Arheologia Moldovei
DIANA-MĂRIUCA VORNICU
The chipped stone industry from the Chalcolithic in Eastern Romania: A literature review. I. Raw material procurement and the blade technology
This paper addresses the archaeological literature on the subject of the chipped stone industry of the Chalcolithic communities that inhabited the east of nowadays Romania, namely Precucuteni and Cucuteni (5th and 4th millennium BC). The first part of the study focuses on how the Romanian archaeologists approached the first two stages of the chaîne opératoire: the raw material procurement and the technology of producing knapped stone tools (especially the elongated supports). These aspects were analysed through the literature published until now, regarding aspects as petrographic determination of raw materials, available information on the morphology of the cores and on blade attributes, on the reduction sequences and procedures. Although rewarding in what considers the raw materials supply, the information proves scarce in what concerns the organisation of technology. The causes of this unbalance are sought in the specificity of the development of the study of Prehistory in Romania. Consequently, perspectives for the further investigations and new directions of research are proposed.
Keywords: Romanian archaeology; Precucuteni and Cucuteni communities; chipped stone assemblages; raw material acquisition; lithic technology; blade industry.
RAFAŁ SKRZYNIECKI, MATEUSZ CWALIŃSKI
Warriorhood at the end of the Neolithic in Central Europe. Comparative analysis of warrior traditions in the chosen regional groups of the Corded Ware Culture
The goal of this paper is to examine the variety of customs associated with celebration and commemoration of warrior virtues among chosen Corded Ware culture communities from western and eastern parts of its ecumene. It also summarizes recent theoretical background of warriorhood and compares assemblages from warrior graves with traces of skeletal traumata, in order to at least partially reconstruct actual methods of fighting. The level of actuality of warrior identity is reflected by the quantity of warrior burials. The need for emphasizing power and military prowess through funerary rituals and material culture might represent a response for internal social conflicts, as well as external threats. The lack of uniformity in rituals associated with warriorhood demonstrates that it was a dynamic social construct, which adapted to changing socio-economic conditions.
Keywords: Corded Ware culture; warriorhood; social identity; weaponry; skeletal traumata.
VICTOR COJOCARU
Understanding the political geography and economic history of the Black Sea on the basis of proxeny decrees
In the context of publishing a monograph on proxenia in the Black Sea area, the author has begun to examine the dynamic interactions between external cultural influences and local cultural traditions. Throughout almost two centuries of historiographical debate, a number of solid works and valuable studies have explored this topic, yet none of them provides a coherent picture on the external relations of the Pontic Greek cities during the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times on the basis of proxeny decrees. Starting with a brief introduction on the status quaestionis, this paper analyses aspects of social, economic, and religious interactions which are connected with the status of foreigners in the Greek world, and this at various levels: local (between Greeks and non-Greeks), regional (between an individual and a state in the world of the Pontus Euxinus); and in terms of macrocosms (the evolution of proxeny due to the growth of business between citizens of different city-states). The discussion is drawing on a systematic analysis of ca. 250 inscriptions, from simple tax exemptions (ateleiai) to complex honorary documents. It focuses especially on the status of foreigners as proxenoi in the city-states on the Black Sea coast, in contrast to some Pontikoi as representatives of their communities in other parts of the oikoumene. The objective of this approach is not only to obtain a holistic understanding of the Black Sea as an ancient region which was well integrated to the Mediterranean world, but also to bring attention to some modern perceptions of history “that take the nation as timeless, the state as predestined, and the region as ephemeral” (KING 2004: 239).
Keywords: Black Sea area; Greek cities; proxeny decrees; political geography; economic history; status of foreigners.
ALEKSANDER PAROŃ
Unwanted refugees: Newcomers from the steppes in the Byzantine Balkans (11th – 12th century)
After a period of safe isolation from the Great Steppe area and its restless inhabitants in the history of Byzantium came a difficult 11th century, when the empire had to face the migration of nomadic peoples (Pechenegs, Uzes). Their stay in the Paristrion theme was one of the most difficult problems that the imperial court had to deal with in the second half of the 11th century. This study is an attempt to answer two questions: how Byzantium coped with steppe refugees and how the experience of their presence influenced the later (until the end of the 12th century) relations of the empire with the inhabitants of the Black Sea steppes.
Keywords: Byzantine Balkans in the 11th–12th centuries; Byzantine policy towards nomads: Pechenegs, Uzes, Cumans.
DAVID ALEKSANYAN, DMITRIY YANOV
Typology of the Ottoman coins minted in the Kingdom of K’akheti in the light of new findings
The article deals with 59 findings of Ottoman type coins minted in the Kingdom of K’akheti during the period of Ottoman protectorate over this state in late 16th – early 17th centuries. Despite being quite short-term, this period reflected in a broad variety of diverse coin types, minted in K’akheti. The introduced coin findings comprise 19 types struck at K’akhetian mints – Zagem and Kakhed, as well as 5 types of unidentified or unspecified mint, which actually might have been one of these two mints. Of these, 13 types are published for the first time. In addition, there are 9 new variations of already examined types. The presented coins are of significant importance for reconstruction of obverse and reverse legends, since the most of discussed types substantially differ from the regular Ottoman types. They also enable making several assumptions regarding the evolution of weight standard, system of denominations, chronological sequence of types. Most of the coins belong to the denomination conditionally called dirhem. However, there is one low-weight coin (type Zagem-4) which is either some kind of a local fraction, or the Ottoman medini. Besides, the copper coins bearing the names of Ottoman sultans, most probably struck at the K’akhetian mints, are published for the first time. Among the silver dirhems type Zagem-11 is noteworthy. Apart from being rather distinctive and unique compare to the regular Ottoman types, it is eminent due to the fact that some of the coins of this type bear the countermark ‘Adl Zagem, the attribution and chronology of which have not been clearly determined yet.
Keywords: Kingdom of K’akheti; Zagem; Kakhed; dirhem; akche; monetary circulation.
NICOLAI BODNARIUC, ANA BOLDUREANU, LILIA DERGACIOVA, MAXIM MORDOVIN
Descoperiri numismatice și arheologice din nordul Bucovinei (II.1)
[Archaeological and numismatic discoveries in Northern Bukovina (II.1)]
The paper discuss some archeological and numismatic artefacts found on the medieval sites in the Hliboca county, Cernăuți region, started in 2019 in the same edition. The site is located between Oprișeni and Stârcea villages, on the Cotovăț river bank, 500-600 meters from it discharge in the Siret river. The site, disappeared in present, can be identified with a settlement existed in the Middle Age and the Modern period, recorded in written sources as a Bârlinți village. Here were found various objects: coins minted by Moldovan Principality and Ottoman Empire, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish and Hungarian Kingdom; cloth seals; various decorative and house hold items (other 140 pcs.). In the article at hand we publish only a part of the materials, namely 22 coin specimens minted in the 14th – 16th c. by the Moldovan state, 13 items struck by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th – 16th and 18th cc. and four custom seals, produced by the Duchy of Burgundy in 15th c., Wrocław town in the 16th c., of the Western Europe in the 15th – 16th cc., and one of the unknown provenience, also made in the Western Europe in the 16th – 17th cc. Objects are of the big importance and notice high economical potential of the Bârlinți population. The publication of the rest of the materials to be continued in the next volume.
Keywords: Archaeology; The Șipeniț/Șipiniț Land; The Principality of Moldova; Bârlinți; Moldavian coinage; Ottoman coins; Cloth Seals.
LUCIAN MUNTEANU, LĂCRĂMIOARA-ELENA ISTINA, ANTON COȘA
Descoperiri monetare din Moldova. XII
[Numismatic finds in Moldavia. XII]
The coins we publish have been discovered in the last two years, with the help of metal detectors. They come from the following locations: I. Buhuși (Bacău County) (1 D, Hadrianus, 132-134); II. Drăgești (Bacău County) (1 D, Traianus, 108-109; 3 D, Hadrianus, 119-122, 125-128, 134-138; 1 D, Hadrianus: Sabina, 128-134; 1 D, Antoninus Pius, 158-159; 2 D, Antoninus Pius: Diva Faustina, post 141; 1 S, Marcus Aurelius, 165; 1 D, Marcus Aurelius: Lucilla, 161-167; 1 S, Marcus Aurelius: Lucilla, 161-167); based on the patina and the state of preservation, we assumed that some coins could have belonged to a hoard, and others would represent stray finds; together with the coins were discovered six fibulae and local pottery, which can be related to a presumed “Carpic” site; III. Strunga (Iași County) (1 D, Traianus, Rome, 112-113); IV. Drăgești (Bacău County) (1 AE, Moldavia, Alexandru cel Bun, groat, 1400-1408; 1 AR, Moldavia, Iliaș I, groat, 1432-1433; 1 AE, Moldavia, Petru II, groat, 1447-1449; 1 AR, Moldavia, Bogdan III, double groat, ca. 1511/1512; 1 AR, Lithuania, Zygmunt I, pólgrosz, 1510; 1 AR, Lithuania, Zygmunt III, szeląg, 1617; 1 AR, Lithuania, Jan Kazimierz, szeląg, 1652; 1 AR, Riga, Zygmunt III, szeląg, 1609-1622; 1 AR, Ottoman Empire, Süleyman I, Novabırda, akçe, 1555-1566; 1 AR, Ottoman Empire, Ibrahim, Kostantaniye, akçe, 1640-1648; 1 AR, Hungary, Ferdinand I, Kremnitz, denar, 1527-1559; the coins were discovered along with artifacts from the medieval and modern periods, which could signal the existence of a settlement.
Keywords: coin finds; Moldavia; ancient and medieval coins; hoards; stray finds.
SEVER-PETRU BOȚAN, LUCIAN MUNTEANU
Medalii și decorații din colecția Institutului de Arheologie din Iași (VI)
[Medals and decorations in the collection of Institute of Archaeology in Iași (VI)]
The authors present in this short contribution a series of 15 medals that are part of the numismatic collection belonging to the Institute of Archaeology in Iași. These popular medals were minted by various engravers (Carniol Father and Son, Șaraga, Sternberg, Radivon etc.) in order to commemorate some historical events or some important figures during the Romanian Kingdom period. A first group of medals has a somewhat religious character being linked to the restoration of important churches, pilgrimages or important ecclesiastical figures. The second group of medals is linked with the figures or some important political and social figures that built modern Romania (Ion Brătianu, Lascăr Catargiu, Constantin Angelescu or Take Ionescu). Last but not least, we also present some distinctions that were offered to the children with meritorious results in school and education.
Keywords: Phaleristics; medals and awards; “popular medals”; 19th – 20th centuries; Kingdom of Romania.
CORNELIA-MAGADA LAZAROVICI, GHEORGHE LAZAROVICI, LĂCRĂMIOARA STRATULAT, SENICA ŢURCANU, ALEXANDRU BERZOVAN, MIRCEA OANCĂ, ADELA KOVÁCS, CRISTIAN OPREAN, WEN CHENGHAO, GUO ZHIWEI, WU JINTAO, HOU XINJIA, CARSTEN MISCHKA
The Cucuteni A3 site from Dobrovăţ – Pădurea Buda. 2019 Research
The A3 Cucuteni site from Dobrovăţ – Pădurea Buda/Buda Forest was discovered in 2016, by local Cornel Iascu and Alexandru Berzovan. In 2017 a magnetic prospection of the site (Carsten Mischka), which together with the LIDAR exploration offered information regarding the real dimensions of the site and of the constructions that are present in the investigated zone (9 constructions, one defense moat, palisade and other constructions with undetermined functions). In 2019, the first explorations to determine the magnetic anomalies were conducted. The research targeted two housing units, L3 and L4. The L4 was partially researched, resulting several rooms and interior amenities (altar, bed attached to the corridor separating two rooms) and annexes. The structures of walls and floors of L4 were investigated, as well as part of the pits related to the structure of resistance of the house. Between the two houses were found debris from another house, L10. At the same time, ceramics were analyzed statistically, as were the faunal remains discovered. Along with the typical ceramics for Cucuteni A3, ceramic fragments of the type Cucuteni C and Precucuteni III were also discovered. The study represents the current state of research.
Keywords: Cucuteni culture; A3 phase; Dobrovăţ-Pădurea Buda; houses; structure of the architecture.
SENICA ȚURCANU
Originile preistorice ale unei iconografii clasice. Reprezentări janiforme în Chalcoliticul Europei Sud-Estice
[The Prehistoric origins of a Classical iconography. Janus-like representations in the Southeastern European Chalcolithic]
Anthropomorphic plastic representations have always polarized the attention of archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians. The extremely wide range of these representations has supported approaches and systematizations that have become increasingly complex, as the level of scientific research evolved. In the case of the Balkan-Anatolian Neo-Eneolithic, the vast majority of anthropomorphic plastic representations indicate the existence of a religious system dominated by the archetypal „Great Goddess”, with clear „Great Mother” features. However, the careful analysis of all the plastic representations will give the conclusion that there is a wide variety of characters (especially female) in different poses and attitudes. These indicate certain structures and hierarchies within the prehistoric pantheon, but also the existence of a complex mythology that, unfortunately, we can only suspect now. This paper highlights and systematizes several types of artefacts that argues for the existence of a double-faced character, most likely with attributes similar to the god Janus Bifrons of the Classical mythology, as early as the V-IV millennia BC, in the imaginary of Gumelnița – Karanovo VI and Cucuteni – Tripolie cultural complexes. The analyzed archaeological data indicate that some of the Classical attributes of this god seem to originate with a deity revered since prehistory. In almost all of these samples, the same data argue for the hypothesis that this double-faced character was originally a female.
Keywords: Janus-type double-fronted character; Gumelnița – Karanovo VI; Cucuteni – Tripolie; anthropomorphic plastic art; anthropomorphic vessels; human face shaped vessels; gynaecomorph vessel.
MARIAN MOCANU
Pontic tableware from Troesmis. The 1977 excavations
In 1977 archaeologists from the Danube Delta Museum carried out a rescue excavation in the civilian settlement of Troesmis. On this occasion, they discovered a substantial amount of Roman pottery. In this article, we present the tableware produced in the Black Sea area. This group was divided into the following categories: Pontic Sigillata; Early Pontic Red Slip; Durostorum Red Slip; Pontic Gray Slip; Unslipped Wares and Late Pontic Red Slip. Pontic tableware dates from the middle of the 1st century AD to the middle of the 4th century. The Late Pontic Red Slip ceramic fragment is from the 5th century, contemporary with the late Roman fortress.
Keywords: Pontic Tableware; Western Black Sea; Danubian Limes; Troesmis.
SEVER-PETRU BOŢAN, LUDMILA BACUMENCO-PÎRNĂU, ANGELA SIMALCSIK, ROBERT DANIEL SIMALCSIK
Soldaţii uitaţi din curtea Casei Pogor. Contribuții arheologice la studierea istoriei contemporane a orașului Iași
[The forgotten soldiers in the yard of Pogor House. Archaeological contributions
to the history of Iași]
The archaeological excavations undertaken by the members of the Institute of Archaeology in Iași, in the courtyard of the famous Pogor House, brought to light several human remains and other archaeological artifacts belonging to the soviet soldiers, that were buried there after the end of World War II. The Soviet cemetery from Pogor House was dismantled in 1992, the remains being moved to the Eternitatea Cemetery. Nevertheless, the remains of 11 individuals along with some personal items (belt buckles, buttons, a pocket knife, a small cap star), were discovered in a common grave. The anthropological analysis revealed the approximate age of the individuals and the multiple trauma related to their violent death in combat, perhaps in the fierce fights that took place around Jassy în 1944.
Keywords: Soviet soldiers; World War II; human remains; Pogor House cemetery.
GEORGE NUȚU
A clay myrmillo figurine from Territorium Troesmense
The article is devoted to the analysis of a clay figurine discovered stray find in the area of the Cerna village during the 1980’s. The findspot is close to the legionary headquarter of Legio V Macedonica from Troesmis (near modern Turcoaia village in Tulcea county). This myrmillo statuette is a unicum for Dobrudja, NE area of Moesia Inferior province, and even a rare form in the rest of Roman provinces, and merits publication in its own right.
Keywords: Moesia Inferior; territorium Troesmense; clay figurine; gladiator; myrmillo.
GEORGE BILAVSCHI, ALEXANDRU BERZOVAN
O amuletă-pandantiv antropo-zoomorfă din bronz descoperită în judeţul Iaşi
[A bronze anthropo-zoomorphe amulet-pandantif discovered in Iaşi County]
From Dobrovăţ – Pădurea Buda, Iaşi County, come a small bronze amulet depicting a rider on a horse. The piece was found by chance and was provided to us for publication. The area of distribution of this type of bronze riding figures includes large regions, starting from the North Caucasus, Don river and Caspic Sea (in the East) to the Central and South-Eastern Europe (in West). Most of these specimens were discovered in the territories of Moldova Republic, Romania, even in Bulgaria. This amulet belongs to the first type, or the Hansca I type, all the figures of this version, were mostly found in the Prut-Dniester interfluve. Until now, only one piece comes from Romania (from Dobrovăţ, Iaşi County). It is depicted a rider sitting on a horse (middle waist) saddled, turning to the left. The rider is depicted in profile. The position of his left foot indicates the presence of stirrups. Rider is shod in boots (?) with an upturned toe. The heel of the boot seems to have a spur. His left leg touches the front and hind legs of the horse. In his right hand he holds the reins, and in the left hand, strongly bent at the elbow and pressed against his chest, he holds a short knife or dagger. The horseman’s head seems to have been foreseen with a small hole for hanging. In our opinion, this type of bronze figures of horsemen (Hansca I type), which have no analogues outside the Carpathian-Dniester area, could be dated in 10th – 12th centuries.
Keywords: 10th–12th centuries; bronze horseman-amulet; Dobrovăţ – Pădurea Buda (Iaşi County); the Carpathian-Dniester regions; Avar Khaganate; Alans; Proto-Bulgarians; Pechenegs, Cumans.
GEORGE-DAN HÂNCEANU, ALEXANDRU GAFINCU
Tipar de cruce pectorală din secolele X-XII p.Chr. descoperit la Lămășeni – Rădășeni (jud. Suceava)
[A stone mould for a pectoral cross from the 10th–12th centuries discovered at Lămășeni-Rădășeni (Suceava County)]
The stone mould was fortuitous revealed in the village of Lămășeni, Rădășeni commune, Suceava County. The carved out negative represents a model of a Byzantine pectoral cross, of small dimensions. The cross had trefoil arms, and it was decorated with geometrical (short lines, X-s), and cruciform motifs. According with the characteristics of the mould (bivalve, but only one valve was recovered), the cross could be casted in lead or silver, materials which have lower melting points. The similarity to other artefacts suggest a dating, roughly, around 10th–12th centuries AD.
Keywords: mould; pectoral cross; Byzantine type; trefoil arms; geometric and cruciform decorations.
FLORIN CURTA
Marxism în opera Mariei Comşa
[Marxism in Maria Comşa’ work]
Scholars seem to have accepted by now that instead of a truly Marxist archaeology, under the Communist regimes, archaeologists in Eastern Europe simply continued to practice culture-historical archaeology, with a veneer of quotes from the “classics” of historical materialism, but no real engagement with Marx’s philosophy. However, in Romania, the case of Maria Comşa proves the contrary. At a closer examination, her work engaged vigorously with the Marxist theory, and drew inspiration from the theories of the Romanian sociologist Henri H. Stahl, especially his idea that no truly feudal mode of production had existed in Romanian history (at least not in the Middle Ages). Stahl viewed the village community as the matrix for all social transformations during the first millennium, and that gave to Comşa a unique opportunity for the interpretation of the archaeological record, primarily that resulting from her own excavations at Bucov and Nuşfalău. It is important to note that Comşa’s serious engagement with Marxism long post-dates both her doctoral studies in Moscow and her conflict with Ion Nestor. Her isolation during the last years of Ceauşescu’s regime and immediately after its demise cannot be explained in terms of her sincere commitment to Marxism. Only a comparative analysis of the works of other archaeologists writing under the Communist regime may elucidate the unique position that Comşa occupied in the history of the Romanian archaeology.
Keywords: Marxism; tributary mode of production; history of archaeology; village community; feudalism; settlement archaeology; social archaeology; ethnography.
CĂTĂLIN HRIBAN
Some remarks on the documentary sources of the “fortifications” of Iași
There is an academic consensus in that the premodern city of Iaşi was no walled. However, although there are campaign fortifications in and around the city that are well documented, mainly for the Russian-Turkish wars of 18th century, one also finds several sources that give testimony of various “walls” inside the city proper as well as at its outskirts. This paper undertakes a short inventory of these documentary “walls” in the city of Iasi in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as commentary on the location and nature of such walls, making use of the methods of historical topography and the cartographic sources available.
Keywords: Iaşi; Princely Court of Iaşi; enclosures; city walls; ditches; pre-modern urbanism; Moldavia.
CRISTIAN OPREAN
Dobrovăţ-„Pădurea Buda” – 2019. Archaeozoological study
During the Dobrovăţ researches, 484 osteological remains were identified and analyzed, 88 of them being indeterminable (Table 1). The residues from the domestic animals predominate, accounting for 95, 2% (83.8% NMI) of the total, and those coming from the wild animals representing only 4.8%. Pigs predominate in domestic animals (44.4% and 38.2% as NMI), followed by cattle (42.9% and 35.3% as NMI) and ovicaprines (7.8%, 10.3% as NMI). Based on the measurements and analyzes, specifications were made regarding the size of the domestic animals, as well as the age of slaughter. We mention that in Pit B, a pig skull was discovered, which originates from a 2 1/2 year old female, belonging to a gracile animal of palustris type. The remains of wild animals come from deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), rabbit (Lepus europaeus) and wild horse (Equus caballus). Analogies were made with other Cucuteni settlements where zooarchaeological analyzes were performed and in this case, the use of domestic animals is clearly superior in the animal economy. We also referred to some artifacts from bone, deer horn or shell that appeared during the excavations in 2019 (Pl. 1 / 1-4, 6).
Keywords: archaeozoological analyze; domestic animals; wild animals; animal economy; artifacts made of bone; horn and shell.
ADRIAN PORUCIUC
O necesară reconsiderare a originii cuvântului românesc boier și a boieriei ca instituţie specifică românilor, albanezilor şi slavilor medievali (II)
[A necessary reconsideration of the origin of the Romanian term boier and of boyarship as an institution specific to medieval Romanians, Albanians and Slavs]
In order to resume the demonstration propounded in the already published part I of this study (PORUCIUC 2019A), this author will, again, observe that the history of the Romanian term boier (a medieval aristocratic title) is long and rather confusing. Practically, all dictionaries that include entries on that term present it as ultimately derived from Old Church Slavonic (OCS) bolʹarinʺ. The latter, in its turn, has been presented – in keeping with a suggestion coming from Miklosich (1886) – as a “Turanian” word borrowed by South-Slavs from their Turkic (Bolgar) ruling elite of the 7th – 9th centuries. However, the mainstream etymological interpretations of Rm. boier and of its putative OCS source-word are hardly tenable. Part I of this study provided a linguistic-ethnologic-historical background for a new hypothesis, which does not center on the above-mentioned OCS term (as supposedly borrowed from Turkic), but rather on the deeply-rooted tradition of boyarship in Romania and on two lexical families that display striking correspondence (in roots and suffixes), namely Romanian boiér-boiereásă-boieréşte-boieríe-boierí and Albanian bujár-bujoréshë-bujarísht-bujarí-bujerój. Worthy of attention is the fact that the latter lexical family appears to be etymologically linked with the Albanian verb buj ‘to lodge, to take up one’s lodging’, a word for which Gustav Meyer – in his etymological dictionary of Albanian (1891) – indicated a significant series of Old Germanic cognates. Actually, Alb. buj may be a borrowing proper – from the language of some “Danube Germanics” –, like several other Albanian words for which the respective origin has already been demonstrated. The present author considers that there are quite many facts that indicate roots of the medieval Southeast European boyarship in Danube Germanic customs, as combined with regulations of the Roman institution of hospitalitas, whose earliest beneficiaries were Germanic foederati.
Keywords: etymology; history; ethnology; onomastics; hospitalitas; OCS bolʹarinʺ; Romanian boier; Albanian bujar; Old High German buwari.
