The "Little Boot" (Romanian 'Cizmulita' - editor's note) vessel, a magical-religious object in the shape of a cup with an oblique tip, dating from the Middle Bronze Age, was accidentally discovered in an earth embankment and kept in a display case in the hallway of a school in 1977. It was later recovered by an archaeologist and classified as a national heritage item in 2007.
The Buzau County Museum holds a collection of approximately 500 objects with national heritage value. Among these objects is a black boot-shaped cup, with brown spots, featuring a strap handle and incised decoration of jagged triangles. The piece dates from the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC, the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, and belongs to the Monteoru Culture. It is made of fired clay, handcrafted.
"The 'Little Boot' vessel is unique, primarily due to its extraordinary shape. It was discovered by chance in an eroded embankment on the Slanic Valley, in the village of Cernatesti, by the local history teacher, together with a class of students, in the summer of 1976. Until March or April of 1977, it was placed alongside other ceramic fragments in a display case in the school hallway. It should be mentioned that during the 1970s and '80s, it was common in rural areas for history teachers passionate about archaeology to go with their classes or students during the summer to search for artifacts, which they would wash and display in school hallways in various types of display cases. This vessel stayed for about a year in a display case in the school hallway. It was seen there by an archaeologist from the Buzau County Museum, who recovered it and brought it to the museum in the spring of 1977. In 2007, 30 years after it arrived at the museum, the piece was classified and has been considered a national heritage piece ever since," Buzau County Museum Director Daniel Costache told AGERPRES.
The object, found in very good condition, was not used for household activities despite its shape, specialists believe. As a unique object, with no signs of use on the inside, experts think it was likely a ritual object used in magical-religious practices.
"The piece belongs to the Bronze Age and is attributed to the Monteoru Culture. It is unique due to its completely distinct and different shape compared to other vessels from the period. Most likely, because we have no other explanation for the moment, it is a vessel used in magical-religious rituals. It is excluded that it could have been used as an everyday ceramic vessel. The piece is unique due to the way it was made. It is finely crafted from high-quality clay, and most likely it was used in the area of magical-religious practices. First of all, considering that it shows no signs of secondary burning on the inside, which would indicate use, it was very likely used as a ritual object. Since we have no other similar objects from the Bronze Age that could suggest it was a different type of vessel, we can only think that it was used in such magical-religious practices. It might also have been part of a burial inventory. Without a clear context of the discovery, as it was recovered from an eroded embankment, it is hard to make assumptions," said the director of the Buzau County Museum.
The "Little Boot" vessel is on display in the permanent exhibition of the Buzau County Museum, in the section dedicated to archaeological discoveries from the Bronze Age.
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