Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age habitat in the Someşul Mic Basin

Abstract

The emergence of large fortifications at the beginning of Early Iron Age reflects a change in settlements system. The current paper studies settlement sites along with metal finds, graves and graveyards from Late Bronze Age cultures to Early Iron Age/Hallstatt period in the Transylvanian Plateau.Our aim is to investigate the transformations and the dynamics of the settlements through cartographic documents and data relating to the landscape around the sites (using satellite images, aerial photographs and geophysical measurements) stored in a geographic information system.Modeling the territories of central Transylvanian prehistoric communities provides information about the division of space and possible land use strategies. The research is also based on the existing macro-regional palaeo-environmental data of Central North-Western Romania.We can state that the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age chiefdoms form peer polities controlling small territories along single or more valleys. Our approach represents the actual stage of research of the subject; the future field researches will bring new concluding evidence in this matter.