#Exhibit of the Month

The ceramic vessel set was discovered accidentally in October 2025 in the southwestern part of the village of Bălceana, Hâncești District, approximately 1.2 km from the Lăpușnița River. The archaeological materials were recovered by the National Archaeological Agency.

The ceramic assemblage consists of a large storage vessel (pithos) with a capacity of 20 litres (h = 39.2 cm; d = 35.0 cm), decorated with a raised band below the rim; a medium-sized bowl with a capacity of 2.5 litres (h = 16.9 cm; d = 23.2 cm); a medium-sized jug with a capacity of 0.6 litres (h = 12.0 cm; d = 13.4 cm); and the base of a jar-shaped vessel.

The coarse handmade pottery was produced using the coil-building technique, by stacking and shaping coils of clay prepared from a paste tempered with crushed fired clay (grog) and sand. The vessel surfaces are uneven and covered with a yellowish-red slip featuring black patches, while the core of the vessel walls is black in colour.

The three vessels preserved intact display well-defined biconical shapes, with their maximum diameter at the middle of the body and straight or slightly oblique rims with rounded edges. Pottery of this type is characteristic of the Early Medieval cultural area of the northern and northwestern Black Sea region, dating from the 5th to the 7th centuries. East of the Dniester River, on the territory of present-day Ukraine, analogous pottery is found in Penkovka-type settlements, while in the Carpathian-Dniester region it is characteristic of settlements belonging to the Costișa-Botoșana-Hansca cultural group.

Within the Prut-Dniester region, coarse biconical pottery is generally represented by fragments and only relatively rarely by complete vessels, such as those discovered at Hansca, Dănceni, Recea, Seliște, Păhărniceni, and other sites. This type of pottery constituted an indispensable component of the local material culture during the 5th-7th centuries. In this context, the discovery at Bălceana of an almost intact set of coarse biconical vessels represents a relatively rare find of considerable scientific importance.

According to certain hypotheses, the tradition of coarse biconical pottery dating to the 5th-7th centuries originated in the North Pontic region. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that these biconical ceramic vessels were the result of contemporary ethnocultural interactions, developing simultaneously across the vast territory extending from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dnieper River and the Seversky Donets.

Virtual Tour

Preliminary considerations regarding archaeological research at Soroca fortress in 2012-2013

In 2012-2013, the researchers from the State Pedagogical University „Ion Creangă”, National Museum of History of Moldova and Archaeology Center of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Academy of Sciences of Moldova conducted investigations at Soroca Fortress as part of a restoration project at the medieval stone stronghold.

The archaeological investigations aimed at the study of successive cultural layers from the medieval fortress Soroca in order to establish the site’s evolution and the periods of rebuilding/reconstruction. The research was conducted within and outside the fortress walls. The excavations from pillbox no. 5 and towers no. 1 and no. 2 identified consistent cultural deposits from the medieval period. The cultural layers from inside pillbox no. 5 (Section no. 1) were uncovered up to 450 cm (from actual stepping level). The investigations from tower no. 1 (Section no. 3) reached the depth of 1030 cm (from tower entrance).

In pillbox no. 5, along ceramic materials and central-European and Polish coins discovered in upper layers, was identified Moldovan ceramics from 15th-16th centuries represented by fragments of bowls and jugs. Here were also found many stone cannon balls and iron arrow heads, but also a Moldovan coin from Ştefăniță IV (1517-1527). A ditch from a fortification made of earth and word, earlier to the stone fortress, was discovered in the inferior part of the Section.

The investigations from Tower no. 1 (circular) revealed successive layers of mortar and debris, which stays as evidence to distinct periods of building and reconstruction. Under the last mortar and debris layer situated at the depth of 850 cm, were discovered fragments of Moldovan ceramics from 15th century, stone cannon balls and an ottoman coin made of white metal belonging to an early issue of sultan Bayazid II (1447-1512). All these discoveries come from the filling of a ditch of the earth and wood fortification, with walls consolidated with beams angle arranged.

Three sections were opened outside the fortress walls. The remains of an earth and wood fortification were discovered in section no. 4, traced at 22 m south-east of the stone fortress, and which is probably distinct from the one identified in Sections no. 1 and no. 3. The ditch 6 m wide in the upper and 4,50 m in the lower part was 4,0-4,5 m deep. The ditch sides were built with wood pillars sharpened in the upper part and were inclined at an angle of 70 degrees. The distance between the two parallel rows of pillars was about 20-25 cm.

Many Moldovan medieval ceramic fragments made using the potter’s wheel and imported fine ceramic fragments were found in the filling and at the bottom of the earth and wood fortress ditch. Here were also found several (over 20 entire or fragmented pieces) stone cannon balls which are proof of the intense fights from the building period. Several coins from reign Ştefăniță IV (1517-1527), nephew of Ştefan cel Mare și Sfânt (1457-1504), serve as chronologic indicator of the period in which the earth and wood fortress ditch functioned and was filled. We also assume that under this reign the stone fortress continued to be built.

Archaeological material from the building period of the fortification was found in Section no. 6 at the entrance in the stone fortress. Several lead shots, rings and bronze buttons, Ottoman and Polish coins were found here. Also, a Moldovan medieval coin was discovered at the old stepping level which marked the beginning of building the fortress, issued by reign Bogdan III (1504-15017), son of Ştefan cel Mare. It seems that he also continued the building works at the stone fortress started by his predecessor Ştefan cel Mare.

It is to mention that during the investigations many soil samples were taken from different areas adjacent to the fortress, samples of mortar from different wall building levels of the stone fortress, samples of mortar from stones discovered in the earth and wood fortress ditch which will be subject to further analysis in the laboratory.

Sergiu MUSTEAŢĂ, Ion TENTIUC, Ion URSU