#Exhibit of the Month

The bronze hoard was discovered on the territory of Mîndrești village, Telenești district, in 1968. It was identified accidentally by a group of students from the village school, and the materials later came to the attention of specialists at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences. According to documentary records, the hoard was composed of ten pieces: four socketed axes (celts), a dagger fragment, a sword fragment, a sickle, a winged axe, an adze-axe, and a chain consisting of four links.
Currently, of the mentioned assemblage, six objects are preserved in the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova: two socketed axes (celts), the winged axe, the adze-axe, the dagger fragment, and the chain made of four links.- Socketed axe (celt) with one loop. Dimensions: Length - 10.2 cm; Weight - 186 g.
- Socketed axe (celt) with one frontal loop. Dimensions: Length - 8.4 cm; Width: 33-46 mm; Weight - 124 g.
- Winged axe. Dimensions: Length - 14.0 cm; Width - 2.5-3.4 cm; Weight - 285 g.
- Adze-axe. Dimensions: Length - 14.8 cm; Width - 2.3-5.0 cm; Weight - 286 g.
- Dagger fragment. Dimensions: Length - 16.5 cm; Blade length - 9.8 cm; Blade width - 2.8 cm; Weight - 81 g.
- Chain formed of four links. Dimensions: Length - 17.1 cm; Link diameter - 3.8; Weight - 32 g.The bronze hoard of Mîndrești is important due to the association of objects that find analogies in the regional repertoire with pieces that show clear analogies in Central Europe and the Carpathian Basin. The assemblage reflects a zone of contact and interaction where metallic forms of different origins and traditions circulated and were integrated into the repertoire of local communities.
Chronologically, the bronze hoard of Mîndrești is attributed to the Early Hallstatt period - HaA1, being dated to 1200-1100 BC.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

''Early Cattle-breeders’ Communities in the Prut-Dniester Area (Aeneolithic – Iron Age)''

(October 14, 2010 – October 14, 2011)

The exhibition presents to the public for the first time the collection of archaeological items discovered in burial mounds belonged to the early cattle-breeders’ communities which came to this area from the east in the 2nd half of the 5th millennium B.C. These communities lived in the Prut-Dniester area between 4,300 and 800 B.C., bringing with them new way of life, new social structures, new materials (such as bronze and glass).

These more than 380 exhibits (vessels, tools, weapons, and adornments made of clay, bone, stone, flint, glass, shells, and bronze) reflect the traditional occupations in the cattle-breeders’ communities. The most of the presented exhibits are pottery which let trace the main changes occurred as a result of interaction between the early cattle-breeders’ communities and local sedentary agricultural communities.

The most significant exhibits are: a hoe of horn, bronze axes and daggers, bronze sickles found near the Dancu village, stone moulds for bronze weapons.