One of the great technical achievements that revolutionized the idea of time and space, opening a new era in the history of communication, is telegraphy. It is based on the transmission of electrical signals through a cable over long distances, allowing people to communicate instantly. The telegraph spread very quickly and a network of wires stretched around the world.
In 1837, the American painter and physicist Samuel Morse invented the first electromagnetic device for telegraphy, patented in 1840. To send messages by wire, Morse developed in 1838 a simple code of dots and dashes, which represented the letters of the alphabet, known as "Morse code ".
Both Morse code and the telegraph machine were improved over time, with the telegraph becoming the most widespread system of communication and information transmission for more than a century, until the advent of the Internet. The telegraph system consisted of a series of stations repeaters along the transmission line route. Each station had an operator who received and transmitted messages by telegraph. The Morse machine transmitted about 25 words per minute, which were recorded in code on a paper tape. The operator in charge of transmitting the message would decode it and write it on paper using a special typewriter.
In Bessarabia, the telegraph entered in 1860: on April 8, the Bender telegraph station began its activity, and on April 24, the one in Chisinau, following the construction of the first Odesa-Chisinau-Leova telegraph line. Currently, telegraph services have been discontinued. The only ones who still use coded communication are radio amateurs.
The Morse telegraph machine shown comes from the Osinoostrovsky electrotechnical plant, Soviet Union, and dates back to 1934. The exhibit was restored by Mihail Culașco.
About horse rider pendants from the early Medieval period in the Prut-Dniester area
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
A special interest among the pieces from the early medieval period with particular significance is presented by the so-called bronze pendants depicting horses and horse riders executed more or less schematically, found during archaeological excavations and surveys or found accidentally. Their area of circulation includes regions stretching from the Volga and Northern Caucasus to the east and the Balkan Peninsula and Central Europe to the west. Most of them were discovered in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary.
In the space between Prut and Dniester several such objects are known, belonging to different typological models. These were discovered at Hansca (Ialoveni), Pohorniceni-Petruha (Orhei), Briceni, Cantemir, Bolgrad (reg. Odesa) and in two unknown localities from the Republic of Moldova.
The amulets hold a particular place among the pendants classified by us as type I or Hansca type. In the area which is being investigated four objects representing horses and horse riders are known without close analogies. They show generally a rider in profile heading towards the left. The saddled horse is small, with a long neck, graciously arched. The riders flexed legs makes us assume that he is supporting them on stirrups. The rider wears long boots, bent upward. The riders’ boots are connected with the front and rear legs of the equid. The distinctive element of this object category is that the individual holds the horse crest (holds the reins?) with his right arm, while the left arm adheres flexed to the chest.
The discovery of certain closed archaeological complexes (Hansca) allows dating the Hansca type amulets to the 10th-11th centuries. As hypothesis, we can assume that these objects penetrated to the Prut-Dniester space together with the groups of Iranian Allans from the Northern Caucasus. The presence of Allans to the north of Danube mouth is confirmed by written documentary sources also.
The second type is represented by amulets in which the rider is heading towards the left and holds a long curved sword with both hands. These pieces seem to be earlier and can be dated to the 9th – first half of the 10th century
List of illustrations:
Fig. 1. Medieval bronze pendants representing horses and horse riders from Prut-Dniester space: 1 - Pohorniceni- Petruha; 2 - Briceni; 3 - Cantemir; 4 - Hansca; 5-6 - unknown localities from Moldova.
Octavian Munteanu, Ion Tentiuc
A house of the 15th century explored in the fortified settlement of Horodca Mică
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc, Anastasia Hâncu-Tentiuc
Aspects of interrelation of Christian folk beliefs and funeral ritual of in the Early Middle Ages in central and south-eastern Europe
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
Ion Tentiuc
Aspects of funeral rite and ritual in the Prut-Dniester region in the early Middle Ages (The Molești-Ialoveni necropolis)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică Chișinău, 2007
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici
Finds of coins in the late medieval cemetery of the Măzărache Church in Chișinău (excavations of 2010)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc
Sergiu Matveev, Procesele etno-culturale din spațiul carpato-nistrean în secolele II-XIV. Istoriografia sovietică. Chișinău: Pontos, 2009, 230 p. text + 5 tabele
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
One of the great technical achievements that revolutionized the idea of time and space, opening a new era in the history of communication, is telegraphy. It is based on the transmission of electrical signals through a cable over long distances, allowing people to communicate instantly...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
