Începutul bronzului timpuriu în estul României: observaţii privind valoarea cronologică a orizonturilor ceramice, în baza descoperirilor de la Bodeşti – Cetăţuia Frumuşica
The beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Eastern Romania: on the chronological/cultural value of pottery, based on the researches from Bodeşti-Cetăţuia Frumuşica

Summary/Abstract: In 2011-2013, archaeological researches were conducted in a site previously known for its rich Chalcolithic layers – Bodeşti-Cetăţuia Frumuşica, in the piedmont area in Eastern Romania (Neamţ County). The archaeological deposit sits on top of a high terrace of a small river (Cracău), towering over the valley.The features uncovered during the latest researches document the Early and Middle Bronze Age habitation. Documenting the Middle Bronze Age, part of a stone layer (Feature 3) associated with Costişa-type pottery was unearthed.A thorough research of an Early Bronze Age feature was subsequently conducted. Feature 1 consists of a ditch that, supposedly, enclosed the larger (south-eastern) plateau. The stratigraphic position of the feature is well established, as it cuts the entire Chalcolithic layers and it is covered by the Middle Bronze Age feature. A short segment of 16 metres was documented. Older researches (from 1939-1942) intersected parts of the same structure, but the particular character of this feature was not understood at that time.The ditch is merely 1.20-2.50 metres wide and 1.50-1.80 metres deep. Its covering began during the Early Bronze Age – first by setting ablaze some wood and grains amassed on the bottom of the feature, later by throwing over the fire a large amount of stones. Later on, part of the soil (with Chalcolithic remains) excavated while digging the ditch became the upper part of the filling.Two samples of charred seeds were collected from the bottom of the ditch: the calibrated AMS dates obtained (at the Debrecen Laboratory), fall in the last centuries of the 4th millennium BC.A small pottery batch is associated with the Early Bronze Age layer. About 40 small shards were collected, displaying the stylistically, morphologically and technologically characteristics of a local groupware (Târpeşti) of Folteşti II/Cernavoda II origin.On this account, the beginning of the Bronze Age in this area can be traced back to the last centuries of the 4th millennium BC.

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