Transnistria (Moldova)

Fossils, prehistoric animals and prehistoric humans on stamps and postmarks of Transnistria

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Contents:
Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR); also called Transdniester, Trans-Dniestr, Transdniestria, or Pridnestrovie, is a self-proclaimed republic on a strip of land between the River Dniester and the border with Ukraine, recognized only by three non-United Nations (UN) states.

The region is considered by the UN to be part of Moldova.

The PMR controls most of the territory to the east of the River Dniester, and also the city of Bender and its surrounding localities on the west bank, in the historical region of Bessarabia.
Unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status.
After the dissolution of the USSR, tensions between Moldova and the breakaway Transnistrian territory escalated into a military conflict, that started in March 1992 and was concluded by a ceasefire in July of the same year.
As part of that agreement, a three-party (Russia, Moldova, Transnistria) Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarised zone, comprising twenty localities on both sides of the river.
Transnistria is an unrecognised, but de facto independent presidential republic with its own government, parliament, military, police, postal system, currency and license plates.
Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem, and coat of arms. It is the only country still using the hammer and sickle on its flag. [R1]

On November 18, 1993, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (Council) of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic made the decision to start issuing stamps.
The first Transnistria stamp was designed by Grigoriy Bronza and appeared on December 31, 1993.
Since then it has typically issued between 3 and 5 different series of stamps per year.
The region's name is given only in Cyrillic, as 'ПОЧТА ПМР' (POST OF PMR, with PMR standing for Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic).

The stamps of Transnistria are not recognised outside the country and are valid only for domestic service within Transnistria. International mail and mail to the rest of Moldova requires Moldavian stamps.
Stamps of Transnistria are not recognized by FIP and cannot be used in exhibit sponsored by this organization. [R2]



Official stamps of Transnistriarelated to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology: prehistoric animals and humans

15.03.1996 "History of Transnitria: Paleolithic" 01.09.2005 "History of Transnistria. Fauna of Pleistocene - Kolkotova Beam" [1]
Prehistoric humans at work and huting on stamps of Transnitria 1996 Prehistoric animals on stamps of Transnitria 2005 Prehistoric animals on stamps of Transnitria 2005
07.03.2015 "Archeology of Transnistria. Paleolithic" (Stamps of 1996 Overprinted in Gold and Silver) 28.03.2015 "Archeology of Transnistria. Pleistocene" (Stamps of 2005 Overprinted in Gold) 19.03.2016 "Dinosaurs"
Prehistoric humans at work and huting on stamps of Transnitria 2015 Prehistoric animals on stamps of Transnitria 2015 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Transnitria 2016
25.06.2016"Dinosaurs" (reprint) [2]
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Transnitria 2016 MICHEL Dinos - whole world catalog - contain technical details and prices of stamps with dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals

Notes:
[1] In 2005 the Post of Transnistria issued two sets of self-adhesive stamps: "History of Transnistria. Fauna of Pleistocene - Kolkotova Beam"
Stamp with Elephant/Mammuthus trogontherii from different sets of Transnistria in 2005
Stamp with Elephant/Mammuthus trogontherii from sets of Transnistria 2005. The error stamp in the front, corrected one in the background.
Misspelled word marked by red.
When the stamps were printed they recognized an spelling error in the Kolkotova Beam. An extra character was printed in the Kolkotova word.
The correct name in Russian Колкотова балка, Колкотовая балка (with an extra я) was written on these stamps.
Due to this reason, these stamps were reprinted with correct name.
The Souvenir Block was added to the reprinted set.
The new set was printed with a different color, to distinguished it from the wrong one.

The Kolkotova Beam, located in the northwest of Tiraspol, is unique geological and paleontological monument, where the strata of sediments containing traces of prehistoric animals and plants has been preserved in a strict geological sequence 30 meters deep.
In the Pleistocene period, this area was inhabited by bears, cave lions, hyenas, various rodents, deer, moose, bison and even mammoths.
Now the remains of these animals are on exhibit in the Geological and Paleontological Museum in Tiraspol.


[2] The stamp of Giganotosaurus is misspelled on the original issue, where it called Gigantosaurus.
Three months after issuing the stamp, the Post Authority of the un-recognized territory of Transnistria corrected the mistake.



Commemorative postmarks of Transnistriarelated to Paleontology: prehistoric animals

Legend is here
07.03.2015 "Archeology of Transnistria. Paleolithic" 28.03.2015 "Archeology of Transnistria. Pleistocene"
- 		19.03.2016 "Dinosaurs"
Mammoth on comemorative postmark of Transnistria 2015 Mammoth on comemorative postmark of Transnistria 2015 Tyrannosaurus rex on comemorative postmark of Transnistria 2016
25.06.2016"Dinosaurs" (reprint) [1]
Tyrannosaurus rex on comemorative postmark of Transnistria 2016



References:


Acknowledgements:
  • Many thanks to fellow collectors Mr. Mikhail Shakhov from Russia for his help finding information about some stamps of Transnistria.
  • Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for the draft page review and his valuable comments.



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