Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (712 page)

 
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Late Neolithic tell settlement extensively excavated by K. Horedt and N. Vlassa in 1961. The site has four main levels beginning with Criç occupation in Level I; Turdaç-Petreçti/Vin
a culture in Level II; Petreçti-Turdaç in Level III; and a Copper Age Cot)ofeni-Petreçti horizon in Level IV. A pit cut from Level II contained a ritual assemblage including a cremation, fired clay and alabaster figurines, spondylus shell bracelets, and three fired clay tables bearing incised signs. The group as a whole has sometimes been interpreted as the equipment of a shaman, but it has caused considerable controversy because of suggested resemblances between the T
rt
ria tables and symbols on tablets from Jemdetnasr and Uruk in Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian examples are some 1000 years later (late 4th millennium
bc
) than those from T
rt
ria and so the similarities are best regarded as coincidental.
[Rep.: E. Neustrupný , 1968, The Tartaria tablets: a chronological issue.
Antiquity
, 42, 31–5]

 
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Generic name for various nomadic communities who inhabited Mongolia in the later first and early second millennia
bc
which is also applied to early historic groups found in Siberia and eastern Russia.

 
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