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Situl traco-getic Mășcăuți-Dealul cel Mare
... Topographical sketch of the archaeological site Mașcăuți "Dealul cel Mare" (adapted fromZanoci and Matveev 2002). ...
The article brings back for discussion an old find from Mașcăuți “Dealul cel Mare”, a Late Iron Age site in the Old Orhei microregion. Here, in 2001, in a non-funerary context on the edge of the Mașcăuți “Dealul cel Mare” settlement, two clay hearths were discovered, one of which completely covered the skeleton of an infant, with a biological age of about 2-3 years. Although this feature, unusual for the Eastern Carpathians, has benefited of special attention among scholars, one particular aspect of this find has remained less explored. First, this is the presence of the iron neck-ring of La Tène type, and then the meaning of this deposition. Deciphering the feature of the Maşcăuti “Dealul cel Mare” by highlighting its location on the plateau of the hill, the association of the child with the sacred image of the hearth, the presence of an “imported” object, leads us to the conclusion that all this may indicate a votive deposition at the first stage, and the community would repeatedly use the consecrated space in ritual practices. Stratigraphic data and the chronological value of the neck-ring date this ritual sequence to the 3rd century BC, or rather, to the second half of this century.
Archaeological research conducted in the summer of 2015 in the western part of promontory Butuceni, Orhei District, was
a logical continuation of research that was carried out in the past 2013 and 2014 years. The complexity of previous fi ndings raised
several problems and the search for solutions was determined by the need to specify the confi guration of the defense from the
west extremity of the headland and its elements. It was necessary a correlation of discovered defense segments with traces of a
relatively well-preserved fortifi cation segment, a wallum and a ditch, located on the top of the promontory. It was considered, until the
research from 2013, that access from the west side of the promontory was blocked by a linear defense system, which begins exactly
in the point which is still visible today and continues west toward Răut River bed. Observations led us to believe that the continuation
of the defense line that was identifi ed and studied in our fi rst return year of research at Butuceni might follow a path other than
the one suggested by traces of fortifi cations preserved on top of the promontory, as was traditionally thought. The verifi cation of
this hypothesis and identifi cation of the exact number of fortifi ed lines, along with the constituent elements of the defense system,
determined the main goals that were set and achieved during the campaigns of 2013 through 2015.
Archaeological research conducted in the summer of 2015 in the western part of promontory Butuceni, Orhei District, was a logical continuation of research that was carried out in the past 2013 and 2014 years. The complexity of previous findings raised several problems and the search for solutions was determined by the need to specify the configuration of the defense from the western extremity of the headland and its elements. It was necessary a correlation of discovered defense segments with traces of a relatively well-preserved fortification segment, a wall and a ditch, located on the top of the promontory. It was considered, until the research from 2013, that access from the west side of the promontory was blocked by a linear defense system, which begins exactly in the point which is still visible today and continues west toward Răut River bed. Observations led us to believe that the continuation of the defense line that was identified and studied in our first return year of research at Butuceni might follow a path other than the one suggested by traces of fortifications preserved on top of the promontory, as was traditionally thought. The verification of this hypothesis and identification of the exact number of fortified lines, along with the constituent elements of the defense system, determined the main goals that were set and achieved during the campaigns of 2013 through 2015.
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