1. CORNEŞTI – IACURI
a Bronze Age Fortification
in the Romanian Banat
a brief presentation made by Simona-Liliana Popovici
member of the team project from Romania coordinated by
Octavian Horia Minda

2. INTRODUCTION
In the expansive plains of the Banat region, the
western Romania, between Arad and Timisoara, lies
the multiple enclosure of Iacuri, in the immediate
vicinity of the village Corneşti.
It is a large area, about 1722 ha, that
encompasses four enclosing rings of ramparts. This
represents largest known prehistoric settlement in
Europe.
Corneşti - Iacuri
(Timiş County)

3. The dimensions can only really be grasped when looking at the site from
the air:
“A massive Late Bronze Age fortified settlement in Central Europe has been
the subject of a new and exemplary investigation by excavation and site
survey. This prehistoric enclosure, nearly 6km across, had a complex
development, dense occupation and signs of destruction by fire. It can
hardly be other than a capital city playing a role in the determinant struggles
of its day — weighty and far reaching events of the European continent now
being chronicled by archaeology.” (antiquity.ac.uk)

4. Satellite image of Corneşti – Iacuri (Google Earth)

5. In the nineteenth century, Corneşti-Iacuri was
already known by the Hungarian name
Zsadány, Romanian Jadani, German Schadain,
as shown on Austrian military maps. When
Austrian settlers mapped the marshy expanses
of Banat, parts of the two inner enclosures
appeared on a “Mercy Map” (Count Claude
Florimund de Mercy was commander of the
Banat between 1716 and 1730).

6. The settlement could be 3,500 years old. Based on
carbon -14 evidence, it was established that
fortification is dated in the second half of the second
millennium before Christ.
Fortress belongs Cruceni-Belegiš culture of the
Thracians north, which was widespread in north-
eastern Croatia by Piedmont area of Banat, controlling
the Danube valley to the north of Mureş. According to
experts, Cruceni-Belegiš culture was contemporary
with the Mycenaean civilization.

7. AREAS FOR WORSHIP AND RITUALS
In the community once lived in Corneşti stronghold
consisted of Dacians ancestors, whose main
occupation was agriculture and animal husbandry.
They were living in half-buried houses made ​of circular
holes with wood structure and covered with straw.

8. AREAS FOR WORSHIP AND RITUALS
Archaeologists say that, according to findings from the
scene, they had areas of worship and ritual deposits
objects (pottery, metal objects and even food) and
populations were trade between them. In addition,
archaeologists are confident that the population of the
site was among the Late Bronze Age, which adopted
cremation as a funeral rite.

9. Archaeologists in Britain, Germany and the U.S. are
working together on this archaeological site of Corneşti,
which is considered the largest prehistoric fortress in
Europe.
Prestigious foreign institutions and internationally
recognized experts bring to light old vestiges