 European Landscapes: Past Present and Future
Archaeological Landscape and Sites Recording
in Southern Romania
Project Progress Report
CIMEC - Institute for Cultural Memory in Bucharest is a public
institute with a long practice and experience in cultural heritage
documentation:
- national databases for movable and immovable heritage
- National Archaeological Record Database
- Web information dissemination and co-operation with heritage
institutions in Romania and abroad.
Our website (http://www.cimec.ro),
established in 1996, is the main gateway to Romanian cultural
heritage. We participated in several European projects (ArchTerra/Copernicus
- Esprit, 1999 - 2001: Expanding ArchWeb Network to Bulgaria,
Poland and Romania; ARENA 2001 - 2004: Archaeological Records
of Europe - Networked Access; HEREIN - European Heritage Network,
2003 - 2004, EPOCH NoE /FP6, 2004 - 2008 etc.). We joint the project
'European Landscapes: Past, Present and Future' with the following
aims:
- To enrich the National Archaeological Record database through
the exact location of the known site, discovery and recording
of unknown archaeological sites by the examination of aerial
photographs, archive sources, digital photography and digital
cartography, using the collected material to compile maps
of archaeological sites, monuments and landscapes, and of
protection zones around them.
- To collect unknown archaeological data of all periods from
a pilot area on the Lower Danube Valley (Mostiºtea Valley)
and to make them available to the public, cultural resource
managers and researchers.
- To place individual settlements and ritual or military sites
in context with one another, and to demonstrate their relationship
with the physical and ecological landscape around them.
- To identify the changes in the landscape that took place
over the last decades by comparing older and more recent aerial
photographs.
- To promote information exchange and development work in
the use of GIS, the Internet and other forms of digital communication,
and to facilitate the digitising and dissemination of air-photo
information about the ancient landscape and its significance
in modern times.
- To organize workshops and seminars introducing students,
archaeologists and cultural resource managers to the practice
and uses of archaeological air survey, photo-interpretation,
mapping and record creation for exploration, presentation
and conservation purposes.
- To co-operate with Culture 2000 co-partners in the design
of travelling and Internet exhibitions and of education packs
and other publications to raise public and official awareness
of 'aerial' and related techniques in the identification,
presentation and conservation of heritage landscapes across
Europe.
During the first year of the project we followed
two main goals: gathering information for the pilot area to be
surveyed and training of archaeologists for the use of aerial
photos.
1. Research Activities 2004 - 2005
- Identification of the territory to be catalogued (Mostiºtea
Valley and the surrounding area)
- Survey and gathering of documentary sources (bibliographic,
cartographic and photographic, GIS data)
- Pilot project study: Mostiºtea lake area, Sultana village,
Malu Roºu site: landscape change detection analysis, using
air-photos taken during the past 30 years (1972 - 2003).
About the Sultana - Malu Roºu Archaeological
Site:
- Location: The settlement lies about 800 m from the village
of Sultana, on the high terrace of the Iezerul Mostiºtea lake.
A large part of it was eroded by the lake, only a rest of
the settlement with the diameters of about 30x35 m has been
preserved.
- Excavations: This is the first Gumelniþa culture site submitted
to scientific research in the '20s of the last century. More
recently, after 1975, it was researched almost entirely. Unfortunately,
the results of these researches remained unknown: the reports
were not published, the archaeologists working there died
and their excavation diaries and other documents were lost.
At present a team of archaeologists from the Lower Danube
Museum in Cãlãraºi and the National History Museum of Romania
in Bucharest are excavating in order to try to establish the
stratigraphy in the older excavated trenches and areas. From
the few data available we know that the cultural layer was
about 4 m thick and comprised the rests of the three evolution
phases of the Gumelnita civilization.
- There are the remarkable archaeological finds preserved
in museums that make Sultana a special site within the Calcolithic
Age.
First results:
We bought aerial photos of the area from the National Institute
for Cadastre (1972, 1986, 2003), identified the archaeological
excavations and their evolution across the period as well as the
erosion of the shore of the lake, deaper in some areas. We put
these information on the digital map. Our study is of great help
for the archaeologists currently working there for the reconstruction
of the previous researches and the conservation of the remanis
of the site.
2. Training of archaeologists
We organised a training course in aerial archaeology in Buºteni,
Romania, 9 - 15 May 2005, with the support of the project and
contribution from the EPOCH Network of Excellence: European
Cultural Landscapes: Past, Present and Future. We had 34
participants from 6 countries, including 6 persons from our institute.
In September 2005 we organised at CIMEC in Bucharest a training
week in the interpretation of aerial photos with Rog Palmer, including
a one day field walk in the area of the Mostiºtea Valley.
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