#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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Events Archive

Book presentation „Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1812. The 200th anniversary of the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire. Papers of the International Conference, Chisinau, 26 to 28 April 2012, Reports of Studies"

February 7, 2013

On February 7, 2013 at the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova there was a presentation of the book „Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1812. The 200^th anniversary of the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire. Papers of the International Conference, Chisinau, 26 to 28 April 2012, Reports of Studies", Series IDN, C3, Chisinau, Pontos Publishing House, edition of 200 copies, coordinator of the edition Sergiu Musteață. This large format book has 352 pages and contains the works by researchers from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Greece, and Russia.

It was published in 2012 in connection with the events dedicated to the 200^th anniversary of the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire to shed light on the historical truth regarding the consequences of 1812, i.e. the impact of expansionary policy of the Russian Empire on the Romanian principalities in general and Bessarabia in particular.

Since the year 1812 is located in the center of all the issues of controversial history of Bessarabia, namely the political history of this Romanian province (without which other historical data on Bessarabia find completely different meanings), the spokespersons Dr. Vlad Mischevca (Institute of History, State and Law), Dr. Sergiu Musteață ("Ion Creangă" State Pedagogical University), Dr. Maria Danilov (National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova), and Dr. Valentin Arapu (State University of Moldova) emphasized the importance of scientific contributions related to the 1812.

The book is intended for all those who are interested in this difficult problem of national history, such as the separation of the area between the Prut and Dniester from the Principality of Moldavia. Moreover, the volume is a comprehensive review of a number of events and facts that occurred in this area for two centuries (1812-2012) and gives the reader an adequate answer to the question: what was the path of Bessarabia and its fate in connection with this event of 1812?