Sultana-Malu Roșu North Cemetery
Sultana-Malu Roșu · Sultana Cemetery North · Malu Roșu North
Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen (4600–4300 BCE)·Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI–Varna·🇷🇴 Călărași County, Mostiștea River valley, Sultana village, Romania
About
About Sultana-Malu Roșu North Cemetery
Sultana North Cemetery is the 1.2 ha Eneolithic flat necropolis north of the 400 m distant Gumelniţa tell (Malu Roșu), excavated by Radian Andreescu. Gumelniţa B1 (4600–4300 BCE) 1500+ graves with gold spiral beads, Spondylus, copper axes, and anthropomorphic bone idols. Adjacent tell (2 ha, 6 m) holds contemporaneous graphite warehouses. Cemetery <1% skeletal preservation due to leach.
Why it mattersMost intact Gumelniţa flat cemetery proving Varna gold diffusion 150 km north and Spondylus exchange network.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Differential gold in child graves social hierarchy?
Theories
- 01Andreescu-Lazar: Gumelniţa ranked society before 4300 rupture
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.4600 BCE (Gumelniţa B1)
- Period
- Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen (4600–4300 BCE)
- Culture
- Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI–Varna
- Builders
- Lower Danube Gumelniţa villagers
- Purpose
- Collective flat cemetery for tell farming community
- Abandoned
- c.4300 BCE (Chalcolithic collapse)
- Rediscovered
- 1974 D. Galbenu salvage; 1996 Andreescu mapping
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.4600 BCE
First Spondylus necklace burial row
2008
Andreescu 3D GPS and georadar mapping
On the ground
Structures & features
44.2700° N · 26.8700° E · 28 m · 3 mapped features
Sultana North Gold Bead Burial M47
burialGold spiral and Spondylus necklace burial
44.2706° N · 26.8705° ESultana Graphite Warehouse Tell
structureTell warehousing graphite-painted storage jars
44.2693° N · 26.8708° ESultana Bone Idol Atelier
workshopAnthropomorphic bone idol carving pits south of tell
44.2710° N · 26.8694° E