Shadows in the Sand: Unfriendly Landscape in Archaeology
Shadows in the Sand: Unfriendly Landscape in Archaeology

Summary/Abstract: The low-land of the Banat Region in Western Romania is a territory rich in archaeological sites, the presence of human communities being facilitated by the local geomorphology, hydrography, and pedology. Even so, this area includes approximately 975 km2 where there are no traces of human settling from the nineteenth century (when archaeological research first begun in Banat) until today. After analysing the paleochannels of the Mureș River (the Galațca Channel being the best one preserved) and the soil resulted after sediment deposition, it is visible that the entire plain has a sub-layer of sand which cloaked the groundwater, thus preventing human communities from settling here. The lack of rivers and springs explains why the land was unsuitable for agriculture from the Neolithic Period to the Middle Ages. The Habsburg colonisation of the eighteenth century allowed the first villages to take shape here while the economic exploitation of the plain started via hydro-amelioration works (digging wells and irrigation canals) -- this made the territory famous up until today for its “Gottlob watermelons,” the “Lovrin vegetables,” and the “Teremia brandy” (produced from the grapes cultivated there). This is proof that sandy lands in the area were efficiently exploited after being transformed from “unfriendly” lands into “useful” lands.

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