Bronze Age Settlement from Nćeni, Buzću County


Fig. 1 - Localization


1. Localization:
Buzau County, Naeni village, Zanoaga spot, altitude 550 m.

2. Research type:
Systematic excavations.

3. Research duration:
1982 - 1986, 1988 - 1933, 1996 - 1997.

4. Research team:
Ion Motzoi Chicideanu, Archaeological Institute "Vasile Pīrvan" - Bucharest, Monica Sandor - Chicideanu, The Faculty of History, University of Bucharest.

5. Descoveries type:
"Hillfort" dwelling, situated on a rocky crest, at about 550 m altitude, with places for inhabiting on slopes around a central inhabitation, colective grave, incineration grave, pits.

6. Chronological considerations:
Bronze age, Monteoru culture, La Tene period, the 4th and the 5th centuries AD

7. Outstanding pieces
Ceramics, stone weapons, clothes pieces and bronze weapons.

8. Actual location of the material
The County Museum Buzau, The Institute of Archaeology "Vasile Pīrvan", Bucharest.

9. Bibliography:
Ion Motzoi- Chicideanu, Monica Sandor-Chicideanu, Ein bronzezeitliches Grab aus Naeni - Zanoaga, Dacia, N.S., 38-39, 1994-1995, p. 19-40; Ion Motzoi-Chicideanu, Monica Sandor-Chicideanu, The Archaeological Researches from Naeni-Zanoaga - the campaigns of 1982-1986, 1988-1993, 1996, MCA 18 (in press).

10. Observations:
The site belonging to Monteoru culture, besides its remarkable dimensions, presents a special importance due to the identification of a stage of the Monteoru culture, elder than those that had been known up to the present days, temporary named the Monteoru-Zanoaga stage; it is dated toward the beginning of the Bronze Age. The stratigraphic succession allows seeing how the Monteoru culture developed till its final stage. This phase, known as Monteoru II.b or Monteoru Balintesti-Gīrbovat, also contains the triple interring grave discovered on the outskirts of the inhabiting area. The three skeletons, in crouched position on the left side and oriented N-NW-S-SE, are accompanied by a funeral inventory containing an askos-pot, two single ear cups, one kantharos pot, a pixis and a stone axe that had been re-used. A singular discovery, but not unimportant, is represented by an urn-incineration grave, dated in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. The vestiges from the 4th and the 5th centuries A.D., during the Sīntana de Mures-Cerneahov culture, are also very important; they are represented by several pits, usually with stones placed at the opening. Besides the characteristic ceramics, in some of the pits there were found. fibulas of the type having the leg twisted underneath. There were also discovered pits containing horse or dog bones.

Ion Motzoi-Chicideanu,
Archaeological Institute "Vasile Pīrvan"
str. Henri Coanda nr. 11
RO - 71119 Bucuresti -22
ROMANIA


Fig. 2 - General plan of the excavations


Last update: March 24, 1999