The artifact is a battle axe made from magmatic rock (diabase) of gray-brown color. It was accidentally discovered in 1966 within the territory of Aluniș village, Rîșcani district. Based on its morphological characteristics, the artifact can be attributed to the Catacomb culture (29th-22nd centuries BCE).
The axe features a massive, elongated naviform body with slightly pronounced shoulders, a short and narrow edge that is flat and circular in cross-section. The blade is slightly curved. The hole was drilled in the maximum width of the object. It is circular in shape with a diameter of 2.2 cm. The surface of the artifact is meticulously polished, worked with great care, and shows no signs of damage or chipping.
Dimensions: Length: 20.0 cm; Maximum width: 8.4 cm; Edge diameter: 5.0 cm; Blade width: 7.0 cm; Weight: 2.3 kg.
Stone battle axes are characteristic of the Catacomb culture communities and are most often found as grave goods, deposited in tombs. Their presence in funerary complexes suggests a multifaceted functionality: weapons, social symbols, and ritual objects. Initially used as weapons, the axes became social symbols for their owners, later acquiring votive significance when deposited in tombs to serve the deceased in the afterlife.
The social symbolic function of stone battle axes is indicated by the high-quality rocks used for their manufacture and the exceptionally meticulous craftsmanship. The large dimensions of the axe from Aluniș support this hypothesis and distinguish it from other examples.
The discovery of stone battle axes outside a funerary complex may indicate their votive deposition. It is difficult to imagine that these exceptionally well-crafted pieces, made from high-quality rocks transported over great distances, could have been abandoned or lost accidentally. It is far more likely that they were deposited for magical-religious purposes, a possibility that may also apply to the stone axe discovered at Aluniș.
On a museum exhibition “The Universe of Calendars”
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
In the end of 2010 the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova opened the exhibition “The Universe of Calendars”. It was a retrospective review of about 50 calendars published in Russia and Romania from the second half of 19th century to 1940s. Most of the items have never been exhibited.
Organizers of the exhibition did not intend to display the museum collection of calendars in the whole. For the exhibition there were selected the best examples, and the most valuable of them are the Novorossiysky Calendar for 1852, Calendru anticu for 1863, the Calendar for All for 1870, the Illustrated Address Calendar of the Bessarabian Province for 1913 and some others.
The exhibition presented to the visitors a calendar as a kind of publication, focusing on the calendars in book form. At the same time, it was an attempt of a scientific approach to the study of calendars that allowed seeing in them not only a historical material, but also a cultural phenomenon.
Elena Ploșnița
Museum Event 2013: International Project When Sweden was ruled from Moldova
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Ploșnița, Tatiana Buianina
The cost of a visit to the museum: Analysis of a survey
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Ploșnița
National Museum of Archaeology and History – from utopia to reality
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
Elena Ploșnița
Some considerations regarding the designing of a permanent exposition of the history museum
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
The artifact is a battle axe made from magmatic rock (diabase) of gray-brown color. It was accidentally discovered in 1966 within the territory of Aluniș village, Rîșcani district. Based on its morphological characteristics, the artifact can be attributed to the Catacomb culture (29th-22nd centuries BCE)...
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.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
