Romania

===Prehistory===
[[File:Oase 2 skull (Homo sapiens).jpg|thumb|alt=A partially reconstructed skull|Skull from the [[Peștera cu Oase]] (the oldest known remains of ''Homo sapiens'' in Europe){{sfn|Price|2013|pp=60–61}}]]

Human remains found in [[Peștera cu Oase]] ("Cave with Bones"), radiocarbon date from circa 40,000 years ago, and represent the oldest known ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' in Europe.{{sfn|Price|2013|pp=60–61}} [[Neolithic]] agriculture spread after the arrival of a mixed group of people from [[Thessaly]] in the 6th&nbsp;millennium BC.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=1–2}}{{sfn|Price|2013|pp=125–127}} Excavations near a [[salt spring]] at [[Vânători-Neamț|Lunca]] yielded the earliest evidence for salt exploitation in Europe; here salt production began between the 5th and 4th millennium BC.<ref>{{cite web|first=Patrick |last=Gibbs |url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/weller/ |title=Antiquity Vol 79 No 306 December 2005 The earliest salt production in the world: an early Neolithic exploitation in Poiana Slatinei-Lunca, Romania Olivier Weller & Gheorghe Dumitroaia |publisher=Antiquity.ac.uk |access-date=12 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430145935/http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/weller/ |archive-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> The first permanent settlements developed into "proto-cities",{{sfn|Price|2013|p=149}} which were larger than {{convert|800|acre|ha|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html |title=A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity |author= John Noble Wilford |publisher= [[The New York Times]] (30 November 2009)|date=1 December 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170423023342/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date= 23 April 2017 }}</ref>{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=2}} The [[Cucuteni–Trypillia culture]]—the best known [[archaeological culture]] of [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old Europe]]—flourished in [[Muntenia]], southeastern Transylvania and northeastern Moldavia in the 3rd&nbsp;millennium&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=2}}
The first fortified settlements appeared around 1800&nbsp;BC, showing the militant character of [[Bronze Age]] societies.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=2}}