1.Prehistorical discoveries

In 1889, on the ocasion of The 10th International Congress of Anthropology and Archaeology from Paris, the scientific world became acquainted with the outstanding neolithical discoveries from Cucuteni and other locations in Moldavia, made by cultural personalities and professors from Iasi: Theodor Burada, Grigore Butureanu, Nicolae Beldiceanu. The wonderful painted pottery from Cucuteni has entered the international cultural circuit raising a lot of interest for the discoveries in Moldavia. That?s why the famous German professor Hubert Schmidt who, at the beginning of the century, took part in the archaeological expeditions in the north of Syria and TURCHESTAN, wanted to see it for a better understanding of the painted ceramics in the Balkans and this part of the Danube river. With the approval of the Romanian institutions, in 1909 and 1910 H. Schmidt undertook systematic archaeological diggings at Cucuteni and determined the main stages in the development of this civilization and also made a thorough stylistic analysis of the ceramic painting. These studies and those from the Dambul Morii-Cucuteni and Sarata Monteoru were revealed to the scientific world through articles in famous magazines, and moreover, in 1932 a remarkable monograph was published.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the south-east of Transylvania there were made researches on the pottery found in the settlement of Ariusd, which defined a regional aspect of the Cucuteni culture.

The period between the two wars brought new discoveries from Cucuteni, through the work of many well-known Romanian archaeologists and archaeology lovers: Vladimir si Hortensia Dumitrescu, Radu si Ecaterina Vulpe, Vasile Ciurea, Constantin Cihodaru, Constantin Matasa and others. They studied the settlements from Traian-Dealul F?nt?nilor, Ruginoasa, Izvoare, Bodesti-Frumusica, Costesti etc. Many reports and studies were published becoming very soon well known worldwide. At the same time, a new monograph was written in French by a Romanian archaeologist about the settlement from Frumusica.

After the second world war, the number of researches have increased, each site becoming a center rich in surface studies of newfound settlements. Remarkable was the activity of the teams led by I. Nestor, Vl. Dumitrescu, Radu Vulpe, Mircea Petrescu-D?mbovita in the areas of Jijia and Bahlui, the Moldavian central plateau and the regions down the Carpathians. Meanwhile the researches in the south-east of Transylvania have been continued bringing novelties about the Ariusd aspect.

In the sixth decade, the activity around Cucuteni have recorded a premiere for the Romanian archaeological society and even for the Balkans: in 1949-1950 it was investigated EXHAUSTIV the first prehistorical settlement on the Holm hill from Habasesti, Iasi county, which was known to belong to the first stage of the Cucuteni culture. There were 44 houses and more than 100 house annexes and holes discovered. The results were published in a large monograph that remained a reference book on a prehistorical settlement since then.

> Geto-dacics discoveries