Stolniceni – Excavation results from the 2017 campaign

During extensive field work, different aspects of the large Tripolye settlement Stolniceni I in northwest Moldova were investigated by an international team. These investigations allow a reassessment of these population agglomerations from the first half of the 4th millennium BCE in Moldova and their comparison with more eastern Tripolye sites. The investigations carried out in 2017 included the completion of the archaeo-magnetic survey of the settlement and the targeted archaeological excavations of various types of contexts. Besides the investigation of a ditch enclosing the site and test trenches in different parts of the settlement, the excavations focused mainly on two areas in the north of the settlement: On the one hand, excavations were carried out in a pottery production complex, including the uncovering of a pottery kiln, several pits and a dwelling. On the other hand, one specific ‘ash-mound-like’ anomaly was investigated which are arranged in regular intervals at the periphery of the settlement. The archaeological excavations were accompanied by comprehensive archaeobotanical analyses, which provide an insight into the subsistence and wood selection in the settlement, as well as permitting environmental reconstructions. A larger series of 14C-datings proves the occupation of the settlement Stolniceni I over a longer period between about 3925 and 3700 BCE

Spatial organization and population size of small Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements: Results of geomagnetic surveys in Baia and Adâncata, Suceava County, Bucovina, Eastern Romania

Geomagnetic research and drillings provide new results regarding settlement organisation and population size of three small settlements from the Pre-Cucuteni and Cucuteni AB period in the Suceva County in Romanian Bucovina. In these settlements from different stages of the Pre-Cucuteni complex domestic dwellings can be distinguished from clearly oversized (special?) buildings which are situated in central positions and which contain partly special inventories. Different principles of settlement organisation are visible which show each far-reaching references to the Central Balkans on the one hand and the Bug-Dnieper interfluve on the other hand. Consistently populations with less than 200 inhabitants are reconstructed based on analogies to other Cucuteni-Tripolye sites

Aşezarea tripoliană tardivă de lângă satul Voloviţa (raionul Soroca, Republica Moldova) / Late Tripolian settlement near the village of Voloviţa (Soroca District, Republic of Moldova)

The article publishes the materials from the surface of a new Late Tripolian settlement in the Middle Dniester region. Apart from pottery, the abundance of stone implements is quite remarkable. The analysis of the structure and typology of chipped stone artifacts points towards a large-scaled flint processing on the site. It is possible, that this settlement, dated with the Vykhvatintsy stage, specialized in the production of stone tools, and the final products were transported to other sites within a complex system of economic interrelations

Geomagnetic surveys of the Neolithic and the Copper Age sites from the Republic of Moldova (1968-2016): main results, current state and future perspectives

The article presents an overview of the use of geomagnetic method in the prehistoric studies in the Republic of Moldova. Information on 34 surveys has been compiled in order to reveal both the scientific results of geophysical prospection and the perspectives for future work. As a result, the doubtless importance of geophysics for settlement studies is underlined, providing striking insights into settlement layouts from the early Neolithic to the Copper Age

Two new hoards and several solitary finds of metal items of the Bronze Age - Early Hallstatt periods in the territory of Republic of Moldova

The article publishes two new hoards and several solitary finds of bronze items from the Prut-Dniester interfluve. These finds can be dated the late Bronze Age and Early Hallstatt periods and relate to the Sabatinovka and Noua cultures, as well as to different early Hallstatt groups. Of special interest is the hoard from Brăneşti containing some types of items which until now were not known on the territories to the west from the Dniester. Also, remarkable is the structure of these two hoards, which may indicate a votive character of their deposition

Plastica antropomorfă din aşezarea Cucuteni A de la Duruitoarea Veche I (raionul Râşcani, Republica Moldova) / Anthropomorphic figurines of the Cucuteni A stage from Duruitoarea Veche I (Râşcani District, Republic of Moldova)

The article represents the publication of the complete collection of anthropomorphic figurines of Cucuteni A - Tripolye B1 stage from the settlement of Duruitoarea Veche I (Rîşcani District, Republic of Moldova). The figurines were discovered on the surface of the site and in course of the archaeological excavations conducted in 1973, and had previously been published only in part. The collection of figurines from Duruitoarea Veche I is one of the largest for the Cucuteni A4 sites from the Prut-Dniester interfluve and therefore is of significant scientific interest. The article includes the catalogue of finds as well as analysis of the technology, stylistics, morphology and fragmentation

Rezultatele preliminare ale cercetărilor arheologice întreprinse în anul 2016 în aşezarea neoeneolitică de la Nicolaevca V / Preliminary results of the archaeological investigations in the Neolithic and Copper Age site of Nicolaevca V during the 2016 excavation season

The small scale excavations conducted in 2016 on the site of Nicolaevca V had as objective to substantiate the existing interpretation of the geophysical plan and to date the anomalies from the two areas of the site. By making three archaeological excavations of various sizes we found out that the anomalies in the northern part of the settlement relate to the Precucuteni-Tripolye A stage of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, while the anomalies in the southern part date back to the Neolithic and belong to the Linear Pottery Culture. On the early Copper Age settlement there were partially investigated a large underground complex (probably dugout) and a burnt surface dwelling. The investigation of the Linear Pottery culture settlement allowed us to obtain a complete section of a longhouse with its inner space and two afferent long pits

Scanări geofizice şi cercetări arheologice pe situri din neoliticul târziu - eneoliticul timpuriu de pe teritoriul Republicii Moldova (2014-2015) / Geophysical prospections and archaeological investigations of Late Neolithic - Early Copper Age sites from the Republic of Moldova (2014-2015)

Between 2014-2015, a joint Moldavian-German expedition undertook surface investigations, geophysical prospections and small-scale excavations on several LBK sites from the Republic of Moldova. This fieldwork allowed us to obtain unique data on the internal organization of Neolithic sites from the Prut-Dniester interfluve. The geomagnetic scans led to the identification of long houses, typical for the LBK from Central and Western Europe. Some of these complexes have been checked by small test-trenches. The geophysical plots also included some Copper Age structures overlapping the LBK ones. Thus, we have been able to obtain the first complete geophysical plan of a Precucuteni settlement from the territory of Moldova. The analysis of the data obtained from the field led to a reconsideration of some older conceptions regarding the architecture and internal organization of LBK settlements from the North-Western Black Sea region

Zur Bandkeramik zwischen Pruth und Südlichem Bug

Our knowledge of the Bandkeramik (LBK) to the east of the Carpathian Mountains is rather limited, especially when compared to the level of scientific discourse reached in some western parts of the vast area of LBK's distribution. Therefore, it would seem useful to examine selected LBK settlements in western Ukraine and Moldova. Our research focused on the question of whether the full LBK package reached the easternmost area of distribution of the Bandkeramik, especially with regard to the longhouses that are so characteristic of this culture. Until recent years the existence of these structures was questioned by various scholars. Six sites with LBK layers were chosen for magnetometer survey, and on some of them additional test trenches were dug; evidence of earlier excavations was reconsidered. As a first result of our work, proof of the long-debated presence of longhouses could be established, mainly on the basis of parallel long pits. Most of the longhouses are orientated more or less NE-SW, which seems to be a common peculiarity of the eastern region. But at the same time, due to unfavourable soil conditions of the local chernozem, it was not possible to obtain detailed ground plans. Only in some cases could a limited number of postholes be detected. At the Bandkeramik settlement of Kamyane, situated on the right bank of the middle course of the Southern Bug river, abundant LBK material and some pottery fragments decorated in the style of the Romanian Dudesti Culture were unearthed during small-scale excavations. In the vicinity of the settlement a shoe-last adze was found whose raw material originated from the Iser Mountains of northern Bohemia. Hence, long-distance contacts were apparently also a key feature of the easternmost LBK sites