Situl arheologic de la Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă. Istoricul cercetărilor
Archaeological Site of Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă. The History of Research

Summary/Abstract: The archaeological site at Lumea Nouă was accidentally discovered in 1942 as a result of some works of public utility. The site is located in the north-eastern part of the city of Alba Iulia (Alba County), on the right bank of the Mureş River. The first stratigraphic surveys were carried out between 1944 and 1947. Thus, a category of painted pottery found in the lower level, numbered with D1, and known later as Lumea Nouă pottery, was revealed for the first time. The second group – numbered with D2 – represents the painted pottery collected from the upper levels, which belong to the Petreşti culture. Other archaeological campaigns were carried out between 1961 and 1963, in 1976, and between 1995 and 1996. Given the importance of the ceramic materials resulted from the older excavations at Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă, it has been necessary to resume the debate concerning this issue. Between 2002 and 2007, the archaeological research at Lumea Nouă site consisted of preventive excavations with a view to the archaeological discharge of the areas mainly intended for the building of family homes. At present, following the intensification of archaeological excavations and the setting out of research units in different points of the site, we know that the surface of the Neolithic settlement at Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă exceeds 40 ha. The Neolithic habitations of the Lumea Nouă settlement belong – in chronological order – to Vinča, Lumea Nouă, Foeni, Petreşti and Coţofeni cultures. The bibliographic references indicate analogies of the Lumea Nouă painted pottery with the painted pottery cultures of Hungary (Sátoraljaújhely), Slovakia (Veľké Raškovce) and Ukraine (Diakovo). At Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă several hollow complexes (pit houses) and surface dwellings have been identified and studied, thus revealing archaeological material that could be considered as belonging to the repertory of shapes and decorations characteristic of the Foeni group. Stratigraphically, the closed complexes and layers belonging to the Foeni group are overlapped by a Petreşti layer, which, on the basis of the painted pottery, can be dated to the developed phases of the culture. Foeni communities also manufactured anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines made of burnt clay. This category of artefacts is known from the Alba Iulia – Lumea Nouă site. A typological and stylistic analysis of the Foeni plastic art shows that certain patterns can be found later at the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic statuettes belonging to the Petreşti culture.

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