CURRICULUM VITAE

I have worked at the Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy since 1951, that is since I used to be an undergraduate. By turn, I worked as a researcher and senior researcher 3 rd and 2 nd degrees. I retired on the 1 st of May 1991 .

I attended the history courses of the Faculty of Bucharest, and I graduated in 1953. I took my doctor’s degree in 1971. I worked on the following sites: Dinogetia, Niculiţel and Nalbant (Tulcea county), Păcuiul lui Soare, Mangalia, C ap idava, Murfatlar, Poarta Albă, Cochirleni, Cernavoda and Adamclisi (Constanţa county), Neamţ Monastery, Ploieşti, Bucharest, Porţile de Fier, Lişcoteanca (Brăila county), Viişoara, Mărculeşti (Ialomiţa county), Coslogeni (Călăraşi county). Consequently, I conducted my fieldwork on sites bearing material vestiges from all the ages, but above all from the Roman and post-Roman periods.

I published notes, reviews, preliminary reports, articles and five books (3 of which in collaboration). Most of the works have been printed in this country. About 25 of them have been published abroad – in Germany , Spain , the Czech Republic , Bulgaria , Yugoslavia , Greece , the USA , and Belgium .

In most works, I have ap proached themes such as archaeology, historical geogr ap hy, paleo-demogr ap hy, toponymy, regarding especially the Lower Danube region.

I have also tackled Christian archaeology, numismatics and Byzantine seals themes. At the same time, I have thoroughly looked into the genesis of the ancient Romanian material culture, as well as of its influence upon the material culture of allogeneous populations. I have tackled, starting from the literary and archaeological sources, the history of ancient Turkish populations (Petchenegs, Uzs, Kumans) and their relations with the Byzantine world. I succeeded in defining the aspects regarding the Roman origin of the material culture belonging to the proto-Romanians. At the same time, I have defined forms of material culture of migrating populations. Starting from the archaeological data, that we corroborated with a few literary news, I succeeded in discovering a statal formation ( Ţara Dristrei – Dristra Country) unknown in the chronicles of the time.

I argued that the Byzantines did not build the vallums in Dobrudja. At the same time, I have argued that, on the one hand, the early Slavs did not enter, as formerly thought, in large numbers in Dobrudja of the 6 th century, but much later, and, on the other, that the hanat of Pliska never ruled over the former Scythie Minor during the 7 th – 10 th centuries.

Finally, in other studies I attempted at pointing out the unity of the ancient Romanian material culture within the Balkan-Carpathian space.

I consider that the most important scientific contributions that I brought in the field of historical research are the following:

• the thesis of the Petcheneg origin of the clay buckets
• the thesis stating that the Dridu type material culture reflects, in its fully emerged forms, not the ethnic character of a human community, but its degree of social and economic development
• the location of the town of Vecina at Păcuiul lui Soare
• the uncovering of a statal formation from the end of the 14 th century in the south-west corner of Dobrudja
• the early mediaeval age dating of the three vallums of Dobrudja

- defining the track followed by the Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula

- defining the peculiarities of the Byzantine rule in the Lower Danube during the 6 th – 12 th centuries

- the political consequences of the emergence of the Petchenegs and Kumans at the Lower Danube

- the permanence of the tradition of Roman civilization in the region of the Lower Danube during the 6 th – 12 th centuries

Besides, one should take into account a series of contributions on the defining and dating of some archaeological documents, works of historical geogr ap hy (Preslavul Mic, Ozolimna, Theodoropolis, D ap hne, Vicus Carporum, etc.), polemic articles regarding issues of stratigr ap hy, typology of archaeological materials, etc.

Last but not least, I will also mention the numismatic contributions, of which I will reveal here only one, namely the study on the location of D ap hne in which I have to correct a mistake that could be found in the relevant literature from the 17 th century. During that century, they used to believe that the Constantine coins reading Constantiniana D ap hne were struck in the honour of founding the so-called Constantiniana D ap hne. We have demonstrated that they were issued at the end of a victorious battle of Constantine the Great.

I also mention that I was a member of the editing staff of the reviews Studii şi cercetări de istorie veche şi arheologie and Pontica. I participated in international congresses. I represented Romania at the International Committee of Historical Geography and I was member in the Executive Committee of the International Association for the history of glass.

In the end, I will remark that some of my works have had a large audience in this country and abroad. For instance, the work on the Petcheneg was reviewed 14 times abroad (in England , Germany , France , Italy , Austria , Hungary , the USA , Bulgaria , Russia ) and in 5 reviews in this country.

I was awarded the "Vasile Pârvan" prize of the Academy (1972) for the 1 st volume of the monogr ap h Păcuiul lui Soare.

Petre Diaconu