Thus, for a short period at the turn of the Middle and Late Neolithic, the greater part of Transylvania was occupied by the same population. Only the highlands of southeast Transylvania were still controlled by peoples of the Boian culture. The communities of the Petresti culture long occupied the territory of southern, and partly central, Transylvania. Their control of ore mines enabled them to establish contact with groups in faraway regions such as Muntenia and Dobrudja and almost certainly w ith communities in more southerly areas. Their vessels are fired so that they ring in an almost m etallic way. They are ornamented with elaborate black, red and brown painted m eander and spiral patterns. The technical execution of these bowls, shouldered vessels and cylindrical fruitstands testify to a flourishing metal
lurgy that is corroborated by a wide variety of copper finds. The various articles fashioned from sheet gold and their imitations which reached dis
tant areas in Bulgaria and Greece to the south, and the Kassa Basin to the north bear witness to the intensive exploitation of gold deposits.
The Petresti sequence lasted until the end of the Copper Age but only in the areas formerly occupied by the Vinca-Tordos population. The painted pottery groups of the Kis-Szamos region were replaced by horse breeding proto-Europid peoples from the Pontic steppeland who entered Transylva
nia through the eastern Carpathians. They occupied the settlements of the painted pottery groups and, in marked contrast to the earlier Neolithic prac
tice, buried their dead in larger cemeteries separate from the settlements as, for example, at Marosdecse. Their dead were laid to rest on their back with the feet drawn up slightly. Various grave goods such as large Pontic stone knives, knobbed stone maceheads and simple cups were found next to the bodies in the graves. The custom of depositing lumps of red paint, ochre, beside the deceased can also be traced to the east.
Roughly at the same time as the arrival of these new groups, the popula
tion of the Cucuteni-Tripolye-Erosd culture settled in the form er Boian ter
ritory. These successive waves of m igration in the eastern h alf of the Carpathian Basin resulted in continuous population changes. Due to the local population's intermingling with the newcomers, their lifeways and their material culture underwent various developments.
The Tiszapolg^r culture which evolved as a result of this process settled the Tisza region, northern Transylvania and the Banat, with some groups from the Banat advancing as far as southern Transylvania and the Middle M aros region. The villages of simple huts inhabited by the Tiszapolg&r groups — whose economy was based on large-scale animal husbandry and cultivation — and the settlements of the Cucuteni-Tripolye-Erdsd popula
tion encircled the settlement area of the Petresti culture, whose population continued its existence in peace even in these troubled times — perhaps because the form er populations were dependent on the products of their metallurgy.
The Cucuteni-Tripolye-Er<5sd population learned the art of pottery paint
ing from its new neighbour, the Petresti culture. The Er6sd-Tyiszkhegy set
tlement, whose layer sequence is over four metres thick, yielded an abun
dance of bichrome and polychrome pottery that was painted with motifs in
black, w hite and red prior to firing. The settlement consisted of houses, with walls made of upright posts connected with a twig wattling subse
quently thickly daubed with clay on both sides. Their internal furnishings featured rimmed hearths plastered with clay. The occupants of the ErSsd settlement were agriculturalists who cultivated einkom wheat. Their live
stock was dominated by cattle, although, at the same time, the greater part of the meat consumed came from hunting. Most of their tools and imple
ments were carved or polished from stone and bone (axes and antler hoes), while copper was reserved for awls and various ornaments. The small clay statuettes and clay stamp seals used for body painting preserve the memory of elaborate rites and rituals, as well as of a tribal organization.
The Cucuteni-Tripolye population penetrated as far as the Upper Maros region in the north where they became neighbours of the Tiszapolgar peo
ples. The settlement territory of the latter was subsequently occupied by groups of the Bodrogkeresztur culture, who occasionally also occupied former Tiszapolgar villages. Transylvania marked the periphery of their dis
tribution. Their presence in this area can hardly be explained otherwise than that they were attracted by the rich ore deposits of this region, since conditions for intensive agriculture and large-scale animal husbandry were undeniably more favourable in the Banat and on the Great Hungarian Plain.
It is characteristic that, viewed from Transylvania, the proportions of cop
per artifacts increases dramatically towards the heartland of their settle
m ent territory. The shaft-holed axes, adzes and so-called ham m er-axes reached the Great Hungarian Plain from these Transylvanian copper mines.
The graves of the Tisza region have also yielded an abundance of small gold ornaments. It is not accidental, then, that similar gold items rarely occur in Transylvania itself — the only well documented specim en was recovered from Marosv&s&rhely where a site of the Bodrogkeresztur cul
ture has been identified.
The Bodrogkeresztur find assemblages from Transylvania are practically identical to those from the Great Hungarian Plain. The deceased were laid on their side with their feet drawn up and were equipped with two-han
dled vessels — so-called milk jugs —, flowerpot shaped vessels and a vari
ety of cups. Their settlements probably consisted of ground level houses.
One Bodrogkeresztur site lying in the Cucuteni-Tripolye territory featured a small house with a floor constructed of wooden planks that was subse
quently plastered with clay.
At roughly the same time as the Bodrogkeresztur population moved into the H&romszek Basin, the beginning of an integration process seems to have taken place in Transylvania. Assemblages reflecting the mingling of Bod
rogkeresztur, Petresti and Cucuteni-Tripolye traits can be observed on the eastern periphery of the Mezdseg, whilst the finds from the Middle Maros region reflect the integration of Bodrogkeresztur and Petresti groups. The end of this process saw the emergence of a material culture that can be considered the heritage of the southwestern Transylvanian and Oltenian populations.
A few groups from these mixed Transylvanian populations migrated as far as the Great Hungarian Plain, whilst other groups — probably advanc
ing along the Szamos River — penetrated the sub-Carpathian region and eastern Slovakia.
The population of the Baile H erculane-Cheile Turzi group often settled in caves. These agriculturalists and stockbreeders, whose ranks also included ore miners and traders, did not settle in these barren and remote caves of their own free will, but because pastoralists from the eastern steppe had begun to graze their herds on the pastures of Wallachia and M oldavia at this time. These pastoralists stormed into this area through the Carpathians and disrupted local communities. The local population managed to work out some sort of modus vivendi with the first wave of newcomers, however, successive waves forced them to flee from their mountain homes.
This event marks, not for the first time, the start of a new chapter in the history of Transylvania (and, also, of east-central Europe). These eastern newcom ers and the local population assimilated in the Lower Danube re
gion, w here they were soon joined by southern Balkanic and perhaps also Anatolian groups. The emerging new population, the Cernavoda III cul
ture, penetrated as far as the Maros region. Their livestock keeping was based on sheep, goat, pig and horse, as well as cattle. The cattle bones are generally dominated by the remains of old male individuals reflecting a high number of oxen which, in turn, suggests plough agriculture and the use of wooden or perhaps antler hoes and shares.
This incipient development soon came to an abrupt end. Around 2000B.C., new population movements again led to changes in Transylvania with the arrival of Kolozskorp&d-Cojofeni groups, pastoralists from M acedonia and the Balkans in the southwestern Carpathians. The settlements are to be found everywhere both in the uplands and on floodplains. They often settled in mountain caves as well. They cremated their dead — the first instance of this in Transylvania — although inhumation burials, often sprinkled with ochre, also occur, especially in the burial mounds from the early period.
They may have adopted this custom from their eastern neighbours. Con
versely, this practice may have been part of the cultural tradition of this eastern European population. Their frequently found settlements are lo
cated in environm ents favouring the semi-nomadic lifeways of this pas- toralist group.
Even though these pastoralists and the Cernavoda III population came from roughly sim ilar backgrounds, their pottery shows marked differences.
Scoops with high-drawn handles, globular cups, urns and askoi were at first decorated with simple incised lines and hatched bands (matching or
namental motifs and a few corresponding vessel forms have also been un
covered in Cernavoda III contexts), which were later combined with lentil
shaped ornaments. Short dashes filled with lime also appear in this period, mostly on Transylvania sites.
Pastoralist tribes from the trans-Carpathian territory migrated into south
east Transylvania during the Cojofeni II-KoIozskorpad period. The popu
lation groups of the Foltesti III-Zabala culture penetrated as far as the M id
dle Maros region from the Haromszek Basin and the Brass6 area. Little is known about their settlements. Their dead were laid to rest on their side with the feet drawn up in simple pit graves or in stone cists over which a burial mound was erected. Cojofeni elements can occasionally be singled out am ong their finds suggesting scattered local m ingling of the tw o populations.