Liviu, Marta - Szőcs Péter Levente (szerk.): Catalogul colecţtiei de archeologie (Satu Mare, 2007)
Cadrul natural
the present territory of Satu Mare county. The various reliefs of the territory determined an uneven exploitation, according to the opportunities offered to use the resources. The relation between man and the environment from Satu Mare County was different throughout the time. If we look retrospectively to the natural environment of the county in the last centuries, it can be noticed the difference between its aspect then and today. The human activities carried out especially during the last two centuries have transformed it radically. The birth of the new geographical units - Ecedea Plain and Ier Plain - can be mentioned, as a consequence of draining the two swamps. The draining of the Ecedea Swamp at the end of the 19th century meant the destruction of one of the largest swamp-areas in Europe. More major modifications of the landscape in other areas of the county were produced by regularization of the river-courses by damming up and cutting the curves. In this sense, the biggest change was made with the regularization of the inferior course of Someş river, the inferior course of Homorod river, the building of the dams in the valleys of Crasna and Tur, and in the inferior courses of rivers Maja, Taina and Valea Rea etc. The draining of the swamps and the controlling of river courses decreased the floods and increased the surface of agricultural fields, but, at the same time, it reduced dramatically the swampy land, rich in various resources. The extinction of the specific flora and fauna from swamps led to the extinction of some professions based on wielding these resources, and also to major modifications in the procedure of building the dwellings, or in people’s nourishment. Another major transformation in the landscape of Satu Mare County is represented by the progressive reduction of the forests. Looking retrospectivelly, the accurate maps, made on the order of Emperor Joseph II in the 1780s, show that the forests covered wider areas at that time than they do now. Then, the forests of the Codru Hills, of the Oaş, and Tăşnad area spread at the foot of the hills, and the “wooden islands” of the plain area were much wider. The forest of Noroieni-Ciuperceni, for example, used to cover a great part of the Satu Mare Plain, from the inferior valley of Tur river to Odoreu and Medieşu Aurit, and down to the Someş river. There were also few small forests in Carei Plain and in Crasna valley, remnants of some old forest areas. Otherwise, the land clearings had begun much earlier than the 1780s, when the Josephine maps were made. Mediaeval documents attest that the forests of the Codru Hills came down to the plain between the Someş and Crasna rivers, reaching to the north Hrip, Sătmărel and Doba settlements, and the area of Homorod and Bălcaia rivers. The toponyms, used during the 19th century, show areas with forests in the plains of Carei and Satu Mare, kept in the collective memory of the inhabitants, and it reminded to extinct woodlands. The names of certain localities (Lazuri, Peleş and Pelişor), attest land clearings at a time close to their foundation, the 11th and 12th centuries. The osteological analysis made on the finds from the archaeological sites of Carei-Bobald and Lazuri, prove the existence of stags and wild boars, showing the closeness of forests at that chronological level: Bronze Age, Iron Age and the first millennium of the Christian era. Recent palinological analysis made in the Oaş Mountains and the Nir Plain, depict human activities as having a significant impact on forests starting with the Neolithic period. The human activity at that time included controlled burnings of the forests in order to obtain pasture lands or fields for plough. The spatial distribution of the archaeological finds shows differences from one age to another in the inhabitance of different territories. The preference for certain areas was determined by the way of wielding the natural resources specific for each period. In the Paleolithic Age the habitation was intense only in the high areas of the Oaş region, due to the presence of the raw material there, used for making tools, and also for the nearby routes of migrating animals. In the Neolithic Age, when agriculture was practiced exclusively by hand, are favored the low and humid lands from the shores of the swamps and rivers. This land was easier tilled with simple tools made of wood, stone and 22
