#Exhibit of the Month

Bronze cauldrons of the Scythian time are rare in the Northern Black Sea region, especially on its western borders. Therefore, those few items found on the territory of the Republic of Moldova occupy a worthy place in the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova (NMHM). In particular, in the archaeological exhibition, two bronze cauldrons are displayed, discovered near the village of Nicolscoe in 1988 in burial mounds no. 14 and 15. In addition, in 2020, two bronze cauldrons without any accompanying documents were found in the collection of NMHM; however, they were visually identified as coming from various excavations in the Low Dniester region, such as burial mound no. 45 near Dubăsari and burial mound no. 1 near the Răscăieții Noi village.

The object presented as the exhibit of the month is a little-known find discovered in 1979 in barrow 1 near the village of Răscăieții Noi in the Ștefan Vodă district. In addition to its outstanding size (about 10 m high), this mound is known for discovering a cast bronze finial in the Scythian animal style on its surface in 1953. However, by the beginning of excavations, the locals had damaged part of the mound and a Scythian cast bronze cauldron was found near it. The cauldron was seriously damaged by mechanical impact, as a result of which the rim was deformed, and the walls, with one preserved vertical handle, were bent inwards. Fragments in the upper part of the body and one handle have been lost. The total reconstructed height of the cauldron is 24 cm (excluding the handles), the reconstructed diameter of the hemispherical cauldron is 30 cm, and the weight is 6.5 kg. In 2020, data on the chemical composition of the bronze cauldron alloy were obtained, revealing that it was cast from an alloy of almost 95 per cent copper. Unfortunately, due to the loss of information on the context of the discovery of the cauldron at Răscăieții Noi, it is impossible to link its discovery with one or another Scythian burial of the barrow. Moreover, the grave goods of other Scythian burials of Barrow 1 do not allow them to date below the 4th century BC. However, the cauldron with vertical handles from Răscăieții Noi most likely belongs earlier. This may be indicated by a bronze finial from the first half of the 5th century BC, which was found on this barrow in 1953. In addition, burial 7 from the nearest excavated barrow 2 at Răscăieții Noi, containing a plaque depicting a rolled predator (a copy of which is also on display at the NMHM), belongs to the mid- 5th century BC. Thus, there is a high probability that the cauldron from Barrow 1 at Răscăieții Noi is associated with the late Middle Scythian period or the mid-5th century BC.

Scythian bronze cauldrons in the west area are concentrated in three main regions: Bukovina-Podolia, the Lower Danube, and the Lower Dniester. Some Scythian cauldrons have no reliable archaeological context. Nevertheless, in combination with the same "stray" finds like the Scythian statues, the finds of Scythian cauldrons mark the Scythian presence, most likely not earlier than the late 6th century or even the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC. The cauldrons first appeared in Bukovina, where they have been known since the middle of the 7th century BC. Bronze cauldrons (with their carriers) entered the steppe region 150-200 years later, and the "military" burials that appeared in the western steppe regions were no earlier than the middle of the 5th century BC. Most burials with cauldrons (and, apparently, the stray finds) are dated back to the second half of the 5th century BC. Then, in the early 4th century BC, their quantity was reduced, and after the first quarter of the 4th century BC, they completely disappeared from the cultural practice of the population of the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region.

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Exhibitions

“Guardians of age-old borders”

70 years since the beginning of systematic research of medieval settlements on the Dniester

September 9, 2020 - January 4, 2021

2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of systematic archaeological research of the early medieval fortified settlements between the Răut and the Dniester. The investigations carried out in the sites of Echimăuți, Alcedar, Lucășeuca, Țareuca, Rudi - Farfuria Turcească, Poiana-Cunicea, Tătărăuca Nouă-Germănărie and others made it possible to reconstruct the historical and archaeological realities of the 9th-11th centuries AD. It was discovered that these complex strategic systems, consisting of a ditch, a rampart made of earth and wood, endowed with strong palisades, were built in the context of imminent threat from the outside and that they could be built by strong, well-cohesive political structures at the regional level.

The exhibition shows some of the discoveries in the northeast of the Prut-Dniester territory, represented by fortified round settlements built a fundamentis, "long houses", iron melting furnaces, craft workshops for making tools and weapons of iron, bone and horn or for the manufacture of silverware, burial mounds with cremation graves, hoards of tools and weapons, battle axes, hoards of silver objects containing Islamic and Byzantine coins, silver ingots, Scandinavian pendants with animalistic ornaments, including that of Gnezdovo type, iron weights in bronze foil, balance scale, miniature iron or bronze axes, amber beads, and so on. Some of these materials are presented in the basic exhibition or in the museum exhibition Treasury, others are kept in the collections of some museums in the Republic of Moldova or abroad.

The appearance, during this period, of defensive systems in the area between the rivers of Răut and Dniester, as well as in northern Bukovina, was associated with the penetration of Scandinavians into the region, who followed on the old trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, to the Balkans, to Byzantium, Constantinople or Baghdad, along the Vistula and Dniester rivers, also called "the second trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks". The fortified settlements were places of rest for merchants or intermediate military camps, which over time became prosperous military, administrative, craft and trade centers, real medieval proto-cities, to the construction of which the local Romanian population contributed. Apparently, they were destroyed by the invasion of the Turanian nomads at the end of the 11th century.

The archaeological artifacts that form the basis of the exhibition are originals and only some of them have been subjected to restoration and conservation. Several battle axes are part of Mr. Victor Borshevich's private collection. The exhibition is complemented by a model of the fortified settlement from Echimăuți, made in the 1960s, several reconstructions of tools and weapons, and various and images that illustrate the subject matter.

The exhibition, through the artifacts displayed, contributes to the increase of the educational and cultural potential of the museum activities, to the promotion of the values of national heritage in the international context.

Curator: Ion Tentiuc, PhD