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Transylvania and Wallachia, like the Caucasus and the Middle Dnieper, can be considered the centers of the genesis of Scythian-bladed weapons, especially in the Early Scythian period. Furthermore, the early Scythian time was the period of the creative reinvention of the Gudermes and Kelermes traditions, which led to the appearance in Transylvania of the Posmuș and Deleni types of akinakai, and in Wallachia – of the Ferigile type of the second half of the 7th – the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC. The distribution of the early Scythian swords and daggers allows us to conclude that their penetration into the Carpathian-Danube region took place on two main routes: along the northern border of the forest-steppe to Transylvania at the initial stage, and later – along the southern border between steppe and forest-steppe, through the Bărăgan plain to the South Carpathians. Moreover, one of the earliest finds of an akinakes with an antenna pommel (Frata type of the second half of the 7th century BC) was also found in Transylvania.

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.

Bronze cauldrons of the Scythian time are a rather rare find in the Northern Black Sea region, especially on its western borders. Therefore, those few items found on the territory of the Republic of Moldova occupy a worthy place in the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova (NMHM). In particular, at the moment in the main archaeological exhibition two bronze cauldrons are displayed, which were discovered near the village of Nikolskoe in 1988 in burial mounds no. 14 and no. 15. In addition, already in 2020, two bronze cauldrons without any accompanying documents were found in the collection of NMHM; however, they were visually identified as coming from various excavations in the Low Dniester region: from the burial mound no. 45 near Dubossary and burial mound no. 1 near the Răscăieţii Noi village. Scythian bronze cauldrons in the west area are concentrated in three main regions: Bukovina Podolia (Iacobeni, Ivane-Puste, Shvaikivtsy), the Lower Dniester (Răscăieţii Noi, Nikolskoe, Dubossary, Coiburciu), and the Lower Danube (Ograda, Castelu, Scorţaru Vechi, Mresnota Mogyla, Ostrovnoe). Some Scythian cauldrons have no reliable archaeological context. Nevertheless, in combination with the same “stray” finds like the Scythian statues, the finds of Scythian cauldrons mark the Scythian presence, most likely, not earlier than the late 6th century or even the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC. There is a significant chronological difference between the northern (forest-steppe, Bukovina-Podolia) group of cauldrons and the southern (steppe, Lower Danube-Lower Dniester). At the same time, a chronological priority is characteristic of the first, where the cauldrons are known since the middle of the 7th century BC. Bronze cauldrons (with their carriers) penetrate the steppe region 150-200 years later, as well as the “military” burials that appear in the western steppe regions no earlier than the middle of the 5th century BC. Most of the burials with cauldrons (and, apparently, the stray finds) are dated back to the second half of the 5th century BC. Then, at the early 4th century BC their quantity is reduced and after the first quarter of the 4th century BC they will completely disappear from the cultural practice of the population of the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region.

The archaeological landscape of the Lower Danube was changing with the importance of the Danube itself, which either became, or a cultural water¬shed, or an artery, connecting the ancient communities. In the Early Iron Age, it seems that the Danube did not become an invincible barrier for the spread of offensive weapons of Scythian origin. Moreover, Dobruja itself looks like a ter-ritory mastered by the Scythians, starting from the Archaic period. The Lower Danube group forms a separate “steppe” cultural assemblage together with the Lower Dniester, South Carpathian and South Danube groups, for which the spear became the main type of weapon. However, these preferences were re¬flected in the morphology of the Scythian akinakes. So, for this steppe or Dan-ube enclave, swords are more characteristic than daggers. Daggers are connected mainly with the forest-steppe part of the Carpathian-Dniester region and Transylvania.

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

In December 2014 the National Museum of History of Moldova received an iron object - single edged sica dagger, found on the territory of Trebujeni-„Potârca” hillfort. Unfortunately, the circumstances of its finding do not permit reliably judge the context of discovery, but the location itself allows to link this finding with Poieneşti-Lukaševka cultural horizon. Basing on the chronological observations it could be assumed that the dagger from Potârca dates back to LtD1 period or late 2nd - early 1st centuries BC and linked with the activity of Padea-Panagjurski Kolonii cultural group.

A specific feature of early Scythian Akinakai daggers is their manufacture from bronze, most often with iron alloy. The technology of making bimetallic handles is connected with the "Cimmerian scheme" known for the manufacture of so-called Kabardino-Piatigorsk daggers type. The latest copies of this type are present in sites dated to the mid-7th century BC which is reason to consider them as Scythian akinakes predecessors. Scythian bimetallic technology workshops was inherited from their predecessors and the first daggers of this kind are associated with type Gudermes which appeared at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 7th century in the Caucasus. Early Akinakai, Posmuş type, are also known in the Carpathian basin and are made entirely or partly of bronze.

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 article publishes two new hoards and several solitary finds of bronze items from the Prut-Dniester interfluve. These finds can be dated the late Bronze Age and Early Hallstatt periods and relate to the Sabatinovka and Noua cultures, as well as to different early Hallstatt groups. Of special interest is the hoard from Brăneşti containing some types of items which until now were not known on the territories to the west from the Dniester. Also, remarkable is the structure of these two hoards, which may indicate a votive character of their deposition.