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.
The reflection of the ethno-cultural processes from the 2nd-14th centuries between Prut and Nistru in the soviet ethno-folck studies
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
The ethnography form the former Soviet Union in the context of researches in the Prut-Dnestr area represents a discipline that is strongly attached to the main historical tendencies in the 1950s, without an opening toward external confrontations and lack of intellectual autonomy. The ethno-folkloric investigations have had the purpose to prove that the ethno-cultural processes from I -beginning II millennium AD have ended with the “formation of moldovan people” through the symbiosis of eastern Slavs with the Volochs. There have been often invented some artificial arguments of ethnographic and folkloric aspect that emphasize the progressive role of Slavs.
Ion Niculiță, Aurel Zanoci, Mihail Băț, Sergiu Matveev
Archaeological investigations at the site of Saharna Mare (2009-2011) (I)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Sergiu Matveev
The beginnings of archaeology in MSSR
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Sergiu Matveev, Ana Boldureanu
A bronze Macedonian coin from the village of Tudora (Ştefan Vodă District)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Niculiță, Aurel Zanoci, Mihail Băț, Sergiu Matveev
Archaeological research on the site of Saharna Mare (2009-2012) (II)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Sergiu Matveev
Andrea Popa, Managementul integrat al patrimoniului mondial în România. Studiu de caz: Frontiera romană în Dacia. Siturile de epocă romană de la Breţcu, Comolău şi Boroşneu Mare. Sibiu: Astra Museum, 2023, 279 p. ISBN 978-606-733-361-9
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XVIII [XXXIII], 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.