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.
Surface structures from the settlements near by Saharna village
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Several Iron Age monuments are known in the village of Saharna, Rezina region. For a few years planned archeological research had been conducted in three of them: Saharna Mică, Saharna Mare and Saharna “La Şanț”. In the course of research, it was established that Saharna Mare stony cape was first settled in the end of the 12th century B.C. In the 11th century B.C. an unfortified settlement existed here. By the end of this century or at the end of the next century, it was abandoned and the population moved to another area. As evidenced by the archaeological materials Saharna Mică cape was resettled by the 7th century B.C. The most intensive economic development the settlement reached in the 6th-5th centuries B.C., and military development by the 4th-3d centuries B.C. when it was fortified by a complicated system of fortified structures.
On the ground of research conducted on the territory of the Saharna Mare settlement it was established that in the 6th-5th centuries B.C. it occupied a considerable part of the cape and reached its peak of development in the 4th-3d centuries B.C.
According to the archeological materials, the fortified settlement of Saharna “La Şanț” was established in the 7th-6th centuries B.C., and later in the 5th-4th centuries B.C. it was already fortified by a wooden-earthen structure. Follow-up studies will allow us to more accurately determine the time when the settlements were settled and then abandoned.
Aurel Zanoci
Zur Typologie und Entwicklung der Befestigungsanlagen östlich der Karpatengebirge im 12./11.-3. Jh. v. Chr.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Aurel Zanoci
Typology and evolution of gates and access into early hallstattian fortresses in Tisa-Dniester space
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică Chișinău, 2015
Tudor Arnăut
In memoriam professoris Constantini Predae
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Niculiță, Aurel Zanoci, Tudor Arnăut
Fortifications of the Early Iron Age settlement Saharna Mare
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Aurel Zanoci, Tudor Arnăut
Profesorul Ion Niculiță la 70 de ani
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
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.