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.
Notes and the ex-libris of Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană. Case study
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Keywords: Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană, hieromonk, notes, ex-libris, Sulina, old Romanian book, Northern Dobrudja area.
Abstract: In this paper we emphasize the importance of the notes made on old books in the writing of historical works and biographies. This case study refers to Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană (born in 1842 or 1843 [1840?], Cudalbi Village, Galați County - died in 1920, Galați), a great servant of the church and well-known confessor in the Northern Dobrudja area. Around 1860 he was the inhabitant of the Celic Dere Monastery (Tulcea County) and was ordained a hieromonk in 1864. He also served near Satu Nou-Delta (today C.A. Rosetti Village), at Sulina and was the last abbot of Taița Monastery in 1877-1878. Later, he was sent as parish priest to the old Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Sulina, where he served until 1910.
Books from the library of Archimandrite were with him in his trials of life and on their pages he personally noted numerous events of autobiographical, historical, and social nature or referring to his own activity. Thus, in the Prayer-book of 1833 published in Sibiu he noted his father's death in 1861, and in the Psalms printed in Iasi in 1835 he wrote about the death of his mother and one of his brothers. Some copies were in circulation in the Northern Dobrudja area and not kept in the collections of Tulcea, while others are in the Tulcea museum collections, at the Cocoș Monastery or in the church of C.A. Rosetti Village. Besides the informative notes, some books have inscriptions with the name of the owner and the ex-libris of the Archimandrite.
List of illustrations: 1. Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană (reproduction of Postolache 2010, 9). 2-3. The Psalter of the Prophet and King David, Iași, 1835 Title page and page 132 with notes (Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute Tulcea). 4. The Psalter of the Prophet and King David, Iași, 1835 Notes on 1869 and 1882 (Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute Tulcea). 5. The Psalter of the Prophet and King David, Iași, 1835 Notes on 1872 and 1880 (Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute Tulcea). 6-7. The Service of the Small Blessing of Water, Iași, 1823 Notes on 1907 and 1881 (Cocoș Monastery, Tulcea). 8. The ex-libris «Archimandrite Dosoftei Chrihană 1880». 9. Other ex-librises.
Lăcrămioara Manea
On publishing activity of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni (1808-1812, 1813-1821) and the presence of old Romanian books in the collections of Northern Dobrudja
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.