LISTING, EVALUATION AND TOURISTIC UTILISATION OF GEOSITES CONTAINING ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTEFACTS CASE STUDY: CICEU RIDGE (BISTRITA-NASAUD COUNTY, ROMANIA)

The Ciceu Ridge Geosite is located in Bistria-Nasaud County (Romania) and is characterised by important geological and geomorphological features which exert influence at cultural andhistorical level. Thus, through its geo-morphometric parameters and its situation in the vicinity of the Somesul Mare Valley, the Ciceului Crest gained since ancient times special cultural andhistorical values, as proven by the multitude of archaeological artefacts it comprise, dating from Dacian, Roman, and medieval periods. The present paper intends to complexly list and evaluate this geosite for its touristic utilisation. As such, basing on an inventory list, we evaluated the scientific, ecological, aesthetical, cultural, and economic value of the Ciceu Ridge, assigning to each criterion appointed to these values a score between 0 and 1. The results revealed that the geosite has a high scientific, aesthetic, and cultural value (scoring between 0,82 and 0,93), which assure a high attractiveness, and low ecological and economic value (0,4 – 0,5 points), which has anegative effect on the utilization, protection, and preservation of its components.