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.
Representatives of bourgeois elite in Bessarabia: Greek merchant Pantelei Sinadino (1830-1850)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
In this article, the authors put in discussion the issue of Bessarabian bourgeois elite, having as its representative the Greek merchant Pantelei Sinadino presented in archival sources as a Turkish citizen, who since 1829 owned in Chișinău a real estate valued at 50 thousand rubles and was enlisted in the class of first guild merchants in Chisinau.
Commercial capital owned by P. Sinadino reached in 1830s about 2 million rubles and was formed not only through trade and usury. He also owned various commercial and industrial enterprises. In 1836 P. Sinadino owned a wool washhouse in the Visterniceni (or Râșcani) estate located not far from Chișinău, which washed 30,000 poods of wool per year. It was bringing an income of 7,000 rubles.
Despite the fact that P. Sinadino had a great commercial capital, in 1840, following the abolition of trade privileges granted by Guild Regulation of September 26, 1830, he moved to the class of second guild merchants. In this category, with a few interruptions, he remained in the following years. This proves once again that the commercial bourgeoisie sought different ways to enjoy all the privileges granted by the tsarist government, trying to evade duties. So, a merchant could go to a lower guild, and then, after providing new benefits, get back in the first guild.
P. Sinadino increased his capital through the exploitation of small producers, having rented in 1840 a number of localities with huge areas of land - Şerpeni, Pugăceni, Dubasarii Vechi, Corjova, Bilacheva, etc. According to documentary evidence, the peasants of these villages were subjected to various long-lasting and hard drudgeries as well as public corporal punishments.
The case of Greek merchant P. Sinadino shows that foreign bourgeoisie found in Bessarabia extensive field for trading and thanks to privileges granted by Russian government received a real opportunity to accumulate huge commercial capital and to monopolize not only the most important branches of domestic and foreign trade, but also industry, usury, etc. It was a serious obstacle in the process of formation of national commercial bourgeoisie in Bessarabia.
Valentin Tomuleț
Jewish colonies in Bessarabia in the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Bessarabian bourgeoisie in modern age (Classification, characteristics, evolution)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
The numerical dynamic and the social structure of the population of Tabani village, in Hotin county, according to the fiscal censuses in the 1820s-1850s
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Literate mazili and ruptași in Bessarabia in the first half of the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2015
Valentin Tomuleț
Taxation of the mazili and ruptași social categories in Bessarabia under the Tsarist domination (1812-1847)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], 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.