Prehistoric Romania
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Prehistoric Romania is the period in the human occupation (including early hominins) of the geographical area encompassing present-day Romania, which extended through prehistory, and ended when the first written records appeared.
The Palaeolithic
The Romanian paleolithic is divided into five phases: Proto-Paleolithic, Lower Paleolitich, Middle Paleolithic, Upper Pelolithic and Epipaleolithic.
Protopaleolithic
The Romanian Protopaleolithic (circa 2,000,000/1,800,000 - 700,000) is marked by the appearance of the first carved tools, the so-called "Pebble Culture" (Cultură de prund in Romanian). These tools have been atributed to the Homo habilis hominid's type.
Lower Paleolithic
The Romanian Lower Paleolithic (circa 700,000 - 120,000) is characterised by the appearance of two distinct carved tools: the bi-facial stone axe (chopping tools; at first, the Abbevillian, later Clactonian type), and the stone chip (at first, Acheulean, later the Levalloisian type). These tools were attributed to the Pithecantropus erectus hominid specie. Of major importance was the discovery of several fireplaces. This the first ever prove of the hominid ability to control fire in Romania.
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic in Romania (circa 120,000 - 35,000) is characterised by the persistence of the Mousterian culture. During this time, the stone tools start to differenced according to their function, and the first bone tools appear. These products have been attributed to the Neanderthals.
Upper Paleolithic
In 2002, the oldest modern human remains in Europe have been discovered in the "Cave With Bones" (Peştera cu Oase), near Anina. [1] Nicknamed "John of Anina" (Ion din Anina), his remains (the lower jaw) are approximately 42,000 years old.
As the Europe’s oldest remains of Homo Sapiens, they are likely to represent the first such people to have entered the continent. [2] The particular interest of the discovery resides in the fact that it presents a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neandertal morphological features, [3] indicating considerable Neandertal/modern human admixture, [4] which in turn suggests that already on their arrival in Europe, modern humans met, intermixed and interbred with Neanderthals.
A second expedition by Erik Trinkaus and Ricardo Rodrigo, discovered further fragments (e.g. a skull dated ~36,000, nicknamed "Vasile").
The Mesolithic
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The Neolithic
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- Starčevo-Criş culture
- Dudeşti culture
- Cucuteni culture
- Hamangia culture
- Vinča culture
- Tartaria tablets
- Indo-Europeans
Chalcholitic
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The Bronze Age
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The Thracians
From this mix of native neolithic populations, and the invading Indo-Europeans, a new ethnos emergerd, the Thracians.
The Iron Age
By the sixth century BC, the first written sources dealing with this territory appear from Greek sources. By this time, from the Thracian-speaking populations, the Getae (and later the Daci) branched out.
Timeline
See also
References and footnotes
- Inline
- ^ Trinkaus, E., Milota, Ş., Rodrigo, R., Gherase, M., Moldovan, O. (2003), Early Modern Human Cranial remains from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania in Journal of Human Evolution, 45, pp. 245 –253, [1]
- ^ João Zilhão, (2006), Neandertals and Moderns Mixed and It Matters, in Evolutionary Anthropology, 15:183–195, p.185
- ^ Trinkaus, E., Moldovan, O., Milota, Ş., Bîlgăr, A., Sarcina, L., Athreya, S., Bailey, S.E., Rodrigo, R., Gherase, M., Hilgham, T., Bronk Ramsey, C., & Van Der Plicht, J. ( 2003), An early modern human from Peştera cu Oase, Romania. Proceedings of the National Acadademy of Science U.S.A., 100(20), pp. 11231–11236
- ^ Andrei Soficaru, Adrian Dobo and Erik Trinkaus, (2006), Early modern humans from the Pe tera Muierii, Baia de Fier, Romania, Proceedings of the National Acadademy of Science U.S.A., 103(46), pp. 17196-17201
- General
- Alexandru Păunescu, Evoluţia istorică pe teritoriul României din paleolitic până la inceputul Neoliticului, SCIVA, 31, 1980, 4, p.519-545.
External links
- Template:Ro icon Ion din Anina, primul om din Europa on Jurnalul.ro
- Template:En icon Human fossils set European record on BBC.co.uk