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The archeological research of the Old Orhei complex started out in 1947,when Gh. Smirnov launched the first investigations in the field.
In the years 1947-1962 under the leading of Gh. Smirnov were discovered and investigated to a greater or lesser degree a range of archeological pieces considered classic for the Old Orhei complex. Among theses we could mention the Gaeto-Dacian Butuceni Fortress, VIII-III cent. BC; the small Trebujeni-Potarca fortress dated V-II cent. BC; ground fortress from the XII-XIII cent.; the stone fortress dated XIV-XVI centuries; the Palace of the chief magistrate of the Orhei district; the stone khan from the XIV century, the stone bathing houses from the XIV century, the churches from the XV-XVI centuries; the ground fortifications of the medieval city, and others.
After a five-year break, in 1968, P. Barnea, who coordinated the archeological researches of this complex till 1991, had resumed the excavations at Old Orhei. In this time at Old Orhei had been investigated mainly the trace from the period of the Golden Horde (XIV century) and from the times of the medieval city Orhei.
Beside the above-mentioned investigations, starting with 198 till now, at the archeological complex Old Orhei activates productively university professor Ion Niculita. He focussed his attention upon certain objects from the Gaeto-Dacian period nearby the medieval city. Until 1996 Mr. Niculita investigated the Gaeto-Dacian fortress on the Butuceni headland dated VIII-III centuries BC. Since 1997 – the Trebujeni-Potarca fortress from the V-II centuries BC.
Ion Hancu resumed in 1993 the archeological researches in the Old Orhei City. In three years concentrated upon problems of museographic origins within the archeological complex.
Beginning with 1996, Gh. Postica coordinates the archeological excavations at Old Orhei. In 1996-1998 the investigations at Old Orhei were focused on two main areas: establishing the chronology of the two medieval fortresses and researching the cultural vestiges from the II century BC, and from the VI-XI centuries AD. The archeological excavations during these years were performed in close collaboration with the Medieval City Museum Complex of Old Orhei. Simultaneously with the above mentioned works, regularly were performed excavations at the Mascauti - Livada Boierului settlement nearby Old Orhei.
In the last three years, aiming to the increase of the prestige of the Old Orhei archeological complex and to a wide spread of these unique monument, a series of scientific, didactic-instructive events have been organized within the Old Orhei archeological work site.
On August 1-2, 1997, the International Seminar “50 years of archeological investigations at the Old Orhei museum reservation; problems and perspectives” took place at Butuceni. Among the participants were well known historians, archeologists and architects from the Republic of Moldova and Romania (Asavoaie Costica, Bazgu Eugen, Chiriac Costel, Candea Ioan, Chicus Nicolae, Diaconu Petre, Gorodenco Anatol, Hancu Ion, Lupu Emil, Munteanu Octavian, Musteata Sergiu, Niculita Ion, Nesterova Tamara, Postica Gheorghe, Sarbu Valeriu, Teodor Silvia, Tentiuc Ion) , leading personalities of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova and of the museum complex (Ghenadie Ciobanu – minister, Valentina Tozloanu- vice minister, Silvia Ciubotaru – director of the Cultural Patrimony Department, and Lilia Colta – director of the Old Orhei complex). At the seminar a number of papers were presented and debated dedicated to the Old Orhei complex (Ion Hancu, Gh. D. Smirnov – the first investigator of the archeological monuments from the Old Orhei area, Gheorghe Postica “ The history of the archeological researches at the Old Orhei museum reservation”, Ion Niculita “The Gaeto-Thracian sites from the Old Orhei area and their scientific significance”, Tamara Nesterov “ The Old Orhei architecture”, Gheorghe Postica and Ion Hancu “ About dating of the stone fortresses at Old Orhei”).
In the years 1997-1998 at the archeological work site Old Orhei, the Center of Archeological researches from the Republic of Moldova with the financial support from Moldova Soros Foundation, HESP programs, East East (coordinator - A. Coretchi) and Prodidactica (coordinator – l. Ivanovici) organized and achieved the Old Orhei Summer School program. The Summer School activated during two months, simultaneously with the archeological excavations, comprising of two cycles: school (during the month of July) and university (during the month of August). Within the school were organized courses for high school students from the villages around Old Orhei (Butuceni, Trebujeni, Morovaia and Mascauti) and for university students studying history and candidates for doctoral degree from Moldova, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian universities, with active participation of many university professors from these countries.
During the years 1996-1998 many well-known experts in the fields of archeology visited the Old Orhei archeological work site. They held discussions edge of excavations and made proposals for a more thorough research of the monument. Among these experts we mention: Dr. Silvia Teodor, Dr. Dan Teodor, Dr. Ioan Caprosu (Iasi), Dr. Petre Roman, Dr. Nicolae Constantinescu, Dr. Mircea Babes, Dr. Petre Diaconu (Bucuresti), Dr. Ionel Candea, Dr. Valeriu Sarbu (Braila), Dr. Leonid Kazlasov (Moscow), Dr. Vitalie Pidgaetki (Dnepropetrovsk), Dr. Viorel Capitanu (Bacau), etc.
Between 1993-1998 the archeological investigations within the Old Orhei complex was supported by different institutions from the field. Among these we mention the Moldovan state University (rector-Gheorghe Rusnac, dean Ion Niculita) and Romanian Institute of Thraciology (director Petre Roman) performed investigations about thraco-gaetic objects (Butuceni and Potarca fortresses), Free International University of Moldova (rector Andrei Galban, dean Pavel Parasca), Pedagogical University “Ion Creanga” (rector Ion Gutu, dean Nicolae Chicus), and Center for archeological researches from the Republic of Moldova (director Gh. Postica), who performed researches within the medieval city of Old Orhei. In the last two years the archeological investigations at Old Orhei have been supported by the Moldova Soros foundation, which assisted financially the implementation of the Summer School Program.
Gh. Postica, November 22, 1998
During 1996-1998 the archeological excavations at Old Orhei took place under the auspices of the Free International University from Moldova and the Center for Archeological Researches from the Republic of Moldova in collaboration with the Pedagogic University “Ion Creanga”, Moldova State University (Gh. Postica, I. Hancu, O. Munteanu, S. Musteata).
The archeological researches were centered on four main sectors: I. Raut’s meadow –Pestere Monastery sector; II. Fortress - Western Wall Sector; III. Fortress-Eastern Wall Sector; IV. Fortress-Precincts Sector. Simultaneously, in the central and eastern part of the complex several surveys to save or to control were made.
I. In the Raut’s Meadow-Pestere Monastery sector (648 square meters) traces of settlements form the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age (Chisinau-Corlateni culture, XII-X centuries BC), from the Late Laten (Poiesti-Lucaseuca culture, II-I centuries BC), from the Early Middle Ages, V-IX centuries, from the period of the medieval city Sehr-al-Jedid (XIV century), and from the times of the Moldovan medieval city Orhei (XV-XVI centuries) were found.
More representative seemed to be: the vestiges of the Poiesti-Lucaseuca culture, which is a on the surface dwelling, two deepened dwellings, eight pits for provisions, about four thousands pottery fragments (black fine pottery, with smooth surface or slipped), various object from clay, bone, etc; traces of a medieval culture from the XIV century – a hollow with three human skeletons, two household hollows, five Tatter coins, from the XIV century, Golden Horde like pottery, etc, and vestiges of the medieval culture from the XV-XVI century- a household pit, pottery, various inventory pieces. Other cultural horizons in this sector are represented by sudden sporadic pottery discoveries. From this a great interest presents a fragment from the V-VII century, hand worked, decorated with a cut cross.
II. Fortress- Western Wall Sector (376 square meters) have been discovered: traces from the Superior Paleolithic period (splinters and silex tools), indigene traces from the pre-Mongolian period XII-XIV centuries (the western trench of the land fortress with a total length of 21.0 meters and craggy pottery wheel worked with a incised decorations), vestiges from the period of the city of Sehr-al-Jedid, XIV century (western foundation of the stone fortress on three portions with a total length of 420. Meters, a huge oven kiln for burning lime, two household pits, a human grave, three Tatter coins from the XIV century, Golden Horde pottery, inventory pieces) and from the period of the Orhei city, CV-XVI century (red and gray pottery).
III. In the Fortress-Eastern Wall Sector (104 square meters)-traces from the time of the Mongolian city, XIV century were discovered (the eastern foundation of the stone fortress, a kiln to burn limestone, pottery) and from the Moldovan city period, XV-XVI century (45 graves, the ground wall no. 3, gray and red pottery).
IV. In the Fortress-Precincts Sector (280square meters). In the south western corner have been discovered, traces form the superior Paleolithic (tool and silex splinters, vestiges form the XII-XIII centuries (pottery pieces), traces from the Mongolian city period from the XIV century (a part of the southern foundation of the stone fortress with a length of 12.0 meters, a coin made in Sehr-al-Jedid, Golden horde type pottery, various inventory pieces), traces from the time of the medieval Orhei from the XV-XVI century (a deepened dwelling, and a surface stone building), about seven thousand gray pottery pieces, three coins from the times of Alexander the “Good”, two coins from Ilias-I, different inventory objects). On the ground surface in various sectors of the monument two coins made at Sehr-al-Jedid and one coined at Sarai in the seventies of the XIV century were found.
As a result of researches in the Fortress-Western/Eastern Wall a perfect stratigraphic situation was obtained with clear evidence and proofs, which make the problem of dating of the two medieval fortresses from the Old Orhei be seen from a different perspective. The stratigraphic observations had shown that the foundation pedestal of the stone fortress and the building layer of this fortification are part of the cultural frame of the Golden Horde from the XIV century. The archeological researches have also proved that the entrenchment of the fortress was covered with building remnants (stone, mortar, burned clay) and pottery from the Golden Horde times. On the other hand, it was determined that one of the pits for burning limestone from the times of the Golden Horde had been partially overlapped by the eastern edge of the entrenchment of the ground fortress. This fact lets us determine the date of the final phase of this fortification, and namely the middle of the XIV century.
The archeological researches in the above mentioned sectors confirm with evident proofs the traditional historiographic belief that the ground and stone fortresses from the Old Orhei are works of the Moldovan rulers, and namely of Alexander the Good and Stefan the Great. From the obtained data, we conclude that the ground fortress belongs to the native settlement from Orhei from the XII-first half of the XIV centuries, and the stone fortress was built by Mongolians in the middle of the XIV century and restored later, in the XV-XVI centuries by the locals.
Within the “save” survey from the centered part of the Old Orhei complex were discovered three medieval graves. Their dating (X-XIII centuries) was made based on a pottery chip with horizontal cuts.
At the eastern side of the Old Orhei City, in Raut’s meadow, within certain control surveys Gaeto-Dacian traces from the IV-III centuries BC, medieval vestiges from the V-IX, from the X-XIII, from the XIV and from the XV-XVI centuries had been registered.
Gh.Postica