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.
On finding of once lost building plates of the 15th century from the fortress of Belgorod
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
For many years four Moldavian plates of the 15th century from the walls of the fortress of Belgorod were considered lost. The earliest publications of these most important epigraphic monuments (in 1848, 1889, and 1901) have long been a source for periodization of the defense complex of medieval Belgorod for several generations of its researchers. Without access to the originals, researchers had to trust to published translations, drawings, and photographs (not the best quality). In the beginning of 2013 these plates have been found in the collections of the Kherson Regional Museum. Even the preliminary work with them already revealed a family coat of arms of Moldavian Ruler Alexander II, as well as the fact that one of the plates, contrary to popular opinion in historiography, is not related to the construction of the fortress, which violates the generally accepted ideas about the chronology of the monument.
List of illustrations:
Fig. 1. Plan of the Belgorod Fortress: a - number of towers; b - location of plates with dates.
Fig. 2. Drawing of the plate of 1452 (Войцеховский 1972, рис. 3).
Fig. 3. The plate of 1440. Collections of the Kherson Regional Museum/without number (photo by the author).
Fig. 4. The plate of 1454. Collections of the Kherson Regional Museum /without number (photo by the author).
Fig. 5. The plate of 1476. Collections of the Kherson Regional Museum /without number (photo by the author).
Fig. 6. The plate of 1478-1480. Collections of the Kherson Regional Museum /without number (photo by the author).
Светлана Иванова, Андрей Красножон, Олег Савельев
The “Primorsky Boulevard” multi-layered site in Odessa: from antiquity to the Middle Ages
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XV [XXX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică, Chişinău, 2021
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.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
