#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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Publications

Library „Tyragetia"

Simion CARP, Ghenadie CHIRIŢA, Terentie CARP, Ecaterina GÎRBU

Military traditions (past, present, future)

Series Biblioteca „Tyragetia” XXII, Chișinău, 2013, 375 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-703-6.

The authors of the volume Military Traditions (past, present, future) set as main aim to collect, to select, to arrange, to analyze, to highlight and to synthesize, as much as possible, all documentary resources and to include in the scientific circuit the military traditions, the military deeds, the military art, the actions of bravery, courage and spirit of sacrifice shown by our predecessors on the battlefields for the soldierly glory and honor.

The work, as conceived by the authors, covers the main aspects of military tradition issues. Its primary objective is to introduce into the scientific, educational, didactic and cultural circuit the old military traditions, and to synthesize and rebuild, on their base, a contemporary fight style absolutely necessary to the military-patriotic orientation of young generation and for the creation of a new national school of close fight.

The military history of predecessors was rebuilt on a rich documentary material identified in various categories of resources (written, ancient and medieval resources, bas-reliefs, wall painting etc.) collected with big competence and which highlight real possibilities for the use of soldierly glory for patriotic education of students and future defenders of the fatherland.

The publication presents studies in fields of history, culture, traditions, military art, pedagogy with well argued conclusions and synthesis, with highlighted concepts framing into the national ideas - a very important thing for our fellow citizens from the republic and from abroad. In the book are depicted certain events, wars, military conflicts which do not feature in history textbooks, by presentation of new archival data, war letters, list of Bessarabians participants at wars from the end of 19th - beginning of 20th centuries and of notorious personalities that contributed to the evolution of history and national and universal culture. Also, are described and analyzed military traditions and war tactics that were included in the history of universal military art. The portrait of our fellow citizen with his positive traits is presented into a special plastic paradigm.