Internet Archaeol. 16. Trick. Study area tells

7.2 Study area tells

The study area is located in Teleorman County where around 40 tells are currently thought to exist (Andreescu et al. 2001). In the study area specifically, nine tells are known to exist. Only one has been systematically excavated, that of Vităneşti in the Teleorman valley, where a team led by Dr Andreescu of the National Museum Bucureşti have been conducting open area excavations since 1995 (Andreescu 2000). Figure 4 shows three of the tells from the study area; Măgura, Vităneşti and Gorgan.

In 1998 the SRAP joined the research by contributing multi-scale investigations of the archaeological deposits in a larger reach of the Teleorman valley centred on the Măgura tell. In order to understand the chronology and development of local settlement, the SRAP has conducted stratigraphic sampling of the tells at Vităneşti, Măgura and Lăceni. Narrow slots were excavated in the tell slopes, and the stratigraphy analysed and charted. From this work it appears that tells first appeared locally around the middle of the fifth millennium BC, and there was punctuated occupation until abandonment around the end of fifth millennium BC (Haită 2001).

The charts deriving from this stratigraphic sampling of tells provide useful source material for conducting investigations into temporal change in visual experience from the settlement space. The charts show the physical development of stratigraphy at the tell, which can be linked to cultural periods through association with ceramic material deriving from the exposed section. In conjunction with GIS, this opens up the possibility of conducting temporal viewshed analysis from the settlements, discussed in more detail below.

Magura tell Vitanesti tell Gorgan tell

Figure 4: Three tells in the study area; left to right, Măgura in the Clăniţa valley, Vităneşti in the Teleorman valley and Gorgan in the Vedea valley