Romania

224 Pages·1967·19.26 MB·English

by  Dumitru Berciu

ROMANIA
Dumitru Berciu
Romania lies at the crossroads of Europe,
with many of the geographical features of
central, eastern, and southern Europe.
Throughout its history, its situation and
the nature of its terrain have opened it to
a succession of different tribes and
peoples—especially from the south, the
Aegean, Anatolia, and the Near East—all
of whom contributed to the development
of local cultures.
In spite of the distinctive geographical
conditions of the various historical pro­
vinces of Romania, recent archaeological
research has revealed the continuity of
the country’s historical development,
showing the essential part played by the
local parent stock. The real history of
Romania begins with the Neolithic Age,
when the people became settled, gained
control over the soil and certain of the
natural resources, and became numerous
enough to form a stable permanent
population.
If hrough the ages numerous infiltrations
and invasions modified this population.
The splendid Bronze Age in Romania
owes its inception to exchanges between
the proto-Thracian tribes of the Carpa­
thians and the Danube, the communities
of central and eastern Europe, and the
Mediterranean cultures. In the Iron Age,
when the interplay of Hellenic, Scythian,
Celtic, and Roman influence intensified,
the Dacians—one of the most original
peoples of antiquity—created their vigor­
ous, unified civilization.
Romania surveys the flux of peoples,
from the early prehistoric pebble cultures
to the emergence of the Dacian civiliza­
tion in the first centuries of our era.
Written by an archaeologist of interna­
tional repute, it will be particularly wel­
come since it is the first book published
on the subject in English since 1928.

Ancient Peoples and Places
ROMANIA
General Editor
DR. GLYN DANIEL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After receiving his doctorate from the University of Bucharest in 1938, Professor
Dumitru Berciu continued bis specialized studies in Vienna and Rome, before
the second World War. He now occupies the Chair of Prehistoric Archaeology
at the University of Bucharest, where he is also Dean of the Faculty of History,
and he is departmental head of the Archaeological Institute of the Romanian Acade*
my. An authority on European as well as Romanian prehistory, Professor Berciu
has conducted many archaeological excavations in Romania which have resulted
in the precise dating of several newly discovered civilizations. He is the author
of numerous archaeological works, and has been a CorrespondingMember of the
German Institute of Archaeology since 1963.
Ancient Peoples and Places
ROMANIA
D. Berciu
73 PHOTOGRAPHS
54 LINE DRAWINGS
10 MAPS
5 TABLES
FREDERICK A. PRAEGER
Publishers
New York • Washington
THIS IS VOLUME FIFTY'S EVEN IN THE SERIES
Ancient Peoples and Places
GENERAL EDITOR: DR. GLYN DANIEL
BOOKS THAT MATTER
Published in the United States of America in 1967
by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers
111 Fourth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003
All rights reserved
© 1967 by Thames and Hudson, London, England
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-21770
Printed in Holland
CO N TEN TS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 7
I GENERAL BACKGROUND 13
The Geographical Setting 13
The Historical Setting 14
The Geographical Environment and the
Population 15
II THE PALAEOLITHIC 19
The Lower Palaeolithic 19
The Middle Palaeolithic 21
The Upper Palaeolithic 22
III THE MESOLITHIC 2$
Towards a New Stage in Primitive Society 25
IV THE NEOLITHIC 30
The Aceramic Horizon 30
The Early Neolithic SS00~3S00 BC 3 3
The Middle Neolithic 3500-2700 bc 49
The Late Neolithic 2700-1800 bc 56
V THE BRONZE AGE 67
The Romanian Bronze Age iti its Setting
of South-East and Central Europe 67
Chronology and Classification 68
The Early Bronze Age (Bl, 11) 2200-1600 bc 70
5
The Middle and Late Bronze Age (Bill)
1600-1300 BC 78
VI THE LATE BRONZE AND EARLY
IRON AGES 102
The Final Phase (BIV) 102
The Suciu Culture 103
The Noua Culture 104
Horizon E of the Bronze Hoards 107
VII THE FIRST IRON AGE: HALLSTATT I08
Origins and Formation of the Hallstatt
Cultures no
Early Hallstatt I and II 112
The Late Phase of the Local Hallstatt 126
VIII THE SECOND IRON AGE: LA TENE I36
The Transition to the Second Iron Age 136
La Tène 1430-400 bc 140
La Tène II400-300 bc 141
La Tène III300 (28o)-ioo (73) bc 146
La Tène IV 100 bc-ad 106 148
La Tène V ad 106 (13 Dobrudja)-AD 300
(271) 148
BIBLIOGRAPHY 163
THE PLATES 173
NOTES ON THE PLATES 20$
INDEX 210
6