#Exhibit of the Month

The 21 beads form part of a bronze hoard found in 2019 within a forested area close to the town of Nisporeni. Alongside the beads, the hoard included numerous bronze ornaments (2 Röschitz-Sanislău-type fibulae, 7 necklaces, 12 rings, 22 tubes, 23 bracelets, and approximately 80 appliqués), one coral bead and a pendant made from a wild animal's tooth. At present, the amber beads are preserved in the collections of the Muzeul Național de Istorie a Moldovei, while the remainder of the hoard is in the possession of a private collector.
The hoard was discovered accidentally in a pit about 50 cm deep. The objects in this hoard are of Western origin, with known parallels in archaeological complexes from Poland, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia, and, to a lesser extent, in Romania. The presence of this bronze hoard on the territory of the Republic of Moldova illustrates the cultural dynamics of the region during the Early Iron Age and a fundamental shift in the vector of cultural influences from east to west.

The amber bead strand comprises 16 whole beads and five fragmentary ones. They have an elongated biconical shape and vary in size. The beads are brown-reddish in color; their lengths range from 1.1 to 3.1 cm, widths from 0.6 to 1.4 cm, thicknesses from 0.6 to 1.1 cm, and the perforation diameter ranges between 0.2 and 0.3 cm.
Amber beads appear in several bronze hoards dated to the Late Bronze Age in the eastern half of Slovakia and in Transdanubian Hungary. Parallels are also known from the Cioclovina Cave in Romania. With the onset of the Iron Age, amber items disappear from the Carpathian Basin for approximately 300 years, reappearing alongside the arrival of Scythian elements.
The bronze hoard discovered at Nisporeni is dated to the HaA2-HaB1-2 interval (1050/1000 - 800/750 B.C.).

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„Artistic representations on archaeological artifacts”

June 7 – September 7, 2018

Throughout its evolution, mankind has not once demonstrated that, besides the effort for vital survival it was always attracted to spiritual issues, which were often rendered by anthropo- and zoomorphic images, reflecting various beliefs, traditions and aspirations, but also superstitions.

The archaeological heritage of the NMHM holds a rich and extensive collection of artifacts from various materials: chalk, stone, bone, burned clay, bronze, copper, which represent multiple and varied anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images. The objects impress by the uniqueness of the shapes, decor, dimensions and the role they played in people's lives.

119 heritage pieces from this collection are displayed in the temporary exhibition "Artistic representations on archaeological artifacts". The oldest pieces, which show the predilection of the prehistoric man to art, are human and bison figurines discovered in the grotto of Cosăuți, Soroca district, which are made of chalk and are over 20 thousand years old. The most "recent" exhibited pieces are three stools of stove, ornamented with the image of the bicephal eagle and a rampant lion, dated to the 15th-17th centuries and which were discovered in Chişinău and Râşcani.

Depicted in realistic or highly schematic style, the representations of humans and animals found on archeological artifacts are artworks of long-lived communities, carrying information as well as "secrets". Interpreted in a cultic, magical-religious or purely aesthetic key, the pieces in the exhibition are clear testimonies of the manifestation of the ability, intelligence, imagination and openness to beauty of the people from ancient times to the present.

Through this exhibition we wish to familiarize the public with the cultural-artistic representations made by man throughout history on various objects that have been discovered in the archaeological research process, especially in the space between the Prut and Nistru Rivers. The evolution and decline of civilizations can also be traced and studied through these artifacts.

Authentic, unique, important and very beautiful, the exhibited pieces make an arc over time, giving visitors a journey through millennial art and culture, witnesses and messengers of whom they are.