Recent investigations in the Early Chalcolithic settlement of Balș – La Brigadă (Romania)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the investigations in the Early Chalcolithic settlement from Balș – La Brigadă. The site was surveyed in two instances: once in the 80s and recently in 2017 in order to assess its chronological framing, as a contribution to understanding the diachronic movement of the Precucuteni communities in the Bahlui River Basin. We estimated the surface of the site to cca 1 ha. The geomagnetic prospections helped at demarcating the eastern limits of the settlement. In the test trench were revealed the collapsed walls of a burnt dwelling, which allowed us to sample bones for the 14C dating of this specific building. The  archaeological materials from the site, through their technology and typology, indicate an earlier beginning of the settlement than previously thought and probably the existence of at least two phases of inhabitation in the Early Chalcolithic. Artefacts and features from other periods were also revealed during the investigations. Keywords: Early Chalcolithic Precucuteni culture; geomagnetic survey; chronological and phase framing; pottery technology; lithic assemblage; anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations.