The archaeological research concentrates its purposes, for the territory of Banat, especially in the study of necropolises and less in the study of contemporary settlements. Even the archaeological inventory discovered in a settlement is less known or published, due to the absence of systematical research. There are also necropolises or contemporary settlements destroyed due to the human interferences. As a result of all these facts, a research concerning the relation between necropolises and settlements on the territory of Banat requires a special proceeding of study.
First of all, it is important to define the funerary horizons. This definition must be based on two aspects: ritual practices and specific inventory, because there are particular cases, when the objects found in a necropolis do not necessarily coincide with those discovered in a settlement (e.g. Ilidia-Funii or Gornea-Căuniţa de Sus).
A second step concerns the localization of the settlements contemporary with these necropolises, the typology and chronology of the archaeological inventory and the correlation of all the obtained informations.
The southeastern border of Banat was instable during the 11th-13th centuries, being object of dispute between the Hungarian kingdom, the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian state. The specific situation of a border region as Banat has as consequence the presence of a mixed population, without any unitary material culture. Due to this particular aspect, the necropolises and their contemporary settlements found in Banat are differed from those discovered in other territories of Hungarian kingdom.
The settlements dated in the 10th century or in the first half of the 11th are few. As a rule, where was found a necropolis, the settlement was not discovered. There are two explanations of this particular situation: especially nomadic populations of steppe, without permanent settlements, occupied the plain region, and in the mountainous region of Banat the necropolises dated in the 10th –11th centuries were not studied.
This paper focuses on the study of the necropolises from the eastern part of Banat, belonging to the Bielo Brdo and South-Danubian 2 funerary horizons. The necropolises and settlements dated in the 14th –15th centuries were eliminated, because of their poor and inconclusive inventory.
Only a small number of discoveries can be used, based on the retrieved inventory, as examples for the study of the relation between the necropolises and their contemporary settlements: Vladimirescu, Cladova-Cetate, Ilidia-Funii, Gornea- Căuniţa de Sus, Zomoniţe, Ţărmuri, Mehadia-Ulici, Moldova Veche - Rât.