This book presents a balanced combination of practical and theoretical aspects of
geoarchaeology. To do so it gathers all the components of a natural framework (geology relief
hydrography climate soils flora and fauna) which have been analyzed from an archaeological
perspective. While globally this is a highly developed and researched area unfortunately in
Romania it is still a largely neglected field of study as limited funds are available. However
the country has a huge potential and international researchers have applied geoarchaeological
methods and techniques and published results in numerous journals. This area is important
because traces of the Chalcolithic population (Cucuteni culture) have been discovered here. The
culture is considered to be the oldest one in Europe and is highly significant for Romanian as
well as European archaeology. The degradation of these settlements is the main core of the work
with illustrative case studies offering insights into the natural and in some cases anthropic
effects on the sites.
