The exposed object, an "askos" type ceramic vessel, comes from the tumulus necropolis near the village of Ciumai, Taraclia district. The vessel was discovered in 2015 in a cenotaph tomb attributed to the Jamnaja culture, dated to the early Bronze Age (ca. 3300-2600 BC).
The vessel, with an obviously asymmetrical configuration, is hand-moulded from quality clay paste, having a smooth brown surface with gray spots. The body of the vessel is provided with a pronounced protrusion and a truncated neck with a wider opening towards the mouth. The vessel has a stem and is ornamented with three pairs of symmetrically placed relief appliqués. The height of the bowl is 15.5 cm, the diameter of the mouth is 11.4 cm, the diameter of the body is 15 cm and the diameter of the base is 7.5 cm. Such vessels in the archaeological literature are known as "askos" vessels, the respective term being of ancient Greek origin, denoting one of the primitive containers of the period - the bellows made of animal skin.
In prehistoric times, among some peoples, the bellows was transposed into ceramics, in these cases the basic features of the archaic leather vessel were preserved, acquiring a prominent convex shape with a stem and a flat bottom. From the original appearance of the bellows, the asymmetric mouth corresponding to the animal's neck has been preserved, and sometimes three or four legs, corresponding to the appendages of the flayed skin from the animal's legs. These vessels have lost their original zoomorphic character, entering as a new form in the inventory of Neo-Eneolithic ceramics. The first vessels of this type are attested in Greece, in the early Neolithic (ca. 5000-4500 BC) having the shape of cups or cups. In the Neo-Eneolithic Carpatho-Balkan cultures, the type of Aegean askos of short or tall form, with or without legs and with a handle, is found. Less often, they are provided with two mouths (one for filling and one for emptying) or they are off-center and provided with strangely shaped mouths. In the space between the Carpathians and the Dnieper, only tall forms of simple askos, without zoomorphic elements, are known. Askos-type vessels are present in various prehistoric cultures, especially in Southeast Europe and Anatolia.
Being often discovered in association with cult inventory, askos vessels could be an important indicator of use in religious ritual practices. Along with the zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and rhyton-type vessels (roughly conical container from which, in some ceremonies, liquids were drunk or poured), the askos were included in the category of vessels intended for worship, being related to libations (ritual act that consisted of tasting and then pouring a cup of wine, milk, etc. as homage to the deity).
Historiographical considerations regarding the status of ruptashi in Bessarabia under Tsarist domination (1812-1847)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Keywords: Bessarabia, ruptashi, rupta de vistierie, rupta de cămară, social category, fiscal category, the Russian Empire.
Abstract: In this article, without touching the status and evolution of the fiscal category of ruptashi considered by the author in previous articles along with the category of mazyli, there is analyzed a long and varied process of this category understanding by different researchers in new and modern historiography, which indirectly or specifically focused on this topic.
Analyzing the existing concepts, the author comes to the conclusion that almost all researchers in the 19th-early 21st centuries consider the ruptashi a privileged class: the ancestors of foreign colonists - Bulgarians, Serbs, and others, who settled in the area during the time of the Moldavian government; farmers who have been from the category of clergy and ministers of the church by origin. Rupta de vistierie and rupta de cămară were equated with raznochinsy; rupta de vistierie paid taxes to the treasury, and rupta de cămară - personally to the rulers (cămara). After the annexation of the territory by Russia ruptashi lost almost all their privileges and social prestige. Most researchers tend to see in ruptashi a social category, while in reality they were a fiscal category.
Archival sources indicate that ruptashi had a heterogeneous composition, which included both local and foreign people from the rural and urban environment, migrated to Moldova. They were not included in the category of the privileged classes, using only certain privileges, had no permanent residence and had not been enrolled in the category of birnichi (tax-payers). Their privileges with some difficulties were confirmed by the imperial administration, but in 1847 the fiscal category of ruptashi had been liquidated, and they were included in the category of odnodvortsy.
The analysis of the examined works, which indirectly or specifically address the issue under discussion, allows the author to conclude that the fiscal category of ruptashi (later - the odnodvortsy) is not sufficiently covered in the studies, and this theme is still waiting for its researcher.
Valentin Tomuleț, Cristina Gherasim
Some considerations on factors that generated mentality shifts of the landlords in Bessarabia under tsarist domination (1812-1817)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Jewish colonies in Bessarabia in the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Maria Danilov, Cenzura sinodală și cartea religioasă în Basarabia. 1812-1918 (între tradiție și politica țaristă), Biblioteca Tyragetia XIII. – Chișinău, 2007 (Tipogr. „Bons Offi ces”), 264 p.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
The establishment and activity of Lancasterian schools in Bessarabia in the 1820s-1840s
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
The establishment of special administration of city Ismail and its role in the evolution of commercial bourgeoisie (1830-1853)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
The exposed object, an "askos" type ceramic vessel, comes from the tumulus necropolis near the village of Ciumai, Taraclia district. The vessel was discovered in 2015 in a cenotaph tomb attributed to the Jamnaja culture, dated to the early Bronze Age (ca. 3300-2600 BC)...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.