Few considerations concerning the inhabiting, arhitecture and interior design in the Coţofeni communities
Autori:
Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa,
Daniel Costin Ţuţuianu
Fortress Hill from Deva represented one of the prefferd places by prehistorical communities because of its strategic location.
First archaeological research on the Fortress Hill was done since 1909 and it conducted to an interesting discovery. Under the guidance of Béla Bálasz, the excavation was done on the north-eastern hill’s slope. As result was uncovered a surrface dwelling having flooring made of clay and two hearths. The dwelling was fited up through battering the slope resulting a stable platform on which was builted the edifice. The building had a flooring made of clay and the walls were made of wattle coated with clay. For covering the dwelling was used dry vegetal material which generated a lot of ashes after the edifice was set on fire. After the slope was sectioned, the wall resulted was decorated with a combination of horizontal and vertical incisated lines.
The decorated wall represents the translation of the estethical conceptions on the interior design, conceptions illustrated also by the wellknown ornaments from Coţofeni pottery. Another argument is the fact that the ornamentation’s tendency is reflected not only in pottery and inner space, but also in plastic arts.
The analysis of pottery placed this discovery on a chronological layer situated at the subphase Coţofeni III b level.
Preffering the emplacement of the settlements on the elevations, the late Coţofeni communities counteracted difficulties generated by the rough relief structuring some specific habitat forms. We don’t know if these communities had an coherent architectonic conception, but it is obvious they mastered a series of primary notions about the organization of inhabit space. The archaeological discoveries prove the existence of continuing level of inhabitances disposed on different altitude which encircle an hill-top. We consider that these „belts” of inhabitances were united around a dominate point of acropolis type. The important settlements like this from Deva represented a political, military and even religious influence center over the microzones from neighbourghood.