BrainMap

Mr. Adrian Balasescu

Dr.

Researcher - INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN"

Researcher | Scientific reviewer

Web of Science ResearcherID: L-6149-2013

Curriculum Vitae (19/06/2020)

Expertise & keywords

Mapping the Prehistoric Waterscape from Southern Romania (7000-3000 cal. BC). Natural water supply and cultural water demand in the past Call name: P 4 - Proiecte de Cercetare Exploratorie, 2020
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2369 2021 - 2023

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: https://unibuc.ro/cercetare/promovarea-rezultatelor-cercetarii/proiecte-de-cercetare/proiecte-cu-finantare-nationala/waterscape/

Abstract:

Investigations of the water in an archaeological context and searches for connections between natural water supply, natural hydrological conditions, and socio-cultural developments of human societies in the past is a real challenge for contemporary research. However, despite the apparent simplicity of water notion when we talk about human civilizations of the past, it had multidimensional connotations, which are transposed into various and differentiated elements of analysis (economic impact, hazards, human resilience, mobility, palaeoecologically niches, etc.). Thus, approaching a topic like the one proposed by the current project is difficult and challenging, involving complex multidisciplinary analyses, at the border of several disciplines (archaeology, geography, biology, etc.).

The project aim is to identify the complex interface between water and the human communities from Southern Romania for a period of 4000 years (7000-3000 BC). It will focus on the natural water availability, carrying capacity of environments, and aspects of variability in the hydrological system in correlation with human settlements location. We will take in consideration the adaptation and management strategies of different past societies, and the resilience or vulnerability of certain societies to hydrological hazards. Moreover, the project will address some side issues as the role of diet based on aquatic resources in life of the humans, and their palaeoeconomical impact in the target time span.

Multidisciplinary platform for integrative and systematic research of tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage and identities in Romania Call name: P 1 - SP 1.2 - Proiecte complexe realizate in consorții CDI
PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0686 2018 - 2021

Role in this project: Partner team leader

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO); INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE - DEZVOLTARE PENTRU FIZICA SI INGINERIE NUCLEARA " HORIA HULUBEI " - IFIN - HH (RO); UNIVERSITATEA "ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA" IASI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE VEST TIMISOARA (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE - DEZVOLTARE PENTRU FIZICA MATERIALELOR BUCURESTI RA (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE - DEZVOLTARE IN INFORMATICA - ICI BUCURESTI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA OVIDIUS (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DIN ORADEA (RO)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO)

Project website: http://patcultro.unibuc.ro

Abstract:

The present project represents an original approach, from an inter-, pluri-, multi- and transdisciplinary perspective of the 6th domains - Patrimony and cultural identity. Through the structure of the consortium, the management of the project, the objectives proposed by the component projects, through the synergies and complementarities obtained, undoubtedly presents a high degree of feasibility, being a sophisticated, integrative and exhaustive approach for Romania. Its results will have an impact both on the national and international scientific communities, but also on the broad public, contributing through the proposed activities to the consolidation, development, and improvement of the RDI system in our country, and indirectly to the training of the future specialists from the Romanian research.

The final goal of the project is to create a complex interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary platform for integrated and systematic research of tangible and non-tangible cultural identities and heritage in Romania.

The consortium that will implement this complex project is coordinated by the University of Bucharest (CO-UB), in partnership with the "Vasile Parvan" Institute of Archeology of the Romanian Academy (P1-IAB), the National Institute for Research and Development for Physics and Nuclear Engineering " Horia Hulubei "(P2-IFIN-HH)," Al. I. Cuza "University of Iasi (P3-UAIC), West University of Timisoara (P4-UVT), National Institute of Research and Development for Material Physics (P5-INCDFM), the "Ovidius" University of Constanta (P6-UOC) and the University of Oradea (P7-UO). The way of geographic distribution at the level of Romania ensures a good regional representation of the legal entities represented within the consortium in this project. The combination of five universities and three national research institutes is the ideal combination to support and implement such a complex project.

Bio-mapping of the Past Animal and Vegetation from the Romanian Prehistory Call name: P 4 - Proiecte de Cercetare Exploratorie
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0676 2017 - 2019

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN"

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO)

Project website: http://bio-mapping-prehistory.ro

Abstract:

The project Bio-mapping of the Past Animal and Vegetation from the Romanian Prehistory (BioMapPrehist) proposes a new approach regarding Romanian Prehistory (c. 40000-650 cal.BC) from the bioarchaeological perspective, based on an interdisciplinary integration of the zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical data available.

The main motivation of the project is the absence from Romania of the large integrated databases regarding past fauna (e.g. molluscs, fish bones, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vegetation (e.g. seeds, charcoal, pollen) discovered in archaeological contexts, an indispensable tool in modern research. In these circumstances, we will try to realize a complex integrated analysis of the interaction between society, environment, and biodiversity in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene on the Romanian actual territory. This chronological range was a critical period in the evolution of humanity, which gradually turned from hunter-gatherer communities into farmers-breeders communities. The target period begins with the Upper Paleolithic period, continues with Mesolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, and it ends with the First Iron Age (Hallstatt).

The project is designed to provide a higher-resolution picture of the faunal and vegetal evolution for a more than 40000 years, in correlation with human communities from the target area, and their food preferences, environmental resources management, and particular adaptive strategies.

The primary objectives of the project is the development of a complex analytical instrument for national and European researchers, based on bioarchaeological data and valorize the national cultural heritage, but also the integration of statistical GIS methods, in order to know the fundamental evolution and distribution of fauna and flora (and implicitly human consumption, paleoeconomy, food procuring strategies, key-events that affect the human diet) from geographically (horizontal) and chronologically (vertical) perspective.

Late Hallstatt burials and funerary practices at the Lower Danube Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - RUTE -2014 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-1602 2015 - 2017

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN"

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE ARHEOLOGIE "VASILE PIRVAN" (RO)

Project website: http://www.archaeologicalexcavation.info (Bârseşti)

Abstract:

Late Hallstatt burials and funerary practices at the Lower Danube have been little investigated. After the archaeological finds from 1950-1970, field research stagnated for a while, and older finds were systematized, being constructed in historic and archaeological terms. Thus three major cultural groups were distinguished: Ferigile, Bârsești and Ciumbrud, interpreted as the archaeological expression of the ethnical identity of the Thracians and of the Scythians.

The recommencement of archaeological investigations at the unpublished necropolis from Bârsești makes room for a new approach of this funerary monument: interdisciplinary study of the barrows and of the entire funerary area in the paleogeographic context specific to Late Hallstatt.

This research aims to gain an understanding of the structure of the necropolis and the way of living of the respective population compared to the populations from Ferigile and Ciumbrud, by making a comparative anthropological study of the three necropolises and the barrows, seen as a social expression of the communities that put them up.

The analysis of the Late Hallstatt funerary finds at the Lower Danube is intended to refine the internal chronology of the necropolises from Bârsești, Ferigile and Ciumbrud. The objective of the research of funerary practices is to understand the formation and representation of micro- and macro-regional identities at a time when political structures vaguely documented in ancient sources were taken shape.

Exploitation strategies of the animal environment at the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers north of the Danube (7.200-5.000 B.C.) Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - RUTE -2014 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0519 2015 - 2017

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA "VALAHIA" TARGOVISTE

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA "VALAHIA" TARGOVISTE (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA "VALAHIA" TARGOVISTE (RO)

Project website: http://www.eneolithicbonetools.ro/

Abstract:

The profound climatic changes and the need to identify solutions for the survival of mankind represent major topics of debate in the contemporary society. We must know that even since its beginnings, the modern mankind has been faced with climate changes some of them radical, which have left their mark on the strategies related to the exploitation and the management of the environment, specifically the animal one, and have been reflected in the types of economic practices. By this project proposition, we shall try to analyse, quantify and compare the effects of a nearly “purely climatic” phenomenon and the effects of a mostly human-driven process and to provide an integrated image on the ways in which the animal environment was exploited by the prehistoric communities, at the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers-breeders (7.200 B.C. – 5.000 B.C.), identifying and comparing different eco-cultural models developed in the northern Danube area. The investigations will cover two priority domains: of biodiversity evolution (e.g., taxonomic richness; magnitude of fauna turnover) and of correlative human societal transformations, especially in fauna management and techniques of exploitation. Among others, the objectives of our project include the identification of the modifications intervened in the relation between the domain covered by this project and the way in which it has been reflected in the paleo-economy, habitat, social or spiritual organization.

Echoes of the past reflected in the present ... An attempt to reconstruct the Neolithic society through experimental archeology Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-2302 2014 - 2017

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI

Project partners: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO); S&S PROIECTARE SRL (RO)

Affiliation: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI (RO)

Project website: http://www.mnir.ro/index.php/echoes-of-the-past-reflected-in-the-present/

Abstract:

This project represents an original approach, from an interdisciplinary approach, of one of the key eras of Romania’s history – the Neolithic (ca.7000-3700 B.C.). This period represented a turning point in the evolution of mankind, comparable on a historical scale only with the industrial revolution of the late XVIIIth century, which modified the very essence of human society, thus allowing all subsequent progress. This is the moment of those fundamental discoveries, like agriculture, pasturing, pottery and metal works and of great transformations of man kind’s habits, like the appearance of the first sedentary settlements and later on the of the kernels of proto-urban life appear. Unfortunately a research of the Neolithic with all its material and spiritual aspects represents a far greater challenge when compared with other historical eras (like the greek-roman era, the byzantine period, the middle-age etc.), due especially to the lack of complementary sources of information (written sources, oral information, direct observations). In these circumstances, only the data obtain through archeological diggings can help understanding these prehistoric communities and their material creation, but just in a limiting way. This is the reason why we propose an interdisciplinary approach of the Romanian Neolithic, based on the synergic involvement of some diverse fields, like archeology, archeozoology, archeoichtiology, anthropology, geology, architecture, petrography, topography, chemistry, etc., which would offer a background knowledge composed of contemporary archeological discoveries, doubled by studies of experimental archeology that would allow a scientific validation of some of the existing theories and concepts. Thus, experimental archeology transforms into a very strong research instrument, able to complete the Neolithic knowledge base. This subject in original and unique, never being approached again in Romania. The project aims at starting from the archeological data from the Neolithic, in order to recreate, by the means of the experimental archeology, all the elements that create the material culture of these communities (pottery, houses, figurines, tools made by flint, horn, shells, bone, metal, etc. Also the project shall study the functional dimension of these objects, that will be tested in various Neolithic activities (agriculture, gathering, wood chopping, house building, tools and objects crafting, etc.). All the resulting products shall be interdisciplinary analyzed, as well as all the archeological artifacts, after which a comparative study shall be made. Furthermore, the project aims at (re) building a Neolithic settlement at a 1:1 scale, with all its specific buildings and artifacts, thus creating a true, Archaeodrom like, science park which will comprise a museum and a research base. This shall represent an economical product, with a strong experimental and eloquent character, based upon the collaboration between the research institutions that make up this consortium and the business environment, which will both contribute to the implementation of the „education through research” concept by allowing both initial and continuous forming of human resources (students, master and PhD candidates), and also shall represent an extremely valuable cultural product, able to be integrated in the national touristic circuit. In the same time, the construction of this scientific park in a rural environment, in an economically disadvantaged area, will contribute both to a socio-economic development of the host community and to a significant rise in educational opportunities for the youth of this community. This approach of the research process can be considered a new technique of cultural marketing, yet to be applied in Romania, at least for the Neolithic archeological discoveries.

Re-constructing the identities: facts, places, peoples, animals and objects of the invisible past Call name: Exploratory Research Projects - PCE-2011 call
PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-1015 2011 - 2016

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI

Project partners: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI (RO)

Affiliation: MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A ROMANIEI (RO)

Project website: http://prehistoric-identities.ro/

Abstract:

The problem of `who we are’ was always central to the interest of the peoples.For archaeologists and historians this problem is often intimately related to questions of `who were the people of the past,our ancestors’ an inquiry which incited their imagination and knowledge of the past 200 years.Various scientific disciplines helped to discover an important part of the past but the degree of documentation is different from one historical period to another.Some of them,as it is the prehistory,are lacking in certain segments of information.In these circumstances,the archaeologists have built an often distorted picture of the prehistory.That is why in this project we propose a interdisciplinary approach for an important segment of prehistory(Eneolithic),in terms of identities.The subject is original and has not been addressed until now in Romania.The project aims to identify some socio-biological aspects of the Eneolithic communities,grouped into five levels of analysis:the identity of place (where they lived),macro-identity of communities (where they lived),the biological identity(who are they),the material dimension of identity-artifacts(what they built,used and produced) and the reflected identity by other elements (what they preferred to collect,eat and use,why and how).Combinatorial analysis of data obtained from these four levels of study will allow us to answer questions about `who are those people’ and to identify the multiple identities of these past human populations

Human and environment co-evolution patterns in the wetland area of Balta Ialomitei Call name: Exploratory Research Projects - PCE-2011 call
PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0982 2011 - 2016

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a României

Project partners: Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a României (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: http://arheologie-bordusani.org

Abstract:

For a long time the archaeological research in Romania and in other countries of Central Europe remained confined within the limits of studies based strictly on stratigraphy and typology of the various artefacts disconnected from their contexts. Thus, general ideas have been spread about, often misconceptions and the lack or scarcity of complex multidisciplinary studies was significant, especially considering that the conceptual content of the research has not evolved.

In such conditions the project aims, for the first time in Romania, to define the characteristics of the relations between human communities and the natural environment, in the Danube area of “Balta Ialomitei”, on several chronological levels from Neo-eneolithic period, the La Tene epoch and the Middle Ages up to present, through a comprehensive interdisciplinary diagnostic, allowing to highlight the framework of the linked evolution of man and his environment. Therefore, we propose to identify all areas of human activities in the context of landscape elements to be reconstructed in detail performing complex multi proxies analysis and to understand their dynamics in the broader conceptual framework of the social space approach, very little addressed until present by the Romanian archaeological research.

The relevance is the use of innovative concepts and methodologies for archaeological research in Romania associated with complex studies on a specific natural environment.

Relationships between humans and suines in prehistorical and historical time on Romania`s territory and connection with European and Asian spaces Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - TE-2011 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2011-3-0146 2011 - 2014

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza"

Project partners: Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: http://arheoinvest.uaic.ro/research/pn2rutesuine/

Abstract:

The archaeozoology studies the remains of the fauna which are identified by the archaeological research. This research theme aims to study the suines remains (domestic pig and wild boar) from an archaeozoological, morphometric and paleogenetical perspective; these remains are the products of different activities (nutrition, rituals, handcraft), realized by the civilizations of the Romanian territory, remains which are, for the most part, closely connected to the human behavior.

The archaeozoological research proposed here will try to identify some local centres for domesticating the wild boar in the Neo-eneolithical civilizations, the way this domesticated form had spreaded out and also the way the domestic pig had participated to the development of the livestock, since the Neolithic and up to the Middle Age. The archaeozoological data will be correlated with the archaeological ones, in order to characterize the agricultural practices on the Romanian territory.

In several countries there are many research projects studying the problem of the first procedures of domesticating animals in the prehistory, and also the spread of the first domesticated species in the European space. In this project, we will realize the first studies of paleogenetics and geometrical morphometry over the ancient fauna of Romania, and the results will be integrated in the international data for the rest of Europe.

BEHIND PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY: THE ENEOLITHIC HARD ANIMAL MATERIAL INDUSTRY FROM SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - TE-2011 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2011-3-0133 2011 - 2014

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA VALAHIA DIN TARGOVISTE

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA VALAHIA DIN TARGOVISTE (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: http://www.eneolithicbonetools.ro/

Abstract:

The project aims to carry out a completely original study for the Romanian prehistorical archeology - concerning the way in which the hard animal material industry reflect the environmental exploitation strategies and the extent to which cultural attitudes influence these strategies - on the basis of well preserved and contextually integrated archeological material. Animal bone materials were used by the prehistoric communities to manufacture weapons, tools and artistic objects. In this category are included: bone, antler, ivory, teeth and shells, each with its own special processing techniques that have to do with their mechanical properties and also with the specific cultural traditions of each community. Within this study, pursuing four stages - raw matter acquisition, typology, technology, traseology - our main goals will be to identify the equipments’ makeup, the function of the objects and their integration in the activities, the technical and economic means needed to obtain them and, in the end, by comparing the sites, to identify the possible cultural markers and to check if the cultural models emitted so far on the assimilation of an exploitation model pertaining to a certain culture are veridical. The technical-functional determinations of the animal bone tools will be established based on the correlation of the experimental results with the study of the micro and macro stigmata, with the functional analogies/ethnographic comparisons and the archeological data.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects	Download (161.75 kb) 06/05/2016