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).
Monuments of the Corjeuți type within the context of the Early Bronze Age History of Eastern and Central Europe
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
As a result of excavations of the early Bronze Age tumuli located on the left Bank of the Middle Prut (villages Burlănești and Corjeuți) in Moldova held in 1987-9 (see figure 11/1) by the author of this article a number of monuments was unearthed which show considerable resemblance and allow their treatment as a distinctive group. The burials are found at the edges of embankments of the tumuli, the main burials of which are identified with the Yamnaja Culture and are dated to the second half – last quarter of the Ш millennium BC. The burials under consideration make use of stone constructions: circles of medium-sized limestones up to 5 m in diameter and stony platforms. There are two cases of inhumation and two cases of cremation excavated (figures 1, 10). Items of pottery found at these burials also show certain resemblances and point to technological parallelism. Two burials found at the village of Corjeuți (figure 1/2, 4) are particularly important. One of these was arranged in a rectangular pit, with the deceased lying on his / her right side with the head towards south / south-west. Clear traces of bronze objects which have not been preserved are visible on the wrists and phalanxes. A stone rectangular item was found at the place presumably occupied by the middle of the body. It was made out of a thin plate of grey slate, is narrowed in its central part and a hole is marked in one corner from either side (figure 1/5). The measurements of the object are as follows: length - 9 cм, breadth 3-4,5 см, thickness - 0, 25 – 0, 8 см. The object may be interpreted as one of the famous symbols and part of a package of the Bell Beaker Culture - the wrist-guard. The Culture (resp. Phenomenon) in question existed for ca 700 years from the end of the Eneolithic period well into the Early Bronze age in wide areas of Western and Central Europe, and reached its height in the middle of the III millennium BC. It is obvious that a single object from the Corjeuți burial does not make the site automatically belonging to this culture. However, there are further parallels which make such an attribution possible: funeral rites (biritualism, the pose of diseased, the usage of stone) and the forms of the so-called Begleitkeramik, cf. particularly the bowl on four stems (figure 1/8). A peculiarity of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon is that it did not cover a continuous region, but consists of several distinct areas which are analysed as belonging to different provinces. According to the current views the eastern border of the Phenomenon is located by the 20º of eastern longitude, but a possibility of further finds to the east of it and therefore to the further spread of the area has been admitted (сf. Titov 1981, Heyd 2007, 101). It should be noted that a number of parallels to the Bell Beaker Phenomenon have been found on the sites of Jigodin and Roșia groups (northern Oltenia and north-western and eastern Transylvania) in neighbouring Romania. Furher conclusions – whether the monuments of the Corjeuți type are part of the Eastern Bell Beaker province or are just reflection of it in a far periphery – will be possible only with the further excavations in the area.
Татьяна И. Демченко
Kurgans on the left bank of the Middle Prut (excavations of 1982 and 1984)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Татьяна И. Демченко
Toward the definition of the Edinets archaeological group
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
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.