Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor facts for kids

Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor (born April 20, 1900 – died May 30, 1968) was a Romanian historian, archeologist, anthropologist, and ethnographer. He was also known as a folklorist and a writer of children's stories. His many activities mainly focused on his home region of Oltenia.

He was very interested in the ancient history of the Balkans, especially the prehistoric period. He studied many sites from the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) in Romania. He also created his own ways to classify and date these ancient periods. His important work in archeology includes classifying small stone tools (microliths) from Oltenia. He also studied local cave paintings. He even suggested that a site in Tetoiu showed early human development in the region, though this idea was debated.

Nicolăescu-Plopșor was also involved in politics and worked to help the Romani people in Romania, as he was part of this community. Before World War II, he was a leader in the Romani political movement in Oltenia. He wrote for some of the first Romani-language newspapers. In Romanian literature, he collected Romanian and Romani folklore. He also wrote his own funny stories (anecdotes) and fairy tales based on folklore. He loved collecting traditional items and was a museologist, leading the Museum of Oltenia in Craiova.

Biography

Early Life and Discoveries

Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor was born in Sălcuța, Dolj County. He had some Romani ancestors. His family included Dincă Schileru, a peasant who represented Oltenia in a meeting that decided on the union of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859. He finished high school at the Carol I High School in Craiova. Later, he studied at the University of Bucharest, focusing on literature and history. There, he learned from the famous historian Vasile Pârvan.

After becoming a history teacher in Plenița, Nicolăescu-Plopșor began to explore and protect the historical past of Oltenian villages. He wanted to find "the traces of the most ancient people" who lived in Oltenia. In 1922, he became the honorary director of the Museum of Oltenia. This museum was founded in 1915, and he was also in charge of its Archeology and Folklore section. Many of the items in the museum were collected by him during his trips. He also helped create and direct a branch of the National Archives in Craiova.

Around 1923, Nicolăescu-Plopșor started digging in places called măguri (small mounds). He found ancient skeletons buried in a crouched position with red ochre. Later, he found remains of prehistoric homes. In the early 1930s, he discovered small stone tools (microliths) in Carpen and Sălcuța. This led him to suggest that two different Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) tool-making styles existed in Oltenia. He first shared this idea at an international conference.

In 1926, he went to Gorj County. There, he found a cave painting made with charcoal, showing hunting scenes. It was near cave bear bones and Copper Age pottery. He kept the exact location secret to protect it. Inspired by French scholar Henri Breuil, he visited other caves in the Southern Carpathians of Oltenia. These included Peștera Muierilor in Baia de Fier, Peștera Boierilor, and Peștera Oilor. By the end of his life, he had explored about 120 different caves.

Folklore and Romani Activism

While doing archeology, Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor also collected Romanian folklore from his region. He started with traditional songs called cântece bătrânești ("old people songs"). Later, he collected fairy tales and other stories. He often combined his folklore work with archeology. He would interview local people and buy traditional objects during his field trips. In 1927, he started a local cultural magazine called Suflet Oltenesc ("Oltenian Soul"). The next year, he published a book of Oltenian stories called Ceaur. Povești oltenești.

After 1930, Nicolăescu-Plopșor joined other Romani intellectuals to create the first modern Romani organization in Oltenia. He worked with traditional Romani leaders and national groups. He was involved with two newspapers, Timpul and O Ròm. He also published two books of Romani songs and myths in both Romani and Romanian. These were Ghileà romanè - Cântece țigănești ("Gypsy Songs") and Paramiseà romanè - Povești țigănești ("Gypsy Stories"). Through this work, he became part of a movement that wanted Romani people to be more included in Romanian society. They also wanted to use the word romi instead of țigani for Romani people. He even supported using Romani as a language for church services in some communities and wanted it taught in schools.

Nicolăescu-Plopșor later joined the National Liberal Party-Brătianu. He ran as a candidate for the Dolj County Council in 1934. He also published books. In 1934, he released a new edition of Cronografia, an old manuscript from the 19th century. He also had a book series called Pământ și Suflet Oltenesc ("Oltenian Land and Spirit"). By 1936, he was editing a new cultural magazine, Gând și Slovă Oltenească ("Oltenian Thinking and Writing").

Later Career

Nicolăescu-Plopșor became even more famous after World War II, especially during the communist period (after 1947). In 1946, he became the full director of the Museum of Oltenia, a position he held until 1952. In 1951, the communist government asked him to report on whether a new museum should be built in Slatina. This museum later became the Olt County Museum. He became a member of the Romanian Academy in 1963.

After 1950, new discoveries of Paleolithic human remains and tools were made in Tetoiu (at Bugiulești and Valea lui Grăunceanu) and other parts of Oltenia. Nicolăescu-Plopșor became a key person in studying these new sites. After 1960, he personally led these excavations, working with his son Dardu Nicolăescu-Plopșor. He claimed to have found bones of early human ancestors (Australopithecus) and believed they used tools. He also studied Neanderthal presence at Bordul Mare, where he found traces of their homes after an expedition in 1954.

In his last years, Nicolăescu-Plopșor worked on Ada Kaleh, an island in the Danube River. This island had a unique Turkish-Romanian community. The island was going to be flooded when the Đerdap dam was built. Nicolăescu-Plopșor's team planned to move the historical buildings to the Romanian shore. In 1966, he finished his last book, Tivisoc și Tivismoc.

He also spent his final years trying to find ancient cities mentioned in historical records, like the Daco-Roman city of Malva. He believed its ruins were in the Dolj area of Fălcoiu.

Archeology and Anthropology

Early Research

Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor's early work in archeology and paleoanthropology was linked to his interest in Oltenia's ancient history. He believed that the first people in Oltenia came from Asia. He even suggested that ancient Asian people and 20th-century Romanians had similar head shapes. He initially thought there was almost no human presence in Oltenia during the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). He discussed these ideas with other archeologists.

His study of măguri (mounds) led him to compare them with ancient sites in Northern Europe. He thought the Oltenian sites showed a lifestyle based on farming and herding. His ideas about distinct Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) tool-making styles in Oltenia were debated by other scholars. He also studied objects he identified as Neolithic (New Stone Age), like statues and stone axes. He looked at different types of pottery and even thought some ancient bone objects might have been early versions of games like knucklebones.

In his study of cave paintings, Nicolăescu-Plopșor found images he believed showed humans and a sun symbol. He thought this meant there was an ancient "Sun cult." He concluded that Oltenia had its own unique "cave art."

Over time, he created his own ways to divide prehistoric eras in Oltenia. He noticed that Iron Age Dacian communities lived similarly to Neolithic people. He believed that "prehistory" in Oltenia extended through the Roman period and into the early Middle Ages. He used unique, older Romanian words for these periods, like vârsta acioaiei for the "Bronze Age."

Later Contributions

By the early 1960s, new discoveries of Paleolithic remains made Nicolăescu-Plopșor rethink his ideas. He began to argue that the Romanian Paleolithic started with a "pebble culture." He divided the Paleolithic into several stages. In 1965, he added the discoveries at Tetoiu to his timeline, calling it a "Prepaleolithic" age. He also helped reassess the presence of Neanderthals in Romania. His expedition to Bordul Mare found Neanderthal fossils, animal remains, and a special hearth.

He believed that the early human ancestors (australopithecine) found in Tetoiu used stones to cut up large animals. This led him to suggest that Tetoiu was an important site, showing "the oldest stages in the process of conscious work." This theory was seen with caution by other experts. He also claimed that Oltenia contributed to early human development, similar to discoveries in Tanzania.

In the late 1950s, new findings led him to change his views on some ancient tool-making styles. He also concluded that the Mesolithic Age was not a separate period but a late form of an earlier period leading into the Neolithic. However, his views on this topic sometimes changed.

In his last two decades, Nicolăescu-Plopșor used a naming system for cultures that favored Soviet and Eastern Bloc scholarship. This was in line with the communist government's ideas. In 1954, he praised Soviet history studies for their global view of the Paleolithic. He also criticized Western ideas that he saw as biased. He argued against the idea that some ancient tool-making styles were superior for "racial" reasons. He also suggested using Romanian words instead of new scientific terms for prehistoric tools.

Literature

According to folklorist Aurelian I. Popescu, Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor's literary work falls into two groups. First, his "exact collection" of folklore. Second, his own stories that reworked folkloric themes, showing him as a "great storyteller." This made him known as the "Oltenian Creangă," after the famous 19th-century storyteller Ion Creangă. His main work in this style is Tivisoc și Tivismoc. He also wrote a version of the Iovan Iorgovan stories and a fairy tale called Cotoșman împărat ("Emperor Tomcat"). He sometimes used the pen name Moș Plopșor, tartorul poveștilor ("Old Man Plopșor, ringleader of the stories"). In his introduction to Tivisoc și Tivismoc, he explained his storytelling method with a children's rhyme:

The stories about Tivisoc and Tivismoc are a spin-off of the popular Păcală folktales. Păcală is a clever and often mischievous peasant from Romanian humor and literature. Nicolăescu-Plopșor described his book as "a bundle of crafted stories, garnished here and there with lies." He also called it "a new story, from older, forgotten stories." The two main characters, Tivisoc and Tivismoc, are Păcală's "unborn children." They tell the stories themselves. Their names are like silly rhymes from children's games. This shows how close Nicolăescu-Plopșor was to children's ways of thinking.

The story uses funny, absurd images and wordplay. The two brothers look strange and unrealistic. They have different colored eyes and one side of their body is bigger than the other. Their faces and feet are turned backward. They refuse to be born to a priest or a nobleman. Instead, they choose Păcală, who is a poor peasant from Vaideei. This village name sounds like "woe to them" in Romanian, which adds to the humor. The story shows how people in Vaideeni dealt with poverty with self-irony. For example, a man is sad about losing a pear because he wanted to use its stem as a "cart axle."

The book also describes other parts of Oltenia. It tells about Păcală's trip through Craiova to the Danube. This part offers a look back at peasant life during the Romanian Kingdom period. It even mentions the 1907 Revolt. The story also makes fun of the Oltenian character, which was sometimes stereotyped as overly proud. For example, it jokes about Oltenians trying to stop trains with corn. It also includes jokes about Caracal town, which is often made fun of in folklore. These accounts are a good source of information for people who study folklore.

The main part of the story follows Tivisoc and Tivismoc. They go with their future father to find a mother. Later, they go to the mill, where they do everything backward and even lose their heads, having to get them back from hungry dogs. The real adventure begins when birds take them to "The Seat of Justice." This is a funny version of a judgment day. The two boys try to stop lesser devils from cheating to send more people to a bad place. They are surprised when a holy figure seems to pardon a dishonest innkeeper. Another holy figure lets the boys bribe their way into a good place. But the people there are tired of endless milk and cornmeal. While there, the boys retell the story of Adam and Eve and taste bad fruit from a special tree.

This act makes them fall into a bad place. But they easily impress the simple devils. They even scare them away by burning some incense, like the Romanian saying "to run away like a devil from frankincense." Once they are in charge of this bad place, Tivisoc and Tivismoc free all kinds of folk heroes who were also sinners, like famous outlaws. But they also show a mix of cleverness and silliness in their escape plan. The whole group follows the boys up a rope made of sand. After climbing for seven years, they return to the mill. They then make the river flow back into the bad place, drowning the devils.

The story ends with their reunion with Păcală. He has a legendary wedding to a woman chosen by Tivisoc and Tivismoc. The boys are finally born and reluctantly baptized. Even though they look human, Tivisoc and Tivismoc still have special powers. For example, they eat "fried chicken and garlic" instead of milk. The story ends with them going out into the world, ready for more adventures. Nicolăescu-Plopșor never wrote a second volume.

Legacy

There has been some debate about the ancient human sites Nicolăescu-Plopșor studied. In 1982, a collection from Cambridge University said his theories about Tetoiu were "still open to question." In 2009, historian Vasile Surcel claimed that no Romanian archeologist had revisited these sites after the 1960s. Surcel said: "Instead of continuing his research, his colleagues have preferred to ignore or quite simply not comment on them." His death also stopped efforts to preserve Ada Kaleh, and the communist government approved a cheaper plan for the area.

After the 1989 Revolution and the end of communism, many villages chose their own symbols. Sălcuța chose a golden quill and ink bottle for its coat of arms, honoring its native Nicolăescu-Plopșor. The industrial high school in Plenița is named after him, as is a street in Craiova. In 1999, the Romanian Academy and the University of Craiova created the C. S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor Socio-Human Research Institute. This institute publishes a yearly book of studies from different fields. The Museum of Oltenia has a special collection dedicated to Nicolăescu-Plopșor. It includes his book manuscripts, published works, and letters with other scholars.