#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.

Virtual Tour

Chronological Axis

Aeneolithic Age

(late 5th millennium B.C. - early 3rd millennium B.C.)

The archaeological collections related to this period are the most representative ones. The development of material and spiritual culture testifies to the existence of different communities of farmers and nomadic cattle-breeders. Representatives of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture inhabited the vast territory from the Carpathians to Dnieper for about 1,500 years (late 5^th millennium B.C. – early 3^rd millennium B.C.).

In the territory of the Republic of Moldova there are known more than 600 settlements of farmers, some of which were archaeologically investigated: Floresti, Rogojeni, Rusestii Noi, Radulenii Vechi, Petreni, Varvareuca, Brinzeni, etc. At this time there were first produced metal (copper) items. Tools made of bone and stone are predominant. The earthenware collection is remarkable for the variety of vessels decorated with carving or painted in diverse ornamental styles. The ornamental compositions contain cosmologic scenes, astral symbols, fantastic animals, and anthropomorphic deities. The spiritual life of the communities is represented by an impressive collection of zoo- and anthropomorphic figurines.

At the same time in the south of the Prut-Dniester area there was spread the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture represented by an impressive material.

Cattle-breeding tribes from North-Pontic steppes, which are represented here by the archaeological monuments of the Suvorovo-Novodanilovca and Cernavoda type, played an important part in the history of Aeneolithic communities. The stages of transition from the Aeneolithic to the Bronze Age in the Prut-Dniester area are represented by the archaeological cultures like the Brinzeni, Gordinesti, and Usatovo ones, which have harmoniously combined elements of the Cucuteni civilization and features of the cultures of the North-Pontic cattle-breeders identified with the ancient Indo-Europeans.

1.Vessel, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

2.Vessel, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

3.Female figurine of “Orante” type, the Bolgrad-Aldeni culture

4.Painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

5.Head of anthropomorphic figurine representing a slipping female deity, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

6.Anthropomorphic top of lid representing male deity, the Early or the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

7. Female figurine sitting on the zoomorphic “throne”, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

8.Female figurine, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

9.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with lid, with incised and excised decoration, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

10.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with incised and excised decoration, the Early Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

11.Stemmed “fruit dish” vessel with painted design, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

12.Painted anthropomorphic amphora with lid, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

13.Painted amphora with representation of the Great Goddess possessing animals, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

14.Female figurine, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

15.Bowl with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

16.Painted pear-shaped vessel, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

17.Painted vessel, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

18.Female figurines, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

19.Female figurines, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

20.Painted amphora, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

21. Copper items, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

22. Painted dishes and bowls, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

23.Painted vessels, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

24.Binocular vessel, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

25.Figurine of a bull, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

26. Painted vessels: lidded anthropomorphic amphora representing a female deity and bowl, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

27. Binocular vessel, the Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

28. Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

29.Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

30. Fragment of design of a painted amphora with zoomorphic representations, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

31.Fragment of design of a painted amphora with the scene of a ritual dance, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

32.Copper axe, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

33. Bone daggers, the Late Cucuteni-Tripolye culture

#Exhibit of the Month

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

Aeneolithic Age

(late 5th millennium B.C. - early 3rd millennium B.C.)

#Exhibit of the Month