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.
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici, Mariana Vasilache, Livia Sîrbu
The results of archaeological research in the Mazarache Church of Chișinău in 2010
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
In the summer of 2010 archaeological excavations in the historic part of Chișinău were carried out. The earliest written records about the Chișinău show that the historic core was located in the lower part of the modern city, near the river of Bâc. Apparently, the locality already existed in the 14th century, before the Golden Horde was ousted from the south-eastern part of the Carpathian-Dniester land in 70s-80s of this century. On the opposite, left side of the river there was located the settlement of the Tatar times mentioned in the sources.
On the right bank of the Bâc River, on top of a hill at the foot of which there was a spring, there is the Intercession (Mazarache) Church that was built in 1739-1740 (Eșanu 1998, 56), 1742 (Ciocanu 2002, 39-43) or, according to some data, in 1752 (Kishinev 1984, 324). According to researchers, the stone church was built on site of an ancient wooden one, burned by Turkish troops in 1739 during the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739 (Eșanu 2001, 147).
Archaeological excavations conducted in the immediate vicinity of the Mazarache Church revealed some ceramic materials of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, as well as ample evidence of the existence of a settlement and burial site of the medieval and modern times.
Among the most interesting finds we can mention an earthen fortress moat, which refers, apparently, to the 16th-17th centuries. Having a depth of 4,5 m and width at the top to 5,1 m, it would close access to the cape, where the cemetery was located. To the west of the cape the remains of a dwelling with a stone vault, referring to the 17th-18th centuries, were investigated. There were found well-preserved remains of a monumental architectural structure of red brick, determined by us as a part of the urban water supply catchment galleries constructed by A.I. Bernardazzi in the late 19th century (Bubis 1997, 59-62).
Excavations were carried out in the south-western periphery of the cemetery and directly at the northern apse of the church. The excavation area is 88 sq. m. There were investigated 52 burials. All of them are in the Christian tradition. More than half of the skeletons belong to children or teenagers. Skeletons lie on the back, face up, or on the right or left side. The arms are bent at the elbows, hands on chest, abdomen or, more rarely, on the collarbone. A special attention was drawn to a children’s burial, the head oriented to the west, in a highly flexed position on the right side.
Inventory of burials is quite poor. In different burials there have been found from one to five coins, as well as bone, bronze or silver buttons of various types, earrings, rings and fragments of ceramics. In burials of the Mazarache Church cemetery of Chisinau 29 coins were found. Of these, 13 specimens belong to the Hungarian issuers of the 16th - early 17th centuries, a silver poltorak of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the early 17th century, and a silver Swedish shilling of the second half of that century. A third, undefined, poorly preserved European coin, obviously, refers to these issuers. Ottoman coins (13 pieces) are in the majority of 18th - early 19th centuries. Three Ottoman coins belong to the 16th-17th centuries.
Discovery of these coins in burials can be explained by the fact that the Hungarian silver denarii depict Our Lady with the Child and were worn in 6th-17th centuries as an icon, mostly by children and women (at least according to our observations in the course of investigation of burial grounds). It must be noted that the finds of coins in the graves of the Mazarache Church cemetery were observed only in the graves of children, adolescents, and, rarely, women. This shows the existed practice of wearing of silver coins as a talisman, both in the Middle Ages and in modern times. If they originally worn the coins with the image of Our Lady with the Child, later, in the 18th - the beginning of 19th century, they become to wear, symbolically (Dautova 1977, 75-78), any silver coins, including the Ottoman akçe and para.
As a result of the investigation of the medieval cemetery in Chisinau it can be also stated that in the middle and in the second half of the 16th century a territory of the cape around the supposed wooden church was fully occupied with the local Christian community burials.
Recent burials refer to the first two decades of the 19th century, until 1827, when a stone wall around the church was built, and burials were prohibited.
Ion Tentiuc
About horse rider pendants from the early Medieval period in the Prut-Dniester area
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc
Sergiu Matveev, Procesele etno-culturale din spațiul carpato-nistrean în secolele II-XIV. Istoriografia sovietică. Chișinău: Pontos, 2009, 230 p. text + 5 tabele
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Livia Sîrbu
Liviu Marta, The late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea - Csengersima, Satu Mare: Editura Muzeului Sătmărean, 2009, 239 pagini, 29 figuri, 8 planșe tipologice, 66 planșe, ISBN 978-973-1843-31-5
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici
An incineration burial in metal urn (2nd-3rd c. AD) discovered at Iagorlîc, Dubăsari
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc
Sergiu Musteață, Populația spațiului pruto-nistrean în secolele VIII-IX. Editura Pontos, Chișinău 2005, 189 p., rezumat în limba engleză, indice, 10 tabele, 7 diagrame, 4 hărți, 78 planșe cu figuri, 12 foto, ISBN 9975-926-43-6
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], 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.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
