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This paper addresses the archaeological literature on the subject of the chipped stone industry of the Chalcolithic communities that inhabited the east of nowadays Romania, namely Precucuteni and Cucuteni (5th and 4th millennium BC).1 The first part of the study focuses on how the Romanian archaeologists approached the first two stages of the chaîne opératoire: the raw material procurement and the technology of producing knapped stone tools (especially the elongated supports). These aspects were analysed through the literature published until now, regarding aspects as petrographic determination of raw materials, available information on the morphology of the cores and on blade attributes, on the reduction sequences and procedures. Although rewarding in what considers the raw materials supply, the information proves scarce in what concerns the organisation of technology. The causes of this unbalance are sought in the specificity of the development of the study of Prehistory in Romania. Consequently, perspectives for the further investigations and new directions of research are proposed. Keywords: Romanian archaeology; Precucuteni and Cucuteni communities; chipped stone assemblages; raw material acquisition; lithic technology; blade industry., Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 43 (2020): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 42 (2019): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 42 (2019): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 41 (2018): Arheologia Moldovei

This paper presents the results of the investigations in the Early Chalcolithic settlement from Balș – La Brigadă. The site was surveyed in two instances: once in the 80s and recently in 2017 in order to assess its chronological framing, as a contribution to understanding the diachronic movement of the Precucuteni communities in the Bahlui River Basin. We estimated the surface of the site to cca 1 ha. The geomagnetic prospections helped at demarcating the eastern limits of the settlement. In the test trench were revealed the collapsed walls of a burnt dwelling, which allowed us to sample bones for the 14C dating of this specific building. The archaeological materials from the site, through their technology and typology, indicate an earlier beginning of the settlement than previously thought and probably the existence of at least two phases of inhabitation in the Early Chalcolithic. Artefacts and features from other periods were also revealed during the investigations. Keywords: Early Chalcolithic Precucuteni culture; geomagnetic survey; chronological and phase framing; pottery technology; lithic assemblage; anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations., Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 41 (2018): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 39 (2016): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 39 (2016): Arheologia Moldovei

The paper makes a presentation of the two oldest archaeological layers at the Upper Palaeolithic site of Mitoc -Malu Galben: the Aurignacian I and Iinferior assemblages. The study provides ageographic andgeologic characterization of the area, by pointing out that the main reason for the prehistoric human communities to install their encampments here was the availability of the rich flint resources. The pedo-sedimentary stratigraphy of the site is also presented along with the distribution of the archaeological layers in the sedimentary units and the established climatic cycles. Among the Aurignacian layers, the Aurignacian I (subunit 10b inferior - 11 superior) provided the richest archaeological material: flint workshops concentrated around hearths, faunal remains and hard animal tissue artefacts (Mladec spearheads). The lithic typology is specific to the classical old Aurignacian (carenated endscrapers and burins, nosed endscrapers). The absolute chronology data indicate afirst occupation of the site around 32.730 ± 220 BP (Aurignacian I inferior - subunit 12 b) and the 30.000 BP for the end of the Aurignacian I occupation. The final part of the text propounds a framing of the Aurignacian discoveries from Malu Galben in the context of the Early Upper Palaeolithic from Europe. Keywords: Early Upper Palaeolithic, Aurignacian, climatic cycles, technocomplexes, knapping workshops, combustion structures, paleo-environment, hard animal tissue artifacts., Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 38 (2015): Arheologia Moldovei

Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 38 (2015): Arheologia Moldovei

This paper describes an archaeological experiment which took place in September 2017 in Stolniceni, Edineț County, Republic of Moldova, based on the recent discovery, in the Cucuteni-Trypillia site from the locality, of an exceptional two-chambered updraft kiln. First are presented the phases of the (re)construction of the complex, which strictly followed the dimensions and constitutive elements of the original discovery. After the kiln was finished and dried, a first attempt was made to fire a batch of about 50 vessels of various sizes. During over 10 hours of continuous firing, the kiln worked perfectly, with no incidents that could jeopardize the pottery. In the end, although the vessels seemed to be very well fired in an oxidizing atmosphere, it was proved that the temperatures reached in the kiln (measured with Orton temperature cones and confirmed by a series of XRD analyses) were inferior to those known (based on analyses) for Cucuteni- Trypillia ceramics. However, this first experimental attempt allowed some interesting observations, being a step forward in understanding this complex chaine opératoire of prehistoric pottery production., Arheologia Moldovei, Bd. 41 (2018): Arheologia Moldovei