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#Exhibit of the Month

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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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Publications Journal „Tyragetia"   vol. V [XX], nr. 2


About changes in the mentality of the Bessarabian nobility during 1830-1840s
ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

About changes in the mentality of the Bessarabian nobility during 1830-1840s

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

This article, based on archival documents and monographic studies, discusses the question of the changes which have occurred in the mentality of Bessarabian nobles after the abolition of autonomy that had been granted to Bessarabia in 1818.

In 1828 the Russian government abolished all administrative privileges which had been granted to Bessarabia. Russian legislation was extended to all economic, political, administrative, judicial, and fiscal institutions. In 1873 Bessarabia became a Russian province, administrated mostly by officials of foreign origin. Thus, the local nobles began to lose some of their former rights, privileges and functions. It is for this reason that in 1828-1830 some of the nobles, who previously had held administrative positions in Bessarabia, moved away to Moldova.

Since 1830s some changes occur in the way of thinking, customs, traditions, and behavior of the Bessarabian people, in the mentality of the local aristocracy. These changes can be explained by the influence the regime, relations with the Russian military and civil officials, the desire of the nobles to get for their children places in government institutions or in the army, etc. All this pushed the representatives of the higher layer of the Bessarabian society to the more stable and close connections with the Russian nobility, to the Russian lifestyle. Members of the noble families took the example of the Governor’s family, trying to copy the behavior, style of dress, etc. So, new generations in Bessarabia were born and educated under the influence of the Russian spirit.

The Bessarabian nobility was formally considered to be loyal to the tsar and the Empire. It should be noted that those who obeyed the tsar were speaking foreign languages: Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, etc. Thus, the socio-political situation in Bessarabia during 1830-1840s influenced the mentality of the Bessarabian nobility.

Cristina Gherasim
L’identité sociale au milieu de la noblesse de la Bessarabie dans le XIX-ème siècle
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț, Cristina Gherasim
Some considerations on factors that generated mentality shifts of the landlords in Bessarabia under tsarist domination (1812-1817)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Gherasim
Aspects of teaching children of the Bessarabian nobility within the educational system of the Russian Empire
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2015
Cristina Gherasim
Aspects of influence of the tsarist legislation on the status of the Bessarabian nobility in the 1st half of the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Gherasim
Confirmation of the titles of nobility by Bessarabian nobles in the first half of the 19th century: The noble family of Frunzetti (Frunză)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie



 

 

Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
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#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...

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

menu
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC