XXXVII (2014)
ARHEOLOGIA MOLDOVEI
VALENTIN-CODRIN CHIRICA,
Les représentations de cervidés dans l’art mobilier du Paléolithique Supérieur européen
(The Representations of Cervidae in the Portable Art of European Upper Palaeolithic)
Our contribution focuses on cervidae in the narrow sense of the term (deer – doe), although we also analyze the representations of reindeer and the elk when we discuss the cervidae in general. Although less represented than horses or bison, the deer dominates the portable art of the Upper Magdalenian Cantabrian area, from Pyrenees to Asturias, the Basque Country and the Levant. There are all the stylistic trends and modes of representation. The deer carries a Uranian symbolism, associated with fertility, virility and the cycle of life.
Keywords: deer, doe, portable art, Upper Palaeolithic, Europe.
VALENTIN-CODRIN CHIRICA, GEORGE BODI,
La chasse du renne et du cerf par les communautes humaines gravettiennes, epigravettiennes et mesolithiques de l’espace carpatique-dniestreen.
(The Hunting of the Reindeer and the Deer by the Gravettian, Epigravettian and Mesolithic Human Communities of the Carpathian-Dniestrean Space)
It is well known that Gravettian hunters were the best reindeer hunters, while the Epigravettian and Mesolithic hunters especially hunted the red deer. The first explanation consists in the environmental conditions, almost identical in the various regions of Europe, during the periods when these communities lived; archeological excavations undertaken in their establishments allowed determining of several realities: the modalities of locating the habitats (even the habitations); the predilection for the geographic-geomorphological areas; the climate micro-episodes (for instance, the periglacial climate for several geographical micro-regions); the usage of hard materials of animal origin – reindeer and red-deer antlers – as supports for implements, weapons, body ornamental items or art objects, even the usage of horns in the field of the funeral rites, etc. The existence of regional variations was noticed: for instance, in its artistic representations, etc., which are more numerous, Atlantic Europe being dominated by reindeer hunting. In this context, it appears that the red deer is an animal to which a very rich symbolism is attached, so being also the case of the bison or of the reindeer in other geographic regions and prehistoric cultures. Therefore, a special attention is paid to the paleozoological finds in the Gravettian and Epipaleolithic – Mesolithic habitat levels, which are also identified throughout the East-Carpathian territory and the Russian Plain. We shall present such finds from Mitoc-Malu Galben and also in other important sites of the considered geographic area, due to their multifunctional character (existence of species as environmental elements, their usage as food, or the usage of the skins and carcasses in constructions, of bones and horns for artistic creations or in order to arrange cult-related structures). The East-Carpathian territory of Romania, situated between the Eastern Carpathians and the Prut, then the Dniestr, to which the Romanian Plain is added (between the Danube and the Southern Carpathians), is very well studied from the archeological point of view. There were discovered several sites with levels of the Gravettian habitat and belonging to the Epigravettian (of Mediterranean aspect) and to the Mesolithic, with a rich and varied archeological material. Among the fauna remains, the category belonging to the reindeer (Gravettian) and the red deer (Epigravettian-Mesolithic) is the one which dominates statistically. The human communities used the reindeer and the red deer not only for food, as they also used horns for making implements and weapons and as supports for art objects.
Keywords: Epigravettian; Mesolithic; bone; antler; mobile art; reindeer; red deer.
DAN APARASCHIVEI,
Trecerea de la copilărie la maturitate şi rolul căsătoriei în nord-estul provinciei romane Moesia Inferior (Scythia Minor)
(Transition from Childhood to Adulthood and the Meaning of Marriage in the Northeast of the Roman Province of Moesia Inferior (Scythia Minor).
In the Roman classical time, as well as during the Christian period, the very young age of marriageable girls indicates that their passage from childhood to adulthood was somewhat enforced. Our study aims to observe and comment on several aspects regarding the de jure and de facto marriageable age and consequently the age of passage from childhood to adulthood between the 1st and the 6th centuries AD in the area corresponding to the late Roman province Scythia Minor. The importance of marriage and childbearing in the Roman world is revealed, also, by the sources that refer to the premature death of young people, before their marriage. Analyzing the symbolic meaning of funeral inventory in graves of marriageable girls is another objective of this study. The clothing, the jewels and the rest of the funeral inventory, together with the specific rituals might reveal unmarried status of the deceased young woman, but also her nulliparial status and consequently her symbolic “childhood”.
Keywords: Moesia Inferior, Scythia Minor, marriage, childhood, adulthood, funeral inventory.
VICTOR SPINEI,
Substanţa epică a legendei vânătorii rituale a animalului-călăuză la triburile eurasiatice şi la popoarele învecinate din Evul Mediu.
(The Epic Substance of the Ritual-Hunt Legend and of the Guiding Animal among Eurasian Tribes and among Neighbouring Peoples during the Middle Ages)
The legendary cycle of the ritual hunt of the so-called guiding-animal (das wegweisende Tier, l’animal-guide) benefited from an ample diffusion in space and time, as it was identified among numerous ethnic groups within Europe and Asia, in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, sometimes with unblurred echoes in the subsequent eras. The myths circumscribed to this thematic conglomerate do not represent a simple episode within the current ritual practices, but they embody insightful connections with the overall ancestral religious beliefs, with implacable demographic restructurings and with profoundly meaningful political moments. The essence of the legends related to the ritual hunt of the guiding-animal consisted of pursuing and even sacrificing a wild mammal (more rarely a domestic one), by a human community, led by the animal towards a convenient place. In this place, an important settlement, a city, a house of worship, a state body or one that provided appropriate standards of living was founded. Either the animal was tracked down within a hunting enterprise, or the animal itself assumed the guidance of a community; the latter accepted this position because it felt that it would be profitable for its destiny. The purpose of involving the animal in the life of the human group was to help it get out of a precarious condition and to offer it better standards of living. Hence, the larval state, without any horizon, was surpassed and a preponderant position within the terrestrial universe was acquired. The animal in question was endowed with condescendence, with an infallible sense of orientation and a miraculous force, which induces the idea that it was an emissary of the divinity. Although ritual-hunt legends were created in several places of the world, one cannot exclude influences and borrowings – mostly concerning details – among neighbouring communities, stimulated mostly by the migration of human masses and by the improvement of the commercial, confessional or other types of relations. As the migratory waves crossed transcontinental routes and they adopted foreign idioms, going through acculturation, confessional proselytism and activating other complex interconnection networks, they transferred and proliferated customs, myths and rituals of highly diverse origins. That, all the more as humankind has never and nowhere had an evolution with autarchic attributes.
Keywords: ritual hunt, guiding-animal, mythology, Middle Ages, Eurasia, Central Asia, Poland, Lithuania, Podolia, Moldavia, Turkic populations, Huns, Oghuz, Uighurs, Mongols, Hungarians, Romanians, Saint Eusthatius, Saint Hubert.
GEORGE BILAVSCHI,
Spaţiul rural şi agricultura – elemente organice ale economiei medievale: direcţii şi teme de cercetare
(Rural Space and Agriculture – Enduring Components of Medieval Economy: Research Currents and Tasks)
Rural landscape and medieval communities have often been regarded as being mainly static, belonging to some “traditional” or unchanging past. This stereotype point of view can be rejected, by regarding the agriculture as a dynamic process, where the main roles were held by nature, rural landscape and ecological space and the individual with his concerns, feelings and experiences, permanently balancing between stability, change, resilience, crisis and innovation. The daily routine and the medieval man’s concern to provide food, structured its relationship with the environment, as well as inter-community relations. The knowledge regarding crops and plants, soils and climate were complemented by skills and experience in agriculture, metalwork and tool manufacture, all these being placed in a natural, anthropogenetic and socially distinct environment. The present study stands for an introduction to an intricate analysis of the medieval rural world of the Eastern Carpathian area. Such an article meets the necessity of an enlarged database, as it takes into consideration information provided by corroborating disparate and often anachronistic or confusing archaeological and historical data. Medieval rural research started quite late in Romania, in the second half of the 19th century, when a few studies were published by ethnologists, linguists and agronomists. It was only towards the middle of the 20th century, when the rural areas started to be archaeologically investigated but without substance and consistency. In our country, elements of „everyday life” and agricultural-space organization were briefly discussed, the research being tainted by the lack of historical sources (written sources and archaeological research). Our historical and archaeological data cannot be compared to the situation in other European countries and, moreover, what we have has not been exploited enough. In addition, such a topic requires the use of a very large range of information provided by several complementary fields of research, interdisciplinarity being instrumental in this case. Nowadays, topics related to human inter-relations, individual and communal mentality, food and culinary practices, hygiene, education, culture and religious practices, ordinary and eschatological fear, archaic landscape and the ecology of daily medieval landscape, are a constant presence in European scientific circles and research programs. In many academic centers of Europe important monographic works and studies were published, on topics such as: rural territory organization and structure of countryside communities, paleoclimatology, agricultural landscape and the ecology of rural settlements, commercial networks and centers of production, culinary art, etc.
Keywords: rural space and communities, medieval agriculture, Moldavian territory, livestock culture, growing crops, agricultural tools, interdisciplinarity.
LUCIAN MUNTEANU, RODICA POPOVICI,
Descoperiri monetare la Borniş, jud. Neamţ (secolele XV-XIX) (II).
(Numismatic Finds at Borniş, Neamţ County, 15th – 19th Centuries) (II)
We continue the publication of numismatic finds from the medieval settlements of Borniş (Neamţ County). In the site of “Mălești” were found four coins: a double groat of Iliaș I (voivode of Moldavia, 1432-1433; 1435-1443), dated to the the first part of his reign; a local imitation (fourré) of a denar of Matthias Corvinus, a pólgrosz of Zygmunt I and a modern issue of Franz II. Only two coins come from the neighbouring site of “Obârșia”: a double groat of Bogdan III (voivode of Moldavia, 1504-1517) and another modern issue of Franz II. Most of the coins were discovered during the archaeological excavation performed in the medieval sites, in well-defined archaeological contexts. They seem to frame the most intense habitation within the two settlements during the 16th century.
Keywords: coins, medieval village, Moldavia, 15th – 19th centuries.
LUCIAN MUNTEANU, IOAN IAȚCU,
Descoperiri monetare din Moldova. VI
(Monetary Discoveries from Moldavia. VI)
We continue the regular publishing of the coins found in Moldavia, by presenting some recent coin finds from different points of this part of Romania. The coins date from the Roman, Mediaeval and Modern times and were found in the following locations: I. Botoșani (Botoșani County) (1 AR antoninianus, Caracalla, Rome); II. Cajvana (Suceava County) (1 AR aurelianus, Tacitus, Cyzicus; 1 AE4, Constantius II; 1 AE3, Valentinianus I, Heraclea Thracica; 1 AE3, Valens, Heraclea Thracica); III. Draxini (Bălușeni, Botoșani county) (1 AR denarius, Hadrianus, Rome); IV. Grădinari (Golăiești, Iași County) (1 AR denarius, Lucius Verus, Rome); V. Răducăneni (Iași County) (1 AR denarius, A. Plautius, Rome);VI. Voinești (Iași County) (1 AE sestertius, Philippus I, Dacia; 1 AE, Septimius Severus, Pautalia); VII. Breazu (Rediu, Iaşi County) (1 AR szeląg, Zygmunt III Waza, Ryga; 2 AR Schilling, Kristina, Ryga; 2 AR para, Mahmud I, Kostantiniye); VIII. Dobrovăț (Iași County) (hoard with 4 AR: 1 kuruș and 3 altmișlik, Abdülhamid I, Kostantiniye); IX. Iaşi – Saint Sava Church (Iaşi County) (1 AR ikilik, Selim III, Islâmbol); X. Păun (Bârnova, Iași County) (1 AR ort, Zygmunt III Waza, Gdansk); XI. Rediu-Aldei (Aroneanu, Iași County) (1 AR szeląg, Zygmunt III Waza, Bydgoszcz; 3 AE szeląg, Jan Kazimierz, Ujazdów; 1 AE szeląg, Jan Kazimierz, Wilna/Brześć; 1 AR szeląg, Stefan Batory, Gdansk; 1 AR szeląg, Zygmunt III Waza, Ryga; 2 AR Schilling, Gustav Adolf, Ryga; 9 AR Schilling, Kristina, Ryga; 2 AR Schilling, Karl X Gustav, Ryga; 1 AR Schilling, Karl XI, Ryga; 4 AR Schilling, Moldavian imitations; 1 AR Schilling, Georg Wilhelm,Königsberg; 1 AR Schilling, Friedrich Wilhelm, Königsberg).
Keywords: coin finds, Moldavia, museum collections, Roman coins, Mediaeval coins.
CORNELIA-MAGDA LAZAROVICI, STELA ŢAU, CARMEN TARCAN,
Aşezarea Starčevo-Criş de la Munteni – „Broscărie” (Tecuci)
(The Starčevo-Criş Settlement at Munteni – “Broscărie” (Tecuci)
The Starčevo-Criş settlement at Munteni – “Broscărie” / “Ghiolărie” (Galaţi County) is located on the lower terrace of the Bârlad River, near the village of Munteni (fig. 1-2). Over time, this site was affected by the work for dam construction, and recently by arrangement of a fishing pond (fig. 3-4). Between 1963 and 1975 have been made some surveys here and with these occasions were recovered several sherds (fig. 5-9), as well as artifacts made by stone (fig. 12/6-9), flint (fig.12/1, 4), obsidian (fig.12/2-3) or animal bones (fig. 11/3-5). During the 1990 excavation in SI a complex (remains of a dwelling) and four pits (fig. 10) were identified. The inventory found on this occasion is quite poor, consisting of ceramic pieces (fig. 13/1-5, 7-10; fig. 14), animal bones, artifacts made of animal bones (fig. 11/1), a processed wild-boar tusk (fig. 13/6) or of flint. On the basis of the ceramic analysis settlement can be assigned to the Starčevo-Criş IIIB/IVA interval, only few elements can be framed to IIIB phase (fig. 8/4; fig. 9/1, 6), most of pottery indicate IVA phase. At about 5km upstream on the Bârlad bank there is another Starčevo-Criş settlement at Negrileşti that can be assigned to the Starčevo-Criş IIIB phase.
Keywords: Starčevo-Criş culture, location of the settlement, archaeologic inventory.
RADU-GABRIEL FURNICĂ,
Plastică zoomorfă inedită descoperită în aşezarea cucuteniană de la Scânteia – Dealul Bodeştilor/La Nuci (jud. Iaşi)
(Unpublished Zoomorphic Representations Discovered in the Cucutenian Settlement at Scânteia – Dealul Bodeştilor/ La Nuci (Iaşi County)
In this paper we will present a group of unpublished zoomorphic representations discovered during excavations in the Cucutenian settlement at Scânteia. Most of them are fragmented and for this reason we were able to identify the species only in a few cases. One of the most interesting objects shows a pregnant sheep, unique for the Neolithic and Eneolithic in the territory between Eastern Carpathians and the Prut river. All of the artefacts are analyzed in the first instance after the type of the representation and then after decoration, paste, color and context in which they were discovered. Also, we have created a catalog which includes data for every object and, at the end of the paper, there are images for each of zoomorphic representations discussed. We hope that this report will be useful for the knowledge of the zoomorphic plastic art especially the one from Scânteia – Dealul Bodeştilor/La Nuci.
Keywords: Cucuteni, Scânteia, zoomorphic statuettes, ornitomorphic statuette, clay horns.
SERGIU POPOVICI, ION CEBAN,
Rezultatele cercetărilor arheologice din situl Tripolie CII de la Cunicea – Prişanscaia Gora.
(Results of the Archaeological Investigations on the Tripolye C2 Site at Cunicea Prişanscaia-Gora)
The paper presents the results of preventive investigation of a pit-house dwelling complex of the late phase of Cucuteni-Tripolye culture. Discovered artefacts have various analogies from the settlements of Vykhvatintzy type widely spread in the zone of Dniester river basin and Dniester Highlands. The investigated complex is characterized by its peculiar size: its length amounts to ca. 11.5 m. The rough pottery with shell inclusion predominates in the ceramic complex. Fine painted pottery is represented by various forms characteristic of the Vykhvatintzy type. The Cunicea Prişanscaia-Gora site could be synchronized with the both earliest horizons of the Vykhvatintzy cemetery and chronologically should be placed in Tripolye CII period.
Keywords: Tripolye C2, Şoldăneşti, Cunicea, Vykhvatintzy, pit-house dwelling complex.
VASILE DIACONU, ADRIAN ADAMESCU, DANIELA CALISTRU,
Piese de harnaşament din Bronzul târziu. Despre două psalii de corn din Moldova
(Harness Pieces from the Late Bronze Age. Notes on Two Antler Cheek-Pieces from Moldavia)
The present study focuses on two antler cheek-pieces recently discovered in the eastern part of Romania (Moldavia). The first piece was discovered in the village Hârtoape (Iaşi County), and the second on the site at Negrileşti (Galaţi County) during the archaeological diggings. Both pieces are made of deer antler and present oval perforations that allow attachment to the bridle. The piece from Negrileşti presents, on the lower part, a simple, incised decoration. Although there are several typologies for this type of object we will refer to the latest, by N. Boroffka; according to this typology the two pieces can be ascribed to the a and b2 versions of type II. Since the piece from Negrileşti was discovered in an archaeological level ascribed to the LBA and the specimen from Hârtoape comes from an area rich in similar archaeological finds, we consider the harness accessories as pieces belonging to the Noua culture; chronologically speaking they may belong to the 16th-12th centuries BC. The two pieces have close analogies in the north-western Pontic area, in contemporary archaeological cultures such as Sabatinovka and Coslogeni; horses played an important part in the economy of those communities, not only for consumption, but also for traction and riding. In order to present a complete image of the frequency of the antler cheek-pieces in Moldavia during Late Bronze Age, a list of all the discoveries known so far was attached at the end of the article.
Keywords: Harness, cheek-pieces, Late Bronze Age, Moldavia.
ALEXANDRU GAFINCU,
Cercetări de suprafață în bazinul mijlociu al Şomuzului Mare.
(Surface Investigations in the Middle Area of the Şomuzul Mare Valley)
This study aims to introduce in the specialized literature a set of new archaeological sites discovered in the middle of the Șomuzul Mare Valley in a research conducted between 2010 and 2014. Following this research, there were discovered 30 settlements near the villages of Bunești, Horodniceni and Rădășeni and in the surroundings of the city of Fălticeni (Suceava County). Cultural groups with an agro-pastoral economy were attracted into the area by its richness in natural resources. They established their own settlements both in lowlands areas, near water sources and fertile soils, and in upland areas which benefits from high visibility and natural protection. For each discovery, a type-file was made which offers information about the site location, the geographic coordinates, the descriptions of the artifacts and the chronological and cultural affiliations. The new discoveries from the middle of the Șomuzul Mare Valley helps in the reconstruction of human-settlement dynamics and the repertory approach is essential for the protection of archaeological monuments.
Keywords: field survey, Cucuteni, Bronze Age, Iron Age, II-V century, the Middle Șomuzul Mare Valley.
SEVER-PETRU BOȚAN,
Câteva considerații privind bolurile de sticlă cu coaste, descoperite în arealul est carpatic.
(Some Considerations Regarding the Glass Ribbed Bowls Discovered on the East-Carpathian Area)
The Roman ribbed bowls can be counted among the most important glass forms, especially in the 1st century AD. A large variety of these items was discovered in the East-Carpathian davae, denoting the fact that the Geto-Dacians had strong commercial ties with various regions of the Roman Empire. Especially the settlement of Poiana (Piroboridava) revealed different types of ribbed bowls ranging from marmoured examples to opaque white and ultimately, to common bluish-green items. There are numerous similarities between the glass discovered in the Geto-Dacian settlements and the one coming from the North-Pontic regions, which suggests that they might have followed a north – west commercial direction.
Keywords: Roman glass, ribbed bowls, East-Carpathian area, the Geto-Dacian davae, Roman imports, white glass.
CĂTĂLIN HRIBAN,
A 16th Century “Styrian” Riding Sword in the Collections of the History Museum of Moldavia in Iasi
One of the exhibits of Moldavia’s History Museum is an Early Modern/Late Medieval sword that has been until recently known and labeled as “Prince Vasile Lupu’s Sword”. Our investigation demonstrates, by means of typology analysis and analogy, that the item is a n ordnance weapon in the category of “riding swords” dated at the end of 16th or the in the beginning of the 17th century, used to equip the light cavalry or to be worn as side-weapon by travelers. The type of weapon is known as Styrian Sword, as the largest group of preserved items is located in the Styrian Arsenal Museum in Graz, Austria.
Keywords: riding sword, Graz Arsenal, Danner family, Nuremberg, the Thirteen Years War.
GEORGE DAN HÂNCEANU,
O archebuză din secolul al XVII-lea descoperită în Târgul Romanului.
(A Seventeenth-Century Harquebus Discovered in Roman)
In 2012, on the occasion of the renovation of the library “George Radu Melidon” in Roman, which lies on a plot that once belonged to the medieval town of Roman, after a survey inside the yard (marked as S.I) we identified the side of a dwelling that proved to be a manufactory. One of the first objects discovered in the manufactory (which had been was destroyed by fire) was a bronze barrel badly damaged by corrosion, doubled by traces of burning and by pieces of carbonized wood. After restoration, the object proved to be an harquebus. The barrel, circular inside and hexagonal outside, presented an aperture for slow match and a perforation at the end for fixing it on a piece of wood for a longer weapon. Dimensions: barrel – length – 450mm; thickness – 10mm; mouth diameter – 30mm; calibre – 17mm; diameter of the support – 38mm) and the hook (length – 40mm; width – 20mm). Total weight – 2.700 kg. We could not identify the mark of the manufactory but we supposed that the weapon could be locally manufactured (in Transylvania) or imported from the German states or from Bohemia. The weapon (a transitory model from heavy guns with a thick, long and heavy barrel, to those with a thin, short and small-weight barrel) can be chronologically assigned to the 17th, taking into account the other materials found in the manufactory such as coins and tools. The presence of the weapon in this location can be explained by its condition – the broken barrel that needed some repair. Until now the discovery of such a weapon type remains singular for the area of today’s Moldavia, but for the territory of medieval Moldavia we can also count piece from Cetatea Albă discovered in 1929 and dated to the period of Stephen the Great (Ştefan cel Mare).
Keywords: Roman old town, library, harquebus, 17th century, Moldova.
BOGDAN PETRU NICULICĂ,
Însemnări pe marginea unui recent volum despre depozitele din Bronzul timpuriu şi mijlociu din România
(Notes on the Recent Book about Early and Middle Bronze Age Deposits in Romania)
Within the fascinating and complex field of bronze-hoard studies in Romania, the monographic works published so far draw up a surprising image in terms of richness and typological variety thereof. Such a monograph signed by researcher Tudor Soroceanu (Berlin), one of the most competent specialists in the study of Carpathian bronze items, is analyzed in this note. His work, in which bronze deposits of the Early and Middle Bronze Age on the territory of today’s Romania are inventoried, is designed to criticize and complete one of the fundamental contributions in the research of bronze hoards: Depozitele de bronzuri din România (Bucharest, 1977), signed by the late academician Mircea Petrescu-Dîmboviţa of Iaşi. By studying T. Soroceanu’s work in depth, the author of the present paper observes and delineates the critical accents thereof from the positive nuances of the volume published in 1977. A series of methodological remarks and opinions regarding the historical judgment of the phenomenon of bronze item depositing during the first two periods of the Bronze Age, which would have been particularly interesting from the book reviewer’s perspective, in T. Soroceanu’s work, are herewith presented.
Keywords: copper and bronze hoards, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Romania, metallurgy.
VITO MAZZUCA,
Asclepius with Egg “Type Nea Paphos-Alexandria-Trier”: New Data and Some New Reflections
- Grimm first identified a new iconography of Asclepius, the so-called Nea Paphos-Alexandria-Trier, in 1989. He recognized the small city of Abonoteichus in Paphlagonia as the place from which, during second half of the 2nd century A.D., this type had spread. In the mid ’90s, F. Sirano examined this little-known iconography, making an important contribution by updating the catalogue of these sculptures, suggesting that the archetype was the cult statue that stood in the Asklepieion of Cos during the 2nd century A.D. Now, after many years, we need to update the catalogue of copies representing the type Nea Paphos: seven new sculptures can now be added to those compiled by Grimm and Sirano, and consequently this topic requires new consideration.
Keywords: Asclepius, Nea Paphos-Alexandria-Trier type, egg, Glycon, Danubian provinces, Galen, Second Sophistic.
FLORIN CURTA,
“A Hesitating Journey Through Foreign Knowledge”: Niculescu, the Ostrich, and Culture History
In a recent article, Gh. A. Niculescu raises the question of the relation between culture-historical archaeology and the so-called “production of knowledge” on ethnic phenomena. He targets the works of Volker Bierbrauer, Sebastian Brather, and Florin Curta. At a closer examination, however, Niculescu’s paper is based on a distorted understanding of what culture history actually is, and on wrong assumptions about such fundamental concepts as ethnicity or (material culture) style. Besides flaws in this line of thinking, his paper reveals Niculescu’s dishonest citation practices, his efforts to create a straw man, and his weak credentials for assuming any critical position in terms of the “production” of archaeological literature in the culture-historical mode. Beyond rhetorical tricks and smearing tactics, Niculescu does not in fact advance any solution to the problem, and remains ambiguous, if not altogether confused about the role of “social sciences” in the archaeology of (medieval) ethnicity.
Keywords: culture history, ethnicity, archaeological theory, nationalism, style.
LIA BĂTRÎNA, ADRIAN BĂTRÎNA,
Comentarii pe marginea unei recenzii semnată de A. A. Rusu
(Comments on a Review Signed by A. A. Rusu.)
The present discussion has emerged as response to a book review – written and published by A. A. Rusu – which refers to a monograph in which its authors (Lia Bătrîna and Adrian Bătrîna) showcase the results of the archaeological research conducted in Rădăuţi, at the church of Saint Nicholas (Sfântul Nicolae), a necropolis of the first Moldavian princes. By virtue of the principle ,,audiatur et altera pars”, we intend to respond to Mr. Rusu’s criticism and observations, since we find them to be – almost exclusively – unfounded.
Keywords: ,,Saint Nicholas” church in Rădăuţi, Moldavia, medieval arcaeology, medieval ceramics, princely necropolis, medieval jewelry, princely garments, DNA analysis, heraldry, genealogy, ecclesiastical architecture, murals.