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.
Military operations of the 2nd Mountain Division in the territory between the Prut and Bug (July 3 - August 17, 1941)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
In the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22 , 1941, on the front stretched from Finland to the Black Sea, there were involved more than three million German soldiers and about 500,000 Romanian, Slovak, Finnish, Hungarian and Italian soldiers and the French and Spanish “volunteers”. The 3rd Romanian army under the command of General Petre Dumitrescu, which consisted of the Mountain Corps and the Cavalry Corps, covered the border from Bukovina to Cârlibaba. The 2nd Mountain Division led by General Ion Dumitrache was acting on the border with Bucovina, between Rădăuți and Suceava, and had the main attack vector Novoselytsia – Hotin. Three weeks after crossing the Prut River, the 2nd Mountain Division crossed the Dniester moving to the east-southeast. On August 17, 1941 the troops which were under General Dumitrache’s command reached the right bank of the Bug River. This study is based on the collection of documents of General Ion Dumitrache stored in the archive of the Brasov County Museum of History and formed on the basis of materials donated to the museum by the Dumitrache family from 1984 to 1999. List of illustrations:
Photo 1. Turyatka. Romanian soldiers get milk from the farmers of Bukovina.
Photo 2. Novoselytsia set on fire by Russian troops.
Photo 3. Weapons captured by the Romanian Army in Hotin.
Photo 4. Russian prisoners in Hotin.
Photo 5. Barbershop in the open air at Secureni.
Photo 6. At the Secureni Brewery.
Photo 7. Ukrainians read manifestos.
Photo 8. Romanian soldiers processing the wheat at Obodovka.
Photo 9. Romanian soldiers processing the wheat at Obodovka.
Photo 10. Religious funeral service at the grave of driver Nichifor Constantin.
Photo 11. Posthumous rewarding of soldier Nichifor Constantin.
Photo 12. General Dumitrache’s car hit by a shell.
Photo 13. Pontoon bridge across the Bug.
Photo 14. Russian peasants tell about the hardships of the Bolshevik regime.
Photo 15. Zaredarovka. Brigade priest baptizes children born under the Bolshevik regime.
Cristina Tănase
Statutes and decisions on the concession on omnibuses and fiacres in the Brașov County
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Tănase
Participation of the inhabitants of Braşov in the Austro-Hungarian patriotic efforts. The action “Gold gab ich fur Eisen” (“I give gold for iron”)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Tănase
Clock on the Tower of the Council House in Braşov: Pages of history
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Tănase
Charitable activities of the Stroesku’s family in Brașov
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Cristina Tănase
Mateiaș (Brașov County): the emergence of the monument to the heroes of the First World War
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2015
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.