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.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Contemporary society is certainly marked by globalization, a phenomenon which anticipates changes in society and world economy. We cannot neglect the fact that there are benefits of globalization, especially in information technologies and economics, yet things get more complicated when it comes to national culture identity values.
Globalization has a decisive impact upon national cultures and identities. Not always globalization involves a high degree of communication or exchange between different cultures. There is more a tendency for a dominating culture to impose itself over the others, the result being a process of homogenization. The cultural dialog or interculturalization represents an adequate answer to contemporary communication problems, as the main cause to actual problems of communication is represented by cultural factors. Acceptance of cultural diversity, of cultural dialog, is a modern concept of world based on respect and plurality.
The museum might take on the binding role between cultural life and political life, which should find its natural and working forms that nations could consolidate spiritual and material qualities and achievements through. It is a must to find a halfway between accepting globalization and preservation of roots.
Lucia Marinescu-Tonu
Pedagogy of Cultural Heritage: between illusion and reality
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Lucia Marinescu-Tonu
The exhibition “In the World of Toys”
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Lucia Marinescu-Tonu
Returning to the buckles...
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XVII [XXXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Lucia Marinescu-Tonu
The museum institution in the process of globalization
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Lucia Marinescu
In memoriam Mihai Onilă
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIII [XXVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
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.