#Exhibit of the Month

This unique amphora was found in 1984 during the excavations of the Şuri I settlement of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture (5th-4th thousand BC), which existed in the Eneolithic era, in the mid-1st half of the 4th millennium BC, near the village of Şuri, Drochia District of the Republic of Moldova.

In the classifications of Cucuteni-Trypillian painted pottery, it belongs to a separate type distinguished by archaeologists, known in the special literature under various names: facial urns, amphorae with an ornament of the "owl face" type, amphorae with facial ornament, facial amphorae.

These names were given to the amphorae due to their peculiar ornament and their truncated-conical or rounded body that resembles the head of an owl (large circles on the sides of the handles are the eyes of a bird, and the handles are beaks), as well as due to attempts to hypothetically interpret the vessels as images of some two-faced or four-faced anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or ornithomorphic mythological creatures of the Cucuteni-Trypillian pantheon.

For the first time, amphorae with facial ornament appear in pottery assemblages of the Cucuteni-Trypillia community at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, during the period of its highest flourishing, and are present later, as a separate type of tableware, in each of the dwellings of the settlements of this culture for about 700 subsequent years, until its collapse and disappearance from the historical arena in the last quarter of the 4th millennium BC.

The origin of the facial amphorae goes back to the anthropomorphic two-faced vessels with a rounded or spheroconical body, equipped with 2 or 4 handles, depicting two female figures standing with their backs to each other, which were used by the Cucuteni-Trypillians for centuries and were widely used in religious practices, representing, as is commonly believed, the main female deity of the Cucuteni-Trypillian pantheon - the Great Mother Goddess in her two different incarnations, who was also considered as the Deity of the Universe.

The study of vessels of this type indicates that, being a reflection of the cult of the Great Goddess and probably embodying cosmogonic ideas about the creation of the World from the elements and body parts of the Primordial Being (probably depicting this creature itself, possibly mixomorphic and like Aditi - the Divine Bull-Cow - androgynous), with their shape and ornament, the facial amphorae recreate the prevailing ideas of the Cucuteni-Trypillians about the structure of the Universe.

This is evidenced by the stylized features of anthropo- and zoomorphism, three-tier or two-tier division of the ornament vertically and four-tier division horizontally, the image of such cosmic universals as the Center and corners of the World, the Cosmic Mountain (Earth) and the Sky, the Tree of Life, the Sun, the Moon in various phases, etc. Often, images of animals, birds or their symbols are included in the ornamental system of the amphorae. There are also facial amphorae with two or four images of female deities with an indication of their particular characteristic functions. As with their prototypes, the anthropomorphic two-faced vessels, the most important ornamental zone in the facial amphorae is the space between the handles.

It is here that the ornament reflects one of the most significant themes of the Cucuteni-Trypillian religion, the theme of the connection between the Earth and Heaven.

Virtual Tour

National Museum of History of Moldova

Chronological Axis

Aeneolithic Age

(late 5th millennium B.C. - early 3rd millennium B.C.)

The archaeological collections related to this period are the most representative ones. The development of material and spiritual culture testifies to the existence of different communities of farmers and nomadic cattle-breeders. Representatives of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture inhabited the vast territory from the Carpathians to Dnieper for about 1,500 years (late 5^th millennium B.C. – early 3^rd millennium B.C.).

In the territory of the Republic of Moldova there are known more than 600 settlements of farmers, some of which were archaeologically investigated: Floresti, Rogojeni, Rusestii Noi, Radulenii Vechi, Petreni, Varvareuca, Brinzeni, etc. At this time there were first produced metal (copper) items. Tools made of bone and stone are predominant. The earthenware collection is remarkable for the variety of vessels decorated with carving or painted in diverse ornamental styles. The ornamental compositions contain cosmologic scenes, astral symbols, fantastic animals, and anthropomorphic deities. The spiritual life of the communities is represented by an impressive collection of zoo- and anthropomorphic figurines.

At the same time in the south of the Prut-Dniester area there was spread the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture represented by an impressive material.

Cattle-breeding tribes from North-Pontic steppes, which are represented here by the archaeological monuments of the Suvorovo-Novodanilovca and Cernavoda type, played an important part in the history of Aeneolithic communities. The stages of transition from the Aeneolithic to the Bronze Age in the Prut-Dniester area are represented by the archaeological cultures like the Brinzeni, Gordinesti, and Usatovo ones, which have harmoniously combined elements of the Cucuteni civilization and features of the cultures of the North-Pontic cattle-breeders identified with the ancient Indo-Europeans.

1.Vessel, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

2.Vessel, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

3.Female figurine of “Orante” type, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

4.Painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

5.Head of anthropomorphic figurine representing a slipping female deity, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

6.Anthropomorphic top of lid representing male deity, the Early or the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

7. Female figurine sitting on the zoomorphic “throne”, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

8.Female figurine, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

9.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with lid, with incised and excised decoration, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

10.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with incised and excised decoration, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

11.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with painted design, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

12.Painted anthropomorphic amphora with lid, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

13.Painted amphora with representation of the Great Goddess possessing animals, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

14.Female figurine, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

15.Bowl with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

16.Painted pear-shaped vessel, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

17.Painted vessel, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

18.Female figurines, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

19.Female figurines, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

20.Painted amphora, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

21. Copper items, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

22. Painted dishes and bowls, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

23.Painted vessels, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

24.Binocular vessel, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

25.Figurine of a bull, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

26. Painted vessels: lidded anthropomorphic amphora representing a female deity and bowl, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

27. Binocular vessel, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

28. Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

29.Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

30. Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

31.Fragment of design of a painted amphora with the scene of a ritual dance, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

32.Copper axe, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

33. Bone daggers, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

#Exhibit of the Month

Painted amphora from Şuri

Aeneolithic Age

(late 5th millennium B.C. - early 3rd millennium B.C.)

#Exhibit of the Month