MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLCK, BARBARA RAPPENGLCK, NICK CAMPION (EDS.

): ASTRONOMY AND POWER

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL WORLD FROM ROMANIA

IHARKA SZCS-CSILLIK, ALEXANDRA COMA, ZOIA MAXIM
Abstract: In Romania many researchers have interdisciplinary preoccupations, tackling the studied matter from many points of view. Such an
interdisciplinary research group was established in Cluj-Napoca. These arhaeoastronomical researches investigated the Romanian territory, by using
the astronomical orientation. Some of the arhaeoastronomical studied places, like sanctuaries, fortresses, and necropolises of the Neolithic time are
found in Banat, Transylvania, Moldova and Muntenia. We enlisted just the well-known and published historical monuments: the Neolithic sanctuary
from Parta (Banat Culture), the Neolithic necropolises from Baia-Hamangia (Hamangia Culture), Cernica (Boian Culture, Dudeti Culture), Grditea
Ulmilor (Gumelnia Culture), Iclod (Iclod Cultural Aspect), Cucuteni (Cucuteni Culture), and the Dacian world from Sarmizegetusa-Regia (Romanian
Stonehenge). We presented these locations, culture and the arhaeoastronomical results obtained.
Keywords: Neolithic, sanctuary, necropolis, alignment, solstice, equinox, solar arc

Introduction
Romanian Archaeoastronomy is the study of how ancient
people interpreted what they saw on the night sky and
how they integrated their observations into their
mythologies, religions and rituals. Once they realized
they could determine e.g. when the opportune planting
and harvesting time had come, the sky observation
became important. The main objective of our
investigation is to prove that the celestial phenomenon
had a certain impact upon the different cultures and the
manner how this effect is reflected within the
archaeological finds. The archaeoastronomy can help
provide: the measurement (e.g. astronomical orientation
etc.) - including the timing - the study of symbols, as well
as the study of the peoples relation with supernatural
world. It is difficult to interpret the remaining signs,
symbols, often impossible for todays researches. All
these are evidence about what a great help in the
reconstruction of the cults is the archaeoastronomical
research.
Research in Romania
On the Romanian territory many Neolithic civilizations
exists. We briefly presented the well-known Neolithic
sites as the Neolithic shrine from Para, the Neolithic
cemeteries from Iclod, Cernica, Grditea Ulmilor, the
Neolithic settlements from Cucuteni, Baia Hamangia, and
the
Romanian
ancient
observatory,
namely
Sarmizegetusa-Regia.
SETTLEMENT: CUCUTENI
The Cucuteni-Trypillia culture is a late Neolithic
archaeological culture that flourished between 4500 BC
and 3000 BC in the Dniester-Dnieper region and in the
modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The culture was named after Cucuteni (Geographical
latitude: 4716 N), Iai county, Romania, and Trypilia,
Ukraine, where first objects associated with this culture
were discovered in 1884. The excavations started in
1909.
The Cucuteni culture has been called the first urban
culture in Europe. The settlements were usually located
on a plateau, fortified with earthworks and ditches.
Agriculture is attested, as well as livestock-breeding,
mainly cattle.
The pottery is connected to the Linear Pottery culture.
Extant figurines excavated at the Cucuteni sites are

thought to represent the Mother goddess (Mantu 1994,

225).
One a vase we can find a complex geometric decoration
that might transmit an astronomical meaning: the four
circles with a cross in the center could represent the four
phases of the Moon, each circle being decorated with a
horn. Similarly decorated vessels were found in Romania
(Frumuica, Trgu Ocna, Valea Lupului), in Republic of
Moldova and in the Ukraine.

Figure 1. Phases of the Moon (Cucuteni culture), according to

Mantu (1994, 226)

SETTLEMENT: BAIA HAMANGIA

The Hamangia culture began around 5200 BC and lasted
until around 4500 BC; it was a Middle Neolithic culture
in the Dobruja to the right bank of the Danube in
Muntenia and up to the northeast of Bulgaria. It is named
after the site of Baia-Hamangia (Geographical latitude:
4443 N).
Pottery figurines are extremely stylized and show
standing naked faceless women with emphasized breasts
and buttocks. There are flexed or supine inhumations in
cemeteries. Grave-gifts include flint, worked shells, bone
tools and shell-ornaments.
Interesting from astronomical viewpoint is that the
Hamangia culture used the bull symbol, which was
probably represented in pairs (man-woman) as exampled
in the well-known The Thinker and The Sitting
woman figurines. The Sun passes through the Taurus
(bull) constellation from mid-May to late June (spring,
fertility and fecundity).
These two figurines are considered masterpieces of
Neolithic art.
Painted vessels with complex geometrical patterns based
on spiral-motifs are typical in this culture. The shapes
include pots and wide bowls. Settlements consist of
rectangular houses with one or two rooms. They are
normally arranged on a rectangular grid. Settlements are

IHARKA, SZCS-CSILLIK; ALEXANDRA COMA; ZOIA MAXIM: ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL WORLD FROM ROMANIA

located along the coast, at the coast of lakes, on the lower

and middle river-terraces, sometimes in caves.

northern wall), probably representing the cult of the bull.

The statue was formed of a divine couple: The Bull God
and the Great Mother God. In the western part, guarded
by two posts, an altar-table was laid. Inside the altar,
several flint blades that were used for sacrifices were
discovered. On the NW corner of the socket (0.9m high)
were an amphora, probably containing liquid and food
devoted to the deities (Lazarovici 2006, 5).
In the NW corner of the sanctuary was a loom with seven
clay weights, illuminated in winter.
Near the northern wall on the altar table there were a
number of bull skull ornaments. This was the place where
the people brought their meat offerings, illuminated in
spring and in autumn.
The place for the grain offerings was on the altar-table,
near the southern wall, illuminated in summer.
From the astronomical viewpoint, we prove that the light
of sunset entered the sanctuary on the western wall
through the Sun-Moon circular-opening and through the
hole in the dividing wall and illuminated the NW corner
of the socket, where was the amphora.
Further more, we prove that in winter solstice, the
sunlight illuminated the loom, in some days, in spring
and autumn, the sunlight entered the hole in the dividing
wall and fell upon the socket. During the summer, the
Sun illuminated the place on the altar table, where the
grain offerings were brought (Csillik 2000, 115).
Very interesting is the fact that the vernal point in 4600
BC (Neolithic) was in the constellation of Taurus (Bull)
and in spring-autumn the Sun illuminated the socket of
the bull-statue (cult of fecundity and fertility).
From these facts results, that the Neolithic men from the
sanctuary of Para had a very good knowledge about the
sky (Lazarovici 2002, 10).
Today, one can found the reconstructed sanctuary of
Para in the Banat Museum from Timioara.

Figure 2. The Thinker and the Sitting woman from Hamangia,

according to Berciu (1966, 40)

SANCTUARY: PARA
The excavations were started by Joachim Miloja in 1931
and were continued by another archaeologist (Lazarovici
2000, 113). It belongs to the Banat culture from the
period 4600-4200 BC, and it is placed near Timioara
(Geographical latitude: 4545 N), Romania.

Figure 3. The Neolithic shrine from Para

The size of the sanctuary was 11.6m x 6m x 1.75m and

its longest axis was oriented in the East-West direction
(Chi 2000, 12). The sanctuary was divided into 2 rooms,
by a wall. On this dividing-wall it was a round windowlike opening, approximately 35cm in diameter at 1m from
the floor and 2.25m from the northern wall. In the centre
of the sanctuary was found a big altar table, that was
25cm thick and it extended 2.5m in length in booth
rooms. The sanctuary had a circular opening on its
western wall, probably representing the Sun,
approximately 30cm in diameter, 1.5m away from the
northern wall. Surrounding this circular opening through
which the light entered the sanctuary, in the exterior part
of the wall, an earthen Moon-shaped adornment about
8cm thick was fastened. Fixed against the same wall,
under the hole, there were a cup and a grinder. The grain
offerings brought to the Sun and Moon divinities
probably represents the cult of fecundity and fertility.
On a clay socket stood an idol bust or bull-statue (1.7m
high, near the eastern wall and 3m away from the

Figure 4. The illuminated Neolithic shrine from Para (model

by Radu Zapotinschi)

SANCTUARY: SARMIZEGETUSA-REGIA
"Here stood one who studied the waxing and waning of
the moon, while still another regarded the labors of the
sun and observed how those bodies which were hastening

MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLCK, BARBARA RAPPENGLCK, NICK CAMPION (EDS.): ASTRONOMY AND POWER
to go toward the east are whirled around and borne back
to the west by the rotation of the heavens." (Iordanes)
Legends mention, about the year 3000 BC, the existence
of a great empire, ruled by the priestess of the Uranian
Sun, Dacia Dochia. She was simultaneously the
supreme judge and military leader.
On the Grditea hill laid the ancient Sarmizegetusa, the
biggest Dacian known fortress. The fortress has 3
hectares between its walls, with an irregular plane. But
Sarmizegetusa Regia didn't have primary strategic
importance. The ruin complex that was named The
Sacred Precincts is at 100m from the Eastern Gate of the
Sarmizegetusa fortress. To that place we are guided by a
large road, paved with limestone slabs, delimited by a
short stone wall. The landscape is impressive. In the
middle of the secularly forest, the eye spot the
monumental traces of Dacian sanctuaries covering two
terraces.
Several Romanian astronomers made researches on this
fabulous Dacian place. Many astronomical hypotheses
are born from this plateau of the Romanian Stonehenge.
Sarmizegetusa Regia (Geographical latitude: 453736
N, Geographical longitude: 231862 E, Altitude: 990
m), located in the sacred Ortie Mountains of Romania,
consists of the remains of a Fortified City and Sacred
Area. The city dates from 82 BC to 107 AD, during the
reign of Decebal, the last of the Dacian kings.
It was the most important Dacian religious, military and
politically center of Dacia during this period.
The archaeological ruins clearly illustrate the importance
of geometry in designing the city; rectangular and
polygonal structures were common, along with circular
sacred spaces. The small round sanctuary could be used
as a Calendar. This sanctuary has 124 pieces: 13 stabs
and 101 stalls. The 101 stalls are divided by the 13 stabs
in 13 groups as it follows: 8 groups of 8 stalls, 1 group of
7 stalls, 3 groups of 8 stalls, 1 group of 6 stalls. 1 stall = 1
day and 1 stab is a mark for a week or a year. You can
start at any stall and one year means 3 complete rotations
plus 8 week. You mark that stab and continue
numbering. After 13 years (4748 days) all stabs are
marked and the Dacian calendar should be one day
behind the Gregorian calendar (in average 365.23 year).
We calculated the solar arc for Sarmizegetusa Regia in
100 BC, and results the azimuthal interval 56-123.
These solstice points we found in the big round
sanctuary. This emphasizes that the ancient Dacian man
had a very comprising geometrical and astronomical view
(Stnescu 1999, 32).
The big round sanctuary could be a Calendar corrector
(365.24 days in a Dacian year).
The exterior circle has 104 stabs forming a perfect circle.
The next circle touching the exterior circle and has 210
pieces: 180 stalls divided by 30 stabs in 30 groups of 6
stalls. The third interior circle has 68 stalls arranged like
this: 17 Stalls - 4 Slabs - 18 Stalls - 3 Slabs - 16 Stalls - 4
Slabs - 17 Stalls - 4 Slabs. The interior altar has 72
pieces: 68 stalls organized in 2 groups each group divided
like this: 13 stalls - 2 slabs - 21 stalls - 2 slabs. The stalls
from the altar and the ones from the third circle forms 2
perpendicular lines (a cross), which is orientated perfect

to the cardinal points and shows the solstice points too.

This sanctuary can predict the lunar and solar eclipses.

Figure 5. Sarmizegetusa Regia

Sarmizegetuza Regia illustrates perfectly the level of the

astronomical knowledge of our ancestors concerning the
Universe, the time, the seasons, the geographic and
astronomic orientation (Szcs-Csillik 2010, 198). The
sanctuary has a calendar system still insufficiently
studied, but the Andesite Sun is a jewel of universal
culture (Coma 1991, 10), perfect orientated to the North
direction (theodolite, gnomon, Sundial, Sun sign, golden
ratio).
NECROPOLIS: CERNICA
An important moment for the Cernicas area is the
discovery of the Neolithic necropolis (4600-4200 BC) in
the neighborhood of the former Iezerul cloister.
Up to date, on the Muntenia territory, this is the greatest
necropolis in the Neolithic age, discovered and
investigated by Gheorghe Cantacuzino. The monograph
(378 graves) from Cernica Neolithic necropolis was
published by Eugen Coma and Gheorghe Cantacuzino
(Coma 2001, 18).
This necropolis accidentally was found in 1961, on the
occasion of the systematic excavations from Cernica in
the Cldraru village, on the western bank of the Cernica
Lake. In Cernica it was practiced a form of solar cult:
sunrise and sunset probably were observed within the
limits of the burial ritual. From aligned skeletons rates of
92.11% are also comprised in the western area of annual
oscillation of the Sun in azimuth. 26 skeletons are out of
the solar arc, but they are close to the winter and summer
solstice point. The reason can be a miscalculation, or an
act of expelling from the community, whose reason we
dont know at this moment. The Gaussian distribution of
the skeletons from Cernica necropolis shows a west-east
orientation, with an apex at spring-autumn. This fact
shows that the mortality rate grows in spring and autumn.
This death-rate can be connected with epidemic
(influenza, hepatitis, encephalitis) or food missing (the
end of winter).
The anthropological studies made on the Cernica
necropolis
showed
that
the
Mediterranean
anthropological type was mostly frequent within the
Neolithic population, then followed by the Protoeuropid,
the Alpine and Nordic ones (Coma 2006, 150).

IHARKA, SZCS-CSILLIK; ALEXANDRA COMA; ZOIA MAXIM: ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL WORLD FROM ROMANIA

The skeletons orientation in the Cernica cemetery backs

up the archaeoastronomical hypothesis: in the Neolithic
time, the skeletons orientation was towards the sunrise, or
sunset on the day of burial, or dead of the individual.
The Neolithic people had possibly done a social
differentiation regarding the location in the cemetery (in
the middle it was the rich, healthy, protected person), and
in the orientation of the skeletons (derived from another
population, not native, foreign).
The main occupations of all Boian communities were
agriculture and animal husbandry, suitable to the
geographical environment of the plain, so that, they could
easily develop a solar calendar.
This Solar cult that subsequently appeared and was also
used for the burials was created by a systematical
observation of the Sun.

NECROPOLIS: ICLOD
The Neolithic burial site Iclod (4200 BC) was discovered
by Mrton Roska at the beginning of the 20th century.
The dead person was buried on supine position, facing
the sunrise direction. Inside the graves, in the later stage
of the Iclod culture, there were found tools made of stone,
bone and obsidian, near the skeleton.
We determined the Sun azimuth for Iclod, corresponding
to summer and winter solstice (Wittmann 1979, 130). We
found an accuracy of 1 that the Sun azimuth measured
from the North is 53 for the summer solstice and 126
for the winter solstice.
We prove that 72% of the graves found there are
orientated within the rigorous limits of the annual
oscillation of sunrise azimuth (Maxim 2002, 20).
The grave, whose orientation is out of the annual
oscillation of sunrise azimuth belong to the last stage of
Iclod, when the eastern orientation was replaced with a
northern one.

Figure 6. The astronomical orientation of the skeletons

from Cernica

The anthropological studies made on the Cernica

necropolis
showed
that
the
Mediterranean
anthropological type was mostly frequent within the
Neolithic population, and then followed the Protoeuropid,
the Alpine and Nordic ones.
Four pregnant woman skeletons [graves: M158 (242),
M251 (264), M256 (280), M303 (284)] were found in
Cernica cemetery. Each skeleton is inside the solar arc
and is not isolated in cemetery.
Three on the belly skeletons [graves: M149 (258),
M237A (260), M318 (260)] were also discovered in the
Cernica necropolis. Each skeleton is inside the solar arc
and is not isolated in the necropolis. Very interesting is
that none of the skeletons have a funerary inventory.
Probably, the Neolithic people buried the dead person on
the belly to immobilize its spirit into the pit, to prevent it
from disturbing the living people.
Using mathematical and astronomical calculations, we
prove that the people of the Dudeti and Boian culture
made their burials at the sunrise (sunset) aligned in the
Sun direction. In burials, the dead person had the legs
towards the sunrise direction.
So, we can admit the existence of a special cult. The
purpose of the practice can be a last desperate trial to
resurrect the dead person to life, the light of the Sun
feeding with energy the resurrection moment.

Figure 7. M17 grave from Iclod

NECROPOLIS: GRDITEA ULMILOR

In Vrti village (Geographical latitude: 4414 N), on
Grditea Ulmilor of the former Boian Lake, there was
discovered the biggest necropolis belonging to the
Gumelnia culture (4000 BC).
The necropolis, as spaces intended for the dead of
community, show a stage of population stabilization in
this area and, therefore, a stage of more obvious
intervention over the environment (Coma 1995, 56).
In this necropolis the dead persons were grouped in
places specially arranged for them (outside the
settlements).
Within the excavated areas there were uncovered 118
graves belonging to the Gumelnia culture settlement. Of
these graves, 80 were for adults, 35 for children and 3 for
4

MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLCK, BARBARA RAPPENGLCK, NICK CAMPION (EDS.): ASTRONOMY AND POWER
teenagers. They found also a few grave overlapping,
pointing to two burying stages.
The pits of the graves were not identified but in two
cases, their shapes being irregularly oval.
Most skeletons were flexed on the left side, oriented
towards the sunrise direction between azimuthal interval
70-117. In most cases, the hands were bent at the
elbows and laid with the palms front of the individuals
faces.
The funerary inventory was not too rich, consisting of:
flint tools, copper pins with rhombic, two-lobe or
rhombic plate shaped head, biconical, or flat clay
artifacts, bone tips, shell pearls, amber beads, a few
golden artifacts.
The burying was in a flexed position, from a slight, then
moderate and up to a very pronounced one, usually on the
left side, while the offerings occurrence is usually scarce.
The details of the ritual (position of arms, the various
categories of offering and their share within the grave, the
use, or non-use of ochre, the degree of flexing in the case
of this position, the shape of the pit, etc.) do not seem to
have been submitted to rigorous standards. We should
mention childrens graves under and among dwellings,
some of the skeletons bearing various traits that led to the
hypothesis of ritual sacrifices.
Conclusion
Archaeoastronomy use different methods from
archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, statistics, and
probability, in order to determine the ancient
civilizations preoccupations. Because these methods are
miscellaneous and use data from different sources, their
collecting and processing process is a long lasting one.
Using mathematical and astronomical methods, we can
determine for example the solstice points for necropolis,
shrines and other historical buildings.
In the future, we plan to use our numerical programs for a
study regarding to other Neolithic necropolises and
buildings in the Carpathian Basin.
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