The tell in the location of “Gorgana” is situated half way between the villages of Pietrele and Puieni, on the edge of the Danube terrace. The objectives of this campaign included: reconstructing the ...landscape from the Neo-Eneolithic period by the geomorphological study of the area; continuing the geomagnetical prospecting (begun in 2004) on the area of the tell and in the neighouring area; continuing the archaeological excavations in sections B and F begun during the previous campaigns.
During the 2004 archaeological campaign, the archaeologist team of the National History Museum of Romania initiated the research of the perimeter placed east of the Pârâul Porcului sandstone quarry. ...The archaeological research was accomplished due to the fact that the perimeter will be affected by the investment in the "Rosia Montana Mining Project". This zone, known under the generic name of Tăul Secuilor in archaeological literature, benefited from a previous terrain evaluation conducted during the 2000 campaign (and also in 2003, partially). Thus, in the incipient stage of the investigation, a Roman cremation cemetery was signaled at least for the north zone. Likewise, a series of human interventions are visible, linked to the economic characteristics of the area (layout of lakes and of the canal system adjacent to them). The present research report contains the preliminary results of the archaeological investigation in the Pârâul Porcului / Taul Secuilor area, carried out by the RNHM team in collaboration with the History Department, University of Bucharest. 139 archaeological complexes were identified in 78 sections, and 136 of them were exhaustively researched. Three other graves are to be researched during the following archaeological campaigns. No archaeological complexes were discovered in 32 sections, adding up to a surface of 900 square meters. The research team recorded a greater concentration of graves in the north-west part of the cemetery at distances between 0.30 and 3.00 m (an average rate of one grave per every 10 square meters). Across the rest of the cemetery, the distance between the graves is fairly constant, usually at distances between 1.50 m and 2.00 m (an average of one grave per 25-30 square meters). The orientation of the grave pits does not present major differences, and at first sight they seem to be disposed in parallel on the NW – SE axis (67 cases). In some cases we recorded slight deviations north or west of this axis, but they are not significant. Few cases were recorded where graves are oriented to the E – W or NE – SW, without, however, making up separate groups within the cemetery. A characteristic of these graves, conferred not so much by their uniqueness (since graves of this types were also discovered in the cemeteries at Rosia Montana), but by their density, is that they have rings made of stones of various sizes (between 0.15 and 0.60 m) which are in most cases laid on one single row. The profile of the grave pits offers the possibility of a two-type classification: I. Step-Pits – 29 graves. II. Rectangular Pits without Lower Floor – 107 graves. The grave goods in the cemetery at Tăul Secuilor is characteristic of the cemeteries in Roman Dacia. They include pottery, metal and glass artifacts.
Archaeological excavation in the area of Sf. Dumitru and N. Tonitza streets, in Bucharest, uncovered an important mediaeval cemetery, developed around the old parish church of Sf. Dumitru and some ...brick structures. Here we discovered many types of buildings like enclosure walls, brick foundations of different houses, a fountain and a sanitary installation (toilet), showing a great dynamic of streets alignment. The Cemetery: 217 graves were investigated, 192 on Sf. Dumitru street and 25 on N. Tonitza St. The dead were found in a supine position, heads to the east, legs to the west, with one exception, an individual lying on the left side, legs and arms flexed. Position of arms for the supine individuals varied: from both arms on the chest/basin, to one to the chest and the other to the neck/shoulder or even both flexed to the shoulders. In two cases legs were crossed in the ankle area. Personal items occurred in 34 graves: belt buckles, hair pins, cuffs, earrings, seal rings, hair combs, bone buttons, coloured glass beads. 46 graves yielded coins (with 38 yielding one coin, 4 graves two, one with three and 1 with six), most of them found in the chest area, around the head or more rarely, the lower leg area. No formal organization of the cemetery was identified. Anthropological analysis of 35 graves provided data on 52 individuals: age, sex determination (where possible), interesting elements of palaeopathology. Based on the coins from the graves, the cemetery was dated to the 16th–18th centuries, with a starting date earlier than the historical documents suggested as a foundation time for the St. Dumitru church.
Șerban Vodă Inn was first built by Șerban Cantacuzino starting with 1683, and demolished 200 years later, on its area being erected the National Bank Palace. Archaeological excavations from the ...Lipscani Street allow the discovery of an important part of the southern side of this important monument consisting in foundations of 11 rooms, 7 basements and an entrance in the cellar level. The cellars 1 to 6 dated from the first phase of the building, but the cellar 7 and the entry were built later and have suffered modifications in the final phase of this edifice. Those first six cellars, very well preserved, still have parts of wall paint decorations. Having religious theme, this decoration was made in a fresco technique and was dated to the 17th century. This is a unique discovery in the Historic Centre of Bucharest. Because of their dimensions (4.10 x 4.10 m floor square and 5.50 m height), state of conservation and fragments of painted decorations, this cellar area was proposed for conservation, restoration and valorisation.
Location: Gorgana The sixth archaeological excavation campaign at Pietrele - Măgura Gorgana was conducted between the 14th of July and 6th of September 2008. The archaeological excavations in the ...tell at Pietrele - Măgura Gorgana are part of a joint Romanian-German excavation project initiated by “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest and Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Eurasien Abteilung. As mentioned in the collaboration protocol, the project will run until 2013. The goal of this collaboration is to continue the systematic excavations into the tell type settlement, to conduct archaeological excavations in the flat settlement around the tell, in the cemetery identified about 200 m West of the tell and to dig concentric circular trenches on the upper terrace of the Danube. The 2008 excavation campaign focused on the three sections opened on the tell, as we investigated unburned houses, fired houses, hearths, etc. In area F we identified 241 features containing pottery, animal bones, bone, stone and copper tools, wall bits, a.s.o. In the area surrounding the tell and in the Danube river meadow we carried on the series of drillings conducted by the team of geographers from the University of Frankfurt, led by Professor J. Wünderlich. The bone material from the tell at Măgura Gorgana were entirely analysed. The preliminary results point to a type of subsistence based both on hunting (wild boars, hares, and bears), fishing and domestic animal breeding (pigs, sheep, goats). We collected ground samples for sedimentologic and archaeobotanic tests. From various archaeological contexts we collected wood and charcoal bits for radiocarbon dating. The track test conducted on a lot of the flint artefacts by Professor Marvin Kay showed that these were used in proportion of 70% for cutting grain. To determine the metallographic test of the copper artefacts we picked up samples from 18 artifacts discovered during this campaign. By using these we try to identify the source of raw matter, as well as to obtain more data on the metallurgic process. The whole archaeological material collected was washed, marked and tested from a statistical and typological point of view. The vessels are restored in the specially arranged laboratory. The pottery tested in 2008 weighs 1,152 kg. The total number of the whole vessels found during this campaign is 65, distributed as follows: 37 vessels come from section F, 24 vessels from section B and 4 vessels from section A. Most of them are small sized vessels (cups and lids), some of which are painted with graphite, a typical Gumelnița culture decoration.
