This paper offers a review of archaeological studies undertaken in the mountains of Romania, with the intent of obtaining an overall view of this relatively rare occurrence in Romanian archaeological research. In contrast to the nearby regions of the Polish Carpathians and other regions in Europe, the number of archaeological studies in the mountains of Romania remains small. Most research which has been carried out is oriented along ethnoarchaeological themes or is confined to identifying and documenting a certain type of site (caves, mines etc) or cultural appurtenance (Palaeolithic, Eneolithic). With a single exception, the recent and contemporary past has little, if any, attention from archaeologists. Furthermore, only also a single attempt has been made to undertake a research objective that aims beyond the understanding of human traces and towards understanding the materiality of the mountain itself. A particular focus of this paper is an account of the project O arheologie a munţilor din Maramureş (An archaeology of the Maramureş Mountains), which aims to explore the materiality of the mountains and the role that they played in people’s lives over time. The project, which began in 2012, focuses on locations over 900/1,000 m in the area between the junction of the Vişeu and Tisza Rivers in the west, the Vişeu Valley and Rodnei Mountains in the south, and the limits of Maramureş Mountains to the east and north, and included a survey on the affected grounds of a newly-built ski slope in the Prislop Pass. In this area, Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Mesolithic artifacts have been discovered, along with Bronze Age, Roman and medieval items and artifacts dating from the two world wars.
Source: Bobînă B. (2015). Mountain Archaeology in Romania: The Status of Research. Terra Sebus. Acta Musei Sabesiensis. 7: 149-164
Source web-site: https://www.cclbsebes.ro/docs/Sebus_7_2015/05_B_Bobina.pdf
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