#Exhibit of the Month

The hoard was found in 1957 during the agricultural works near the village. At first, the hoard was in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History and later was transferred to the National Museum of History (Accession: FB: 12 576 - 12650; N: 12 658 - 12 732). It consists of 75 silver coins from the thaler category issued by the Kingdom of Poland, the United Provinces and the Holy Roman Empire in 1612-1648.

THE KINGDOM OF POLAND
Sigismund II Vasa (1586-1632)
Crown, thaler: 1628 (1).
Gdańsk, orts: 1612 (1), 1613 (1*), 1614 (1), 1615 (7), 1616 (8), 1617 (16), 1618 (4), 1619 (2), 161 (1), 1620 (2), 1621 (8).

THE UNITED PROVINCES OF THE NETHERLANDS
Lion thalers (leeuwendaalder)
Gelderland: 1641 (1), 1647 (2), 1649 (1).
West Frisia: 1648 (1).
Utrecht: 1643 (1), 1646 (1), 1647 (2), 1648 (1).

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
Kampen: halve leeuwendaalder 1646 (1), 1647 (1); leeuwendaalder 1647 (3), 1649 (1).
Zwolle: leeuwendaalder 1633 (1), 1637 (3), 1644 (1), 1646 (2), 1648 (1).

This hoard by its composition confirms the presence of silver coins from the thaler category in the Principality of Moldavia monetary circulation.

Thalers were first minted in 1486 in Sankt-Joachimsthal, today the Czech Republic, "thaler" being an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", meaning coin issued in Sankt-Joachimsthal. In the 16th and 17th centuries, thalers were issued in very large quantities, especially by state entities that were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Empire. Thus, thalers can be considered a quintessentially popular coin; there are thalers of several types, such as Austrian thalers, Polish thalers, Russian thalers, Turkish thalers, Venetian thalers, also called scuzi, "reichsthalers", also called imperials, löwenthalers or lion thalers, and Spanish thalers, also called piastre. In the Romanian principalities, thalers spread widely towards the end of the 16th century, and in the following centuries their circulation became very abundant, the thaler being in circulation until the second half of the 19th century. This money was a huge success, so it is also called: daalder / daler in the Netherlands, talar in Poland, dahlar in Scandinavia, tallaro / tallero in Italy, talari in Ethiopia, dollar in America. A special category is the Dutch thaler, leeuwendaalder, löwenthaler, which means "lion thaler", also called "lion" due to the coat of arms on the reverse, which is a shield with a crown, with a lion inside; it is a silver coin minted in Netherlands, where in 1575 it was decided to mint a new coin based on the scuzi. In the Romanian principalities the lion thaler appears in the last quarter of the 16th century. These lion thaler gave the name to the currency of Romania, the Republic of Moldova (leu), and Bulgaria (leva).

Orts are also silver coins from the thaler category, equal to 1/4 thaler. A quarter thaler was originally called "ortstaler", a name that was later reduced to the form "ort" (in Old German "ort" means "a quarter"). The coin circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages, including the Romanian principalities, being met in the 18th century as Polish, Turkish and German orts. The term "ort" is preserved in the Romanian expression "to give an ort to a priest" (which means "to die"), which dates back to the ancient pagan custom of placing a coin on the little finger of the deceased's right hand so that he could pay for the passage to the afterlife; With the same coin, the priest was paid for the funeral service: the family of the deceased "gave an ort to the priest" to observe church traditions.

National Museum of History of Moldova

Publications

Journal „Tyragetia"

vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1

Akinakai on the western frontiers of Scythia. Scythian swords and daggers from the territory of the Republic of Moldova

ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Денис Топал

Akinakai on the western frontiers of Scythia. Scythian swords and daggers from the territory of the Republic of Moldova

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică

Papers devoted to the typology of certain categories of the material culture need the close cooperation with the local schemes. A change of researching “optics” is likely to have a positive effect on the process of studiing the general trends in the material, if this process of research is closely linked with the base of any typological constructions – with the spatial and chronological relations analysis. Besides the publication of new stray fi nds and partial republication of already known fi nds from the burial complexes, the main goal of this work is the checking of certain typological tendentions of such category of Scythian culture as akinakai (Scythian swords and daggers) of the Carpathian-Dniester region. A geographical division of Carpathian-Dniester region is proposed: Middle Dniester (Bukovinian) group, Eastern Carpathian (Neamț) group, Siret-Dniester (Moldavian) group, Lower Dniester and Lower Danube groups. Chronologically, the massive of akinakai of Carpathian-Dniester region could be divided into three groups: Early Scythian (650-550 BC), Middle Scythian (550-450 BC) and Classic Scythian (450-300 BC). The following trends connected with Scythian swords and daggers were noticed: Early Scythian burials with akinakai concentrate in Bukovina and stray finds in Moldova, Middle Scythian burials – are grouping in Moldavian and the stray fi nds – in Neamț group, and the Classical Scythian burials with akinakai are presented only in Lower Dnister and Lower Danube groups.

List of illustrations:

Fig. 1. Scythian swords and daggers from burials of Dniester-Prut region (National Museum of History of Moldova): 1 - Purcari, t. 7, gr. 3; 2 - Talmaza, t. 9, gr. 1; 3 - Pârjolteni; 4 - Suruceni; 5 - Olanești region (Tudorovo-Palanka).
Fig. 2. Stray fi nds of akinakai from Dniester-Prut region: 1 - Hansca; 2 - Lipnik; 3 - Larguța; 4 - Nisporeni region; 5 - Vatici; 6 - Susleni; 7 - Volodeni.
Fig. 3. Akinakai from destroyed tumuli of Navyrnets cemetery (after Donici 1928).
Fig. 4. Distribution of akinakai in Eastern Europe: А - chronological distribution of Scythian akinakai; В - akinakai of Carpathian-Dniester region.
Fig. 5. Distribution of akinakai in Carpathian-Dniester region. Local groups: I - Hungarian; II - Transilvanian; III - South-Carpathian; IV - Bulgarian; V - Carpathian-Dniester (Va - Middle Dniester (Bukovinian) group; Vb - Eastern Carpathian (Neamț) group; Vc - Siret-Dniester (Moldavian) group; Vd - Lower Dniester group; Ve - Lower Danube group). 1 - Sokirintsy; 2 - Russkie Fol’varki (Kamenets-Podol’skiy); 3 - Nelipovtsy; 4 - Lipnic; 5 - Volodeni; 6 - Cristinești; 7 - Ibănești; 8 - Cajvana; 9 - Zăicești; 10 - Ghindăoani; 11 - Văratec (Filioara); 12 - Agapia; 13 - Petricani; 14 - Moțca; 15 - Boureni; 16 - Miroslovești; 17 - Muncelu de Sus; 18 - Teșcureni; 19 - Vatici; 20 - Lucășeuca; 21 - Susleni; 22 - Mikhaylovka; 23 - Trebujeni; 24 - Suruceni; 25 - Hansca; 26 - Pârjolteni; 27 - Larguța; 28 - Moșna; 29 - Cozia; 30 - Comarna; 31 - Mircești; 32 - Dănești; 33 - Vaslui; 34 - Poienești; 35 - Rădeni; 36 - Bâcu; 37 - Dumești; 38 - Mileștii de Sus; 39 - Nănești; 40 - Găiceana; 41 - Lichitișeni; 42 - Suseni; 43 - Buciumeni; 44 - Bălăbănești; 45 - Mânzătești; 46 - Gănești; 47 - Măcișeni; 48 - Chiscani; 49 - Celic-Dere; 50 - Murighiol; 51 - Ismail; 52 - Čaush; 53 - Plavni; 54 - Artsiz; 55 - Diviziya; 56 - Nikolaevka; 57 - Mayaki; 58 - Tudorovo-Palanka; 59 - Dachnoe (Gnilyakovo); 60 - Purcari; 61 - Talmaza; 62 - Kotovsk; 63 - Năvârneț; 64 - Lenkovtsy; 65 - Nisporeni. (A-C - graves (А - 1 ex., В - 2 ex., С - 3 ex. and more); D - stray finds; E - possible graves).
Fig. 6. Distribution of akinakai of Early Scythian culture. Kelermes type.
Fig. 7. Distribution of akinakai of Middle Scythian culture. Vettersfelde type.
Fig. 8. Distribution of akinakai of Classic Scythian culture. Solokha type.
Fig. 9. Akinakai of Middle Dniester (Bukovinian) (А, 1-14) and Eastern Carpathian (Neamț) (В, 15-21) group. 1 - Lipnic; 2 - Cajvana, t. 3, gr. 1; 3, 6, 7 - Zăicești, gr.?; 4, 5 - Cristinești; 8 - Volodeni; 9 - Nelipovtsy; 10 - Sokirintsy; 11 - Ibănești; 12 - Russkie Fol’varki (Kamenets-Podol’skiy); 13 - Lenkovtsy, t. 1; 14 - Cajvana, t.7; 15 - Muncelu de Sus; 16 - Boureni; 17 - Văratec (Filioara); 18 - Ghindăoani; 19 - Miroslovești; 20 - Moțca; 21 - Petricani.
Fig. 10. Akinakai of Siret-Dniester (Moldavian) group (beginning): 1 - Vatici; 2 - Susleni; 3 - Bâcu, gr.; 4 - Moșna, gr.?; 5 - Nisporeni region; 6 - Dumești; 7 - Kotovsk; 8 - Pârjolteni, gr.; 9 - Gănești; 10 - Bălăbănești; 11 - Comarna, gr.?; 12 - Măcișeni; 13, 17 - Năvârneț, t.?; 14 - Suseni; 15 - Dănești; 16 - Trebujeni; 18 - Agapia, gr.?; 19, 20 - Cozia „Voloacă Mică”, gr.?.
Fig. 11. Akinakai of Siret-Dniester (Moldavian) group (ending): 21 - Mikhaylovka; 22 - Suruceni, gr.; 23 - Hansca; 24 - Mileștii de Sus, gr.; 25, 31, 38 - Cozia; 26 - Lucășeuca; 27 - Mânzătești; 28 - Nănești; 29, 34 - Găiceana; 30 - Rădeni; 32 - Vaslui, gr. 1973 г.; 33 - Buciumeni; 35 - Mircești; 36 - Larguța; 37 - Lichitișeni; 39 - Teșcureni; 40, 41 - Poienești, gr.
Fig. 12. Akinakai of Lower Danube group: 1 - Celic-Dere, t. 10а; 2 - Celic-Dere, t. 11; 3 - Celic-Dere, t. 44, gr. 1; 4 - Čaush, t. 12, gr. 1; 5 - Čaush, t. 15, gr. 1; 6 - Čaush, t. 22; 7 - Plavni, t. 24, gr. 1; 8, 12-15, 17, 18 - Celic-Dere; 9 - Ismail (Poydovka), t.; 10 - Murighiol; 11 - Chiscani, gr.; 16 - Celic-Dere, s. II, t. 2; 19 - Medgidia.
Fig. 13. Akinakai of Lower Dniester group: 1 - Artsiz, t.1, gr. 13; 2 - Talmaza, t. 9, gr. 1; 3 - Nikolaevka II, gr. 8; 4 - Nikolaevka I, gr. 3; 5 - Tudorovo-Palanka, gr.; 6 - Purcari, t. 7, gr. 3; 7 - Divizia, t. 20, gr. 6; 8 - Mayaki, gr. G2; 9 - Dachnoe (Gnilyakovo); 10 - Nikolaevka II, gr. 7.