The unique discoveries that speak of the beginnings of man in the Romanian territory. The history of the cemetery of the giants on the banks of the Prut

The current territory of Romania was born 100 million years ago. However, it was inhabited by people much later.

Tens of millions of years ago, the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic space was under the waters of the vast sea of ​​Tethys, only 1.8 million years ago the premises existed for the propagation of life with the rise of the Carpathians and the retreat total water to marginal seas, including the future Black Sea.

Among the most interesting discoveries related to the beginnings of humanity in the Romanian territory are undoubtedly two sites in the county of Botoşani, fascinating and at the same time with a special contribution to the understanding of the life of the hominids that lived in this space .

The cemetery of the giants on the banks of the Prut

Without a doubt, one of the most spectacular Palaeolithic sites in Romania and even in southeastern Europe is the mammoth hunter camp discovered by archaeologists on the banks of the Prut, near Ripiceni, Botosani county.

“Through the extension and succession of numerous evidences of habitation and wealth of material, the Ripiceni Izvor settlement, whose sediments are between 12 and 13 meters thick, is one of the most important Paleolithic complexes in Romania and perhaps even of all the eastern zone and Central-Eastern Europe “, Păunescu specifies in his work” Ripiceni-Izvor: Paleolithic and Mesolithic: monographic study “of 1993.

It is basically a 40,000-year-old settlement, probably built by Neanderthals, the feared mammoth hunters of the Paleolithic age. At that time, today’s northern Romania, especially Botoşani county, was part of the vast Eurasian ice age tundra. Woolly mammoths were a common presence in this area, followed by Neanderthal hunters, experts at taking down this massive prey.

As a true “mammoth graveyard” of Ripiceni shows, also on the banks of the Prut, the area was frequented by woolly mammoths. That is why the Neanderthals made a refuge, a hunting ground to kill and then process the hunt.

In 1961, the renowned archaeologist Alexandru Păunescu carried out excavations at Ripiceni Izvor. Here he discovered perhaps one of the largest deposits of mammoth bones and ivory in this part of Europe. In fact, the most impressive mammoth ivory in Southeast Europe, today in the Archaeological Museum of Săveni, was removed from the site.

In addition to the numerous mammoth remains, the oldest house in Romania was discovered in 20 years of research. It’s about that mammoth hunter camp. It was built, with pebbles at the base, with the central structure of ivory and large mammoth bones, on which, experts say, as a protective cloth, mammoth skins and skins were placed.

The remains of this prehistoric dwelling are kept in the Botoşani County Museum of History. The archaeologist Alexandru Păunesc believed that here, on the banks of the Prut, was the meeting place of the Neanderthals who went after the prey, even from the frozen territories of Siberia.

“The various communities of paleanthropes that inhabited both caves and river terraces favored hunting a certain animal that was more numerous than other species. The mammoth loved the loess steppes best. Those of the tourist centers of Ripiceni Izvor and Moldova I hunted mammoths (…) The Neanderthals of Ripiceni Izvor used the spear. Proof of the use of these weapons are the numerous foliar and other bifacial tips. As a hunting technique, the paleantrops here used large holes to capture larger game, as in the case of mammoths. With their help they immobilized the animal, after which its slaughter was carried out without risks (…) We do not rule out the possibility that the Neanderthal hunters had for the mammoth, the animal preferred as food and that dominates in the calcareous zone of Prut other species , a certain cult ”, affirmed Alexandru Păunescu in his article.

The first fires on Romanian territory

Also in Botosani, not far from Ripiceni, on the banks of the Prut, there is another Palaeolithic settlement with great archaeological treasures, related to the clear evidence of the existence and human life in the territory of present-day Romania. This is the Mitoc site, at the Yellow Shore point.

Archaeological research has been carried out here since 1885, when the geologist Gregoriu Ştefănescu discovered the first Paleolithic tourist center in Romania. Stefanescu had discovered flint tools here. Other investigations followed in the 1950s, but it was not until 1978 that systematic investigation began. Specialists soon realized that it was one of the most important prehistoric sites in Europe. A large number of lithic pieces were discovered, especially stone tools and objects used for hunting.

At the same time, the first clear evidence of the lighting of fire by the inhabitants of the Upper Paleolithic was found on the Yellow Coast, discovering the oldest fireplaces in Romanian territory. The research was conducted until 2015, the site is still of interest. It has no less than seven levels of room, with a depth of 14 meters in the field of stratigraphy.

In short, it was a settlement intensively inhabited by Paleolithic people, probably Homo Sapiens. According to radiocarbon dating, people lived in this Mitoc settlement 32,000 years ago, for almost 10,000 years. It was not just a hunting camp, but a complex environment.

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