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#Exhibit of the Month

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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.

Virtual Tour




The Early Iron Age settlement and cemetery of Saharna-Ţiglău

The Early Iron Age settlement and cemetery of Saharna-Ţiglău

Series “Biblioteca “Tyragetia” XXV, Chisinau, 2014. 420 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-843-9.

This study introduces into scientific circulation the results of archaeological investigations and those of experimental archeology taken at settlement and cemetery of Iron Age of Saharna-Ţiglău, Rezina district, Republic of Moldova.

The work comprises 190 pages of text, 25 tables, 208 figures and was structured as follows:

Foreword
Geographic framework
General geological data (Valerian Ciobotaru)
Research history and archaeological situation

Chapter I. THE SETTLEMENT. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

1. Housing constructions
2. Household complexes

Chapter II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVENTORY

1. Tools
2. Arms
3. Adornment objects
4. Pieces with cult significance
5. Pieces with undetermined functionality
6. Ceramics. Typology of vessels
7. Ceramic decoration

Chapter III. EXPERIMENTAL CONTRIBUTION ON THE FORMATION, RESEARCH AND INTERPRETATION OF PREHISTORIC HABITAT AS ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE IN THE AREA OF MIDDLE DNIESTER

1. Initiation of the project
2. Archaeological context
3. Purpose of the experiment
4. Conduction of the experiment
5. Results of the experiment

Chapter IV. SAHARNA I (ŢIGLĂU) NECROPOLIS AND ITS ROLE FOR THE STUDY OF FUNERARY PRACTICES OF SAHARNA CULTURE COMMUNITIES (based on research results conducted by G.D. Smirnov and G.P. Sergheev in the year 1950) (Maja Kașuba)

1. History of the study of the cemetery
2. Catalogue: the necropolis of Saharna I (Ţiglău) (according to research by G.D. Smirnov and G.P. Sergheev carried out in 1950)
3. Findings without inventory cards from the burial mounds XI, XIII-XVII
4. Characteristic features of the Saharna I (Ţiglău) necropolis
5. The place and importance of the Saharna I (Ţiglău) practices of the Saharna culture communities
6. Conclusion

Chapter V. STRATIGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY

Conclusions
Catalogue of discoveries
Bibliography
List of abbreviations
Abstract
List of illustrations
Annexes



 

 

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#Exhibit of the Month

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...

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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.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



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.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

menu
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.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC