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.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
This article presents some information regarding the relationship of Bessarabian nobleman Vasile Stroescu and Romanians of Bihor County (Romania). These relations are highlighted by a series of unpublished documentary evidences from the Oradea archives. Vasile Stroescu constantly supported cultural institutions on both sides of the Carpathians. Thanks to his donations for the Transylvanian Orthodox clergy between 1910 and 1913, in the amount of about one million crowns, there were saved from Magyarization about two hundred schools and over one hundred and thirty Romanian churches.
List of Annexes: Annex 1. List of the students from the town of Beiuș (Bihor County), who received Stroescu’s scholarships in 1912-1914. Annex 2/1a. The Bishop of Arad Ioan Ignatie Papp notifies the Orthodox Consistory of Oradea Mare, which was under his jurisdiction, about the donation offered by a Bessarabian nobleman Vasile Stroescu. Annex 2/1b. Of the amounts donated by Vasile Stroescu, the Diocese of Arad received 64, 945 crowns and 80 fillér. Of the funds allocated to the Diocese, the Orthodox Consistory of Oradea Mare obtained 25, 978 crowns and 32 fillér. Annex 2/2a. Metropolitan Ioan Mețianu informs the Orthodox Consistory of Oradea Mare about the results of the distribution of funds allocated for the Diocese of Arad. Annex 2/2b. The Metropolitanate of Transylvania, with the residence in Sibiu, requires from the Orthodox Consistory of Oradea Mare the report on the distribution and use of the amounts allocated from the fund of the Diocese of Arad. Annex 2/3. Archpriest of the village of Peșteș asks the Orthodox Consistory of Oradea Mare to allocate 1,000 crowns from the donation made by Bessarabian nobleman Vasile Stroescu to build a school in the village of Butan-Măgești.
Mihail Iliev
The Society for the Protection of War Orphans. The Chișinău Regional Committee (1918-1924)
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.