The disappearance of bronze and gold coins from sites north of the Lower Danube demonstrates an "economic closure of the frontier" of the Eastern Roman Empire between 545 and 565. The same period is characterized by a tendency towards cultural unification in Moldavia, Oltenia and Wallachia. Handmade pots with very similar incised designs evidence the "existence of a cross-regional set of symbols shared" by either potters or consumers. Pots, spindle whorls and other objects decorated with crosses or swastikas have been unearthed at Cândeşti, Lozna, and other sites. The use of handmade clay pans for baking bread was spreading from the regions south and east of the Carpathians towards lands over the Dniester and the Lower Danube.