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Cerat - Gârla Mare / Gîrla Mare and Verbicioara pottery from the Neolithic

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The field named Cerat is placed on the hills on the north side of the village of Upper Racari (Răcarii de Sus), near the village, about 3 km to the east from Filiaşi.

Photo and original map: Adrian Gheorghe

Cerat is a stone age village not far from the Malva Castrum, a Roman castle or fort. It is interesting that the area was found to be salubrious by such different cultures, at such different times.

Photo and artwork: Adrian Gheorghe 2006

Răcari Time Line

Starting with the Stone and Bronze Age, there is a site, in the western part of the present day Village of Răcarii de Sus, called Cerat. This ancient Stone Age / Bronze Age site is placed on top of a hill, with a field on top of it, near a small river, the Matca, as all ancient villages have. Thus, we can place this Cerat site as number 01 on our time line.

From this 01 location, during Roman times, a huge castrum was built, not very far from the Răcari villages, on the same left bank of the Jiu River, on a place we can name 02 Matca Wooden site, where was found a few holes, like underground houses, as well as a huge wooden dam, called "Topila" for water for home use by the people there from the Middle Ages or later.

There must be, in the deep forest, an ancient village, around the Matca site, a place where people lived in underground houses (see the beautiful story of the Sultana woman), and also there must be a small ancient wooden church.

From the 02 Matca site, the people would have gone to the 03 Zidaru Spring site, where was built the ancient wooden church, perhaps the first or possibly the second, built by the Sultana women, as the story says. Today, this wooden church has been moved to Bralostita Village, over the Jiu River and still can be seen in the 03B location.

Going down to the small river, at the end of the Middle Ages, another church was built, the 04 Ghost Church, and later, the new church in Răcarii de Jos Village, 05. Here was the first modern village, Răcarii de Jos.

But some people from Răcarii de Jos migrated, in the 19th - 20th Centuries to the present day village of Răcarii de Sus, where a new church was built, 06.

So, this time line is like a circle, starting with the area of Răcarii de Sus, with the associated site of Cerat, then up north to the Matca wooden site, then to the east, to the Zidaru spring, then going to the south, where we find the present day village of Răcarii de Jos, and then going back to the west, to the present day village of Răcarii de Sus.

Photo and artwork: Adrian Gheorghe 9th December 2008

A cold and wet day, but the Alexis Team went to the Cerat site, near the village of Răcarii de Sus, not far from Filiaşi, at the end of February 2010, at the end of winter, and found the first signs of spring.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 28th February 2010

Many artefacts were found. After the rain and the snow, this is a good time to look for objects such as this.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 28th February 2010

It was a foggy and cold day, but the Alexis Team went to the Cerat site, near the village of Răcarii de Sus, not far from Filiaşi.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 7th December 2008

The Team found ten kilograms of artefacts there, pieces of pottery from the Neolithic, the Bronze age, as well as the Daco-Romans time, a time line of over 2000 years. All the finds will be donated to the Oltenia Museum for specialists to study.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 7th December 2008

This is a road through the Cerat area.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

The Cerat site has many artefacts of pottery from the Verbicioara culture, which is closely related to the Gârla Mare culture.

The Verbicioara culture is found mostly to the west of the Olt River, and the Gârla Mare culture in a narrow strip of land along the Danube River.

The site has a surface extent of about 100m x 100m, and it is situated under many private agricultural properties.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Constantin Para's Recreations of the Garla Mare Pottery

Constantin Para, a gifted potter and restorer of ancient pottery. His knowledge of the pots of the Gârla Mare (Garla Mare, Girla Mare) and other neolithic pottery was encyclopaedic.

He has identified the pottery from the Cerat site as being of the Verbicioara culture type, from about 3 700 years ago.

Mr Para was a master craftsman, a Romanian living treasure who deserves international recognition for his artistry, craftsmanship and erudition.

Tragically, he died in a car accident on 12th February 2008 at Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Romania.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

In Memoriam Constantin Para.

Photo: newspaper, via Adrian Gheorghe, 25th August 2008

Alina uses the GPS equipment to determine a data point in the southern part of the Cerat site.

There had been a lot of snow during this winter, most of which had melted at this time, leaving some of the field flooded.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

Adrian making a determination of latitude and longitude at the Cerat site. This new equipment will be a big help in accurately determining the location of various parts of the sites under investigation.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

Even now, after five years of intensive searching on the Cerat site, there can still be found important and valuable ancient artefacts such as this one, pottery from the Verbicioara culture, found on "Soare" land, at the Cerat site.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

Back at home, Adrian works on recording the discoveries made by Alina and himself on a Cerat GPS map.

Knowing the exact locations of discoveries and recording them is a very important part of the Alexis Project.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

This represents a huge step forward in the Alexis Project. It is the first GPS map of the Cerat site, and is an important scientific milepost. There are very few sites in Oltenia county which have a GPS map. In future, all sites recorded by the Alexis Project will be recorded in this way. It will not be easy, and it will entail much hard work, but it is very important for the history of the Romanian people.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

GPS data for the Cerat site.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd February 2008

Pottery from Cerat restored by Mr Para.

Pottery from Cerat restored by Mr Para.

Pottery from Cerat restored by Mr Para.

Pottery from Cerat restored by Mr Para.

Part of a small cup found at Ostrovu Mare, richly ornamented, a very nice piece.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

The same fragment of a cup - perhaps a coffee cup! ;-) as above, restored by Mr Para.

We (the Alexis Project members) know about it from a very knowledgeable man from Upper Racari, also an Alexis Project member, aged 70, named Enache Gheorghe, known as 'Chiriac', the same man who first found the fossiliferous site of Meteu/Bradesti.

Over the course of two years we made a lot of trips there and picked up every piece, washed it with water and preserved it. We obtained a total weight of about 200 kg of artefacts.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Two pieces of pottery from Cerat. The one on the left is very old, from the time before the Romans arrived in Dacia. The one on the right is made on a pottery wheel, a technique brought to Dacia by the Romans. Thus the culture of Cerat derives from both the neolithic and, later, from the culture and technology brought by the Romans.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2006

Flint knives found at Cerat, possibly from the Neolithic.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2006

Two Cerat pieces from the bases of pottery pieces. The piece on the left has been made on a wheel, and the one on the right has been hand made, from an earlier time.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2006

Here are two pieces of pottery, taken from the neolithical site from Cerat, near Răcarii de Sus, near Filiaşi.

Most pieces are decorated with angles and lines, but not spirals or circles. These are the first pieces found in this area which use spirals or circles as part of the decoration.

This places them more in the Gârla Mare culture rather than the Verbicioara culture, which is where most of the Cerat pieces apparently belong.

Stamped pottery

This was found at Cerat with a strange design which may be modelled on the sun, or a flower. No other similar piece has been found in two years of searches at Cerat.

About 1% of the artefacts in the Cerat area is Roman or Dacian pottery. This fact, besides this piece of Roman pottery confirms that this place was always a community, starting with Neolithical people, than the Dacians, then the Romans and so on. This is an important concept concerning the Romanian people and their history.

To me it looks as though a stamp has been made up of clay, fired, then used to imprint the wet clay surface.

But it is not obvious why this was done in this instance.

It is also unusual because the impressions seem to be randomly distributed, without a pattern to their use.

If it was the maker's mark, such as a friend of mine uses when making pottery, you would expect only one such impression on each pot. - Don

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Stone tools from Cerat

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

• pieces of cups and other neolithic vessels
• bones (deer and pig)
• stone tools
• others

Pottery designs from Cerat

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Ground stone tools from Cerat. Note in particular the axe at the middle right and the spear head in the bottom left. Both are ground to make them look like the more expensive bronze versions.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

These are spindle weights, known as fusaïoles. The fusaïole was used as a weight with the spindle rod made usually of wood, and made it possible to maintain the regularity of rotation. It also prevented wool or whatever yarn was being spun from falling from the spindle during the spinning.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Ornamented edges from pottery fragments.

Photos: Adrian Gheorghe

Lips, walls and bases of large pottery vessels

Photos: Adrian Gheorghe

Pieces of unidentified pottery sculptures

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Parts of large cups

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Other tools

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

These pottery fragments are of strainers. It is unknown what they were used for.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

A ceramic bead from Cerat.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Rolling mill stones for grain

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Ceramic pieces for a fireplace oven, burnt clay from a fireplace, and burnt wood from a fireplace.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Thrown pottery from Cerat, left, and from the nearby Roman site of Malva Castle, right.

Photos: Adrian Gheorghe

Unidentified objects from Cerat. These could be lips and handles or lugs from large pots.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

Bones found on the site include bones from deer and pigs. This indicates a forested environment at the time of the occupation of the site

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

This iron fishing trident was found in a nearby lake, Lake Geormani, near Craiova, about 25 km from Filiaşi, used in winter.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe

PROIECTUL ALEXIS

Satul neolitic Cerat - nota preliminara -

1. Unelte din silex( 2% ), reprezentate de multiple fragmente lama-cutit, precum si bulgare de silex, rudimentar cioplit;
   
   
2. Unelte de piatra slefuita (fragmente de topor, cu si fara orificiu de prindere a cozii, de mici dimensiuni);
   
   
3. Sfere de piatra cu diametru mic folosit le macinat, precum si blaturi de piatra, folosite ca suport;
   
   
4. Multiple fragmente de caramida ( 15% );
   
   
5. Fragmente de ceramica bruta, grosolana, fara ornamente( 30% )
   
   
6. Multiple fragmente de oase de origine animala;
   
   
7. Fragmente reprezentative din vase de ceramica bruta (toarte, guri si funduri de vas)- 8%;
   
   
8. Fragmente de ceramica ornata in relief, prin impungere-2%;
   
   
9. Fragmente de ceramica neolitica ornata cu incizii, sub forma de linii paralele, triunghiuri si puncte-2%;
   
   
10. Fragmente de ceramica fina, elaborata fara ornamente, ca atare, sau toarte si guri\funduri de vas;
    
    
11. Alte fragmente de piese nedeterminate;
    
    
12. Fragmente de alte utilitati (strecuratoare, opait, tanagra, etc.);
    
    
13. Nu s-au gasit arme (varfuri de sageata), piese metalice si nici ceramica pictata.
    
    

The Alexis Project

The Neolithic Village of Cerat

-Preliminary note-

1. Silica Tools (2%), represented by many fragments such as blades and knives, also pieces of silica rudimentarily altered.
   
   
2. Polished Stone Tools, such as fragments of an axe (small size), with or without the hole for the handle;
   
   
3. Stone Spheres with a small diameter used for grinding, and pieces of stone used as a stand;
   
   
4. Many fragments of brick (15%);
   
   
5. Fragments of ceramics, plain, rough, without ornaments (30%);
   
   
6. Many fragments of bones of animal origin;
   
   
7. Representative fragments of rough ceramic pots (handles, tops and bottoms of some pots) (8%);
   
   
8. Fragments of decorated ceramics in relief by "stitching", (2%);
   
   
9. Fragments of decorated ceramics by impressions, such as heart shapes, triangles and dots (2%);
   
   
10. Fragments of fine ceramics, without ornaments: handles, tops and bottoms of some pots;
    
    
11. Other unidentifiable fragments;
    
    
12. Fragments of other tools: strainer, candle;
    
    
13. No traces of weapons (arrows), nor metallic pieces, nor painted ceramics were found.
    
    

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