Between June 7 and August 27, 2021, the University of Bucharest coordinates, in partnership with Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel – CAU (Germany), HoGent (Belgium), the Bucharest Municipal Museum, the Lower Danube Museum Călărași and the Gumelnița Oltenița Civilization Museum (Romania), the interdisciplinary archaeological research project “The Dynamics of The Prehistoric Communities Located in the Mostiștea and Danube Valleys”. The project is launched by the ArchaeoSciences Division of the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB), as part of the Sultana School of Archeology initiative and takes place in Sultana, in Călărași County.
The research will involve systematic excavations in the archaeological sites of Sultana-Malu Roșu, Sultana-Ghețarie, Sultana-Valea Orbului and Sultana-Școala Veche (Călărași county), but also non-intrusive prospecting in the perimeter of other sites in the targeted area, test surveys, and geo-spatial data collection. Bathymetry and geo-electric surveys will be carried out in the waters of Lake Mostiștea, as well as aerial flights (UAV). Coordinated by Cătălin Lazăr (ICUB, Romania), together with Professor Johannes Mueller (CAU, Germany) and Cornelis Stal (HoGent, Belgium), the new project proposes a multidisciplinary approach regarding the prehistoric human populations of southeastern Romania from the interval 5500-3000 BCE, both in the wider context of the Neolithic and Eneolithic civilizations until the beginning of the Bronze Age period in the area of the Balkan peninsula, but also from the perspective of paleoenvironmental conditions, paleo hydrography, paleoecology correlated with paleoclimatic changes, in order to understand diachronic processes (natural and anthropic) that mark the analyzed chronological interval.
Within the research team, which includes over 30 interdisciplinary specialists, there are also BA students, MA and PhD students from the universities of Bucharest, Ghent, Kiel, Cologne and York. Their fields of activity are diverse, including archaeology, paleoanthropology, zooarchaeology, malacology, archaeobotanical, geoarchaeology, geography, geology, archaeometry and experimental archaeology. Moreover, in addition to field activities, several scientific presentations and a series of applied or experimental workshops will be organized during the project.
The project “The Dynamics of The Prehistoric Communities Located in the Mostiștea and Danube Valleys” will take place over a period of 5 years (2021-2025) and is probably the largest international archaeological project in Romania at the moment.
More information on the project “The dynamics of the prehistoric communities located in the Mostiștea and Danube valleys” will be available on the Facebook page of the ArchaeoSciences Division.
