#Exhibit of the Month

The Roman bronze situla comes from a collection of archaeological artifacts confiscated at customs and transferred to the holdings of the National Museum of History of Moldova in 2009. Its place of discovery remains unknown.

A situla (Latin for "bucket") is a metal vessel-usually made of bronze-shaped like a pail and equipped with two movable handles at the top, traditionally used for mixing wine with water. The handles are attached to the vessel via two decorated ears that are welded to the rim.

The body of the situla is truncated-conical in shape and features two decorative bands with small circular patterns formed by hammering, located just below the rim.

Its base is double-layered: the inner bottom is hemispherical and hammered, while the outer bottom is flat and lathe-made. The outer base is welded to the inner bottom, serving as the vessel's foot-support.

This object was crafted using a combination of casting, hammering, and partial lathe-finishing. Dimensions: Maximum height - 31.7 cm; Maximum diameter - 22.8 cm; Base diameter - 13.5 cm

Situlae of this type originated in the Roman Empire and were later adopted by various ancient peoples, including those from the northwestern Pontic region.

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Publications

Library „Tyragetia"

Gheorghe Postică, Eugen Sava

The prehistoric and Late Antique settlements at Mereni

Biblioteca „Tyragetia” XXXVIII, Chișinău, 2023, 205 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-903-0; 978-36241-030-8.

The village of Mereni in the former land of Lăpușna is an old Romanian locality, founded during the reign of Alexander the Good, in the first quarter of the 15th century, and has strong răzăși traditions; the locality was attested in the documents written during the time of Stephen the Great, on 25 September 1475.

According to archaeological data, the first people appeared on the territory of the village of Mereni in prehistoric times. The oldest traces of human habitation in this area are about six thousand years old.

Since the Aeneolithic period (4th millennium BC), nomadic shepherds from the steppe regions of Eurasia roamed these lands in search of pastures. Nomadic tribes erected several earthen mounds in this area, in which they left the most ancient human burials. During the same period, on the territory of the Mereni lands there was a settlement that belonged to the civilization of Cucuteni-Trypillia.

In the middle of the second millennium BC, during the Bronze Age, another settlement was founded on the lands of Mereni, attributed to the Noua-Sabatinovka cultural community.

In the early Iron Age, around the middle of the first millennium BC, the Iranian tribes of the Scythians penetrated the lands of Mereni, leaving burial complexes and various exceptional cultural remains here.

During the Late Antiquity (3rd-4th centuries), there were four prosperous settlements in this territory, attributed to the archaeological culture of the Sântana de Mureș-Chernyakhov type.

In the period of migration of peoples, in the early Middle Ages (5th-14th centuries), nomadic shepherds of Turanian origin stayed on the lands of the village, who left graves in burial mounds located on the tops of the local hills. From the same period, traces of sedentary habitation have also been sporadically noted in the Mereni region.

In the given context, this work provides a scientific development of archaeological discoveries dating back to the period of the Late Antiquity at the Mereni "Chirca" settlement. At the same time, while presenting the stratigraphy of the settlement, in order to obtain the most complete possible picture of the Mereni "Chirca" site, the archaeological finds of the Late Antiquity period are considered in connection with remains attributed to other historical eras, including archaeological materials from the Bronze Age.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

1. GEOGRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK AND HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH