CERCETARILE ARHEOLOGICE DE PE TRONSONUL CERNAVODA-MEDGIDIA AL AUTOSTRAZII A2. TUMULUL NR. 3

Descriere

Ever since the beginnings of archaeology on Romanian land, the Cernavodă-Medgidia area has raised the interest of some of the scholars. A number of sites dating from Prehistory, Antiquity, Early Middle Ages and later have been documented and partly researched. In fact, Dobrudja is one of the Romanian provinces with the richest collection of archaeological and historical vestiges. Therefore, the attention given to the choice of the future route of the A2 Cernavodă-Constanţa Highway was a priority of the authorities. Thus, the first version which suggested that the route follow in parallel, between Cernavodă and Medgidia, along the high terrace on the right, the former Vale Carasu currently the Danube-Black Sea Canal, was abandoned, as it would have seriously damaged important archaeological sites. The new route, partially located at a greater distance from the edge of the terrace where ancient human communities had established settlements and built fortifications, though still crossing archaeological objectives, does not lead to massive destruction.

In 2010, due to the combined efforts of national and regional authorities, of the entrepreneur, Colas S.A. France – Romania Subsidiary and the specialists of “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, significant archaeological investigations, whose results are partially dealt with in this volume, were conducted along this new route. Preventive and surveillance archaeological excavations were carried out on the territory of Peştera commune, not far from the town of Medgidia, between km 167+500-167+700, 168+600-169+100, 169+800-171+000 of the Cernavodă-Medgidia Section of the A2 Highway.

The efforts of all those involved led to archaeological researches which meet the European standards in force, in compliance with the financial clauses and terms of the contract signed by the beneficiary, Colas S.A. France – Romania Subsidiary, and the contractor, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology. Consequently, at the end of the archaeological campaign in the field and following the submission of the preventive and surveillance research studies to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the National Commission of Archaeology, the necessary authorization was given for the further development of the investment.

The present volume brings to the attention of all those who are interested the results of the archaeological researches conducted at Tumulus no. 3. This is the smallest of the three burial mounds excavated during the 2010 campaign. Although its sizes were smaller than those of Tumuli 5 and 6, the findings in its perimeter were interesting and spectacular.

The results of the investigations carried out in the last two mentioned tumuli, as well as those in the “Valul mic de pământ” area shall be dealt with in other studies.

The team of archaeologists, anthropologists, archaeozoologists, magnetometry specialists, who, last year, served on the sites located along the A2 Highwayroute, would like to express their gratitude for the prompt and efficient support granted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Ministry of Transport, the National Company for Highways and National Roads, their peers from Constanţa County Directorate for Culture and Heritage, from the National History Museum of Romania and the National History and Archaeology Museum of Constanţa, the direction of “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology and last, but not least, the contractor Colas S.A. France – Romania Subsidiary, represented by Mr. Marc Mirmand, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Guenet, Mr. Claude Duperron and Mr. Radu Pau. The present volume would not have gone out without the financial support provided by Colas S.A. France – Romania Subsidiary

The team that contributed to completing this volume includes those involved in the investigation of Tumulus no. 3 – Alexandru Morintz, Raluca Kogălniceanu, Cristian Ştefan, Cătălin Constantin and Monica Constantin – and those who processed data and materials collected from the field in the Institute laboratories: Cristian Schuster (archaeologist), Alexandra Comşa (anthropologist), Georgeta El Susi (paleozoologist), Georgiana Mureşan (restorer). Photographs of the site were taken by Alexandru Morintz and Raluca Kogălniceanu, those in the lab by Gheorghe Chelmec. Drawings were made by Monica Constantin, Raluca Kogălniceanu and Alexandru Morintz. French translation was provided by Eugen Nicolae.