Pecica Santul Mare Project:  Museum staff recently completed a multi-year, collaborative NSF-funded excavation project with staff of the Muzeul Banatului in Timisoara, Romania, the Arad Museum Complex in Arad, Romania, and the James B. Griffin Museum of Anthropology to study Middle Bronze Age occupations at the site of Pecica Santul Mare in western Romania.  Excavations at Pecica Santul Mare were designed to monitor the spread of metallurgy, changes in household and political economies, and the rise of social complexity during these periods.

Pecica Santul Mare is a deeply stratified tell site on the Mures River in western Romania.  While the Museum’s involvement focused on Middle Bronze Age occupations, ca. 2000-1500 BCE, both earlier and later occupations are known from the site.  Summary reports on project activities are available from Muse and Analele Banatului. 

One byproduct of the project was student research on the origins of obsidian from the MBA occupations, conducted through the Archaeometry Laboratory at the MU Research Reactor and published in Muse.