#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

Exhibitions

„Chișinău – Archaeological Evidence of Our Millennial History”

October 14th - December 14th, 2013

Chișinău with its historical center is the only city protected by the state in Republic of Moldova. Fist mentioned in 1436, Chișinău was founded in the area of Măzărache Hill and enlarged afterwards to include Buicani, Vovințeni and other neighboring estates. Being a market-town from the middle of 17th century, Chișinău is a typical medieval and pre-modern Moldovan town situated along the big international commercial road connecting the centers from Lower Danube and Black Sea with the towns from Central and Northern (Hanseatic) Europe. This position turned to be decisive at the beginning of 19th century when, owing to its geographical and economical situation, the town has become an important political, administrative and cultural center in the space between Prut and Dniester rivers. This also explains the great interest of historians and lovers of antiquities in Chișinău during the entire modern period.

However, the lack of systematic archaeological investigations lead to the impossibility of outlining a coherent, unitary and complex image of old, medieval and re-modern history of the biggest town east of Carpathians up until now. The academic studies of synthesis or those with encyclopedic character dedicated to Chișinău reflect in general and rigid terms aspects of social-economic, political and cultural life of the town and its evolution from oldest times until the modern period.

Although sporadic, the archaeological excavations and surveys conducted after WW2 in the perimeter of Chișinău and nearby villages resulted in the identification of tenths of sites representing prehistoric settlements, ancient settlements and cemeteries, fortresses and barrows from different historical periods. The settlement discovered in the north-western periphery of the city and attributed to the Thracian Hallstatt from the 12th-10th cc. BC is one of them and it was researched in 1955-1956. This settlement also gave the name to an important archaeological culture - Chișinău-Corlăteni culture, which is recognized by the international scientific community.

Important discoveries made in the last years contribute to defining the historical coordinates of Chișinău and to establishing its century-old evolution. The archaeological investigations from 2009 and 2010 conducted at Valea Morilor, the rescue archaeological excavations from 2010 at Măzărache Church and those from 2012 at Piața Veche, brought to the daylight priceless archaeological evidences for the city's past and for our national history. Therewith, systematic archaeological investigations at some cemeteries from around Chișinău, at Durlești-Valea Babei, Budești and Trușeni come to complete the picture of human communities' evolution from prehistory until the medieval and pre-modern period in this part of the country.

All these discoveries, presented in the vitrines of the exhibition dedicated to the 577th anniversary from the first documentary mention of Chișinău, invite researchers, culture personalities, lovers of history and antiquities, but also city's governors with European aspirations to cultivate more love towards our cultural inheritance, toward the city's past which deserves not only exploitation but also study, protection and valorification.