Mystery of Treasures

At the end of September, there was a temporary exhibition at the historical museum and even though the topic was not exactly my area of interest, it was still interesting as knowing history is important or should be important.

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Actually there were two exhibitions and my plan was to visit both but it was the last day for the art exhibition and even though it should have been available till close hour, it was taken down a couple of days before. This was like a slap on my face honestly, especially when after voicing my disappointment, I was told it was open for 5 months. Closing date means it's available till the last day, but obviously not everywhere.

Anyway, at least I got to see the archeological exhibition, a temporary one called Mystery of Treasures.

When it comes to archeological findings, you can't let visitors wondering about what they are seeing. It's not like in art, where it's up to the visitors, what they want to see, so there are always these card boards and digital displays to share the information connected to the items on display.

So far all the exhibitions using these boards were great, but this was special for the colors used. That orange won me over the minute I stepped into the first exhibition room. One the flip side, what was missing was the English translation. Usually, or mostly you get it in most places, but here it was missing.

It was funny though. While I was looking at this wall of text (literally wall of text) was thinking how many are going to stay there and read it from top to bottom? At least I took a photo and read it at home in the comfort of my home, at my own pace.

Here you could read about the phenomenon of detectorism, which helped discovery, but also did a huge favor to looters and helped them steal what was close to the surface and big enough in size to be detected with a metal detector, then sold on the black market.

Lost and found treasures. The objects you see here have been recovered from looters and/or illegal sellers over the years. It's unbelievable what some people are capable of, if they see the opportunity to make some money. Some of the original finders (of these objects) have been found dead and their death has happened in mysterious circumstances.

After metal detectors have invaded this field, authorities felt the need to regulate the use of these devices and also update the legislation referring to found artifacts, archeological findings. Here's the Romanian legislation. Not that these lows are going to stop looters and illegal sellers, but it's good to have it set in stone.

I'm not sure who was the genius who placed the pink grape cardboard box there, but they forgot to remove label.

Ok, jokes aside, when I see these objects, can't help but think of how life must have been for people living back then. Everything, literally everything had been done manually.

Some of the tools are rudimentary, but there are others, not necessarily jewellery, that are a real art of work. These items date back to the copper age and the iron age.

I was looking at this video and thinking, hat if you stumble on some of these ancient objects and you have to alert the authorities. In my country the chance to be in this situation is slim to none, but imagine in Italy. You know what happens? The archeologist team arrives to the scene, they close down the whole area and your land becomes site of archaeological excavations till they finish. This can take months, so you can't do anything.

My other question here would be, how do you know you stumbled upon an ancient object? Some are obvious, but there were a bunch of stones on display, how do you know those are old?

Based on the findings, these items are considered luxury items back in their days. They can do the comparison between the items, if the findings are substantial and from different social categories. Although archeology has never been on my radar as a profession, I can see the beauty of it and see it as a big puzzle and riddle.

Let's see who's area is this and if you like this type of exhibitions. I love the ceramics, coins and jewellery, not so much weapons and tools. In one of my upcoming posts I'm going to post the rest of the photos and you'll have jewellery there.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides: