New considerations regarding the place of the Seusa-La cararea morii discoveries
dr. Marius Ciută
The paper whose summary will be presented in the following pages deals with the very complex problems related to the origins of the Neolithic way of life in the Transylvanian Intercarpathian area, an organic part of the Early Neolithic from the Balkans and North-Danubian areas.
The points of view from which this phenomenon has been (and still is) perceived were as different as probably were the specific particular circumstances in which it took place. As we acquired data and information through research and interpretations, there were formulated different theoretical-evolutionary constructions concerning the neolithization of Southeast European areas (and, implicitly, of the Intercarpathian territory). These constructions started mainly from the typological-stylistic analyses of artefactual products corroborated with the stratigraphy from different sites having multistratified deposits. The terms culture and cultural complex have been used randomly in the Romanian literature, sometimes having the same meaning, sometimes designating cultural processes of different proportions (spatial, chronological and evolutionary). As a consequence, the evolution of the North-Danubian Early Neolithic has been characterized, from case to case, by a certain incongruity.
The actual framework of my approach began to take shape through the research I had made, within the archaeological sites from Şeuşa–“ La cărarea morii” (1996-2000) and Limba–“ Bordane” (1995-2001), where we discovered representative deposits, characteristic of this specific phenomenon. These discoveries, together with the materials and data of the former research from Ocna Sibiulu – “ Triguri” and Gura Baciului, outlined and clearly defined the evolutions of the incipient Neolithic populations from the Transylvanian Depression.
Alter ten years from the first publication of results regarding early Neolithic levels from Seusa, the author steps forward proposing a new hypothesis. The hypothesis has in the background the new discoveries and advanced theory acquired in the last years of researches in the field.
