Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania

Astaloş, C et al. 2013 Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania. Archaeology International, No. 16 (2012-2013): 47-53, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1614 NEWS Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania Ciprian Astaloş*,†, Ulrike Sommer† and Cristian Virag* Location Early Neolithic pit-house and numerous pits The town of Tăşnad, in north-west Romania, were discovered on this occasion, as well is situated at the western end of the Tăşnad as human remains. Because of the rapid Hills which rise to a height of up to 230m expansion of the Tăşnad spa, surrounding above sea-level; the site ‘Sere’ is situated a thermal well, János Németi and Ciprian south-west of the town near a thermal spa Astaloş carried out rescue excavations in on the banks of the Cehal river, a tributary 2001–02 and, since 2004, Cristian Virag of the Ier. The Cehal valley opens towards has been directing further, ongoing, rescue the Ier and Someş plains which form the excavations with research extended (from north-easternmost part of the Great Hungar- 2006) to the second terrace of the Cehal, ian Plain, a marshy area until the large-scale where features from the Late Bronze Age drainage-works of the 19th and 20th cen- have been discovered. turies. Even today, the Cehal valley is quite swampy, especially at the confluence with Archaeology the Ier. The Austrian military maps demon- The site ‘Sere’ contains settlement remains strate large-scale forest-clearance during the from the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the last three centuries; at the end of the 18th Roman period. The most numerous fea- century, the site itself was still forested. Sev- tures belong to the Early Neolithic Criş cul- eral prehistoric sites from different periods ture (Fig. 1) and consist of pits, pit-houses, are located on the first and second terraces of graves, hearths, ovens and post-built houses. the Cehal, at altitudes of around 140m. In many areas, these features are overlain by an occupation layer which likewise con- Discovery tains numerous finds. The Neolithic remains In the 1970s, a canal was built to divert the were found at depths of between 0.6–1.2m, waters of the Cehal river, which led to the dis- meaning that they have been protected covery of ‘Sere’ by Neţa Iercoşan who started from disturbance by modern agriculture excavations there in 1989 (Iercoşan, 1995), and are thus very well preserved. The exca- later continued between 1995 and 1999. An vated Criş artefacts consist mainly of pottery sherds, chipped stone tools, axes, querns, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines * Satu Mare County Museum, Satu Mare, 21 Vasile Lucaciu, 440031 Romania (Băcueţ-Crişan and Virag, 2007), clay stamps [email protected], (pintaderas), clay altars, loom-weights and [email protected] spindle-whorls. The head of one human fig- † UCL Institute of Archaeology, urine is triangular in shape, with two incised London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom lines marking the eyes and the nose in relief [email protected] 48 Astaloş et al: Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania ViennaBratislava Satu Mare Budapest Debrecen Tăşnad-Sere Chisinau OrOradeaa Körös Cluj-Napoca Criş Zagreb Belgrade Bucharest Sarajevo Starčevo Pristina Sofia Fig. 1: Distribution of the Criş/Starčevo/Körös culture and location of Tăşnad Sere (map: Susanne Geck). (Fig. 2). The posterior part of a steatopygian wet, semi-subterranean houses were used figurine was also found. There are numer- for this purpose up into the Middle Ages. A ous bones of Vicattle,ennaBratis lapig,va ovicaprids and wild second semi-subterranean house could only boar, as well as aurochs’ horn-cores and red Sabetu Mapartlyre excavated. Large oval and irregular deer antlers. Budapest Debrecen Tăpitsşn adwith-Ser post-holes,e traditionally interpreted Chisinau Several houses were found in the courseOrO adea as pit-houses, were also found – one of which of the excavations – three of Köwhichrös were containedCluj-Napoca further loom-weights. marked by post-holes (Fig. 3). Feature CrFouriş single graves of the Criş culture have 100/2009,Za grmeasuringeb 8.5x6m, had posts been excavated at Tăşnad. Three of them along the walls, with a central row of three were located in proper grave-pits, but the to support the roof. On its southern side, other was buried in a feature that was prob- three post-holes seem to have belongedBelgrade to ably a refuse pit or a pit-house. All the skel- an annex. The other two post-built houses etons lay in a contractedBucharest position on their were of similar size (9x10mSarajevo and 7.5x7m)Starčevo and left sides. One grave contained two obsidian construction. Another house was partly dug blades; the other burials had no grave goods into the soil. It was oval in shape, with the at all. roof supported by seven posts; an oven had There are also later features at Tăşnad Sere, Pristina Sofia been dug into its subterranean wall. Inside, dating to the Middle Neolithic Pişcolt culture, enormous quantities of pottery, burnt bone the Late Copper Age Coţofeni culture and and ash were discovered, with numerous the Przeworsk culture of the Roman period. loom-weights indicating its use as a weav- Excavation reports from Tăşnad have been ing hut. As flax is best worked when slightly published as short reports in the Chronicle Astaloş et al: Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania 49 room, rectangular structures, built of wattle and daub, containing a hearth (Lazarovici and Lazarovici, 2006; 2011). Emmer, einkorn and millet were cultivated, as well as lentils, field peas, opium poppy and flax, but wild plants also formed an important part of the diet (Gyulai, 2010). Animal-bone assem- blages are normally dominated by ovicaprids, followed by cattle and pig, as well as numerous wild mammal species. Birds, fishes (Kovács et al., 2010: 248f.) and molluscs (Gulyás et al., 2007) were also exploited. In north-west Romania, the Neolithization process (understood as the appearance of pottery and ground stone tools) took place later than in the neighbouring areas of central Transylvania, the Banat and the Tisa valley, during the period Criş IIIB-IVA. The Criş communities may have arrived in Tăşnad from central Transylvania, reaching the Sălaj area, then following the Barcău and Ier val- leys, and maybe the Crasna valley. Settle- ments of Criş type are known from Sălacea, Tarcea, Voievozi, Văşad, Pişcolt, Berea and Urziceni. The material uncovered at Tăşnad is also similar to contemporary sites in both north-western Romania (Homorodu de Sus, Homorodu de Mijloc, Zăuan, Suplacu de Fig. 2: Anthropomorphic figurine from Tăşnad Barcău/Porţ and Călineşti Oaş) and north- Sere (photo: Cristian Virag). eastern Hungary (Méhtelek and Nagyecsed), towards the west. Thus, Németi (1999) has of Archaeological Research of Romania (www. claimed that the first agricultural settlers of cimec.ro), but a detailed publication of the the middle Tisa valley arrived from the south, discoveries remains a task for the future. following the river. Based on the pottery style, the site of Pottery forms found at Tăşnad include Tăşnad Sere can be attributed to phases IIIB characteristic biconic vessels with a rounded, and IVA of the Criş culture, according to slightly everted rim, biconic bowls, biconic the chronological system of Gh. Lazarovici jars with a short neck, and vessels with a (1984). The Criş culture, known as Starčevo hollow pedestal. The majority of the pottery in Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia, and as from Tăşnad is tempered with sand, grog, Körös in Hungary (Fig. 1), is the oldest Neo- silt and chaff, which is characteristic for the lithic culture of the Balkans and the Panno- evolved phases of the Criş culture. Because of nian Basin, dating to 6300–5200 BC (Schu- the use of silty clay and organic temper, the bert, 1999). It is characterised by organic pottery is very soft and has a ‘soapy’ surface, tempered pottery, decorated with painted a phenomenon that starts in the later phases and incised patterns. Both tell settlements of the Criş culture (IIIB-IVA). This dating is and open settlements are known, with the supported by sherds with incisions below the houses normally consisting of small, one- rim, as such incised ornament is typical for 50 Astaloş et al: Excavations of an Early Neolithic Site at Tăşnad, Romania Fig. 3: Excavation of Criş houses at Tăşnad Sere, in 2009 (photo: Cristian Virag). the IIIB-IVA phases of the culture. There are have been used to date these houses which also polished ornaments, barbotine decora- are normally only represented by postholes, tion and fingernail imprints. as the original Neolithic surface has been eroded. Complex chronologies of settlement UCL Institute of Archaeology development (Stehli, 1994), and of the devel- excavations opment of individual settlements (Lüning, In summer 2011, Ulrike Sommer visited 2005), have thus been developed. In south- the site and decided that the existence of a east Europe, on the other hand, it has often thick, well-preserved, occupation layer made been thought that irregular pits could have Tăşnad Sere ideal for research on deposition served as dwellings (pit-houses or sunken processes and the activity structure of a Criş houses), especially in the early phases of settle- settlement. In addition, the large-scale rescue ments. Finds in these pits have thus been excavations by the Satu Mare County seen as in situ refuse which could be used for Museum would enable a small, detailed, dating their use as houses. However, in 1988, research excavation to be placed in the wider Harald Stäuble conducted a detailed study of context of the overall settlement-site.

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