History · The Duruitoarea gorge
What was found in the Duruitoarea cave
A 20 minute walk from the village is the place where people slept 160,000 years ago. Archaeologists took ten thousand bones out of it, the tooth of a Paleolithic human, and the remains of a bear that ended up, millennia later, on the village coat of arms.
In short
- The Duruitoarea Veche cave holds the oldest known traces of human habitation in the Republic of Moldova. Layers IV and III are between 100,000 and 160,000 years old.
- It was found in 1958 by the archaeologist Nicolae Chetraru and studied for almost two decades.
- About 10,000 bones were taken from it, from 54 mammal species and 29 bird species, along with flint and bone tools, the jawbone of a Neanderthal type Paleolithic human, and cave bear bones, the animal that reached the village coat of arms in 2016.
Where the village name comes from
The toponymist Anatol Eremia shows that Duruitoarea comes from the word "duruitoare", formed from the verb a durui, to make a rumbling noise. In Romanian, a duruitoare is a narrow spot in the bed of a small river, where the water runs fast and makes a racket. It also means a threshold, or a waterfall.
The stream that gave the name still runs today. It is called the Duruita, a small tributary of the Ciuhur, and over millions of years it cut the gorge at the edge of the village through the limestone. Halfway up the stone wall a dark opening appears: the cave.
Who found it
The Paleolithic site was identified in 1958 by the archaeologist Nicolae Chetraru. It was not a single day's discovery. Teams of archaeologists, geologists and paleontologists dug here for almost two decades, and what they found changed what was known about the prehistory of the area.
What the cave looks like
It has three chambers, a total length of 49 metres running north to south, a width of between 5 and 9 metres, and in places the roof rises to 8 metres. It is not a deep cave with galleries and stalactites. It is more like a rock shelter, wide and bright at the mouth, which is exactly what a group of hunters would choose for the winter.
The stone it is cut into has a story of its own. It is limestone of Badenian-Volhynian age, that is lower Sarmatian, the same fossil reef that forms all the cliffs around the village. We wrote about it separately, in The Toltre of the Prut.
Three levels of habitation
Five cultural layers were identified in the deposits inside the cave, of which three are certain levels of Paleolithic habitation, marked by archaeologists as IV, III and II.
- Layers IV and III are between 100,000 and 160,000 years old and belong to the Lower Paleolithic, to the Acheulean culture of Tayac type.
- Layer II is much more recent, roughly 20,000 to 18,000 BC.
To be clear what that means: the first people who slept in the Duruitoarea cave did so tens of thousands of years before Homo sapiens reached Europe.
Ten thousand bones
About 10,000 bone remains were collected from the deposits of layer II. From them, 54 mammal species and 29 bird species were identified, a diversity hard to imagine today in the fields around.
The list of game says everything about the climate of the time: horses, bison, reindeer, red deer, mammoths, roe deer, beavers. Alongside the bones were working and hunting tools, made of flint, antler and bone.
In 2004, the excavations turned up something else unexpected: the bones of a Khozarian type mammoth.
The tooth
The most important find is neither the largest nor the most visible. It is a lower jawbone with several teeth, from a Paleolithic human of Neanderthal physical type.
That is all that is left of a person who lived, hunted and died in this valley. From that jaw, anthropologists could say who they were, what they ate and what they looked like.
The bear on the coat of arms
From here the story moves straight to 2016.
In the oldest of the cave's cultural layers, the fifth, at 230 to 235 cm below today's surface, archaeologists found the bones of a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). When the National Heraldry Commission approved the coat of arms of Duruitoarea Veche, that discovery ended up right at the centre of the shield.
Every element means something:
- The black field is the darkness of the cave. In heraldry, black also stands for humility, prudence and learning, which fits historically too, because in the 18th and 19th centuries Duruitoarea appears as being held by monasteries.
- The cave bear is rendered in gold, the most valued heraldic tincture, and stands rampant, with red tongue and claws. This shows the aggression of the animal, once king of the European forests and man's chief natural rival.
- The silver droplets that seem to fall from the upper edge of the shield are canting arms. Without words, they say the name of the village: the water that rumbles.
This may have been the original name of a valley, of a steep ravine, later carried over to the estate or to the place where the village stood, and in the end to the village itself. Anatol Eremia, toponymist, on the origin of the name Duruitoarea
How to get there and what you see today
The Duruitoarea gorge is a natural monument of national importance. It was protected by decrees in 1962 and 1975, then confirmed by Law no. 1538 of 25 February 1998 on the state protected natural areas fund. The area is officially listed at 40 hectares, although more recent measurements give 6.63 hectares. It is administered by the Costesti town hall.
Before you set off
- Distance: a 20 minute walk from the guesthouse.
- Footwear: boots or trainers with a good sole, because the climb to the cave goes over grass and stone. We do not go to the gorge in the rain, wet limestone is slippery.
- With a guide: the tour of the museum, the cave and the gorge costs 500 lei for a group of up to 10 people and 800 lei for 11 or more.
- The museum: the village has the only rural paleontology museum in Moldova, with finds from the cave and objects donated by villagers. It is worth seeing before the cave, because afterwards you look at the stones differently.
- It is a protected area. No digging, no hammering for fossils, and nothing left behind.
The best time is early in the morning or towards evening, when the sun reaches in under the stone eaves. In winter, in dry weather, the gorge is empty and silent, and the wall coats itself in ice.
Frequently asked questions
How old is the Duruitoarea Veche cave?
Habitation layers IV and III are between 100,000 and 160,000 years old and belong to the Lower Paleolithic, to the Acheulean culture of Tayac type. Layer II is much more recent, roughly 20,000 to 18,000 BC. These are the oldest known traces of human habitation on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
Who discovered the Duruitoarea Veche cave?
The Paleolithic site was identified in 1958 by the archaeologist Nicolae Chetraru. Research continued for almost two decades, with teams of archaeologists, geologists and paleontologists.
What was found in the cave?
About 10,000 bone remains, from 54 mammal species and 29 bird species: horses, bison, reindeer, red deer, mammoths, roe deer, beavers. Alongside them, working and hunting tools of flint, antler and bone, and a lower jawbone with several teeth from a Paleolithic human of Neanderthal physical type. In 2004 the bones of a Khozarian type mammoth were also found.
How big is the cave?
It has three chambers, a total length of 49 metres running north to south, a width of between 5 and 9 metres, and in places the roof rises to 8 metres. It is a rock shelter, not a deep cave with galleries.
Why does Duruitoarea Veche have a bear on its coat of arms?
Because in the oldest cultural layer of the cave, at 230 to 235 cm below today's surface, the bones of a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) were found. The coat of arms approved by the National Heraldry Commission in 2016 shows a golden cave bear rampant, with red tongue and claws, on a black field, the colour of the darkness inside the cave. The silver droplets say, heraldically, the name of the village: the water that rumbles.
Can you visit the Duruitoarea Veche cave?
Yes. The gorge is a 20 minute walk from the village of Duruitoarea Veche and is a protected natural area. The guided tour of the museum, the cave and the gorge costs 500 lei for a group of up to 10 people and 800 lei for 11 or more. You need footwear with a good sole, and we do not go in the rain, because wet stone is slippery. No digging and no collecting fossils in the area.
Sources
- "Defileul Duruitoarea", Romanian Wikipedia. This gives the geology of the gorge, the dating of the layers, the protected status and the area. ro.wikipedia.org
- "Grota Duruitoarea Veche", Stancile Prutului. This gives the dimensions of the cave, the hunted species, the 2004 discovery and the physical type of the human remains. stancileprutului.md
- Silviu Andries-Tabac, doctor of history, vice-president of the National Heraldry Commission. The official explanation of the coat of arms of Duruitoarea Veche, Chisinau, 2016, with the cultural layers, the Ursus spelaeus bones at 230 to 235 cm, and the etymology of the name after Anatol Eremia.
- The National Archaeological Agency, "On the caves with Paleolithic traces of habitation on the territory of the Republic of Moldova". ana.md
A room twenty minutes from the cave
Nicolae takes you to the museum, the cave and the gorge and tells you what was found in each corner. Message us and we will set the day.
A guesthouse in Duruitoarea Veche, Riscani district. 9 rooms and 36 beds, 100 metres from Lake Costesti-Stanca. Open from May through October.
Phone and WhatsApp: +373 798 48 077
