Archaeological Techniques and Research Center
Neolithic Settlement Excavation and Survey
The roots of Western civilization can be traced to the Neolithic, when people began to domesticate plants and animals and to live in sedentary villages. The first large Neolithic cultural complexes can be found in the Balkans. There, people created a number of innovations, including new architectural styles, expressive figurines and pottery, extensive trade, a diversified subsistence system, and eventually, copper metallurgy. All of these traditions began within the Danube basin, and spread west, into Central Europe, and east, onto the Pontic steppe.
The Balkan Neolithic cultural complexes were bounded in the northeast by the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. The only Neolithic complex to bridge these mountains and connect the Balkans to the Pontic steppes was the Cucuteni-Ariusd-Tripolye complex, which stretched from Transylvania in the west to Kiev and the Dnepr River in the east. The Cucuteni-Ariusd-Tripolye sites are famous for their elaborately decorated painted pottery and figurines, recently featured in exhibits in Toronto and New York City. The people living at these villages made some of the most beautiful pottery seen in prehistoric Europe, and they were also some of the first people in the area to make and exchange metal (copper) artifacts. The Ariusd cultural complex, which is found in Transylvania, has not been well documented in English; most of what we know comes from the current excavation at Soimeni.
The site of Soimeni, which means "of the eagles", sits in the foothills above the village of Pauleni Ciuc, near the city Miercurea Ciuc. Previous excavations have already located Neolithic houses belonging to the Chalcolithic era (4600 B.C. – 4300 B.C.) and large hearths. Several clay figurines have been found, including two of the largest yet found at a Cucuteni-Ariusd-Tripolye site, as well as a number of small altars. The wattle and daub dwellings at the site were burned, creating well preserved archaeological features.
Soimeni Tell
Cucuteni-Ariusd vase support
