Photo credit: (c) Archives of Buzau County Museum

The settlement of Sarata Monteoru, Buzau County, was discovered in 1895 by military architect Eduard Honzic, an amateur archaeologist, who was coordinating the construction of a health resort for Grigore Monteoru’s family. First systematic searches were conducted under the German occupation in 1917-1918 by German archaeologist Hubert Schmidt, a reserve commissioned officer of the German army, who invited over to Monteoru renowned German scientist Wilhelm Dorpfeld, who was looking for the vestiges of Mycenae in Greece. A great deal of the items discovered was moved to a museum in Berlin. The first Romanian diggings at Sarata Monteoru were conducted by Ion Andriesescu and Ion Nestor in 1926 and 1927. They were continued by Ion Nestor in 1937-1958. In 1990-2010, searches were resumed by famous archaeologist Eugenia Zaharia.

The communities of the Monteoru culture survived nearly 1,400 years, between 3,000 and 1,600 BC, with the apex of their development being reached between 2,200 and 1,800 BC. The Monteoru culture would cover the Curvature Carpathians, the south and some central parts of Moldavia, as well as the south-eastern parts of Transylvania. The most important sites of Buzau County where vestiges of the Monteoru culture have been studied are Sarata Monteoru, Naeni, Pietroasa Mica and Carlomanesti.

‘The villages of the Monteoru peoples were located up on the hills well protected naturally, enjoying wide visibility to the planes and also located immediately close to natural resources — stone, water, wood and salt. They were living in ground houses of a timber frame made of earth and wood. Inside the houses, there were fire hearths used for cooking and heating. Outside their houses, they would have outbuildings such as workshops, kilns and holes to store supplies,’ Director of the Buzau County Museum Sebastian Matei explains.

Archaeologists have discovered that cereals were the main plants cultivated by the Monteoru — wheat, barley, and millet, as well as vegetables such as spinach, beet and arrach. Animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs were farmed in the house. Hunting would play an important part in getting furs and food, with archaeological searches having unearthed many bones of boars, deer and hare. Most of the artefacts are pottery vessels decorated with geometrical motifs; the cups and funeral urns are real works of art. The Monteoru people were using stone, bone, horn and sometimes metal implements. Bronze was used especially for the manufacturing of weapons while adornments were made of gold and silver.

During the Monteoru culture, numerous objects from other parts of Europe started to emerge that are not specific of the culture, including weapons, saddlery items and adornments. In order to pay for the objects exchanged, the Monteoru people would process copper ores.

‘The most exploited deposits were the cooper ores, using an own technique imported as a result of exchanges with peoples from Transylvania. Copper ores would be melted at 1,000-1,200 degrees Celsius in kilns and cast in moulds. The people were very inventive as they would use interesting casting techniques such as the lost-wax casting,’ says the archaeologist of Buzau.

The lost-wax casting entailed the modelling in wax of an item, such as an axe, that would be covered in clay. After the moulded item was heated up, the wax would leak through an orifice through which the bronze would also be cast. That is how they made arrow tips, axes, sabres and ornaments. The funeral inventory is proof to the culture having been highly advanced. Along with ceramic recipients, also found were arrow tips, stone axes and ornaments such as bronze bracelets, kaolin and amber beads, bone rings, as well as looped earrings of gold and bronze.

The Monteoru people would inhume their dead in a crouch position in rectangular graves covered with stone. Instances have been found of holes dug in rocks and cases made of large stone slabs. A small proportion of the dead were cremated, without knowing the exact reasons. The funeral inventory comprised ceramic recipients along with weapons — arrow tips, stone axes; ornaments — bronze bracelets, kaolin and amber beads, stone rings, as well as looped earrings of gold and bronze. Although the Monteoru people created quite a civilisation for their times, there were other contemporary areas where development was even higher.

‘At the time, the Egyptian civilisation was much more advanced. In Egypt, there were cities with marvellous structures, whereas the peoples of the Monteoru culture would be living in villages built high on hills and in the mountains, but frequent exchanges and circulation over a large area helped them evolve and make constant progress,’ says Director of the Buzau County Museum Sebastian Matei.AGERPRES