Archaeological explorations will be conducted in the area of the Sarateni-Soroca road rehabilitated with the Millennium Challenge Compact funds provided by the U.S. Government in order to detect possible archaeological monuments or areas with archaeological potential.
The National Agency for Archaeology will start the archaeological explorations along the road and in its neighbouring areas, which will be funded by the construction companies contracted to rehabilitate it, as regulated by the new national legislation on the protection of the archaeological legacy.
The preliminary explorations on the Sarateni-Soroca road and in the associated area have revealed several archaeological sites dating from the prehistoric times and ancient era, including two settlements and eight tumuli, which could turn out to be valuable from the archaeological point of view. The pottery pieces found in the Rogojeni area close to the Sarateni-Soroca road reveal the likelihood of a settlement dating from the Neolithic era and attributed to the pre-historic Precucuteni-Tripyllian culture.
According to Anatol Usatii, the director of the road rehabilitation project, these actions are regulated by the legislation on the protection of the cultural-historical legacy, while the rehabilitation works of the Sarateni-Soroca road are carried out according to the national legislation. Anatol Usatii added that due to the openness and responsiveness of the National Agency for Archaeology the archaeological explorations will not undermine the rehabilitation works on the 93 km road segment.
The Sarateni-Soroca road segment is part of the M2 national road which connects the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The rehabilitation works that amount to about 99 million USD and imply the rehabilitation of the road infrastructure started in 2012.
The rehabilitation of the 93 km Sarateni-Soroca road segment is the objective of the Road Rehabilitation Project of the Compact funded by the U.S. Government acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
