Orțișoara preistorică - fortificție rondel / Prehistoric Orțișoara, Rondelle type fortification

Abstract

This paper is focused upon a significant quantity of archaeological finds discovered in one of the archaeological surface surveys in the summer of 2010, during my participation at the Timișoara – Arad motorway rescue excavations, next to the village of Orțișoara. Special attention is drawn to the pottery for domestic usage which, after a comparative analysis with other findings from the surrounding area, were identified as part of the Banat culture, phase II. After a careful reflection upon the satellite images, the shape and gates positioning, the possible settlement could be seen as a rondelle type fortification. This type of settlement is mapped in different areas from Romania (Iclod, Portărești) as well as Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Czech Republic. The multitude as well as the diversity of the finds (pottery, a possible small clay figurine and the lithic materials) is suggesting a much wider periodization starting from Middle Neolithic to the Late Neolithic and most probably early Bronze Age. As a result of human intervention trough agricultural activities as well as natural transformations, the presumed settlement was levelled. A prompt rescue excavation either through a systematic or extended archaeological prospection would be necessary and it would bring much more insight upon this kind of settlements in Banat and the surrounding regions.