#Exhibit of the Month

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.

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Exhibitions

„War and Humanitarian Action: the Lessons of History”

From the International Committee of the Red Cross Photo Archives, the TASS News Agency, the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, and The National Museum of History of Moldova

14 September 2017 – 28 January 2018

The National Museum of History of Moldova and the Interregional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Moscow (for the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova) are organizing the exhibition "War and Humanitarian Action: the Lessons of History" from 14 September to 14 October 2017.

The exhibition reflects the special work carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross to help those in distress from the beginning to World War Two. Those over 50 photographic images taken from the archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the TASS news agency, the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia and the National Museum of History of Moldova, are documentary testimonies of tragic moments that marked the history of the 19th and 20th centuries: Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Hispanic-American War of 1898, World War One, Greek-Turkish War of 1919-1922, World War Two. The photographs included in the exhibition show not only the cruelty, the brutality, the pain and the suffering - parts inherent to any war - but, in particular, examples of authentic humanitarian, condescending, compassionate and sacrificial actions shown by the staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Russian and Soviet Red Cross, the Red Cross in Bessarabia, the volunteers of the entire Red Cross Movement to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people.

The central idea of the exhibition is that the criminal code of war often left the place for the human code during military conflicts. Beyond hate, violence and death, many testimonies make us discover that it always existed to a greater or lesser extent compassion, help, mercy, and pacifism.

The opening of the exhibition took place on September 14, 2017, at 15:00, on the ground floor of the National Museum of History of Moldova.