Today I'll be talking about:
Neolitic cultures
Archaeologists distinguish the types of neolithic cultures on the territory of Romania especially after earthenware pots.
1. Boian culture
- circa 4300–3500 B.C.
- originated on the Wallachian Plain north of the Danube River in southeastern Romania
- pots with excised ornaments, painted in white and red
2. Turdaș civilization on the river Mureș
- 5700–4500 B.C.
- modern-day Serbia and Kosovo, but also parts of Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Greece
- the ceramics were painted before the burning of the clay
3. Gumelnița civiliation
- last half of the 5th millenium B.C to early 4th millenium B.C.
- the culture extended along the Black Sea coast to central Bulgaria and into Thrace
- pots with graphic elements that shine like metal
4. Hamangia culture
- began around 5250/5200 BC and lasted until around 4550/4500 BC
- Dobrogea, Bulgaria (Varna and Burgas), north-east of the Danube river
- stone statues and pots, ornamentation with slip through incisions or inlays with white matter, and very rarely yellow
5. Cucuteni civilization
- my personal favourite
- 5500 to 2750 B.C.
- Moldova, northeastern Romania, parts of Western, Central and Southern Ukraine,
- 3 colors: white, red and black. Spiral patterns. They used a primitive type of potters-wheel, which didn’t become common in Europe until the Iron Age.
- One of the most notable aspects about this culture was the periodical burning of the settlements, each one lasting 60-80 years. Why this happened is a subject of debate among scholars. Some of the settlements were reconstructed over burned sites. In Poduri, Bacău County, there were 13 habitation levels constructed on top of each other.
Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
