În urma cercetărilor efectuate în anii 1987, 1989 în regiunea Prutului Mijlociu, in preajma satelor Burlăneşti şi Corjeuţi s-a descoperit un şir de situri, care prezentau multiple similitudini, fapt ce a permis evidenţierea lor într-o grupă aparte. În complexele funerare au fost dezvelite construcţii ce reprezentau ringuri de piatră cu diametrul de 5 m. În două cazuri au fost descoperite înmormântări prin inhumaţie, intr-un caz – prin incineraţie. Un interes deosebit prezintă două înmormântări de lângă s. Corjeuţi, una dintre care s-a făcut într-o groapă rectangulară în plan, cu scheletul in poziţie chircită, orientat sud–sud-vest. Printre piesele ce însoţeau defunctul evidenţiem o piesă din şist, cvazirectangulară în plan, cu marginile laterale concave. Piesa reprezintă aşa-numita „apărătoare a încheieturii mâinii” – renumitul simbol, din „pachetului funerar” al culturii „Cupelor în formă de clopot”. Acest fenomen a existat circa 700 de ani, de la sfârşitul eneoliticului până în bronzul timpuriu, pe un vast teritoriu al Europei Centrale şi celei de Vest. Apogeul acestuia se manifestă la mijlocul mileniului III a. Chr. E prematur, bineînţeles, doar pe baza unui singur obiect de a face unele concluzii privind apartenenţa acestui complex culturii respective, dar cu certitudine, acest sit are tangenţe cu cele ale culturii „Cupelor în formă de clopot” şi prin construcţiile funerare, şi biritualismul înmormântării, şi prin ceramica ce însoţea defunctul. Una din particularităţile acestei culturi este lipsa unui areal unic, compunându-se din mai multe teritorii, unite convenţional în „provincii”. Unele analogii cu cultura „Cupelor în formă de clopot” le întâlnim la siturile grupurilor Jigodin şi Rosia din România.

As a result of excavations of the early Bronze Age tumuli located on the left Bank of the Middle Prut (villages Burlăneşti and Corjeuţi) in Moldova held in 1987-9 (see figure 11/1) by the author of this article a number of monuments was unearthed which show considerable resemblance and allow their treatment as a distinctive group. The burials are found at the edges of embankments of the tumuli, the main burials of which are identifi ed with the Yamnaja Culture and are dated to the second half – last quarter of the Ш millennium BC. The burials under consideration make use of stone constructions: circles of medium-sized limestones up to 5 m in diameter and stony platforms. There are two cases of inhumation and two cases of cremation excavated (fi gures 1, 10). Items of pottery found at these burials also show certain resemblances and point to technological parallelism. Two burials found at the village of Corjeuţi (figure 1/2, 4) are particularly important. One of these was arranged in a rectangular pit, with the deceased lying on his / her right side with the head towards south / south-west. Clear traces of bronze objects which have not been preserved are visible on the wrists and phalanxes. A stone rectangular item was found at the place presumably occupied by the middle of the body. It was made out of a thin plate of grey slate, is narrowed in its central part and a hole is marked in one corner from either side (figure 1/5). The measurements of the object are as follows: length - 9 cм, breadth 3-4,5 см, thickness - 0, 25 – 0, 8 см. The object may be interpreted as one of the famous symbols and part of a package of the Bell Beaker Culture - the wrist-guard. The Culture (resp. Phenomenon) in question existed for ca 700 years from the end of the Eneolithic period well into the Early Bronze age in wide areas of Western and Central Europe, and reached its height in the middle of the III millennium BC. It is obvious that a single object from the Corjeuţi burial does not make the site automatically belonging to this culture. However, there are further parallels which make such an attribution possible: funeral rites (biritualism, the pose of diseased, the usage of stone) and the forms of the so-called Begleitkeramik, cf. particularly the bowl on four stems (figure 1/8). A peculiarity of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon is that it did not cover a continuous region, but consists of several distinct areas which are analysed as belonging to different provinces. According to the current views the eastern border of the Phenomenon is located by the 20º of eastern longitude, but a possibility of further finds to the east of it and therefore to the further spread of the area has been admitted (сf. Titov 1981, Heyd 2007, 101). It should be noted that a number of parallels to the Bell Beaker Phenomenon have been found on the sites of Jigodin and Roşia groups (northern Oltenia and north-western and eastern Transylvania) in neighbouring Romania. Further conclusions – whether the monuments of the Corjeuţi type are part of the Eastern Bell Beaker province or are just reflection of it in a far periphery – will be possible only with the further excavations in the area.