ABSTRACT
Within the specialized literature, the locality of Zgura (Vaslui county) is known first of all as an important black pottery production centre. This ancient occupation has a Dacian origin and it has been acknowledged only in very few locations throughout Moldavia. Famous for the high number of potters practicing this occupation at mid-20th century, but also for the very varied black ceramicware, but also red, enamelled or not enamelled, Zgura was a site like many other within Moldavia whose existence depended on the production of utilitarian ceramics.
Consequent to field investigations, the information collected from Gheorghe Iacob, the only potter still alive in the village, was very helpful although the pottery centre does not exist any more and no potter still practices this craft. According to the craftsman’s words, this occupation was very popular in the village, and the ceramicware quantitatively and qualitatively very important. Apart from the pots used at cooking on the stove or fireplace, the craftsmen of this centre were also renowned for another type of pots, called moşoaice, and used in the ritual of the commemoration of the dead. These pots were fired in a reducing atmosphere, decorated with vegetal motives painted with lime with the help of a reed straw. As far as the research of the specialized occupations in concerned, Zgura remains one of the most interesting villages within the Central Moldavian Plateau.