Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)
I. Natural Environment
number of settlements located along the water courses of the Someş Basin7. According to what we know so far, at the beginning of the Bronze Age, the habitation increased in the site of Petea. We only know of three settlements that spread over an area of 10 km around the site, which can be dated to the Neolithic; two finds from the Copper Age8 and none from the Early Bronze Age. On the same surface around the site we know of 8 settlements dating from the Middle Bronze Age9 10 11 and 12 from the Late Bronze AgeltJ. Water meadows and swamps in the Someş Meadow and from the margins of the Ecedea Swamp were very favourable to husbandry. Wide areas in the Tisa and Danube Basins were rich in water-plants, and provided good conditions for grazing even for the periods when the fields were covered by snow. The natural environment in these areas created a special place for shepherding during modern times and in the Middle Ages'1, and we believe it had been the same in the prehistoric times. We believe that as grazing increased, deforestation turned ample in the southern margin of the Ecedea Swamp (Bátorliget reservation)12 at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Paleozoological analysis attest a greater number of cattle as well as pigs, sheep and goats in the Bronze Age, but the number of horses was rather small at that time. The animals were bred to be sacrificed as well as for the products they offered (milk, wool, traction)13. The historical and ethnographic research attest that not only animals of the local inhabitants (sheep, cattle, horses, pigs) but also flocks from other areas wintered in the field, at the margins of the Ecedea Swamp. The animals were brought either from the neighbouring areas (cattle, sheep, pigs and horses): from Nir, Codru Hills (Bük) and Hortobágy or from remote areas (sheep from the south of Transylvania)14 15. The transhumance in the Carpathians and the Balkans is treated as a phenomenon that might have been present during the Bronze Age, because it is regarded as an intermediate economic system between that of the sedentary farmers of the western Europe and the nomadic shepherds of the European-Asian steppes'3. The great quantity of pig bones found in the archaeological sites at Medieşu Aurit—Potău and Lazuri suggested that the animals were bred in herds, in the swamps and in the forests nearby the setdements (as it was until a decade ago)16. Archaeological discoveries from settlements show that food was obtained by practising various occupations within the same settiement: plant cultivation, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing. This was due to the varied ecosystem in the northern half of Sătmar region. Most localities had agricultural fields, swampy areas, forests or small waters nearby. We assume that in order to make use of a greater variety of resources, the most favourable location was chosen out of several settlements in the area between the plain, the swampy areas or the hills. The demographic increase we assume for this age - probably the 7 Bader 1978, Pl. XCV; Kacsó 2003, PI. XXXVIII. 8 Pintye 2008, p. 86. 9 Dorolţ - Pescărie (Marta 2002), Dorolţ — Şoseaua spre Satu Mare (field research by L. Marta), Császló—sites no. 9, 10, 26, 29, 30, 37 (Pintye 2008, p. 86). 10 The settlements of Noroieni date from the late Suciu de Sus culture (Bader 1972, p. 126), Satu Mare — Borsze^ (Bader — Lazin 1980, Fig. 17), Lazuri— Lubi Tag (Kacsó 1994, Németi 1997), Lazuri — Drumul Dorolţului (Mana et al. 2001), Dorolţ — Pescărie (Marta 2002), Császló sites no. 11, 19, 26, 27, 30, 37 (Pintye 2008, p. 86-87); the following settlements date from Lăpuş II-Gáva I phase: Lazuri — Lubi Tag (Stanciu et al. 2002), Dorolţ — Pescărie (Marta 2002). 11 Szabadfalvi 1968. 12 Kiss 2004, p. 259. 13 Osteological analyses were applied in the Middle Bronze Age setdements from Medieşu Aurit— Potău (Bader 1978, p. 110-111) and Carei - Bobald (El Susi 2002) and in the Late Bronze Age settlement in Lazuri—Lubi tag (carried out by Elisabeta Berendi, unpublished). 14 Morvay 1940, p. 123-143; Szabadfalvi 1968, p. 145, 155-156. 15 Hansel 1998, p 9-18. 16 Grazing flocks of pigs was a familiar activity in many Romanian localities of the Satu Mare county until 2003 when this activity' was prohibited as an administrative measure for diminishing the spreading of pig pests. 8
