Pages: 395-409 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp222395409
In 2020, the National Museum of the History of Moldova received a hoard of bronze items, presumably found in a forest near the Răzeni village, Ialoveni district of the Republic of Moldova. The main feature of the Răzeni hoard is the deliberate fragmentation of all items, without exception, by hand, without the help of special tools. Judging by the characteristics of the fragments, it is unlikely that the task of the master was to obtain fragments of a certain mass or size. Therefore, if we exclude the pragmatic interpretation of the Răzeni hoard (as a collection of bronze scrap), we can assume that we are dealing with some kind of social practice of deliberate fragmentation, “mortification” of the object, followed by hiding in the ground. Taking into account the composition of the hoard, the presence of a sickle of the Heleşteni type, a significant number of fragments of sickles of the Ghermăneşti and Ruginoasa variants, characteristic of the early Noua, the most probable intervals for collecting hoard items seem to be the BrD period. At the same time, the presence in the hoard of sickles of the Ilişeni variant, as well as a socketed axe of the Middle Danubian type, the upper date can be raised to HaA1, which is not contradicted by the presence of a sickle, presumably of the Dičevo type of the late BrD — the early HaA1. Apparently, it is this dating that is the most probable for the time of fragmentation of the items and their further deposition.
Keywords: Late Bronze age, Noua culture, hoard, BrD, HaA1, bronze sickles, fragmentation
Information about authors:
Denis Topal (Kishinev, Moldova). Doctor of History. National Museum of History of Moldova. 31 August St., 121a, Chişinău, MD-2012, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8586-4427
Mariana Sîrbu (Kishinev, Moldova). National Museum of History of Moldova. 31 August St., 121a, Chişinău, MD-2012, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1537-7375