Cultura Cernavodă II la Dunărea Inferioară. Relevanța cronologiei și a înmormântărilor tumulare
Cernavodă II culture on the Lower Danube. Relevance of chronology and tumular burials

Summary/Abstract: The end of the 4th millennium BC is the period preceding and then accompanying the arrival, apparently tempestuous, of the Yamnaya communities at the Lower Danube. At the same time, the cultural dynamics in the region of southern Romania (Muntenia) is still insufficiently specified, characterised by rather discreet signs. Recently, tumular burials were discovered in northern Muntenia, which contained grave-goods reminding of the Cernavodă II, but also Coțofeni cultural traditions. The Cernavodă II culture seems to be an inconsistent presence at the Lower Danube, being known from restricted archaeological excavations performed in the eponymous settlement and several other sites, to which a series of isolated finds can be added. The lack of systematic research is reflected by the modest information available. We have access to a few information about the habitat, funerary contexts, metallurgy, the artifacts characteristic of this culture and its chronology. Usually, the knowledge about the Cernavodă II culture is reduced to inconsistent samples of pottery, a kind of guiding fossil around which studies regarding its chronological position and relationship with other contemporary cultural phenomena were built. In this study we approach the Cernavodă II culture, focusing on new archaeological research carried out in northern Muntenia, with a few other points of interest added to the discussion. The main elements around which this study is built are the relative and absolute chronology as well as the relationship with the tumular phenomenon at the Lower Danube. Although the finds assigned to the Cernavodă II culture are still isolated, one can intuit the dynamics of these communities and a certain relevance in defining the cultural landscape at the Lower Danube, part of a larger process that crosses the entire Western-Pontic area. The study is intended to be a contribution to the knowledge of a chronological episode still insufficiently exploited by researchers.

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