The Institute of archaeology in Iasi
                                In search of time past

        Est of the Romanian Carpathians, in the academic centre of Iasi in particular, archeological investigations date back from the first half of the 19th century. Like elsewhere (France, Belgium, etc.), the first archeological findings were due to specialists from the adjoining fields of geology, biology or ethnology. The establishment in Iasi on 1830 of a Numismatic and Archeological Cabinet and of an Archaeology Commission served to preserve the earliest archeological findings within the Natural History and Medicine Cabinet, and made it possible for the monograph by Gh. Saulescu on Caput Bovis – Ghertina (near Galati) to be published. Given his activity as a researcher into the far-off past, Gh. Saulescu is deemed to be the very first Romanian archeologist. His contribution includes the world history handbook Hronologia si istoria universala prelucrata pe scurt (“Chronology and History of the World Briefly Discussed”), volumes I-II (1837), and Arhiva Albinei pentru arheologia romana si industrie (“«Albina» Archives for Romanian Archaeology and Industry”). Special attention was given to the more representative archaeological monuments east of the Carpathians, among which count the Thracian-Dacian Fortress at Cotnari – Catalina (the topographic map of which was drawn in 1854 by Gh. Asachi), and Mormantul Craiesc at Concesti, Botosani, discovered in 1812.
        In 1884, folklorist Th. Burada discovered the eponymous site of Cucuteni culture; the first archeological diggings there were initiated in the spring of the following year by N. Beldiceanu and D. Butculescu. The findings made were announced to the scientific world through articles signed by N. Beldiceanu, Antichitatile de la Cucuteni (“The Antiquitites at Cucuteni”) (1885), and Gr. Butureanu, Notita asupra sapaturilor si cercetarilor facute la Cucuteni (“Note on the Diggings and Research at Cucuteni”) (1889), as well as through communications given by Gr. Butureanu at the International Congress of Anthropology and Praehistoric Archaeology in Paris on 1889, and by D. Diamandi within the Society of Anthropology in Paris (1889).
        A further stage in the development of archeological research in Iasi gained shape around year 1894, with the creation of an archaeology conference, turned in 1895 into the Archaeology and Antiquities Department within the University of Iasi, where professor in ordinary was appointed Teohari Antonescu, a former student of Al. Odobescu and Gr. Tocilescu (Bucharest), and of A. Furtwängler (München) and A. Collignon (Paris). Also, over the last two decades of the 19th century, the Romanian Academy repeatedly took into debate the issue of archeological research in Moldavia, and particularly in the Cucuteni – Cetatuia area, through the interventions of Al. Odobescu, Gr. Tocilescu, V.A. Urechia, B.P. Hasdeu, Gr. Cobalcescu, A.D. Xenopol, Gr. Ştefanescu, and others.
        The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century are marked in Iasi by the activity of prof. I. Andriesescu, a true founder of prehistoric research in our country, who had first studied in Iasi with professor Teohari Antonescu, then in Berlin and Vienna with H. Schmidt, Ed. Meyer and G. Kossina; his doctoral thesis, Contributii la Dacia inainte de romani (“Contributions to Dacia before the Romanians”), defended at Iasi in 1912, made a valuable scientific contribution with reference to the entire prehistory of the Carpathian-Danube area.
        The beginning of the 20th century is dominated by the research activity Hubert Schmidt carried out at Cucuteni-Iasi (concluded with the famous monograph Cucuteni in der Oberen Moldau, Rumanien, Berlin-Leipzig, 1933), as well as by the founding of the Romanian School of Archaeology through the efforts of Vasile Parvan. In 1916, an Antiquities Museum was founded in Iasi by professor O. Tafrali, who, starting with 1927, had the prestigious journal Arta si Arheologia (“Art and Archaeology”) printed. O. Tafrali was a well-known specialist in ancient history and Byzantinology, appointed on 1913 chief of the Department of Archaeology and Antiquities within the University of Iasi, thus becoming the successor of T. Antonescu (following a several year substitution provided by O. Erbiceanu). Like other scholars of the time, he specialized under the guidance of great personalities in the European scientific world, among which Ch. Diehl and A. Collignon, within prestigious scientific institutions in Paris. The Antiquities Museum represented a “laboratory” of the Department founded within the University of Iasi in 1895, and gave a strong impulse to field research and collecting of archaeological material. The scientific research activity within the Museum, corroborated with the teaching activity at the University of Iasi, prompted the need for a special institute of history and archaeology; this determined professor Ilie Minea to suggest turning the Romanian History Seminar under his direction into an Institute of Romanian History, an application approved of by the Teaching council. The interventions at the Ministry of National Education, Cults and Arts finally materialized in 1941: through the Decree-Law on February 1941 signed by General Ion Antonescu, the History Seminar within “Al. I. Cuza” University became the INSTITUTE OF ROMANIAN HISTORY “A.D. XENOPOL”, under the coordination of the University Faculty of Letters and Philosophy; due to the efforts of professor Al. Boldur (the successor of professor Ilie Minea), the activity of the INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL HISTORY “A.D. XENOPOL” was institutionalized as a distinct research facility within the Ministry of National Culture and Cults. In 1964, the INSTITUTE OF HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY “A.D. XENOPOL” was constituted under the Romanian Academy. A Department of Ancient History and Archaeology had otherwise been founded ever since 1953 within the Institute and coordinated until 1968 the activity of the Antiquities Museum (which had become the Museum of Moldavian History in 1957).
        After 1953, the Institute of History and Archaeology “A. D. Xenopol” in Iasi grew into the centre of specialty research and of archaeological research in particular, becoming a nucleus for the activity of specialists both from the University, and from the Museum. The publication, starting from 1961, of the journal Arheologia Moldovei (“Archaeology of Moldavia”), founded by professor M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, offered scholars in Iasi and their colleagues from all over the country the possibility of publishing the results of their own research. Within the Ancient History and Archaeology Department, several archaeological research programmes on the larger systematic digging yards were initiated by C.S. Nicolaescu-Plopsor, I. Nestor, Vl. Dumitrescu and M. Petrescu-Dimbovita; among these, the programmes at Valea Jijiei, Suceava and on the terraces of Bistrita river (Ceahlau area), together with the diggings carried out at the great sites of Cucuteni culture at Habasesti, Iasi county, and Trusesti, Botosani county, compelled recognition due to the particular value of the results attained. Receiving the State Award on 1951 and on 1954 for their participation in the diggings at Habasesti and contribution to the site monograph meant the first national acknowledgement of the prestige of the archaeological school in Iasi, the creation of professor M. Petrescu-Dimbovita. On becoming director of the Institute, professor M. Petrescu-Dimbovita imposed the idea of modernization and diversification of archaeological research as a first requisite to all his collaborators, and gave his generous and persevering support to each and every initiative in the field of multidisciplinary research and international collaborations. This, too, is the stage when international recognition was first manifested in the cooptation of Institute members in the Permanent Council of the International Union of Praehistoric and Proto-historic Sciences (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita), in the Permanent Council of the International Union of Slav Archaeology (D. Gh. Teodor) or as full members of the Italian Institute of Praehistory and Protohistory in Torino (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita). During the same period, M. Petrescu-Dimbovita collaborated to the Treatise of Romanian History (edition 1960), and to the Compendium of Romanian History, for distribution abroad. Cooperation with specialists from county museums all over Moldavia and from the Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest helped initiate research projects, some with an interdisciplinary design, regarding prehistoric sites and sites relevant for the Geto-Dacian period, for the Romanian ethnogenesis, and for the Middle Ages, with a view to exploring the development of the Medieval village and town east of the Carpathians. The results of the research were made known in Arheologia Moldovei, in publications of county museums, and in journals of other institutes under the Romanian Academy, as well as in the volumes of international congresses of prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology, where ever more specialists from Iasi came to be invited.  Scholarships such as Humboldt (I. Ionita) and DAAD (V. Spinei) became applicable due to the undertakings of the Institute’s director. The period up to 1990 is also a period of turning to account the field research and systematic diggings carried out all over the territory east of the Carpathians by publishing vast syntheses on archaeological cultures and historical periods. Among other things, it was this period that most capitalized on the industrious research regarding the so-called “Dark Millennium”, on which written information is scarce and inconclusive. Several studies and volumes concerning this chronological sequence were elaborated, such as those by D. Gh. Teodor, S. Sanie, I. Ionita, V. Spinei. Turning the archaeological research on field to scientific account was possible thanks to the restoration-conservation lab, the photo lab and the drawing room functioning satisfactorily within the Institute.
        In answer to the efforts of researchers in Iasi enjoying the support of academician D.M. Pippidi, the president of the Department for Historical Sciences and Archaeology within the Romanian Academy passed on March 3rd, 1990 the Decree-Law signed by prime-minister Petre Roman pursuant to which, the Archaeology Department of the Institute of History and Archaeology “A.D. Xenopol” became the INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY under Iasi Branch of the Romanian Academy. Between 1967 and 1989, the director of the Institute of History and Archaeology “A.D. Xenopol” in Iasi became professor M. Petrescu-Dimbovita; between 1990 and 2003, the director of the Institute of Archaeology became professor D. Gh. Teodor, and, starting from December 2003, the director of the Institute became professor V. Spinei, a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy.
        Since the Institute’s set up and until this day, specialists here have approached a wide range of themes resulting from the need to fully explore the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic and Dnestrian area from the Palaeolithic and up to the medieval age, themes such as: geo-chronology of the Upper Palaeolithic between Dnestr and Tisa rivers; the cultural complex at Cucuteni-Ariusd-Tripolie; the Bronze Age and the first Iron age in the extra-Carpathian regions of Romania; the Thraco-Geto-Dacian civilization in the Carpathian and Dnestrian areas, including contacts with the Greek civilization; Geto-Dacian spirituality; Roman civilization east of the Carpathians and Romanness; the free Dacians in the East-Carpathian area and Romanness; natives and immigrants north of the Lower Danube; Northern-Danube Romanness and the Byzantine Empire from the 4th to the 9th century; Romanian ethnogenesis and the birth of the medieval town in Eastern and Central Europe; to which other significant themes are added from the field of archaeology-related sciences: numismatics, paleobotany, arts and religions, etc. Based on the systematic diggings carried out in numerous archaeological stations located in the Carpathian-Dnestrian area and north-west of the Black Sea (on the territory of Moldavia and Dobrudja) at: Mitoc, Hudum and Ştefsnesti (Botosani county); Suceava, Baia, Siret (Suceava county); Iasi, Baiceni, Cotnari, Harlau, Scanteia, Raducaneni, Satu Nou, Pocreaca, Mosna (Iasi county); Poienesti, Barlad, Oltenesti, Barlalesti (Vaslui county); Bornis, Dragomiresti, Vanatori, Tarzia, Nemtisor (Neamt county); Poduri (Bacau county); Tecuci, Poiana, Barbosi (Galati county); Candesti (Vrancea county); Adamclisi, Harsova, Dumbraveni in Dobrudja; Cosauti, Butuceni, Hansca, Orheiul Vechi in Bessarabia (Republic of Moldavia); Olbia and Cetatea Alba in the Republic of Ukraine, extremely significant contributions were made to the entire question of the prehistory and history of the geographical area under consideration. Through scholarships (Humboldt, DAAD, Fulbright, DAI, CNRS) and academic exchanges, the specialists at the Institute undertook documentation and research periods in Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Norway, Hungary, USA, Israel, Ukraine, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Jugoslavia, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, Bulgaria, Slovenia etc. International scientific collaboration agreements were concluded, including grants, some on a long term basis, between researchers at the Institute and specialists from the Institute of Archaeology within the Academy of Science and from the Faculty of History at the State University in Chisinau (Republic of Moldavia), from the Institutes of Archaeology in Kiev and Odessa (Ukraine), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels and the University of Liège (Belgium), from Lille University (France), the Institutes of Archaeology in Berlin, Saarbrücken, Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany), the University of Tel Aviv (Israel) and from the British Academy.
        Scholars at the Institute have participated with scientific communications to all the congresses held in the framework of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (in Prague, Belgrade, Nice, Mexico City, London-Southampton, Bratislava, Mainz, Forli, Liège), to all international scientific manifestations on specific themes: the World Congress of Historic Sciences, Stuttgart, 1986; the 18th International Congress of Byzantinology, Moscow, 1991; the 6th International Congress of Slave Archaeology, Novgorod, 1996; the 7th International Congress of Thracology, Mangalia, 1996; the 18th International Congress on Roman Borders, Zalau, 1997; the 8th International Congress of Numismatics, Berlin, 1997, and at numerous symposiums and workshops regarding ancient and early medieval history held in Berlin, Heidelberg, Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, Rome, Cosenza, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Montignac, Bordeaux, Lyon, Carcassonne, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Athens, Thessaloniki, Warsaw, Krakow, Nitra, Budapest, Miskolc, Sofia, Prague, Plovdiv, Ljubliana, Trento, Siena, Ravello, Leiden, Treignes, Chisinau, Cernauti, Odessa, Konotop, Kiev, Moscow, New York, Rzeszow, etc.
        The specialists at the Institute organized themselves a variety of international symposiums and workshops, such as those occasioned by the Centennial of the Discovery of the Eponymous Station of Cucuteni Culture, Iasi, 1984 (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, D. Monah); Centennial of the Discovery of the First Palaeolithic Site in Romania, Iasi, 1985 (V. Chirica); or such as the Evolution of Palaeolithic Cultures in the Middle Prut River Area, Iasi, 1994 (V. Chirica); the 2nd International Congress on Computer Applications in Archaeology, Iasi, 1996 (V. Mihailescu-Birliba, V. Chirica); Religious Customs of the Cucuteni-Tripolie Tribes, Iasi, 1993, D. Monah, F. Monah); Les tells – axes chronologiques de la Préhistoire, Bacau-Poduri-Tescani, 1995 (D. Monah, in collaboration); La composante pré-indoeuropéene du monde thrace. Le complexe culturel Cucuteni-Tripolye, Piatra-Neamt, 1997 (D. Monah, in collaboration); Elements of the Spirituality in the Carpathian-Nistrian Area. Praehistory, 2004 (V. Chirica); the scientific sessions of the Romanian-Ukrainian Joint Commissions for History, Archaeology and Folklore, Iasi, 1994, Galanesti, 1996, Tulcea, 1998 (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, D. Gh. Teodor, V. Cojocaru); or The History of the Jews in Romania, Iasi, 1999 (S. Sanie). Not to forget the exhibitions entitled Cucuteni Culture (with a Catalogue in English) at Thessaloniki, 1997 (M. Mantu, D. Monah), and Scanteia. Scientific Research and Restoration (Catalogue drawn by V. Chirica, M. Mantu and collaborators).
        Ever since its set up, the Institute has organized important scientific sessions on the occasion of annual manifestations become traditional under the name of the Days of the Institute or in the framework of the Jassian Academic Days, receiving the participation of specialists from other university and museum centers all over the country and in the Republic of Moldavia: Archeological Resources of the Carpathian-Dnestrian Area, 1990; The History of the Carpathian-Dnestrian Area up to the 17th Century, 1991; Thracian and Getic Populations East of the Carpathians and Populations and Civilizations East of the Carpathians from the 2nd to the 14th Century, 1992; Early and High Middle Ages Civilization in the Carpathian-Dnestrian Area, 1993; The Ornamentation of La Tène Ceramics in the Dacian Area, 1994; Eastern Romanian Regions in the 1st Millennium A.D., Archaeological and Archaeobotanical Data on Plant Culture from Its Beginnings to the Bronze Age, and Archaeology East of the Carpathians – past and present, 1996; Religious Faiths and Cults in the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic Area during the Millennium of the Great Migrations, 1997; The Contribution of Archaeologists in Iasi over the Last 50 Years to Romanian Praehistoric Studies and History and Civilization East of the Carpathians by the End of the 1st Millennium and During the First Half of the 2nd Millennium, 1999, to which further symposiums are added dedicated to the life and work of the forerunners of archaeological research east of the Carpathians: Nicolae Beldiceanu, Vasile Parvan, Orest Tafrali, Teohari Antonescu, Paul Nicorescu, Ion Andriesescu, Ion Nestor, Radu Vulpe.
        The contributions presented by the specialists of the Institute at the above mentioned reunions and resulting out of their individual scientific investigations in the framework of given research themes were mainly published in the journal Arheologia Moldovei (“Archaeology of Moldavia”) (I, 1964 – XXV, 2003), in the supplementary issue thereof, Bibliotheca Archaeologica Iassiensis (I, 1989 – XII, 2003), and in other regional publications home and abroad, as well as in the over 40 syntheses, monographs, individual volumes and collections of studies, or resulted in republishing some of the fundamental works on national history, belonging to A.D. Xenopol, N. Iorga, Gh. I. Bratianu, next to the Treatise of Romanian History, volumes I-III, coordinated by the Romanian Academy, 2001 (by contribution of  V. Mihailescu-Birliba, V. Chirica, I. Ionita, V. Spinei, M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, D. Monah, S. Sanie, D. Gh. Teodor). The scientific value of the research within the Institute was appreciated by the Romanian Academy with “Vasile Parvan” and “Nicolae Iorga” Awards, consecrating the scientific results achieved by M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, D. Gh. Teodor, A.C. Florescu, S. Sanie, V. Spinei, I. Ionita, V. Mihailescu-Birliba, V. Chirica, Al. Andronic, Eugenia Neamtu, Stela Cheptea, D. Monah.
        The Institute’s prestige also materialized in the appointment of its researchers in significant scientific organizations on a national (members of the Romanian Academy: M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, V. Spinei) and international level: the Permanent Council of the International Union of Praehistoric and Proto-historic Sciences (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita and D. Gh. Teodor – honorary members, V. Chirica – active member), The 8th Commission, Upper Palaeolithic of UISPP (V. Chirica), The Neolithic Commission of UISPP (D. Monah), the Executive Committee of the International Union of Slave Archaeology (D. Gh. Teodor), the International Association for Greek and Latin Epigraphy (S. Sanie); the International Association for Classical Archaeology and the Association for Computer Application in Archaeology (V. Mihailescu-Birliba); the German Archaeological Institute (M. Petrescu-Dimbovita, I. Ionita, V. Mihailescu-Birliba); the International Commission for Indo-European and Thracian Studies (S. Teodor). Moreover, some of the researchers were involved in international complex research projects (INTAS, V. Chirica; Research on Trade and Exchange in the Cucuteni-Tripolie Network, F. Monah, D. Monah; Corpus der römischen Funde in europäischen Barbaricum and Fritz-Thissen-Sonderprogramm zum wissenschaftlichen Wiederaufbau in Südosteuropa, I. Ionita); several researchers were invited into the reading committees of some prestigious European journals (Préhistoire Européenne, Liège, and Praehistoria, Miskolc – V. Chirica), and to coordinate consistent encyclopedias (Reallexicon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, author and specialty counselor, I. Ionita) or collaborate at others (Enzyklopädie des europäischen Osten, V. Spinei). Since 1996, the Institute of Archaeology in Iasi has been a member of the European Association of Archaeologists, London.
        Some of the scholars at the Institute coordinate doctoral programmes within “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi or the Romanian Academy, on the following themes:

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