Since 2010, Berlin’s Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte has been involved in an international archaeological research project in Romania, where the largest prehistoric settlement in Europe uncovered to date is currently being examined.

The site is protected by four defensive walls with a total length of 33 km and covers an area of 17.2 square kilometres. After sondages (trial trenches) were dug over a period of five years from 2007 to 2013, archaeologists were able to date the fortifications to the late Bronze Age (about 14th or 13th century BC).

Through magnetometer surveys and systematic surface surveys it was possible to establish that dwellings once covered large areas inside the walls and that a city-like settlement must have existed. Further excavations are planned for the coming years. The main focus of the investigation will be on the structures within the fortifications: how were the dwellings constructed; how were they arranged? Moreover, the question arises as to what caused the demise of the huge settlement in the early Iron Age.

Contact person: Dr. Bernhard Heeb, research associate, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) since 2013 
Duration: since 2010