Living together or apart? Unravelling the development, internal organization and social structure of a complex Bronze Age tell settlement at Toboliu, western Romania. Part 1: the archaeological approach

• Applicants: Alexandra Gavan, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Tobias L. Kienlin
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436594565

The main goals of the Toboliu project are to fully explore and reconstruct the diachronic spatial, chronological, and socioeconomic trajectories of a Bronze Age tell-based settlement complex in the Hungarian Plain by employing a multidisciplinary approach. The results obtained during the first funding period of the project (2020–2023) have led to a much better understanding of the environment and the different parts of this multi-component site (consisting of a tell, two enclosing ditches, an area with houses in between the ditches, and an extended outer settlement beyond), and laid the base for the reconstruction of its chronological development between the end of the 20th century and the 14th century BC. However, these results have also raised interesting new questions concerning the trajectory through time of the complex site layout, as well as the underlying social and economic dynamics. In order to answer these questions, we plan to discover the full extent of the site, determine the absolute chronology of all its parts and their relation to each other, reconstruct the development of its complex fortification system, and uncover the spatial and socioeconomic organization of the site. To this end both archaeological investigations and comprehensive scientific analyses are required, which together will provide a broad spectrum of new information about the tell-based site at Toboliu. This is why our package proposal contains two closely integrated project parts that feature: 1) minimally and non-invasive archaeological investigations (targeted coring, geophysical survey, systematic soil chemistry), as well as targeted excavations of the fortification system and of a house in between the ditches; and 2) multidisciplinary scientific analyses (consisting of geoarchaeological, micromorphological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, and biomarker investigations), which will be carried out simultaneously. This type of innovative and interdisciplinary bottom-up approach will significantly improve our knowledge and interpretation of Bronze Age tell communities in the Hungarian Plain, help to reassess how well the current theoretical models match the evidence in the ground, and contribute to the current knowledge on the development of complex settlements in a key area of Bronze Age Europe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants