With National Science Foundation Support, Drs. John O'Shea and Alex Barker and a team of American and Romanian colleagues will conduct a multi-year project of archaeological testing and excavation at the site of Pecica Santul Mare in western Romania. The project builds on a highly successful pilot season, also funded with NSF support. The research team brings together expertise in geology, metallurgy, material science and biology, as well as expertise in Bronze Age and Dacian archaeology, to investigate the age and character of this pivotal archaeological site.
The great tell at Pecica holds a unique place in the history of European archaeology. As one of the earliest excavated Bronze Age tells in Eastern Europe, its long sequence of occupation provided the standard for dating the later prehistory of Middle and Eastern Europe. The calibration of the Pecica sequence using modern dating techniques such as radiocarbon dating will greatly enhance the research value of Pecica's unique long sequence of occupation and will serve to recalibrate existing collections from literally hundreds of archaeological sites across Eastern Europe. In addition to its chronological significance, Pecica was an important early center for the manufacture and distribution of metal work during the Bronze Age. As such, the site can provide a laboratory for documenting the organization of early bronze metallurgy and trade as well as for understanding the character of social change during the Bronze Age.
The Pecica project will generate a plethora of important scientific results. The project will establish a secure chronological framework for Pecica and the eastern European Bronze Age, and will document how the rise of metallurgy and trade during the Bronze Age contributed to changes in the organization and complexity of society within continental Europe. In addition, the excavations will provide the first systematically collected evidence for the subsistence and economic basis for these large Bronze Age settlements, and for the technology of metal production.
Among its broader impacts, the study will foster international scholarly collaboration in a region that until recently was isolated from most research in the English-speaking world. The collaborative work will enhance the sharing of expertise and techniques among American and Romanian researchers and provide major training benefits for American and Romanian students. The project also will ensure that a controlled sample of archaeological materials from this historic, but endangered, site is preserved for posterity.
