#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.

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.

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#Exhibit of the Month

May 2023

The rocking bowl from Grigoreuca

It is fascinating how over thousands of years, clay objects have not lost their charm and have adapted to each era, evolving with society. Such a modest material as clay, could be used in a variety of ways, among which the most ancient - the modeling of vessels. The multitude of shapes and decoration of ceramic vessels fascinates and represents a true art adjusted to the way of life and the spiritual level of communities from different historical periods. A separate category is represented by miniature vessels. They can represent from miniatures of kitchen utensils (pots, cups, glasses) to zoomorphic, anthropomorphic representations, models of chariots.

Such a vessel was discovered in 1989, during the research of a burial mound located on the territory of Grigoreuca village, Sîngerei district (excavation authors: E. Antipenco, V. Beilecci). It was deposited as a funerary inventory in a tomb attributed to the Jamnaja culture (early Bronze Age period, XXIII-XVIII centuries BC). The vessel is hand-shaped from clay paste mixed with crushed ceramic. It is rectangular in shape with rounded corners and trapezoidal in section, straight base and slightly raised walls. The mouth of the vessel is wide, with a straight lip, weakly highlighted. Below the lip is provided with 12 conical protuberances located three on each of the sides. Those on the long sides are provided with a longitudinal circular hole. The outer surface of the bowl, including its base, is decorated with string printing. The decoration is made in the form of radiating lines and overlapping triangles. It is yellowish-grey in color with brown spots on the outside and gray-brown on the inside.

Although it was discovered in a tomb attributed to the Jamnaja culture, at the moment, no other objects of this kind are known in the environment of this culture. The closest analogues are known in the dwellings and funerary complexes of the Catacombs culture that existed in the middle period of the Bronze Age, the XIX-XVIII centuries BC, in the North-Pontic steppes. Such pieces are also known in the environment of the North Caucasian culture (XX-XXIII centuries BC). Most likely, the vessel discovered at Grigoreuca represents an import object from the Catacomb culture environment.

Both the shape of the vessel and the side holes, which assume its suspension, allowed its interpretation to be the model of a swing, hence the name swing vessel. But according to other opinions such objects are chariot models. The presence of visible traces of burning (soot) inside some of them, does not exclude their use as an opiate or smoker.

Dimensions: H - 4.9 cm; L - 13.6 cm; W - 8.3 cm.

#Exhibit of the Month

Ceramic Vessel Set from Bălceana-Hâncești (5th–7th Centuries)

May 2023

The rocking bowl from Grigoreuca

#Exhibit of the Month