Public Archaeology in a Nascent Nation State: Two Decades of Independence in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

Moldova celebrated twenty years of independence in August 2011. This article gives an overview of the path to independence and the steps which have been taken since by successive Moldovan governments to establish an identity for the state and its population. Public history and archaeology have played a prominent role in state-sponsored nation-building. Two case studies are discussed: that of the state's leadership icon, the medieval prince Stephen the Great; and Moldova's premier archaeological landscape, Orheiul Vechi. Complexities in the interpretation of these examples are due both to historical factors and to the contemporary economic difficulties facing Europe's poorest country. The article sees nation-building in Moldova as reflective of modernist accounts of nationalism, and of socio-political expediency.