Andrei-Cătălin Dîscă
Ștefan Vasilache
Dinu Bereteu
An Early Iron Age fortified settlement at Moldovenești (Cluj County)
1 Ianuarie 2022
Cuvinte cheie:
Moldovenesti
archaeological survey
Gáva culture
fortified settlements
Bronze Hoards
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Abstract
The archaeological site from Fluieriște – Șanțul Păgânilor near Moldovenești (Hungarian: Várfalva), Cluj County, is located right where the Arieș River exits the Trascău Mountains, at the border between the Transylvanian Plateau and the Western Carpathians. Its position on a naturally well-defined promontory, where access can be easily controlled, made it an ideal location for establishing a large fortification.
The first mentions of this site date back to the 19th century, when pottery fragments, stone and bronze tools, as well as defensive works were identified. Over time, several researchers have contributed with a series of observations regarding this site, but only the investigations carried out in recent years allowed a clearer assessment of the site’s size and characteristics.
Based on the latest investigations, during the main occupation phase an area of around 20 hectares was fortified, as the promontory was blocked by an imposing east-west oriented, meandering rampart that reaches up to 3 m in height to this day. The presence of other ramparts and ditches suggests that important reconfigurations of the defended area took place, indicating a possible long-term (re)occupation of the Fluieriște Plateau.
These characteristics, together with the archaeological material mentioned in the literature or that observed in the field (especially pottery fragments specific to the Gáva culture) indicate that a large, fortified settlement functioned here during the Early Hallstatt period (12th - 8th centuries BC). Its dominant position and access to resources may indicate that this settlement may have had an important status during said period. This seems to be reinforced by the fact that many bronze hoards have been found in the vicinity of this area.
There is certain information that the plateau was occupied after and, possibly, even before the early Hallstatt period, but the extent of these occupation phases remains to be determined.
