# The cult assemblage from Ghelăiești-Nedeia

> Stop 18, Cucuteni Eneolithic Art Museum 'Gheorghe Dumitroaia'

We near the end of the visit with a discovery that preserves a ritual almost intact. At Ghelăiești, on Nedeia hill in Neamț County, archaeologists led by Ștefan Cucoș excavated a multi-layered settlement between 1969 and 1989.

- Where: Room 3: masterpieces of Cucuteni figurines
- Period: Cucuteni B1, c. 3800–3600 BC
- Material: Pottery: pear-shaped vessel with applied figurines, sanctuary model, human figurines
- Audio recording (1:09): https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/media/neamt/audio/muzeul-arta-eneolitica-cucuteni/en/cuc-18.mp3
- Stop page: https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cucuteni-complexul-de-cult-de-la-ghelaiesti-nedeia?lang=en
- On the indoor map: https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/harta-interioara?stop=cucuteni-complexul-de-cult-de-la-ghelaiesti-nedeia&lang=en

## Narration

We near the end of the visit with a discovery that preserves a ritual almost intact. At Ghelăiești, on Nedeia hill in Neamț County, archaeologists led by Ștefan Cucoș excavated a multi-layered settlement between 1969 and 1989. In one of the houses, labelled L5, they found a pear-shaped vessel, protected by a larger vessel covering it. Inside, four figurines were fixed to the wall, facing the four cardinal points. The vessel stood at the centre of a circle of six other painted vessels. Ghelăiești also yielded sanctuary models accompanied by human figurines, and even a hoard of knucklebones deposited in a pot. We do not know what words were spoken or what gestures were made. But the careful arrangement of the objects reveals an order of the world: the centre, the four directions and the circle. It is one of the clearest glimpses we have of the religion of people who lived almost 6,000 years ago.