Pages: 8-117

The paper is dedicated to the origins of the culture Saharna-Solonceni. According to the concept substantiated by the author, it emerged in the Reut-Dniester interfluve and its major constituting component was the culture Costisa. The origins of the ornamented Hallstatt cultures on the Low Danube are studied as a process influenced by Saharna-Solonceni.
The first chapter is dedicated to collection of indirect evidences supporting the stated concept. The second and the third chapters consider the dating problem of the Saharna-Solonceni culture. The obtained results show that the Saharna-Solonceni culture must be synchronised with the cultures Chisinau-Corlateni, Belozerskaya and Belogrudovskaya, and the culture Gava on the stage Magala III. The next chapter studies correlations between the Saharna-Solonceni culture and the Danube cultures of ornamented Hallstatt by such parameters as «the role of fluted ornament» and «the role of stamped ornament». The conclusion is that the Saharna-Solonceni almost lacks flutes, and the carved ornament significantly predominates over the stamped ornaments. As during the early and the middle Hallstatt the Carpathian-Danube region and the Ukranian forest-steppe saw growing use of the fluted ornament, and as in the Danube cultures it already played a very important role, they could not be recognised as predecessors of the Saharna-Solonceni culture. The same is true about the stamped ornament – in Babadag II it is an exception, in Insula Banului it significantly dominates over the carved ornament, in Kozia the proportion is about balanced. Besides, comparison by these parameters infers that Saharna-Solonceni is older than the above mentioned cultures.
The fifth chapter analyses correlation of ornamental motifs in Saharna-Solonceni, Kozia and the Danube cultures. The conclusions are: given that Kozia lacks them completely, and the Saharna-Solonceni lacks Babadag and Insula Banului basic motifs on its earliest sites, it is another evidence to prove that these cultures cannot be recognised as predecessors of the Saharna-Solonceni. Also here, the author maintains that it is possible to distinguish at least four stages in the development of the Saharna-Solonceni culture. The sixth chapter shows emergence of the dented stamp in ornamented Hallstatt influenced by the Bronze cultures of the Northern Black Sea. The seventh chapter is dedicated to correlation between the Saharna-Solonceni and the cultures Balta, Tamaoani, Sihleanu and Rimnitele. The author substantiates impossibility to accept any of these cultures as predecessor of the Saharna-Solonceni. The final chapters study and substantiate the necessity to recognise the Costisa culture as the predecessor of the Saharna-Solonceni.