General and particular features of the defense system from the west side of promontory Butuceni

Abstract

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.