Investigation of settlement structures and chronology of the Late Bronze Age defended settlement of Cornesti-Iarcuri in the Romanian Banat

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Rüdiger Krause; Professorin Dr. Astrid Stobbe; Professor Dr. Matthias Wemhoff
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2013 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 240142508

After five years of successful excavation and prospecting campaigns since 2013 exploring the settlement and construction structures as well as the landscape and vegetation history of the large Late Bronze Age fortified settlement of Iarcuri-Cornesti in the Romanian Banat, numerous data and new insights were gained. As requested in the initial application, a final 6th project year will be requested for the continuation and finishing of the work on the various project parts and disciplines. The results should be brought together, discussed and evaluated in an interdisciplinary manner, and finally brought together in a first joint monograph.In the foreground of the work on archaeobotany are the off-site data for the reconstruction of the landscape and vegetation history as well as the on-site data. With the archaeobotanical remains, Corneşti has an excellent database that has to be discussed in a regional context and, in conjunction with the results of zoology and environmental reconstructions, will ultimately lead to a detailed assessment of the nutritional basis.The consequences of settlement since the Copper Age on this landscape are documented by powerful colluviums in the small valleys. On the basis of mapping the topsoil thicknesses to estimate erosive events, modeling will be performed also based on geomagnetic and remote sensing data.The archaeological excavations have led within the fortification rings I and II to completely new records and findings on different constructions of wooden and possibly buildings made of clay. Together with a large series of 14C-dating on short-lived material and a new typo-chronological framework for the ceramics, the goal is to create a regional scientifically dated typo-chronological framework for the ceramics of Cruceni-Belegiş culture. Together with the results of the chronology of settlement structures and house dwellings as well as the history of the construction of the four fortification rings, a model for the development of colonization and finally together with all data, a first reconstruction of the history of Corneşti-Iarcuri in the middle and late Bronze Age should be possible.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Romania
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Alexandru Szentmiklosi