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.
To the Question about the Loss of the Hill-fort Ekimauci
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
This hill-fort is one of the most researched among the medieval monuments of the country between the Prut and Dniester. Contradictions in identification of the date of it destruction (second half of the 10th or the first half of the 11th century) make us to examine chronologic indicators of the monument.
The numismatic collection represented by 17 Arabic silver dirhams gives the most exact information. It allows us to attribute the capture and destruction of the monument to the second half of the 10th century, and most likely to the third quarter of this century.
Earrings with pendant in the form of bunch of grapes can be used as one more category of objects which indicate the time of destruction of the monument. They were found out in closed complexes of the hill-fort together with later samples of dirhams.
Cartography of the finds of Echimauti type testifies about their particular concentration in the basin of the river of Tisza. In contrast to samples which were found outside the Carpathian basin, famous as a rule by materials of hoards, practically all earrings of Echimauti type inside the Carpathian arc are connected with nomadic burials. Pieces of weapon similar to those from the nomadic necropolises were found in Echimauti. Together with other evidences in the field of material culture, it allows us to suppose that nomads took part in destruction of the hill-fort while moving from the Northern Black Sea region into the Carpathian lowlands.
Historic situation and the exact chronology of the Pechenegs’ movement from the Black sea to the Upper Tisza region, during which the hill-fort of Echimauti was ruined, together with chronologic indicators of the monument, allows us to date its destruction not later than the third quarter of the 10th century.
List of illustrations: Fig. 1. The map of location of earrings of the Echimauti type in Europe: 1 - Alcedar; 2 - Besob; 3 - Blandiana; 4 - Borschevka; 5 - Brănești; 6 - Vác-Hétkápolna; 7 - Gîmbaș; 8 - Gnezdovo; 9 - Denis; 10 - Döge; 11 - Echimauti; 12 - Zavada Lanskoronska; 13 - Ibrány; 14 - Kyiv; 15 - Kirovograd; 16 - Kistokaj; 17 - Cluj; 18 - Kopeevka; 19 - Cracovia; 20 - Lisovek; 21 - Nyíregyháza; 22 - Nagykövesd; 23 - Olesnica; 24 - Osnica; 25 – Peremyshl’; 26 - Peresopnica; 27 - Prsha; 28 - Redukeny; 29 - Szabolcs-Vontatópart; 30 - Szentes-Szentlászló; 31 - Szob; 32 - Törökkanizsa; 33 - Tiszabercel; 34 - Tshinica; 35 - Uzhgorod (?); 36 - Csoma; 37 - Csongrád; 38 - Jurkovci. Fig. 2. Earrings of the Echimauti type from the burials of nomads in the basin of Tisza: 1-8 - Csoma; 9 - Döge; 10 - Tiszabercel; 1-12 - Ibrány. 9-12 (after E. Istvanovits). Fig. 3. The map of location of the arabic dirhams in Europe (after Cs. Balint) with indication of the points associated with the movement of Pechenegs from the Northern Black Sea region to the Carpathian basin in the second half of the 10th century: 1 - Beregovo (Búcsu); 2 - Vécs; 3 - Glogovec; 4 - Dobra; 5 - Ibrány; 6 - Karos; 7 - Kenézlő; 8 - Kecskemét; 9 - Kistokaj; 10 - Pap; 11 - Prsha; 12 - Szeged 13 - Szilas; 14 - Szolnok; 15 - Szomod; 16 - Tata; 17 - Tverdoshovce; 18 - Tiszasüly; 19 - Hajdúdorog; 20 - Hust; 21 - Csoma; 22 - Sárospatak; 23 - Eger; 24 - Alcedar; 25 - Echimauti; 26 - Galich; 27 – Peremyshl’.
Игорь Прохненко, Мария Жиленко
Knight’s tombstone from Korolevo castle of Nyaláb
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Игорь Прохненко, Мария Жиленко
Korolevo Castle of Nyalab in possession of descendants of Moldavian Voivode Szasz
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Игорь Прохненко
Hillforts of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Игорь Прохненко, Мария Жиленко, Виталий Калиниченко
The castles of Transcarpathia of the second half of 13th - first half of 14th centuries
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XV [XXX], 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.