Scientific report on the implementation of the PN-III-P1-1.1-PD2019-0703 project between September and December 2020
Objectives and achievements between September and December 2020
Objective 1. Carrying out large-scale field research in the entire area in order to locate, in GPS and Stereo70 coordinate system, the hillforts already known in the literature but also to identify new points of interest. The aim will be to obtain detailed plans for each objective, with careful observations, recorded using standardized sheets.
The bibliography on the problem of hillforts located in the eastern Carpathian area of Romania and dated between the 5th-3rd centuries BC has been completely collected. The relevant cartographic material was also collected, and the necessary working tools were obtained. Extensive field research was carried out on the territories of Vaslui, Iași, Botoșani, Suceava counties and the eastern part of Bacău county, being located, verified on the field and mapped all the objectives of interest within these counties. In the field research carried out on the territory of Vaslui county, we benefited from the support of Vasile Pârvan County Museum of Bârlad. Thus, detailed plans and descriptions for 28 objectives were drafted. These were performed on the basis of LIDAR scans provided by ABA Prut-Bârlad, but also on the basis of numerous field observations. We point out that although some of these hillforts were known in the literature, most of them did not benefit from published plans. Also about some fortresses such as those from Dumești / Rafaila – Zarea Rafailei (Vaslui county), Stănișești / Răchitoasa – Cetățuia (Bacău county) the information from the specialized literature was almost completely missing.
Together with my mentor, Dr. Valeriu Sîrbu, I established a collaboration with the Vrancea Museum in Focșani to conduct field research in this county in the spring of next year. At the same time, we continued to gather and systematize the results of our own archaeological investigations that we carry out in the Dobrovăț microzone (Iași county), in Cetățuia and La Livadă points. The project website (address: http: // www.archaeoforts.com/) was also created, which can be accessed in Romanian and English. It also contains information about the project (title, acronym, code, funder, members, contact), a brief presentation of it, specifying the objectives and estimated results. In the future, the site will also contain the database (open access and updatable).
Objective 2. Reanalyzing the results of older archaeological excavations; the scientific evaluation and capitalization of the remaining plans from these excavations as well as of the archaeological materials accessible in various local institutions and museums will be pursued.
At this stage, on the one hand, the aim was to recover the documentation related to some older archeological excavations, on the other hand, to identify in the repositories of the various museum institutions the archeological material of interest. The plans of the archeological excavations carried out by A. C. Florescu in the fortress of Cotnari – Dealul Cătălina, which provide extremely valuable information regarding the appearance and stages of operation of this emblematic objective, were found in the archives of the Institute of Archeology from Iași. Archaeological materials from the fortresses of Cândești (Vrancea County) and Stâncești (Botoșani County) were also identified. The plans for the excavations at Cotnari have already been scanned and digitized, and the archeological materials are being sorted and processed. Two documentary visits were made, to the Bucovina National Museum Complex in Suceava (06.11.2020 – 20.11.2020) and to the Botoșani County Museum (23.11.2020 – 03.11.2020). On this occasion, field archeological research was carried out in the area and the material in the collections was studied, at the same time making collaboration protocols with colleagues from the above mentioned institutions. Thus, the fortress from Merești from Suceava County will be presented in a future study carried out in collaboration with Dr. Bogdan Niculică and Dr. C. Aparaschivei. At the Botoșani County Museum we managed to process part of the inventory discovered in Stâncești.
Objective 3. Based on the information gathered in the field and from the archives and museum collections, at the end of this approach will result a book – an exhaustive repertoire of all the hillforts in the East Carpathian area, with discussions on the archaeological sites discovered (types of houses, pits, material culture, treasures).
We managed to write an important part of the archeological repertoire and to process some of the documentation and materials.
Disemination of results: Regarding the dissemination of the results, this was hampered by the restrictions imposed by the health crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the cancellation or postponement of many national and international conferences where we were registered with papers. However, we have obtained a number of results which we will present below:
A.1. Scientific conferences
The project director presented three papers on the objectives of the project at the following scientific events:
a.) International Scientific Conference Acta Moldaviae Meridionalis (Vaslui – 30.09.2020-1.10.2020) – in which we presented as first author: Cercetările arheologice din punctele „Dobrovăț – Cetățuia” și „Dobrovăț – La Livadă” (2019-2020).
b.) National Archaeological Reports Session. 54th Edition (Buzău, 25.11.2020-27.22.2020) – in which we presented as first author: Cercetările arheologice din punctul Dobrovăț – La Livadă. Campania 2020
c.) National Scientific Conference of the National East Carpathian Museum, XVIIth Edition (Sfântul Gheorghe, 9.12.2020 – 11.12.2020) – in which we presented as first author: Redescoperirea a două cetăți uitate: Dumești / Rafaila – Zarea Rafailei și Stănișești / Răchitoasa – Cetățuia (sec. 5-3 î.Hr.)
A.2. Papers
a.) A. Berzovan, M. Oancă, M. Mamalaucă, Contribuții privind topografia unor cetăți din perioada de început a celei de-a Doua Epoci a Fierului situate în sudul Podișului Moldovei (sec. 5‒3 î Hr), în S. Forțiu (ed.) Arheovest VIII. In Honorem Alexandru Rădulescu, JATEPress Kiado, Szeged, Ungaria, p. 155-207 (online, including on www.academia.edu).
b.) A. Berzovan, S. Enea, D. Boghian, Unpublished fragments of Greek Amphorae in the collections of Țibana Parish Museum (Iași County) în A. Zanoci, M. Băț (Ed.) Cross-Cultural Interaction in the Tisza – Dniester Region in the Iron Age, Bons Offices, Chișinău, 2020 (online, including on www.academia.edu)
In all reported publications the name of the financier and the number of the financing contract according to the model are mentioned: This work was supported by a grant of Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.1–PD2019-0703, within PNCDI III.
In conclusion, we consider that, by fulfilling the objectives proposed for the 2020 stage, we have taken important first steps in achieving the main goal of our project. Project Director, Dr. Alexandru Berzovan