The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London would like to invite you to the exhibition

The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000 – 3500 BC

supported by the Leon Levy foundation

20 May – 15 August 2010, Temporary Exhibition Galleries, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Tel. 01865 278 000 • Tickets: £6.00 / £4.00 concession • www.ashmolean.org .

In July, a series of related events and offers will be organised in conjunction with the Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre. Details to follow soon.

With major loans from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, ‘The Lost World of Old Europe’, the new exhibition at the Ashmolean, presents more than 250 artefacts recovered by archaeologists from the settlements and cemeteries of ‘Old Europe’. This remarkable exhibition of gold, pottery and archaeological finds from the prehistoric civilisation of the Danube Valley, in southeast Europe, is presented in Britain for the first time.

Highlights of the exhibition include the ‘Thinker’ and Female Figurine from Cernavoda, as well as many ceramic and metallurgical pieces from the Cucuteni culture in Romania.

Before the invention of writing and the first cities of Mesopotamia and Egypt were established in 4500 BC, ‘Old Europe’ was among the most technologically advanced and sophisticated places in the world. Highlights of the exhibition include the earliest major assemblage of gold artefacts to be found in the world from the Varna cemetery, Bulgaria, along with elaborate female figurines, stunning painted pottery and metalwork.

Although archaeological work has taken place in the region since the end of the 19th century, there is little awareness of the wealth of its prehistoric cultural heritage due to the confines of the late 20th century ‘Cold War’. Today with new studies and international exhibitions, recognition of the early prehistory of south-eastern Europe enters a new exciting era.

The exhibition has been organised by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW) in collaboration with the National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest, and with the participation of the Varna Regional Museum of History, Bulgaria and the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova, Chisinau; and has been made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.

Image above: Female Figurine, fired clay. Cucuteni, Draguseni, 4050 – 3900 BC, Botosani County Museum, Romania. Courtesy of the Ashmolean.