Ion Niculiță (27 May 1939 – 2 January 2022) was a Moldovan professor of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, known for his contributions to the field of

thracology Thracology (; ; ) is the scientific study of Ancient Thrace and Thracian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. A practitioner of the discipline is a Thracologist. Thracology ...

. He was a relative of the Romanian archaeologist

Vasile Pârvan Vasile Pârvan (; 28 September 1882 – 26 June 1927) was a Romanian historian and archaeologist. Biography Pârvan was born in Perchiu, Huruiești commune, Bacău County. He came from a modest family, being the first child of the teacher An ...

Academic career

Returning to

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

he was appointed lecturer in the Ancient and Medieval History Department. Advancing through the ranks, he became Chair of Archaeology and Ancient History in 1984, and between 1993 and 2002 he was Dean of the Faculty of History. In 1991 he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in history for the work "Northern Thracians in the 6th through 1st Centuries BC". Niculiță's scientific interests are focused on the cultural interactions in Southeast Europe between the end of the 2nd Millennium BC and the beginning of the 1st Millennium, in particular:

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...

aspects of early

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

history, Geto-

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

n history and civilization, Daco-Romanian continuity and processes of

Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

, etc. In order to focus their research, Niculiță organized the Scientific Research Laboratory on Thracology in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in 1990. Under his leadership a number of archeological sites have been studied, such as

Dănceni Dănceni () is a village in Ialoveni District, Moldova. It is located on a hillside on the Bank (geography), bank of a large accumulation reservoir called Lake Danceni, in the Ișnovăț river valley. The village of Dănceni is located 11 km ...

Suruceni Suruceni is a village in Ialoveni District, Moldova, 22 km to the west from Chișinău. It sits on the bank of two retention basins called Lake Nimoreni, and Lake Suruceni. The village borders the Dănceni, Nimoreni, Chișinău, Chișinau, an ...

, Butuceni,

Hansca Hansca is a village in Ialoveni District, Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania t ...

, Sobari, Trebujeni, Mașcăuți, Saharna and those on the

Lower Danube The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important r ...

as well as Novosel'skoye and

Orlivka Orlivka is the name of several populated places in Ukraine, including: * * * * Orlivka, Ocheretyne settlement hromada, Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast * * Orlivka, Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast * * * * A cognate placename in the Russian la ...

(Kartal) in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In 1992 Niculiță was elected member of the International Council of Indo-European and Thracian Studies. He was a member of the editorial boards for scientific journals like SCIVA (

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

), Istros (

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

), Cumidava (

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

) and Tyrageția (Chișinău). His efforts through 40 years have resulted in five

monographs A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

and more than 120 papers published in national and international journals.

Personal life and death

Niculiță was born in Zărnești,

Cahul District Cahul () is a district () in the south of Moldova, with the administrative center at Cahul. As of January 2014 estimates, Cahul District had a population of 124,700. History The district has been inhabited since the Stone Age (50-45,000 BC). Two ...

. Having attended school in his native village, he studied at the Faculty of History, University of Chișinău, from 1958 to 1963. Among his teachers were E. Rikman and R. Enghelgardt. As a first-year student, together with G. Samson, N. Grigoriev and V. Botnariuc he founded the Archeology Student Scientific Seminar (SȘSAIV), which continues to this day. Between 1963 and 1968 he worked as assistant to the

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...

at the Faculty of History, and 1968–1971 he was a PhD student of archeology at the

Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, studying under such teachers as B. Rybakov, B. Grakov, A. Arcyhovskii, V. Janin, F. Kyzlasov, A. Meliukova and I. Jacenko. His thesis, submitted in 1972, was about the

Getae The Getae or Getai ( or , also Getans) were a large nation who inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, throughout much of Classical Antiquity. The main source of informa ...

east of the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. He died on 2 January 2022, at the age of 82.

References

Selected publications

* * * *

External links

Laboratory for Thracology
Moldova State University
Niculiţă Ion, doctor habilitat, profesor universitar
National Council for Accreditation and Attestation {{DEFAULTSORT:Niculita, Ion 1939 births 2022 deaths Moscow State University alumni People from Cahul District 20th-century Moldovan historians Historiography of Dacia Moldovan archaeologists Academic staff of Moldova State University