#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.

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Exhibitions

“Weapons and Military Equipment – an Evolution throughout Centuries”

May 18, 2013 - August 18, 2024

The National Museum of the History of Moldova possesses 4,000 pieces of weapons and military equipment of historical, technical and artistic value. The collection, created in the second half of the 20th century on the basis of archaeological finds, donations and acquisitions, covers a wide range of types of weapons from ancient times to the present day.

The exhibition "Weapons and Military Equipment - Evolution throughout Centuries" brings to the public the most representative exhibits from this collection - more than 800 items from England, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, Italy , Japan, Prussia, Romania, Spain, USA, Hungary, USSR.

All types of weapons from the museum collection are presented: Western and Eastern, cold steel and firearms, offensive and of individual defense. The course of the exhibition is organized in the order of typological and chronological evolution, from the Paleolithic to the early 60s of the 20th century.

“Weapons and Military Equipment – an Evolution throughout Centuries”

From a typological point of view, the following are exhibited:

a) cold weapons (blunt, hand-thrown, edged and pointed) - spearheads and arrowheads, maces, axes, knives, halberds, swords, crossbows, sabers, fascine knives, daggers, stilettos, etc.;
b) firearms (military, hunting and civilian) - a matchlock musket; flintlock, percussion and cartridge rifles and pistols; hunting weapons, submachine guns, machine guns, etc.;
c) protective gear - helmets, shields, poleyns, chain mails, breast plates, back plates.

The oldest edged weapon at the exhibition is a Stone Age flint ax (100,000-35,000 years ago), and the oldest firearm is a 15th-century Persian matchlock musket.

Along with weapons, there are also pieces of military equipment and uniforms that come to complete the military spectrum presented in the exhibition: uniforms, headgear (helmets, shakos, peaked caps, caps, fezzes, hats, etc.), elements of uniforms (epaulettes, shoulder straps, cartridge belts, powder flasks, mess-tins, pistol holsters, map-cases, gas masks, etc.); all dating to the 18th-20th centuries.

The message of the exhibition is complemented with paintings, graphic works and photographs depicting battle scenes, types of weapons and soldiers from different historical periods (in specific clothing).

The exhibition "Weapons and Military Equipment - Evolution throughout Centuries" illustrates, on the one hand, technological progress, creative power, inventiveness and love for beauty, and on the other hand, the innate propensity for violence and the destructive power of man.