objects.
The same complete-fragment concept, as well as the relationship between the structural character of the
deposition (similar to a funeral), and the deposition of the disused objects and consumption waste can be also established in the case of the dog skeletons and of the isolated bones. Although the processing of the faunal material from the whole settlement is in a preliminary stage, a certain opposition relationship between the age of the human skeletons and that of the dog skeletons emerged. On the one hand, the complete human skeletons belong to children, while the only skeleton fragment belongs to an adult. On the other hand, the complete dog skeletons belong to mature or old individuals, while the isolated bones discarded in the filling belong mainly to juveniles. In a wider geographical area, the relationship between the deposition of bodies and the community of domestic waste and the disused objects with which they are associated in the filling of pits often fades the borders between different contexts (habitation, grave, “pit fields”, “places of worship”). The “funerary” and the “domestic” images are transferred from a domain of the social space to another; they are combined in diverse material communities, building distinct meanings of an “everyday domestic life” impregnated by “funerary” and mortuary practices that are incorporated in the “domestic” materiality. The everyday space of habitation is a combination of practices which join to the “domestic” images of its death. The death of houses, workshops, and pits is knitted in certain significant moments with the death of objects, people, and dogs
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT OF STEJERIȘ I (CLUJ COUNTY) An archaeolog... more ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT OF STEJERIȘ I (CLUJ COUNTY)
An archaeological research was carried out at Stejeriş (Moldovenești commune, Cluj county) within
the “Autostrada” National Research Project, during August-September 2014. As a result of the
archaeological excavations four archaeological complexes were identified and investigated: two dwellings,
pits and a cult construction dating to the Middle Bronze Age (Wietenberg culture). This article presents new
archaeological evidence, as well as a selection of recently discovered pottery fragments, analyzed by
considering the current state of research about Wietenberg culture. The archaeological site, located on
Măhăceni plateau, was partially affected by the construction highway (km 64+850–65+100).
Cercetări Arheologice 13, 2006, 39–88
The archaeological and epigraphical documentation of the Roman territorium inside the Traian – Tu... more The archaeological and epigraphical documentation of the Roman territorium inside the Traian – Tuluceşti vallum, located on the left bank of the Danube, in the area where the Siret River meets the Danube, is well known espcially due to due especially to the discoveries made inside the fortress and settlement at Barboşi and more recently, following rescue excavations, the site from Galaţi city, “Dunărea” neighbourhood (located 1.5 km east of Barboşi), on Danube’s bank. Our observations will focus on the recent research undertaken in the roman fortlet and cemetery located on the „Dunărea” site. It was considered, for example, that a detailed chronology of the fortress can be established with the aid of the amphorae discovered in three different layers of filling in the ditches! Therefore the fortress in question would have functioned for almost two centuries. The identification of the amphorae in several layers of filling in the ditches cannot represent an argument for establishing a chronology of the fortlet functioning phases in the absence of the internal stratigraphy. During the 2004 research campaign we noticed that the ditches’ slopes bear no traces of the usual maintenance work undertaken by the soldiers of the garrison, in some places the slopes being difficult to be traced, their upper parts collapsing immediately after the fortlet was abandoned. Thus, the amphorae – apart from their earlier or later datation– discovered following archaeological investigation in the fortlet ditches, are simple residues. The ditches’s slopes lack of maintainance caused them to be altered. Thus, after the fortlet was abandoned, most of the earth that filled-out the ditches came from the dislocation of their upper parts’s margins. This phenomenon also explains the irregular aspect of the ditches’s slopes, as noticed during the archaeological investigation. The research on wide surfaces of the fortlet preserved corners did not lead to the discovery of any elements belonging to the defensive system or of buildings inside it. The fortlet has a square shape, each side of 40 m from the inside limit of the defensive system’s slopes. If we consider a 1 m berma and a vallum with the dimensions similar to the fossa (4 m), the fortlet’s inner surface was of most 0.09 ha. During the 2004 campaign, inside the ditches were discovered an important number of narrownecked light-clay amphorae, defined by D.B. Šelov and S.Yu. Vnukov (the variants discovered by us are B, C type (Šelov B = Zeest 64 / Šelov C = Zeest 94). Accepting the fact that the frequency for these artefacts is grater for the 2nd century A.D., consider that it is possible for the fortlet to have functioned in the first half of the same century. Judging after the tituli picti and the traces of resin inside some of the recipients, I consider that this type of amphora was used for transporting wine. These amphorae are widespread on the shores of the Black Sea, especially on the northern and western shores, and are rarely found in the Mediterranean space. One must make the difference between this temporary fortlet and a camp, because fort’s small dimensions do not allow such comparison. By a temporary fortlet we understand a garrison that functioned for a short period of time. The argumentation is based, as we have mentioned, exclusively on archaeological observations on the fortlet’s ditches, the only elements preserved of the entire structure. The ditches’ dimensions are big in comparison to those of the fortlet, situation which may be explained if we consider the place of a training camp. The fortlet’s possible strategic role can be further analyzed only if similar discoveries are made in the area. The fortlet allows to consider this structure belonging to the category of the small fortlets used for sheltering groups of soldiers in certain outposts, with the mission of surveying fords, roads or places of specific strategic importance. In these circumstances, a vexillatio could be sent near the garrison, in a place where a centurio or a variable number of soldiers could be stationed. The sources indicate that such vexillations could be deployed as mentioned even for as long as several years. The closest analogies are the fortlets at Martinhoe or Barburgh Mill (Britannia), those at Abrud, Boiţa, Săpata de Jos (Dacia) or the fortlets in the Iron Gates area in Moesia Superior. Other analogies are the outposts or campaign fortlets in the Barbaricum, located north of the Danube, in the area between the Flavianis (Mautern) – Noricum and Brigetio (Komárom) forts – Pannonia Superior. A good analogy for the strategy adopted in the Galaţi-Barboşi sector is Kelamantia (Iža-Leányvár). Seven graves have been unearthed – of which five of cremation and two of inhumation. The characteristics of the cremation graves: the pit bears traces of fire that caused the walls to turn red (3-5 cm thick) down to the lower part of the complex, situation identified in graves M 1, M 2, M 5 and M 7. The same situation was come across in the case of graves researched approximately 500 m north of the fort at Barboşi. The closest analogies for the graves in the necropolis at Galaţi can be found in the necropolises of neighboring towns: Carsium, Noviodunum or Histria. The objects identified in five of the seven graves researched can be dated to the end of the 1st century A.D. and during the middle of the 3rd century A.D. Taking into account the fact that in the case of the earliest objects we have used analogies offered by their prototypes, we must also consider the fact that the spread of these specific models in the provincial milieu took a certain period of time. Clues concerning the graves’ datation, given by their preserved inventory, indicate mostly the 2nd but also the 3rd centuries A.D. After the indications and maps drawn up by V. Pârvan, the necropolis at Barboşi extendes especially in the northern area of the fort. The distance between the tumulus at Barboşi and those mapped in the “Dunărea” district is of approximately 700 m. The area where the tumulus and other funerary complexes have not been mapped is precisely the lowest area neighboring the Balta Cătuşa, where the Galaţi-Tecuci (Brăila) road was built in the modern period, with ramifications towards Barboşi and the railway. If we compare this necropolis to similar ones in the neighboring area (at Noviodunum, Carsium or Histria) and we admit that certain funerary complexes along the modern roads may have been destroyed, then we can speak of a single necropolis laid along the road that crossed the Danube’s ford, extended north of the fort at Barboşi and followed the Siret River in Barbaricum.
Cercetări Arheologice 17, 2010, 177-224, 2010
PREVENTIVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN BALOTEŞTI AREA (ILFOV COUNTY) A series of preliminary ev... more PREVENTIVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN BALOTEŞTI AREA (ILFOV COUNTY)
A series of preliminary evidences concerning the archaeological sites along the banks of the Cociovalişte valley were indicated in the ‘80s and ‘90s throughout a series of field-walkings in the area. Yet, during the last decade, the residential development in the areas north to Bucharest impacted such vestiges, only in few cases being possible to undertake a preventive research prior to the construction works. This study provides an insight upon a preliminary analysis of landscape archaeology in the Baloteşti area, as well as presents the results of the archaeological excavations conducted on a plot of land, situated on the right bank of the Cociovalişte valley.
Significantly damaged by subsequent agricultural works and other human activities, the archaeological contexts investigated in here provided a rather large quantity of fragmentary pottery, dated to the 2nd–1st c. AD, certain vessels having analogies on other Late Latène sites from the south-eastern part of nowadays Romania.
REVISTA DE CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE ȘI NUMISMATICE, 2022
The area under investigation is located on the southern terrace of Tâncăbești Lake, located in Sn... more The area under investigation is located on the southern terrace of Tâncăbești Lake, located in Snagov District, north of Bucharest, Ilfov County. The archaeological complexes identified consist of pits belonging to the Second Iron Age (La Tène) and a single complex, belonging most probably to the period of the 6th-7th Centuries. The ceramic fragments identified date from the2nd-1st Centuries BC, most of them being parts of jar-type vessels, decorated on the body with a girdle placed vertically
or horizontally on the pot surface. In general, these are tall jars with slightly arched walls and an upturned rim, with a straight base. In a smaller number and made of a grey or yellowish-white paste, were identified (mostly in pits) fragments of the upper part of some fruit bowls and a single conical strainer. In one of the pits, a fragmentary amphora
and several other fragments belonging to possible table amphorae were discovered at the base of the filling. In the fill of one of the pits investigated, we discovered 10 clay weights n a level mixed with fragments of adobe that preserve the imprint of wooden posts and
poles from the structure of a burnt house. From the 6th-7th Century dwelling were recovered several fragments belonging to a pot with curved-shaped walls were discovered on the hearth oven.
Cercetarea se concentrează pe aspecte legate de producția și utilizarea acestor unelte de piatră ... more Cercetarea se concentrează pe aspecte legate de producția și utilizarea acestor unelte de piatră în cadrul așezărilor eneolitice din jurul Bucureștiului. Analiza dezvăluie tipare în tehnicile de fabricație și utilizare a uneltelor, contribuind la o înțelegere mai amplă a tehnologiei litice în regiune, în perioada eneolitică. Studiul abordează, de asemenea, provocările generate de informațiile contextuale limitate disponibile pentru aceste artefacte, subliniind importanța științifică a colecției în pentru studiul procesului de prelucrare a materialului litic în așezările eneolitice din apropierea Bucureștiului.
REVISTA DE CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE ȘI NUMISMATICE, VI, 2020
Rezumat: În perioada 2019-2020, având ca principal deziderat lămurirea și completarea datelor ist... more Rezumat: În perioada 2019-2020, având ca principal deziderat lămurirea și completarea datelor istorice în zone cercetate insuficient sau deloc, au fost deschise sectoare de cercetare arheologică mai întâi în zona de nord-est (2019) unde a fost descoperită o construcție din paiantă și o porțiune din str. Soarelui, apoi în zona de nord-vest (2020), în proximitatea caselor construite de Gheorghe Duca, unde au fost identificate un bordei și două cuptoare. Din punct de vedere istoric și muzeografic, resturile acestor construcții sunt extrem de importante, nu numai pentru faptul că au fost descoperite în incinta ruinelor de la Curtea Veche, ci și pentru faptul că acestea documentează faze importante din evoluția istorică a orașului. Prin urmare, cercetarea a dezvăluit o locuință cu amplasarea cuptorului în colțul de nord-est și care a fost datată în sec. VI-VII p.Chr. și două cuptoare, datate în secolele IX-X p.Chr, dintre care unul era un cuptor pentru ars oale, iar celălalt pentru copt pâinea. De asemenea, construcția din chirpici datată la sfârșitul secolului al XVIlea și începutul secolului al XVII-lea, pe baza a două fragmente de ceramică otomană, certifică prezența clădirilor anexe de la exteriorul zidurilor palatului. În cele din urmă, sacrificând datele noi pe care o săpătură arheologică exhaustivă le oferă, aceste mărturii istorice au fost conservate in situ într-o etapă preliminară, în ideea punerii lor în valoare ca una dintre multitudinea de atracții pe care le va oferi viitorul muzeu de la Curtea Veche vizitatorilor.
by Editura Cetatea Scaun, Opriş Vasile, Ignat Theodor, Adrian Balasescu, Monica Margarit, Mădălina Dimache, Alina Iancu, Carol Căpiță, Sorin Cleșiu, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Dumitrescu Radu Gabriel, Mihai Dima, Viorel Petac, Aurelia Dutu, Dan Pîrvulescu, Dergaciova Lilia, Aurel Vilcu, Alina Pîrvulescu, Adriana Mihaela Roșca, Oana Borlean, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Ovidiu Frujina, Cristina Covataru, Ioana Manea, and Theo Zavalas
Revista de Cercetări Arheologice și Numismatice, 2020
by Dan Pîrvulescu, Opriş Vasile, Aurel Vilcu, Alina Pîrvulescu, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Ignat Theodor, Adrian Balasescu, Emanuel Petac, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Rumyana Yordanova, Mădălina Dimache, Diaconu Vasile, Ioan Alexandru Bărbat, Petre Colteanu, Sorin Cleșiu, Marius C Streinu, Oana Borlean, Paul Ciobotaru, Mihai Dima, Paul Gabriel Dumitrache, Adriana Mihaela Roșca, and Viorel Petac
Revista de Cercetări Arheologice și Numismatice, 2019
by Dan Pîrvulescu, Opriş Vasile, Ignat Theodor, Alina Pîrvulescu, Aurel Vilcu, Emanuel Petac, Viorel Petac, Camelia-Mirela Vintila, Alina (Muşat) Streinu, Sorin Cleșiu, Raluca Popescu, Mihai Dima, Marius Neculae, Groza Horatiu Dorin, Paul Gabriel Dumitrache, Mariana Andone-Rotaru, Mădălina Dimache, and Marius C Streinu
The relationship between the deposition of human bodies in the domestic space and the deposition ... more The relationship between the deposition of human bodies in the domestic space and the deposition of isolated human bones and body parts in different contexts is a characteristic of the Late Iron Age north to the Lower Danube. The diversity of deposition practice also appears in the case of the dog skeletons found in the settlements. In the present article, we try to interpret these deposition practices using as a case study some contexts from the Late Iron Age settlement at Bucureşti-Băneasa, Strada Gârlei, in southern Romania (dated between the 2nd and the 1st century BC), investigated between 2008 and 2013. Children skeletons were discovered in C555 and C519A pits. The comparison between the structure of these pits reveals a certain contrast between their “domestic” aspect (similar to the other pits from the same settlement) and the formalism of the children deposition: placing them on the southern edge of the pits, the deposition at a certain moment of the filling, the crouched position on the right side, a certain bipolarity of the orientation of the bodies. This contrast is highlighted more clearly by the deposition of the child from pit C519A, that (also due to the discreet presence of the domestic waste) evokes a certain ceremonial gesture, characteristic of a burial act. Furthermore, a necklace of glass beads and bronze links (probably combined with iron links) builds the funerary identity of the child. In the case of pit C555, the elements with funeral characteristic are included in the continuous stream of the pits’ filling, marked by the uniformity of the its content composition, as well as by the presence of the domestic waste underneath, among and above the human body. The “melting” until blurring of the images that evoke “the domestic” and “the funerary” is highlighted by the presence of a perforated calvaria fragment belonging to an young adult in the filling of pit-house C585. The fragment was treated like an artefact, in the sense that it has been preserved, used and discarded in the pit-house filling similarly to the other disused objects.
The same complete-fragment concept, as well as the relationship between the structural character of the
deposition (similar to a funeral), and the deposition of the disused objects and consumption waste can be also established in the case of the dog skeletons and of the isolated bones. Although the processing of the faunal material from the whole settlement is in a preliminary stage, a certain opposition relationship between the age of the human skeletons and that of the dog skeletons emerged. On the one hand, the complete human skeletons belong to children, while the only skeleton fragment belongs to an adult. On the other hand, the complete dog skeletons belong to mature or old individuals, while the isolated bones discarded in the filling belong mainly to juveniles. In a wider geographical area, the relationship between the deposition of bodies and the community of domestic waste and the disused objects with which they are associated in the filling of pits often fades the borders between different contexts (habitation, grave, “pit fields”, “places of worship”). The “funerary” and the “domestic” images are transferred from a domain of the social space to another; they are combined in diverse material communities, building distinct meanings of an “everyday domestic life” impregnated by “funerary” and mortuary practices that are incorporated in the “domestic” materiality. The everyday space of habitation is a combination of practices which join to the “domestic” images of its death. The death of houses, workshops, and pits is knitted in certain significant moments with the death of objects, people, and dogs
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT OF STEJERIȘ I (CLUJ COUNTY) An archaeolog... more ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT OF STEJERIȘ I (CLUJ COUNTY)
An archaeological research was carried out at Stejeriş (Moldovenești commune, Cluj county) within
the “Autostrada” National Research Project, during August-September 2014. As a result of the
archaeological excavations four archaeological complexes were identified and investigated: two dwellings,
pits and a cult construction dating to the Middle Bronze Age (Wietenberg culture). This article presents new
archaeological evidence, as well as a selection of recently discovered pottery fragments, analyzed by
considering the current state of research about Wietenberg culture. The archaeological site, located on
Măhăceni plateau, was partially affected by the construction highway (km 64+850–65+100).
Cercetări Arheologice 13, 2006, 39–88
The archaeological and epigraphical documentation of the Roman territorium inside the Traian – Tu... more The archaeological and epigraphical documentation of the Roman territorium inside the Traian – Tuluceşti vallum, located on the left bank of the Danube, in the area where the Siret River meets the Danube, is well known espcially due to due especially to the discoveries made inside the fortress and settlement at Barboşi and more recently, following rescue excavations, the site from Galaţi city, “Dunărea” neighbourhood (located 1.5 km east of Barboşi), on Danube’s bank. Our observations will focus on the recent research undertaken in the roman fortlet and cemetery located on the „Dunărea” site. It was considered, for example, that a detailed chronology of the fortress can be established with the aid of the amphorae discovered in three different layers of filling in the ditches! Therefore the fortress in question would have functioned for almost two centuries. The identification of the amphorae in several layers of filling in the ditches cannot represent an argument for establishing a chronology of the fortlet functioning phases in the absence of the internal stratigraphy. During the 2004 research campaign we noticed that the ditches’ slopes bear no traces of the usual maintenance work undertaken by the soldiers of the garrison, in some places the slopes being difficult to be traced, their upper parts collapsing immediately after the fortlet was abandoned. Thus, the amphorae – apart from their earlier or later datation– discovered following archaeological investigation in the fortlet ditches, are simple residues. The ditches’s slopes lack of maintainance caused them to be altered. Thus, after the fortlet was abandoned, most of the earth that filled-out the ditches came from the dislocation of their upper parts’s margins. This phenomenon also explains the irregular aspect of the ditches’s slopes, as noticed during the archaeological investigation. The research on wide surfaces of the fortlet preserved corners did not lead to the discovery of any elements belonging to the defensive system or of buildings inside it. The fortlet has a square shape, each side of 40 m from the inside limit of the defensive system’s slopes. If we consider a 1 m berma and a vallum with the dimensions similar to the fossa (4 m), the fortlet’s inner surface was of most 0.09 ha. During the 2004 campaign, inside the ditches were discovered an important number of narrownecked light-clay amphorae, defined by D.B. Šelov and S.Yu. Vnukov (the variants discovered by us are B, C type (Šelov B = Zeest 64 / Šelov C = Zeest 94). Accepting the fact that the frequency for these artefacts is grater for the 2nd century A.D., consider that it is possible for the fortlet to have functioned in the first half of the same century. Judging after the tituli picti and the traces of resin inside some of the recipients, I consider that this type of amphora was used for transporting wine. These amphorae are widespread on the shores of the Black Sea, especially on the northern and western shores, and are rarely found in the Mediterranean space. One must make the difference between this temporary fortlet and a camp, because fort’s small dimensions do not allow such comparison. By a temporary fortlet we understand a garrison that functioned for a short period of time. The argumentation is based, as we have mentioned, exclusively on archaeological observations on the fortlet’s ditches, the only elements preserved of the entire structure. The ditches’ dimensions are big in comparison to those of the fortlet, situation which may be explained if we consider the place of a training camp. The fortlet’s possible strategic role can be further analyzed only if similar discoveries are made in the area. The fortlet allows to consider this structure belonging to the category of the small fortlets used for sheltering groups of soldiers in certain outposts, with the mission of surveying fords, roads or places of specific strategic importance. In these circumstances, a vexillatio could be sent near the garrison, in a place where a centurio or a variable number of soldiers could be stationed. The sources indicate that such vexillations could be deployed as mentioned even for as long as several years. The closest analogies are the fortlets at Martinhoe or Barburgh Mill (Britannia), those at Abrud, Boiţa, Săpata de Jos (Dacia) or the fortlets in the Iron Gates area in Moesia Superior. Other analogies are the outposts or campaign fortlets in the Barbaricum, located north of the Danube, in the area between the Flavianis (Mautern) – Noricum and Brigetio (Komárom) forts – Pannonia Superior. A good analogy for the strategy adopted in the Galaţi-Barboşi sector is Kelamantia (Iža-Leányvár). Seven graves have been unearthed – of which five of cremation and two of inhumation. The characteristics of the cremation graves: the pit bears traces of fire that caused the walls to turn red (3-5 cm thick) down to the lower part of the complex, situation identified in graves M 1, M 2, M 5 and M 7. The same situation was come across in the case of graves researched approximately 500 m north of the fort at Barboşi. The closest analogies for the graves in the necropolis at Galaţi can be found in the necropolises of neighboring towns: Carsium, Noviodunum or Histria. The objects identified in five of the seven graves researched can be dated to the end of the 1st century A.D. and during the middle of the 3rd century A.D. Taking into account the fact that in the case of the earliest objects we have used analogies offered by their prototypes, we must also consider the fact that the spread of these specific models in the provincial milieu took a certain period of time. Clues concerning the graves’ datation, given by their preserved inventory, indicate mostly the 2nd but also the 3rd centuries A.D. After the indications and maps drawn up by V. Pârvan, the necropolis at Barboşi extendes especially in the northern area of the fort. The distance between the tumulus at Barboşi and those mapped in the “Dunărea” district is of approximately 700 m. The area where the tumulus and other funerary complexes have not been mapped is precisely the lowest area neighboring the Balta Cătuşa, where the Galaţi-Tecuci (Brăila) road was built in the modern period, with ramifications towards Barboşi and the railway. If we compare this necropolis to similar ones in the neighboring area (at Noviodunum, Carsium or Histria) and we admit that certain funerary complexes along the modern roads may have been destroyed, then we can speak of a single necropolis laid along the road that crossed the Danube’s ford, extended north of the fort at Barboşi and followed the Siret River in Barbaricum.
Cercetări Arheologice 17, 2010, 177-224, 2010
PREVENTIVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN BALOTEŞTI AREA (ILFOV COUNTY) A series of preliminary ev... more PREVENTIVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN BALOTEŞTI AREA (ILFOV COUNTY)
A series of preliminary evidences concerning the archaeological sites along the banks of the Cociovalişte valley were indicated in the ‘80s and ‘90s throughout a series of field-walkings in the area. Yet, during the last decade, the residential development in the areas north to Bucharest impacted such vestiges, only in few cases being possible to undertake a preventive research prior to the construction works. This study provides an insight upon a preliminary analysis of landscape archaeology in the Baloteşti area, as well as presents the results of the archaeological excavations conducted on a plot of land, situated on the right bank of the Cociovalişte valley.
Significantly damaged by subsequent agricultural works and other human activities, the archaeological contexts investigated in here provided a rather large quantity of fragmentary pottery, dated to the 2nd–1st c. AD, certain vessels having analogies on other Late Latène sites from the south-eastern part of nowadays Romania.