Archaeology - ROMANIA Monthly Update - September 2007

Volunteer Archaeological Update - September 2007

Most of the diggings that we usually work on are in Transylvania. The only work we do in the South is at a Neolithic digging site near the Danube Delta. This month however we went to a medieval digging near Bucharest, in a small village called Gaiseni. The site is a monastery called Strambu and it was built in the medieval times by "boieri" - feudal land lords.

The digging was not very interesting, but the experience with the village and the people living in it was something nobody will forget. Finding people to help in the digging was quite impossible, as the people in the village didn't really like us and the accommodation was very basic. Even the employees from the City Hall were accusing us that we are stealing buckets of gold from the church. The people didn't seem to understand why we were digging there if not to find gold. It was the second year when there was archaeology research going on here and they will continue next year, but we will not go there to work anymore.

It was the Hieronymus Cultural Association that took on this dig and Dr. Horea Pop was the archaeologist responsible for it. Because nobody from the village wanted to work for us, he had to hire someone from 600 km away, from Simleu Silvaniei. They had some experience because they had helped us with the digging in July.

In two weeks, we opened and closed five sections where we did research. One of the sections was opened at the north of the church where there was probably a living space and a cellar. Here is where we found a very interesting arch full of mortar. Over the arch the inhabitants of the monastery later on built cells for the monks.

In other sections we searched for the wall that was around the monastery. Most of them had no foundation and were made from very poor quality bricks. There were several sections where we found parts of the wall that had broken down.

In one of the sections we found a floor and on the walls there was still paint. Near where the fire place had been, two wooden piles were discovered, along with a Turkish coin.

The inventory of the digging was not very impressive: pottery, two pipes, a piece of glass from a window and the coin that I've already mentioned.

All this information will also go to an architect who is responsible for the conservation and reconstruction of the monastery. At this time the monastery suffers because of the passing of time and the indifference of the people from the village.

I cannot end this update without mentioning one of the adventures that we had in the area. One of the two teenagers that we hired to help us with the digging was very scared of ghosts. They slept in a tower near the church and the graveyard and every day they told us stories about the "ghost" that visited them. So one night, around 2 am, we decided to bring their 'ghost' to 'life' so to speak. So two Projects Abroad volunteers, their supervisor and an archeologist went into the cemetery in the middle of the night, lit some candles, rang the church bells (which awoke ALL the dogs from the village), made weird sounds and screams and at the end threw a metal bucket down an empty and deep old deep well. The next day, our two 'ghost busters' - after not having closed an eye the whole night -, told us they couldn't stand the supernatural anymore and left back home.



George Andrei CIOTLAUSI
Archaeology Assistant for Project Abroad Romania

Projects Abroad Archaeology Centre Romania
8^th December 2007

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