#Exhibit of the Month

The 21 beads form part of a bronze hoard found in 2019 within a forested area close to the town of Nisporeni. Alongside the beads, the hoard included numerous bronze ornaments (2 Röschitz-Sanislău-type fibulae, 7 necklaces, 12 rings, 22 tubes, 23 bracelets, and approximately 80 appliqués), one coral bead and a pendant made from a wild animal's tooth. At present, the amber beads are preserved in the collections of the Muzeul Național de Istorie a Moldovei, while the remainder of the hoard is in the possession of a private collector.
The hoard was discovered accidentally in a pit about 50 cm deep. The objects in this hoard are of Western origin, with known parallels in archaeological complexes from Poland, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia, and, to a lesser extent, in Romania. The presence of this bronze hoard on the territory of the Republic of Moldova illustrates the cultural dynamics of the region during the Early Iron Age and a fundamental shift in the vector of cultural influences from east to west.

The amber bead strand comprises 16 whole beads and five fragmentary ones. They have an elongated biconical shape and vary in size. The beads are brown-reddish in color; their lengths range from 1.1 to 3.1 cm, widths from 0.6 to 1.4 cm, thicknesses from 0.6 to 1.1 cm, and the perforation diameter ranges between 0.2 and 0.3 cm.
Amber beads appear in several bronze hoards dated to the Late Bronze Age in the eastern half of Slovakia and in Transdanubian Hungary. Parallels are also known from the Cioclovina Cave in Romania. With the onset of the Iron Age, amber items disappear from the Carpathian Basin for approximately 300 years, reappearing alongside the arrival of Scythian elements.
The bronze hoard discovered at Nisporeni is dated to the HaA2-HaB1-2 interval (1050/1000 - 800/750 B.C.).

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Exhibitions

„Bone Processing Art from Prehistoric Times to the Pre-Modern Period”

10-30 November 2011

In ancient times, large quantities of raw material obtained owing to cattle-breeding and hunting favored the development of bone and horn processing. This work has evolved from a simple home occupation to a true art, the pieces of which are made with great thoroughness, skill, aesthetic sense and artistic taste. Being easy to process, bone and horn provided a greater freedom of expression allowing the creation of an impressive range of objects by use of multiple techniques, such as cutting, polishing, engraving, etc. Paleolithic and Neo-Eneolithic sites of Trinca, Butești, Cosăuți, and Brânzeni, settlements and necropolises of Trifăuți, Săcărăuca, Dănceni, Ruseștii Noi, Costești, Vulcănești, Giurgiulești, etc., as well as the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Middle Ages sites, offer the largest range of materials and pieces of art and jewelry, exotic objects of rare beauty and diversity.

The exhibition „Bone Processing Art from Prehistoric Times to the Pre-Modern Period" brings together the most representative artifacts - tools and objects of bone, horn, and boars' tusks found as a result of archaeological investigations during the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries in the sites, settlements, and necropolises in Prut-Dniester area, dated from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. These can be classified as working tools, weapons, pieces of art or jewelry.

In the category of bone tools, the most commonly found there are awls of various sizes, needles, decorated chisels and daggers. Among the horn objects there are parts of agricultural and household tools and weapons. Pieces of art and jewelry take a special place in the exhibition - anthropomorphic pendants of bone, plaques, buttons, beads, and other objects reflect the artistic and aesthetic tastes of the natives.