Romanian Peasant Museum

Animal husbandry is one of the oldest human occupations, and it is well spread over the world. Most importantly, during the centuries of practising this occupation, humans have developed a solid understanding of the environment they were living in, developing, in time, a specific traditional ecological knowledge. This traditional knowledge is part of an intangible heritage that the communities have and cherish, although it is constantly changing and adapting to new conditions. In the past years, more and more researchers are documenting the change, by looking at the challenges and dynamics of this occupation, its uncertainties, and contemporary risks. The “Introduction” of this special issue of Martor overviews the research focusing on the changes that pastoralism is going through. It also presents the articles that are included in the volume.

This special issue of Martor problematizes the complex relationship between the written and the oral in the production of meaning that defines “traditions,” community and group relations, in different contexts of change (post-communism, migration, the use of hypermedia, storytelling and so on). It approaches the new ways orality is found in contemporary societies, but also open avenues for methodological discussions in ethnological research regarding the phenomenon of orality in contemporary societies, dominated by history and written texts.

In the last 10 years, the Ethnological Archive of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant has gone through different stages during a period marked, on the one hand, by the settling down of the Museum, and on the other hand, by the passing of the torch from the “old” to the “new” generation. At present, the Archive is facing an ambiguous era: while the team blossoms, the lack of vision and financial resources in the wider Romanian cultural context pulls it back. We tell the journey of an Archive kept constantly alive by the people who managed, explored and contributed to its growth; we look back at the successes and the failures, in order to open up the Archive for reflection and possible solutions.

Cultural heritage objects suffer from different reasons. [...]

Analysis of cultural heritage artifacts represents a very important first step in any restoration/conservation attempt. Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy - Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) technique can be successfully applied for the study of a wide range of historical artifacts (several papers describing the application of FTIR for the analysis of historical metals, paper, ceramic, fabrics, etc.). The present paper aims to present the application of FTIR-ATR for the characterization of historical fibers. The analyzed artifact represents a traditional pillowcase originating from Moldavia historical region, from the end of the XIXth century – beginning of the XXth century, belonging to a private collection. The technique offers some advantages because relatively small samples are directly analyzed after they are pressed against the surface of the diamond crystal without damaging the samples. Identification of fiber type enables sometimes to approximate the age of an artifact, the climate type or the trade routes and manufacturing process used. The artifact is formed of two major components: the support textile fiber and the colored fibers. The most encountered materials traditionally used for such objects are wool, flax and hemp. While wool is easily identified in the FTIR spectra due to its sharp and intense characteristic peaks, in the case of cellulosic fibers and especially for differentiation between flax and hemp fibers it was necessary to calculate the average values of the band intensity ratios I1595/I1105 and I1595/I2900.

Abstract Approximately 15 000 people make their homes in the Danube Delta. They live in small villages throughout the Delta and subsist on fishing with subsidiary occupations of agriculture and animal husbandry. Their homes are traditional and built of locally available materials. Efforts during the communist regime to centralise, homogenise and industrialise the population were not a resounding success. There is a large degree of ethnic diversity: four ethnic and three religious groups are present, although interactions between the groups are harmonious. There is little entertainment in the region and a poor infrastructure for education and health care. Fishing is controlled through fisheries who assign quotas and purchase the fish harvest. Prices are low and black market fisheries flourish. Conservation of the Delta is being carried out by the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR). The implementation of fish and wildlife control is carried out by rangers, who are disliked by the inhabitants because of their aggressive tactics. They are regarded as complementary to the Delta police. The separation of the DDBR, regional politicians and the people is unfortunate and there is a need to involve all parties in the maintenance of the Delta ecosystem and the lifestyle associated with the ecosystem.