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In this paper the author addresses the process of formation of the top echelon of the Moldavian Communist Party apparatus during the establishment and reestablishment of the Soviet power in Bessarabia in 1940-1941/1944. The core of the top party apparatus of the Moldavian SSR during the period under consideration were young Communists who arrived in / from the Moldavian ASSR, quickly established themselves and advanced to key administrative positions. They managed to make a dizzy career in the party after Stalin's repressions. Most secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Moldavia had a low educational level – primary or secondary education and were born in Ukraine or Russia. Among them there was not a single Bessarabian, and only one was from the left bank of the Dniester. And although in 1944 the leadership of the party apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Moldavia has undergone some changes, but its core remained practically the same. For this paper we used unpublished sources – documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldavia.

The present paper focuses on the preliminary interventions undertaken for the in situ and post situ preservation of the archaeological artifacts derived from the disinterment of the Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni, which took place in the context of the canonization held in Căpriana Monastery (the Republic of Moldova). The paper points out the importance of the pluridisciplinary approach in order to ensure the adequate conditions for a specialized and immediate first aid for the excavated artifacts, which thereby would be able to be part of and enrich the ecclesiastical heritage of the Republic of Moldova. Brief presentations of the monastic institution’s history and the metropolitan’s biography are also provided.

This paper discusses an upper Paleolithic cave in the foothills of the Caucasus. Since 1996 a joint team of Georgian, American and Israeli researchers has been involved in systematic archaeological excavations in Dzudzuana. Archaeological works revealed there three stages of upper Paleolithic period, but we present only final upper Paleolithic assemblages, which are characterized by the presence of microgravettes and backed and retouched bladelets. The paper further presents a lot of interesting materials.

This paper attempts to synthesize the aspect of the importance of graphic representations referring to the situation of dwelling structures found and documented at the settlements across Muntenia which are dated with the 2nd century BC - 1st century AD. Without intending to categorize or fit the mentioned complexes or settlements into any typology, the paper takes into account the way in which the housing complexes characteristic of the second iron age are illustrated and how these representations are relevant to understanding the dwelling complexes from the given period.

On 14 May 2015 at the National Museum of History of Moldova in the presence of an impressive number of scientists and people of culture there was opened the commemorative exhibition "Oak from Caracui" dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Academician Nicolae Corlăteanu, the founder of the Romanian linguistics in the Republic of Moldova and the renowned teacher, State Prize winner, Honored Scientist, holder of the Order of the Republic, author of more than 55 scientific papers and memories. Most of the exhibits come from the Corlăteanu family archive. It is about 200 photographs, scientific papers, documents, awards, personal belongings, etc.

This paper is the result of research of the collection of concert posters from the NMHM collections. It was found that the posters refer to the period of time from 1900 to 2010 and represent a brief chronicle of the musical life of Moldova east of the Prut River. Chronologically and by the method of production, form and content they can be classified into four categories: 1) concert posters of the times of Imperial Russia, 2) concert posters of the times of Romanian government, 3) concert posters of the Soviet period, and 4) concert posters of the Republic Moldova. The posters of the first two categories contain much text, partly black and white images, are of small size (A4 sheet), printed on paper of poor quality, mainly newsprint. Posters of the Soviet period are of two types: posters with lots of text without images and color posters, of various sizes. Concert posters of the Republic of Moldova have diverse formats and images, but provide little information. It was also found that the concert posters of the times of Tsarist Russia and the Romanian government are very few, and posters of singers and musical groups, as well as folk singers and orchestras of 1960s are completely missing.

The special literature from Republic of Moldova has approached constantly in the last two decades the thematic of political repressions from the period of the totalitarian communist regime by valorizing numerous documentary evidences discovered in secret collections of the former regime and in personal archives of survivors of the Soviet Gulag. An important resource in reconstructing the totalitarian past are memoirs of former deported persons and political prisoners. Unfortunately, the biggest part of memorial materials signed by survivors of concentrated camps and direct witnessers of events are dispersed through news-papers and journals. Very few of them have been gathered in volumes and collections of memories. Few are also those who did not try to forget the ordeal they went through and had the courage to relive it one more time when putting it on paper. These facts leads to the need of encouraging witnessers to write their memories for researcher to collect them into a unique database, to valorize and offer the society a specialized analysis of these valuable historic evidences. The author is proposing a series of memorial materials for analysis from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Here are names of several authors of terrible pages about the ordeal of Stalinist deportations from Bessarabia: Alexandru Pripa, native of v. Pelenia, jud. Bălţi, Dumitru Berezovski, native from Drochia, Vladimir Buşilo from Comrat, Apolinarie Vataman from v. Ghica Vodă, Drochia and Emilia Vataman-Racoveţ from v. Cuconeşti, Brătuşeni, deported in 1941; Nadejda Pascal from Durleşti, Fiodor Cociu, native from Hânceşti and Simion Buiuc from Chiperceni, Orhei, deported in 1949. On base of these valuable details can be reconstructed the gloomy picture of the Bessarabian who new the deportations drama, the picture of an entire generation who had to confront face to face the soviet machine of repressions. An epoch can be rediscovered from these details.

The main subject of this paper is techno-typological and traceological analysis of the stone artifacts found as a result of archaeological excavations in the Kobuleti Early Holocene site. The novelty of the work consists in the fact that the study of the stone industries of this period has not yet was carried out on the territory of Adjara. The obtained results allow us to conclude that the site was a temporary camp of primeval hunters, where mainly the initial processing of meat and skin was carried out.

Bronze items from the Noua-Sabatinovka cultures mainly come from hoards or are strayfinds, while being very rare found in settlements. They are usually represented by pins, awls, chisels, sometimes ornaments, knives, daggers, or socketed axes. In the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova, there are more than 70 such items, some of which have been published. The goal of this paper is the presentation of this collection, as well as the analysis of the chemical composition of the metal, which will clarify some issues of the metal objects spread in the settlements of the Noua-Sabatinovka cultures on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

The paper for the first time publishes the Iron Age materials discovered as a result of archaeological research near the Raşcov village in the Middle Dniester left-bank region. A small site with a total area of 66 m² was investigated during the fieldwork. Constructions and artifacts, including fragments of hand-shaped pottery were found during the excavations. Among the discovered objects there are the remains of two archaeological structures. One of them, most likely was a dwelling structure, and the other was a household pit. The finds represent a fragment of an anthropomorphic figurine, two spindle whorls, and a well-preserved iron knife with a deer antler handle. Other finds are an assemblage of hand-shaped pottery, which includes fragments of pots, bowls, and cups. An urn found in situ together with human bones should be singled out among the hand-made pottery as the most significant find. Thus, the analysis of the material collected during the excavations showed that a new settlement of the Iron Age and a burial ground adjacent to it (?) were discovered in the surroundings of the village of Raşcov. The pottery assemblage from the site indicates its belonging to the Getae culture and, together with the discovered funerary urn, dates back to the 5th-3rd centuries BC.

The article publishes materials researched in 2018 in two regional museums of Odessa region – in Ovidiopol and Tatarbunar. Also, the publication is supplemented by finds collected in 2019. Collections consist of the findings of archaeologically intact amphorae and large portions of them found in the northwestern Black Sea by amateur fishermen and submariners. The descriptions of the collections are presented separately because of their heterogeneity in terms of morphological features and chronological affiliation, although both collections contain vessels of ancient times and the Byzantine period. It should be noted that among the studied transport amphorae there are quite rare types of Roman containers. In addition to introducing new materials to the scientific circulation, the paper reviews the history of the underwater archeology of the region and analyzes existing publications of amphorae originating from the bottom of the area of the same region. An analysis of the materials of new and old sites of amphorae finds revealed that, apart from single finds, they are the remains of ships («Zmiinyi Patroclus» and “Kinburn Spit”), areas of several shipwrecks (the «amphorae slope» И. Сапожников, А. Синельников, Амфоры Северо-Западной акватории Черного моря 205 of Zmiinyi Island, Adzhalyk and Tuzla estuaries) or of a single shipwreck (near the Dniester Estuary, Kinburn Fortress and Tendra Island). Another type is anchorages (the «amphora field» of Zmiinyi Island and possibly near Berezan Island and in the Odessa Gulf). It should be noted that just past Zmiiniy, adjacent to the water area and further north, one of the main routes of supply of imported products in amphorae packaging came from both the Southern Pontic cities and the Mediterranean. That is why we hope that the article presented will add new facts to the study of ancient maritime import trade, its starting points and structure, as well as demonstrate the massive and rare types of amphorae used in the Northwest Black Sea.

The paper presents the research and the conservation-restoration treatment of the Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni’s vestment – the paraman discovered as a result of archaeological excavations in the area of the Căpriana Monastery in the Republic of Moldova. The metropolitan, who was buried in 1821 in the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Căpriana Monastery, was canonized in 2016. On this occasion, archaeological investigations of his crypt were carried out and various types of artifacts were revealed. Among them there are vestments (sticharion, epimanikia – fragments, girdle, epitrachelion, great omophorion, sakkos, epigonation, mitre, head covering, and paraman), textile fragments of the pillow, fragments of galloon from the coffin, leather fragments from shoes, metal objects (ornamental and functional elements), religious objects – a hand cross, a pectoral cross with a ribbon, clothing accessories – buttons. The study of the paraman from the point of view of determining the technique and material of manufacture showed that it was made using the technique of manual relief embroidery of the textile base with natural silk threads, silver and gilded threads, spiral or faceted silver gilded braid and silver gilded sequins. The results of the research and the analysis of the state of conservation of the textile object made it possible to establish the stages of the conservation and restoration process. Interventions carried out during this process included mechanical cleanings, wet cleanings, chemical cleanings, neutralizations and strengthening by sewing on torn parts, restoring losses of textile base, metal sequins and metal threads. The conservation and restoration of archaeological textiles from the Căpriana Monastery allows us to preserve these most valuable historical, spiritual, artistic and documentary treasures for present and future generations.

The social poster of the Soviet period was one of the main tools for influencing public opinion, an effective means of communication, reflecting significant problems of society. The process of creating posters was very complicated, requiring the work of a large number of specialists: artists, writers, poets, journalists. There was a special commission to control the process of creating social posters. The post-war social poster is characterized by great expressiveness, colorfulness, poignancy, sometimes even aggressiveness, laconic text and a thought-provoking image that is quickly perceived and clearly conveys the meaning of the message. The highest quality paper was used to print these posters, so they could last a long time even in outdoor conditions. Paints for images and text were also selected very carefully. In general, the mission of the posters was to inform the population about the initiatives of the Soviet state, to form citizens’ attitudes to various problems, to create new social values. In this regard, the posters were diverse in theme and message, as well as format and design. However, most often they called for the development of agriculture, the fight against alcoholism and drug addiction, a healthy lifestyle, etc.

The paper presents the history of the researches of the early Eneolithic settlements discovered in the steppe of Budzhak. There are three stages. The author proposes a catalog of Gumelniţa culture settlements of the Prut-Dniester interfluve. 37 points were mapped as possible settlements, four of which are under great question; the existence of 12 sites on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and 21 on the territory of Ukraine was confidently confirmed. A table with some erroneous data on the existence of Gumelniţa settlements is presented. Their spatial distribution allows us to trace the routes and directions of colonization of this territory during the early Eneolithic period. The area of settlements Bolgrad-Aldeni and their concentration in the south-western zone of the Prut-Dniester interfluve is determined.

The article presents the research of archaeological textiles (sample No. 3) found in burial No. 39 (dating back to 1580s) in the narthex of the Assumption Church of the Căpriana Monastery. The paper describes the archaeological textiles, procedures for the preservation and restoration of artifacts, as well as the method of manufacturing textile products based on archaeological analogies in the Romanian medieval principalities and the countries of Northern Europe. Fragments of textiles from the Căpriana Monastery are made of natural silk and narrow strips made using the technique of weaving from silk and metal threads. On the basis of analogies, it was established that fragments of textiles from the Căpriana Monastery represent elements of the ceremonial costume characteristic of the Romanian principalities in the 16th century.

I have relative recently published a paper concerning the Early- and Middle Bronze Age chronology of the eastern Carpathian Basin (cca 2700/2600-1600/1500 BC). Based on the evidence of absolute data I have highlighted the considerable differences between the results of the investigations carried out 15 years ago mainly grounded in the typo-chronological approach versus our present state of knowledge (or lack of it in certain cases). For me it is a true challenge to assess whether my own assertions concerning the chronology of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age on the territory of the western Romania and Transylvania are still tenable after 20 years or whether they need to be revised. The Romanian historiographical tradition regarding the Late Bronze Age and “early-Hallstatt” was transformed by Carol Kacsó in 1990 by adapting the relative chronology of north-eastern Hungary to the realities of north-western Romania. A similar approach was put forward by myself with the occasion of an international conference held in Baia Mare in 1998. The main purpose of my presentation was to do away with the term “Hallstatt” and “Hallstatt cultures” from the vocabulary of Romanian archaeologists, a term which has too little or no relevancy to the cultural realities of the eastern Carpathian Basin. Somewhat later Horia Ciugudean has also adopted the “no Hallstatt” chronological model while also putting forward some new views concerning the chronology of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age from Transylvania. These new proposals have since achieved great popularity with the new generation of specialists in Transylvania who continue to use these chronological schemes Among the positive feedbacks to the new chronological systems put forward for Transylvania I have to mention Marcin Przybyła’s 2009 synthesis entitled Intercultural Contacts in the Western Carpathian Area at the Turn of the 2nd and 1st Millennia BC. The author employed the periodization system introduced by C. Kacsó in 1990 for assemblages from the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin and to corresponding discoveries from the territory of Poland. The main point of this article is to walk through the most recent Late Bronze Age discoveries from the eastern Carpathian Basin based on the aforementioned chronological scheme. In order to avoid repeating the information excellently brought together by M. Przybyła, I will limit this review to those sites for which new absolute data is available, thus allowing the precise chronological anchoring of the cultural realities of this period. It is my belief that the absolute dating of certain representative sites should be one of our most immediate scientific priorities. In order to get over all of the uncertainties concerning the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the eastern Carpathian Basin national research projects are needed both in Hungary and Romania so as to finance generous amounts of AMS samples. Even if international projects brought new vital insights, they are however usually limited by transitory interests.

The paper focuses on an illustrated postcard loaded with history which confirms the value of a deltiological piece of various valences. Looking at this image, we are transposing ourselves in time, "following" the path of making of the most sacred ideal of the Romanians - national unity. The illustrated postcard, titled In memory of the great ideal: the union of all Romanians, became part of the deltiology collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova in 1990 when it was donated by brothers Grigore and Gheorghe Marinescu from Bucharest. This is a colorful image with a satisfactory conservation status, published at the crossroads of 1918 and 1919, uncirculated, lacking information about the place of publication, publishing house and author of the illustrative message. The postcard represents a brief history of achieving an old ideal, illustrating the events up to December 1, 1918: The Revolution of 1848, World War I (1914-1916) with the glorious battles of Mărăşeşti, Măreşti şi Oituz. On the postcard are depicted also the faces of three statesmen that made the union in different periods of time: Mihai Viteazul (1558-1601), a precursor of the unification of the Romanians in 1600, Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1820-1873), under whose direction the Romanian Principalities united in 1859 (Little Union) and King Ferdinand I (1865-1927) (the Encloser) in 1918. The special graphics, the unusual appearance, the presentation and the historical data they contain make this postcard an original postal unit that stops the moment for posterity in the study of Romanian History.

The paper examines the position of Evangelical Christian Baptists in the Moldavian SSR in the first decade of the postwar period (1944-1965). As a result of the researches carried out in the archives of the Republic of Moldova, the author concludes that, compared with the interwar period, the situation of the Baptist communities has deteriorated worsened. The number of prayer houses declined from 200 in 1939 to 89 in 1965. The number of believers also decreased from 10,000 in 1939 to 6095 in 1965. By interfering in the internal affairs of cult, the Soviet state lost control of a large number of believers (the adoption of a new statute, the prohibition of baptism for persons under the age of 25, the prohibition of philanthropic activity, etc.), because they went underground. With all the actions taken by the Soviet authorities, they failed to destroy the cult, which continued to exist even in such adverse conditions.

This article analyzes the stone artifacts of Layer II of the multilayered site Korolevo. In this paper we provide techno-typological and statistical characteristics of artifacts. Technology can be described as non-Levallois, non-blades, non-facetted, and is based on the method of radial core reduction. The main blank is a short and wide flake, with a trapezoidal shape and massive lateral edge or platform. These flakes used as blanks for most tools. Secondary working typically consisted of semi-abrupt or abrupt dorsal stepwise scalar retouch. Presence of accommodative elements is characteristic of 75% of the tools. Most often, pieces have a natural or prepared back. The main group of tools are unifacial scrapers. Most of them are simple single-edged tools: transversal, lateral and diagonal items. Less numerous groups presented are double, ventral and déjeté types of scrapers. Denticulate and notched types are the second most common tool types. Unifacially retouched artifacts limases, points, leaf-shaped forms and bifacial tools are present singly or at small frequencies. The industry has been defined as Charentian/Quina type. This is indicated by a number of features: the prevalence of unifacial scrapers (60%), a part of which has been worked with abrupt or semi-abrupt step retouch (so called semi-Quina or Quina type), insignificant percent of leaf-shaped forms, bifacial tools and limases, and a high Charentian Index – 23.

The studies on the social organization of the Sarmatians are still very few. The aim of this paper is to analyze children graves, in an attempt to complete, as much as possible based on the current archaeological data, the image of the Sarmatian communities in Wallachia and Moldavia, outlined in several previous studies. The discussion will be limited to only one case study – that of the Sarmatian children burials in Wallachia (territory between the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains, bordered to the west by the Olt River) and Moldavia (more precisely the area between the Prut River and the Carpathian Mountains). After an overview of Sarmatian discoveries in Wallachia or Moldavia (emphasizing the presence or the absence of anthropological analysis), the author tries to outline the image, as shown by the age ratio, of some Sarmatian grave clusters. The analysis of the funerary ritual and inventory of the 65 children burials attributed to the Sarmatians in Wallachia and Moldavia led to the general conclusion that, speaking strictly from a funerary point of view, the children do not benefit of special funerary rules by comparison to the adults. The same funerary ritual characterizes both adults and children – the inhumation, there are no orientations or positions for depositing the body that can be found only in the case of children and the inventory did not contain items that could be considered as specific to the childhood universe.

This paper discusses the proskynetarion in a private collection. It belongs to a type of icons that were brought by pilgrims to the Holy Land. They were dated between the early 17th to the early 20th centuries. Such icons have also been preserved in both the Romanian and Moldovan areas. The icon was dated from 1818-1819, and was brought to pilgrim Petar from Pirot, a city in the southern Serbia. The icon is characterized by strong colors, primarily blue and red, as well as abundant use of gold. It is conceived as threpartite. The central part had the main representation of The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It featured architectural details made in the rebuilding after the 1808 fire. Other representations in this section were individual biblical events and legends believed to have happend in the Holy Land. On the left part was the representation of Eleusa tou Kikko, and on the right Christ Elkomenos. Both are representations of icons honored in Palestine in the early 19th century. They were surrounded by smaller scenes related to the cult of the Virgin and Christ. On the whole, the icon can be described as the topographic representation of the Holy Land. It was also a typical representative of the iconography of the Syrian-Palestinian region of this period, which united the features of Western painting and the Eastern iconography. These icons are numerous, but they are not widely known, and their study is still at the beginning.

Traces of craft activities are poorly represented in the cultural horizon of the Etulia type settlements. This paper introduces into scientific use a kiln possibly used for firing pottery, which was discovered in the multilayer settlement of Chernitsa I in the northern zone of the Dniester-Prut interfluves area.

In 2016 authors of this paper obtained information about three Scythian daggers from the territory of Moravia. They were found by unknown persons with the help of metal detectors in the vicinity of Brno, near Horákovský hrad. The dagger no. 2 is the earliest one and due to its features like triangular blade, massive kidney-like hilt and narrow elongated pommel could be attributed to the of Vettersfelde type of the second half – end of 6th century BC. Daggers №1 and №3 are characterized by small segment-like hilts which could date back these items to mid 6th – mid 5th centuries BC. Scythian swords and daggers were totally unknown on the territory of Czech Republic, thus the finds from Horákovský hrad greatly expand the geography of Middle Scythian akinakai. Moreover, this discovery in Moravia allows to connect Lusatian and Vekerzug areas of distribution of Scythian weaponry and could outline the pathways of bladed weapons far to the west of the main territory of the Scythians

This article discusses the metric parameters of over twenty religious structures built during the Early Middle Ages on the territory of the Byzantine Empire. An emphasis is made in this paper on basilicas that were the most numerous temples after Christianity became the official religion of the empire. Well-proportioned and irrational system was accepted for the construction of the early Christian religious buildings, reflecting the meaning of the Christian philosophy and symbolic nature of liturgical practice.

The article is devoted to the description of the archaeologist and ethnographer N.A. Marx’s scientific activities in the North-West Black Sea Region and republication of his two papers – the book «On the History of Bender Fortress» and the legend «Bender Plate». Moreover, the authors describe and analyze the artifacts of Bender Fortress published by N.A. Marx: a marble slab with the inscription (tarikh) of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent (1538) and an Ottoman Iznik plate, which had been mounted on the wall above the entrance to the citadel of the fortress and described in 1657 by the famous Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi.

The subject of the paper is advertising postcards, discovered during the research of the museum collection of postcards. Performed in the style of their time, they reflect changes in both production and society. Unlike postage stamps and envelopes, the postcard is more convenient as a carrier of information, including advertising. The first classic promotional postcards appeared in Europe in the late 1870s, initially they presented advertising of hotels and restaurants. In Russia, including in Bessarabia, annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812, the first postcards with advertising content appeared in 1896. They can be divided into three categories: postcards with images similar to images in newspapers, postcards “as in a magazine” (a picture accompanied by text) and postcards with the views of certain buildings, accompanied by an explanatory text. The first two categories were usually distributed by the owners of the advertised objects, and the third was sold by souvenir dealers. According to their purpose, illustrated postcards serve for iconographic popularization. On some postcards the image is not associated with the text of the ad, located, as a rule, on the reverse side. This includes postcards, which indicate the author of the image and the publisher, advertised via postcards. On other postcards the image itself serves as an advertisement and is not always accompanied by text. This includes postcards depicting places of entertainment, recreation areas, trading houses, outstanding buildings, etc. A special place is occupied by tourist advertising cards, the most popular and, as a rule, the most numerous in museum and private collections.

The paper considers some models for the explanation of variability of lithic complexes of the Late Neolithic (Early Aeneolithic) Pre-Cucuteni culture – the Early Trypillia. Along with the wide-spread “cultural-historical” approach some others could be suggested – raw material economy, technological repertoire, and social differentiation of flint-working.

This paper presents to reader a description of the most important work of the second half of the 17th century, which holds a special place in Russian culture. The Russian translation of the «prophetic book» called Chrismologion, presented to Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich near the end of his reign, is an important part of the legacy from Rome and Constantinople and in an obvious way connects the themes of Prophecy, the Priesthood and the Empire, which are key themes in world history. The translation is supplied with a commentary by Nikolai Spatharu (Milescu-Spătaru) and presents the ideology which played an important role in the political and cultural life of Moscow in the 17th century.

In this paper we emphasize the importance of the notes made on old books in the writing of historical works and biographies. This case study refers to Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană (born in 1842 or 1843 [1840?], Cudalbi Village, Galaţi County - died in 1920, Galaţi), a great servant of the church and well-known confessor in the Northern Dobrudja area. Around 1860 he was the inhabitant of the Celic Dere Monastery (Tulcea County) and was ordained a hieromonk in 1864. He also served near Satu Nou-Delta (today C.A. Rosetti Village), at Sulina and was the last abbot of Taiţa Monastery in 1877-1878. Later, he was sent as parish priest to the old Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Sulina, where he served until 1910.

The article is devoted to the French cartographer and fortifier François Kauffer (1751-1801), who for the last 9 years of his life served the Ottoman Porte, but at the same time was an agent of the Russian Empire. Particular attention is given to his work in the territory of Bessarabia and Moldova, where he took part in strengthening the fortresses of Akkerman, Bender, Izmail, Kiliya, and Khotyn (in 1793-1797). The paper includes documents and lists of his manuscript maps and plans, which are stored in the Military Historical Archive (Russian Federation, Moscow).

For several decades after the Second World War the problem of the history of archaeological research is constantly present in the special studies. However, a comprehensive analysis of the history of archeology in the Prut-Dniester space for a long time was not performed. The first work devoted to studies of ancient history and archeology in the period between 1715 and 1945 was carried out by N. Chetraru. The light on the events that took place in the MSSR after the Second World War is shed due to the documents stored in the archives of the Republic of Moldova. In this paper there are presented two important documents: the first one regarding the reforming of the Moldavian Institute of History, Economics, Language and Literature with the creation of a sub-department for History and Archaeology, dated December, 17 1945; the second one is the decision of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Moldavian SSR from December 21, 1945 “On preparation for archaeological research on the territory of the Moldavian SSR in 1946”.

The paper represents the first musicological experience of research on the succession of the performing and pedagogical traditions of the St. Petersburg Conservatory by natives of Bessarabia. It is based on materials from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory archive and collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries talented Moldavians got the opportunity to get professional music education in the first Russian Conservatory founded by Anton Rubinstein. After graduating from the Conservatory, many of the Bessarabians returned home, becoming the successors of St. Petersburg's cultural traditions and the founders of the national performing school. Among them there are L. Lypkovskaya, Ju. Guz, A. Stadnitskaya, M. Pester, G. Yatsentkovsky, Z. Boldur, K. Fainstein, and M. Daylis, whose names are included in the golden fund of Moldavian culture.

The paper presents an analysis of the fragments of Greek amphorae collected during archaeological investigations in Western Dobrogea (Romania), in an area called Peceneaga. The study of amphora fragments revealed the presence of ceramic containers in the barbaric world of Getae in the 4th century BC. These vessels belong to several Greek poleis-manufacturers, which actively traded with this region – Thasos, Heraclea Pontica, Chios, Mende, Sinope, and to the hitherto undefined center, known in the literature as the Murighiol type. The fact that most of the amphora fragments refer to Thasos is a typical picture for the region located in the immediate vicinity of the ancient fortress of Istria – a known transit point for the Thasos imports.

This paper introduces into the scientific use the results of archaeological investigations undertaken in the burial mound no. 2 near the village of Trudovoe. As a result of the research there were identified four stages in the process of building of the tumulus. There were also discovered many findings, such as a bronze cauldron, a granite altar etc., attributed to the Cimmerian culture.

The paper is devoted to the discussion of controversial issues in the study of the historical topography of Berestye (Brest). This city was one of the largest in western Rus’ of the 11th-13th centuries. The problems of shape, sizes and area of the castle and courtyard buildings are still under discussion, despite of the large area of archaeological excavation. Some questions of the castle location are reviewed on the ground of such sources as archaeological and map materials.

In this paper we discussed ancient art and its origin as well as some interesting samples from Georgian Stone Age sites. One of them is the earliest sample of jewelry discovered so far on the territory of Georgia and dates back to 22-21 thousand years BP. Besides there are other interesting samples, such as beads, tools in the form of a fish, adornments and so on. So, according to the Paleolithic art materials, Georgia can be characterized as one of the oldest places of origin and development of Paleolithic art in Europe.

After the collapse of the USSR, with the independence of the former Soviet republics there established a period characterized by historians as a transition from a totalitarian to a democratic regime. In each of the republics the transition period was characterized according to its internal characteristics and consistent patterns and in dependence of national and historical peculiarities of development as well as external factors. However, we can note the similarities of post-Soviet syndrome. First, there is an upsurge of interest in national history and the nationalization of history in all CIS countries. Secondly, the science of history goes through a painful stage of revaluation of many facts and events, there has changed the political emphasis in historical studies. The problem of national revival became the main task of the historians. Third, fundamental importance in modern historical science has the factor of expansion of historical research. Since the mid-1990s, on the border of millennia, there has emerged a series of papers (theses, articles, monographs, documents etc.) focused on the new, western trends in historical scholarship - historical anthropology, intellectual history, the history of the individual, gender history, etc. The younger generation of historians especially helped the development of the new areas. Natural interest of historians to these research entailed serious methodological consequences - an interdisciplinary approach, the search for synthesis through diversity, civilization, historical and cultural approach, etc. New social history has become explored through the prism of historical anthropologism. A human, his way of thinking and behavior, lifestyle, spirituality, mentality and everyday life became the subject of research, and anthropological method has proved itself in the heart of the problem of human history.

This paper presents a documentary research of the history of establishment of Săseni village in Orhei County, which was formed in the second stage of the population of Moldova, during 15th-18th centuries. According to the documents, the first owner of the village was mentioned in the charter of Stephen II of March 6, 1443 as “pan Ivan Boldur”, who sold this place to “God-loving pan Mihul the scribe”. In the 16th century the settlement came into the possession of State Treasurer Mire Călugărul, the progenitor of the family of Bulat and a ktitor of the Hîrjauca Monastery. This article also presents the place, the specifics of the village in the administrative apparatus of Ţara Moldovei, its demographics and socio-economic development.

As is well known, most of the large library of Paul Gore, nearly 5,000 volumes, as evidenced by preserved inventory list, is currently kept in the “M. Eminescu” Central University Library in Iaşi. Based on dozens of specimens found in the storages and on the notes made by Paul Gore in the inventory-catalog, the paper presents their bibliographic description. It is made in the continuation of a communication that is to be printed in the Magazine of the Museum of the “Al.I. Cuza” University of Iaşi and in order to complete a full catalog of the library of the great scientist, the work on which was begun with great success by other researchers in the field.

The history of the Noul Neamţ Monastery (1864), both ecclesiastic and secular, is known mainly by sources published in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Few papers written in recent years do not cover the entire variety of issues regarding the history of the monastery and its library. Large contribution to the historiography of the monastic library introduced hieromonk Andronic (1820-1893), who compiled the first catalogues of the collection. These catalogues require complex research involving long-term work with book collections in Moscow (State Historical Museum, Funds of Barsov and Shchukin), Saint-Petersburg (Library of the Academy of Sciences, Fund of Yatsimirsky) and in local archives (National Archives of the Republic of Moldova), which houses most of the catalogues (1864-1962) and a collection of books from the Noul Neamţ monastic library (1199 volumes).

Papers devoted to the typology of certain categories of the material culture need the close cooperation with the local schemes. A change of researching “optics” is likely to have a positive effect on the process of studying the general trends in the material, if this process of research is closely linked with the base of any typological constructions – with the spatial and chronological relations analysis. Besides the publication of new stray finds and partial republication of already known finds from the burial complexes, the main goal of this work is the checking of certain typological tendencies of such category of Scythian culture as akinakai (Scythian swords and daggers) of the Carpathian-Dniester region. A geographical division of Carpathian-Dniester region is proposed: Middle Dniester (Bukovinian) group, Eastern Carpathian (Neamţ) group, Siret-Dniester (Moldavian) group, Lower Dniester and Lower Danube groups. Chronologically, the massive of akinakai of Carpathian-Dniester region could be divided into three groups: Early Scythian (650-550 BC), Middle Scythian (550-450 BC) and Classic Scythian (450-300 BC). The following trends connected with Scythian swords and daggers were noticed: Early Scythian burials with akinakai concentrate in Bukovina and stray finds in Moldova, Middle Scythian burials – are grouping in Moldavian and the stray finds – in Neamţ group, and the Classical Scythian burials with akinakai are presented only in Lower Dnister and Lower Danube groups.

The paper treats the finds from recent investigations of a group of archaeological sites in the north of Odessa region. There were mostly materials of the Neolithic Linear Pottery culture and the Chernyakhov culture. The first Linear Pottery culture site was revealed in the Southern Bug River valley. It makes possible to re-estimate the relations between Linear Pottery culture and the local Bug-Dniester Neolithic.

The paper attempts to make a detailed analysis of residential structures of the population relating to the Chernoles culture in the forest-steppe between the Dniester and Dnieper Rivers. Vestiges of dwellings were found on 23 unfortified settlements. All the sites, except the Early Chernoles settlements of Bol'shaya Andrusovka I, Bol'shaya Snytonka IV and Mikhalkiv I, as well as the lower layer of the Subbotovo settlement, were associated with the late stage of the Chernoles culture. In all on the sites of the Early Chernoles culture there were found 17 semi-dugouts and one dugout. On settlements of the late stage 70 surface dwellings, 10 semi-dugouts and 11 dugouts were identified. In general, the analysis provided an opportunity to compare dwellings referring to the early and the late periods of the Chernoles culture based on such data as the location of dwellings, their shapes, sizes, designs and interior condition. The main result is an identification of common and distinctive features in the construction of houses of the Chernoles culture bearers. The comparative analysis of dwellings made it possible to trace the major stages in the development of homebuilding at the Chernoles population and revealed similarities and differences between dwellings belonging to the early and the late periods of the Chernoles culture. On the other hand a weak source base (no publications) leaves unresolved a number of topical issues. Nevertheless, the importance of research lies in the fact that the dwellings as an important category of archaeological sources allow to study various aspects of life of the Chernoles population.

The ancient settlement of Nizhny Dzhulat is located on the right bank of the Terek River near the town of Maysky in Kabardino-Balkaria. A large amount of the Golden Horde coins was found there by locals during agricultural work. The authors obtained electronic images of coins found in 2010-2012. In this paper they summarize the results of the study of copper coins from the Nizhny Dzhulat complex. Based on the dated coins, the chronology of copper coins covers 100-year period from 1420s to 1520s. In the complex there are many rare and unpublished types and variants for coins, 16 of which are described in the article. Copper coinage of Djanibek II presents two new types and ten new variants. There were considered seven types of Haji-Tarkhan coins, including the unreleased dated type of "Animals at the trough" of 805 AH. Horde minted al- Jadid's coins are presented here with two types of animalistic symbolism and with a review of the unreleased coin with tamga "glasses" of Emir Ibrahim al-Jadid's coinage of 777 AH.

This article considers urbanonyms of Southern Bessarabia. There are shown general trends in the use of odonyms, agoronyms, and horonyms at Akkerman, Izmail (Tuchkov), and Kiliya. The paper discusses the features of development of the downtown areas and the functioning of urbanonyms in the first half of the 19th century.

After World War I, Romania signed a series of political agreements with some neighboring countries, which were associated with important arrangements in the field of economics, journalism, science, culture, etc. In this context there were carried out some negotiations, which have lead to the concluding of journalistic agreements between the countries of the Little Entente (Sinaia, 1925), Poland and Romania (Galaţi, 1926), and also contributed to the VI Congress of the Latin Press (Bucharest, 1927). These were important (and expensive) events with the participation of the journalist community, the effects of which are difficult to assess. Their generally acknowledged results are the maintenance of a certain regional stability, a more intense exchange of information between partner countries, and the improvement of the image of the country. The paper contains historical sketches on the three above-mentioned events.

Museology is the science of museums. Most experts characterize it as an independent applied scientific discipline, which studies how museums develop and optimize their activities to meet the needs of society. The term "museology" was first mentioned in the work by P.L. Martin "Praxix der Naturgeschichte" published in 1869 in Germany. But the determination of the status of museology as a science was first given by J. G. Th. Von Graesse in the article "Museology as a Science" published in the magazine „Zeitschrift für Museologie und Antiquitätenkunde" in 1883. The author announced a new scientific discipline of museology and tried to highlight its research potential. Thus, museology as a science began in 1883. Since 1960s museology is introduced as a scientific discipline in many universities around the world; there were created first centers of museological research, published numerous papers on museums. However, so far, some experts deny the scientific character of museology considering it "a discipline that coordinates a specialized type of cultural activity". In his article, the author analyzes the path of museology in the process of its development as a scientific discipline, identifies the problems of its classification in the system of sciences, and highlights the contributions of some researchers (P. van Mensch, J. Neustupny, T. Šola, Z. Stransky, R. Florescu, etc.) to the consolidation of its status of an independent science. In conclusion, the author believes that museology is an academic science, but a relatively young and developing.

The article is devoted to a critical analysis of the article by A. Levinschi "Греческие амфоры на гетских памятниках лесостепи Днестровско-Прутского междуречья - центры и ритмы поступления (Greek amphorae on Getae sites in the forest-steppe area between the rivers of Dniester and Prut - centers and rhythms of delivery)" published in the journal "Stratum plus" № 3 for 2013. The author of this work, not being a specialist in ancient times and Greek amphorae in particular, using for his own scientific research our monograph "Amforele greceşti în mediul barbar din nord-vestul Pontului Euxin în sec. VI - începutul sec. II a. Chr. (Greek Amphorae in the Barbarian World of the Northwestern Coast of Pontus Euxinus in the 6th - Early 2nd Centuries BC)" (Chişinău 2007), decided to revise the dating of Greek imports in the barbarian world of Getae, trying to convince us, the professionals, and perhaps himself, that the spread of Greek imports (including amphorae) in the Getae environment refers only to the time interval limited by the 6th - late 4th centuries BC. The effort to prove this timing has become for A. Levinschi "a matter of his scientific life", and he persistently tries to bring his scientific research under this framework. In this article we have tried to comment page by page those arguments that we consider not only wrong, but obviously biased, and which are explained, apparently, not only by ignorance of the specifics of Greek amphorae and their epigraphy and by insufficient knowledge of the professional literature, but also by the fact that the author of the paper under review has analyzed not the material itself but only its illustrations.

This paper presents the preliminary results of a comprehensive study of the burial discovered during the investigations of the Upper Paleolithic site at Cosăuţi by the expedition led by Ilie Borziac. Due to various circumstances, the burial remained virtually unexplored until present. The article presents the main results of a preliminary study of skeletal remains that was carried out by an international, Moldavian-Romanian, group of researchers.