SETTLEMENT TYPES AND ENCLOSURES IN THE GUMELNITA CULTURE

Descriere

This volume intends to add a contribution to the currently existing information on the Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI civilization, that the author considers to be „an extra somatic means of human adjustment to the environment”, logically explaining the territorial expansion of the rich and varied Gumelniţa ceramics, with its southern Danube variant. By sharing the well known opinion of the researcher Douglass Bailey, according to which tells correspond to centers of an intensified agricultural activity, and not merely of domestic activities, the author has drawn the logical conclusion that its inhabitants were moving several times a year to and from such locations, probably the nearby satellite settlements, which were favorable to various domestic activities. Mr. Cristian Eduard Ştefan shares also another interesting opinion (see John Chapman), that which considers tells „the social and physical expression of the connection with ancestors, an essential relationship for any descendants based society”, differences being manifest in the use of agricultural land in the case of tell and non-tell type settlements.

dr. Silvia Marinescu Bîlcu

This volume examines the settlement types and enclosure systems of the Gumelniţa culture, after more than four decades from the first conclusions, drawn by Sebastian Morintz, regarding this interesting research topic. A series of aspects are taken into consideration, such as the concept of archaeological culture, spatiality in archaeology, what is a tell, as well as a case-study focusing on the Argeş-Dâmboviţa habitat area from the earliest Neolithic until the beginning of Early Bronze Age. A number of opinions and issues concerning tells are also reviewed, focusing on an entirely new and original approach which belongs to Douglass Bailey. The work is finalized by the Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI settlements repertory becoming thus, in our opinion, a necessary tool for researchers dealing with this topic.

Cristian Eduard Stefan