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.
Barrow of the Copper and Bronze Ages near the Village of Suvorovo, Odessa County
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
The article considers materials from a barrow excavated in 1995-1997 in the vicinity of the village of Suvorovo in the tract of Kale (Izmail District, Odessa County). Five graves and some stone and earth structures were uncovered in the barrow. The most ancient grave 5 and perhaps also grave 4 are related to the local variant of the Cernavodă I culture which is dated to the Late Copper Age (the first half of the 4th mill. BC). A ditch with two passages, remains of a cromlech and separately deposited painted vessel of the Cucuteni culture have been connected with grave 5. Grave 3 with bone hook-shaped pendant, paste beads and flint arrow head occupies in stratigraphic sequence later position and according to its features can be attributed to the Early Bronze Age I period or Usatovo culture time (the second half of the 4th mill. BC). Two other graves 1 and 2 with clay vessels belong to the Pit-Grave culture of the 3rd mill. BC.
List of illustrations:
Fig. 1. Barrow no. 2 in the tract of Kale: 1 - general plan and central stratigraphic section of the barrow; 2 - plan of graves 1 and 2.
Fig. 2. Barrow no. 2 in the tract of Kale: 1 - vessel from grave 2; 2 - vessel from grave 1; 3 - plan of graves 3-5; 4-6 - grave goods from grave 3; 7 - scarified vessel from barrow.
Игорь Манзура
Дергачев В.А. О скипетрах. Этюды в защиту миграционной концепции М. Гимбутас. Revista arheologică. vol. I. Nr. 2. Chișinău, 2005, 166 стр. ISSN 1857-016X.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Игорь Манзура
Copper Age burials with “extended” skeletons in the Carpathian-Dniester region
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Igor Manzura
Rare finds of the paleometal age from the Dniester-Prut interfluve
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XVIII [XXXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
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 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.
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.
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.