Юрий Цетлин / Yuri B. Tsetlin | Institute of Archaeology Russian Academy of Sciences (original) (raw)
In English by Юрий Цетлин / Yuri B. Tsetlin
Annals of Archaeology Volume 3, Issue 2, 2020
The hypothesis of the origins of pottery shapes based on long-term experiments, ethnographic, arc... more The hypothesis of the origins of pottery shapes based on long-term experiments, ethnographic, archaeological data and primitive e cooking practices is discussed in the article. The experiments conducted have shown that it is possible to get a fully preserved clay vessel which could serve as a prototype of initial pottery shapes in the process of cooking meat food coated with clay of a specific composition in the oven. This assumption is indirectly confirmed by the results of a special study of the earliest ceramics in the Amur region. It is suggested in the article that the first clay vessels were used for cooking hot food over an open fire for ritual purposes.
Keywords: origins of pottery, experiment, ethnography, pottery firing, cooking, the earliest ceramics of the Amur region
Understanding people through their pottery : Proceedings of the 7th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics (EMAC'o3), 2005
Modern scientific approach in study of ancient pottery production elaborated in Russia has some s... more Modern scientific approach in study of ancient pottery production elaborated in Russia has some specific features in comparison of European one. It is not well known abroad. The paper is dedicated to the description of this approach, of recent possibilities in ceramic investigations and of main results, received by Russian scholars.
who was a noted scientific leader of Soviet and Russian specialists in ancient ceramics, died on ... more who was a noted scientific leader of Soviet and Russian specialists in ancient ceramics, died on 1 October 2010 at the age of 80. He worked at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences where he organised the History of Ceramics Laboratory in 1963 which he headed for more than 40 years. Bobrinsky graduated from the History Faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and then studied archaeology as a postgraduate student at Moscow University under A.V. Artsihovsky. In his dissertation, entitled Pottery wheels of Eastern Europe in the 9th-13th centuries, he combined a mass of ethnographic and archaeological data and proposed ways of reconstructing the various types of potter's wheels based on the impressions left on the base of the vessels.
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42/4, 2014
The present study was mostly aimed at reconstructing the traditions of ceramic manufacturing that... more The present study was mostly aimed at reconstructing the traditions of ceramic manufacturing that were practiced by the people of the recently identified Mariinskoye culture of the Early Neolithic (the 8th–7th millennia BC) in the Lower Amur. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of ceramics via a historical-cultural approach to the studies of ancient pottery production. General pottery traditions have been established, indicating a cultural homogeneity for the population of the Mariinskoye culture. The work represents a methodological study that suggests various perspectives of this approach.
Keywords: Lower Amur, Early Neolithic, ceramics, pottery traditions reconstruction, technique, technology, experiment.
The Old Potter’s Almanack, 2010
A common aspect of the study of ancient pottery technology is the investigation of the different ... more A common aspect of the study of ancient pottery technology is the investigation of the different properties of natural clays (especially the chemical composition and the proportion of natural nonplastic micro-inclusions) and the identification of deliberately added or natural occurring inclusions. This can be achieved using chemical, mineralogical and elemental analyses. These techniques were primarily developed in the natural sciences, and thus the transfer of these methods and results to the study and interpretation of ancient ceramics technology and material must be considered carefully.
Ceramic in the Society, 2003
The main goal of this investigation is to elaborate scientific methods for the reconstruction of a... more The main goal of this investigation is to elaborate scientific methods for the reconstruction of ancient cultural traditions of preparing pottery pastes with natural clay and various organic additions. As it is well known from ethnographic and archaeological data, one of the most widely distributed organic materials in pottery paste is the dung of herbivorous animals. The investigation is based on large experimental materials including about thousand and a half patterns of clay with cow-dung, sheep-dung, and horse-dung in different proportions (from 3 parts of dung to 1 part of clay, to 1 part of clay to 5 parts of dung). The method of reconstruction of pottery paste composition consists of two steps: 1) the microscopic study of clay plasticity and of the state (dry or wet) of clay and organic materials, and 2) the special study of the kind and proportion of organic temper. The method was applied preliminarily on the ceramics from the Near East (Sotto-culture, 6 millennium BC), from Moldavia (Linear Pottery culture, 5 millennium BC), and from North Caucasus Maikop-culture, 4 millennium BC). Now there are still some scientific problems which make dificult the extensive use of this method and which require further insvestigations.
Rivista di archeologia, 2004
Abstract This article is devoted to some results of an application of the historical-and-cultural... more Abstract
This article is devoted to some results of an application of the historical-and-cultural approach to an investigation of ancient pottery decoration. Three main questions are discussed in it: 1) the concept of "ornament" and its cultural content, 2) the main directions and stages of development of cultural traditions in pottery decoration, and 3) the use of pottery decoration as a source of information about ancient ethno-cultural history. Pottery decoration is considered here, from one point of view, as the result of a special system of notions on external view of vessels characterizing different groups of ancient population (the "outer" cultural sphere), and from another perspective, as a result of specific
pottery decoration traditions (the "inner" cultural sphere). On the basis of the historical-and-cultural approach to the study of some cultural traditions of ancient pottery decoration from the Near East and Eastern Europe, the author concluded that the appearance of mixed cultural traditions in this field was a result of mixing processes between different cultural groups.
V NORTHERN ARHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS (KHANTY-MANSIISK, OCTOBER 19–23 2015), 2015
Key Words: ancient ceramics. multidisciplinary approach, historical and cultural approach, source... more Key Words: ancient ceramics. multidisciplinary approach, historical and cultural approach, source study
Summary: The paper describes modern trends in ancient ceramics studies with the use of mathematical statistics and science methods, demonstrates their capabilities and applicability limits; discusses the most important, according to the author, research problems in the study of ceramics as the source of historical information the solution of which requires joining efforts of archaeologists and science specialists.
The Proceedings of International Symposium on Ancient Ceramics. 2009, Beijing. Beijing: SICCAS Press, 2009
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 2011
The article discusses the efficacy of modern science-based methods within the framework of variou... more The article discusses the efficacy of modern science-based methods within the framework of various research approaches and the opportunities they provide in the study of ancient ceramics as a source of historical evidence. It is the authors’ opinion that a combined historical and cultural approach is the most promising that has been proposed to date. Such methods can only be successfully applied given close, creative collaboration between experts in the fields of both ancient ceramics and the natural sciences.
Keywords: Ancient pottery making, ceramics, science-based methods, approaches and methods for studying ceramics, experiment, ethnography of pottery.
Modern Trends in Scientific Studies on Ancient Ceramics. BAR International Series 1011, 2002
A pottery kiln of the first half of the 3 rd millennium BC was discovered at Tell Hazna I in nort... more A pottery kiln of the first half of the 3 rd millennium BC was discovered at Tell Hazna I in northeastern Syria. The kiln represents a fire-construction with updraft motion of hot gases and consists of a deep fuel-firing unit, a permanent horizontal heat-conducting-and-separating unit, and a pottery-firing unit. According to Alexander A. Bobrinsky this kiln belongs to a rather early period of the pottery kiln evolution. The study of morphological and technological peculiarities of the pottery from the kiln was undertaken. Some vessels were completely handmade, while the others were also handmade but with limited (or secondary) use of a primitive potter's wheel or an acentric working support for smoothing the upper parts of the vessels. It is clear that the professional skills of local potters in making vessels by hand were well established, but the skills in using a potter's wheel were just at the first stage of mastering.
Documenta Praehistorica XXXIX, 2012
ABSTRACT – The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the centra... more ABSTRACT – The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the central Russian plain is presented in this paper. For this purpose, a systematic analysis of pottery decoration traditions was performed. We suggest that all studied archaeological cultures had the same social structure, which included two gentes groups, but the gens also had a core and a periphery.
KEY WORDS – Neolithic cultures; pottery decoration; social structure; the central Russian plain
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 2013
This is the first technological analysis of the earliest ceramics from final Late Pleistocene sit... more This is the first technological analysis of the earliest ceramics from final Late Pleistocene sites on the Amur River Khabarovsk Province). Principal stages of manufacture are reconstructed, from the selection of raw materials to the chemical and thermal treatment of the surface. Differences between technological traditions practiced at three sites include the choice of paste. The general technological level corresponds to stage 3 of proto-ceramic manufacture, characterized by the use of “alluvial” or “mountain” silt as the principal raw material.
Keywords: Amur Region, multicomponent sites, Osipovka, Gasya, Gosyan, initial Neolithic, pottery manufacture, cultural traditions, experiment, technology.
Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences, 2018
The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence of vessel s... more The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence of vessel shapes and pottery technology. To clarify the nature of the first process we need to identify prototypes for the shapes of clay vessels and to determine the functions of the first clay vessels. The study of pottery technology involves the earliest plastic raw materials, composition of pottery pastes and vessels’ firing regimes. The research is based on archaeological ceramics from the Near East and Anatolia of 9-8 millennia ago and from the Japan and the Far East of Russia 13-11 millennia ago. A range of ethnographic data was also used. The origin of pottery production (including shapes and technology of vessels) was a result of two main factors - adaptive processes of the tribes to local natural and economical situation and human natural ability to imitation. That is why the origin of pottery production was a polycentric process. It had appeared a lot of times in various regions of the Earth as long as its all-round distribution closed the beginnings of the process.
Keywords: origin of ceramics, shape of vessel, raw material, pottery paste
Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science 17, pp. 65–81, 2017
This review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following thr... more This review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following three questions: 1) scientific approaches to the investigation of ancient pottery production and their development within archaeology, 2) the structure of pottery production as a functional system and as an object of scientific investigation, and 3) modern research potentials and some results of ancient pottery production investigations in Russia.
Keywords: Ancient ceramics, pottery production, Russia, historico-cultural approach, temper, pottery technology, ethnography
Prehistoric Pottery: Some recent research, 2006
Books by Юрий Цетлин / Yuri B. Tsetlin
The present monograph is the first comprehensive publication of the author's methods for systemat... more The present monograph is the first comprehensive publication of the author's methods for systematic periodization of Neolithic cultures from the Center of the Russian Plain in 6th–2nd millenniums BC on the basis of
ottery decoration and the stratigraphy of multi-layer settlements. Practical application of the new methods allowed the author to seriously reconsider the ethno$cultural history of the ancient population of this extensive East European region.
The original methods are of interest for the purposes of Neolithic studies in both the region in question and other regions where scholars encounter similar scientific tasks. The herein published results of investigating the history of ancient tribes can be used in lecture courses at history faculties of universities and pedagogical institutes.
The dictionary we are bringing to readers’ notice contains more than 350 scientific concepts and ... more The dictionary we are bringing to readers’ notice contains more than 350 scientific concepts and definitions developed within the framework of the Historical-and-Cultural approach to systemic study of ancient pottery and its products as a peculiar source of historical information. This approach considers pottery as the result of specific labor skills performance. These skills have been used by potters for pottery-making and ingrained in cultural traditions that passed from generation to generation within certain human collectives. Entries of the dictionary cover all aspects of ancient pottery study, methods of its analysis and historical interpretation.
The dictionary is intended for archeologists who study ancient pottery as well as for students of university departments of history and teachers’ training colleges who will nearly inevitably confront the task if they take interest in archeology.
Цетлин Ю.Б. Древняя керамика. Теория и методы историко- культурного подхода. М. ИА РАН. 2012. 384 с., 2012
Монография посвящена системному изложению теории и методов историко-культурного подхода, разработ... more Монография посвящена системному изложению теории и методов историко-культурного подхода, разработанных А.А. Бобринским и его школой, к изучению древнего гончарства и его продукции как источников исторической информации. Автор подробно рассматривает все аспекты исследования древней керамики и остатков гончарного производства, включая историю развития этих исследований в археологии, технологию изготовления, формы и орнаментацию сосудов, развитие орудий труда гончаров, а также вопросы происхождение гончарства и орнамента на сосудах, роль научного эксперимента и т.п. Особое внимание уделено возможностям использования всей этой информации для исторических исследований.
Цетлин Ю.Б. Древняя керамика. Теория и методы историко-культурного подхода. М. ИА РАН. 2012. 384 с., 2012, 2012
The monograph is dedicated to systems description of theory and methods of Historical-and-Cultura... more The monograph is dedicated to systems description of theory and methods of Historical-and-Cultural approach elaborated by A.A. Bobrinsky and his scientific school and directed to the investigation of ancient pottery production and clay vessels as a source of historical information. The author scrutinized various sides of ancient ceramics including development of these studies in archaeology, pottery technology, shapes and decoration of vessels, development of potters’ tools and equipment, the origin of pottery production and pottery decoration, and role of scientific experiments in ancient pottery studies. Besides, he gives a special attention to modern capabilities of using this information for the reconstruction of ancient human history.
This book will be useful to the historians, archaeologists, students of historical departments, and to all persons who take an interest in study of ancient industries.
Annals of Archaeology Volume 3, Issue 2, 2020
The hypothesis of the origins of pottery shapes based on long-term experiments, ethnographic, arc... more The hypothesis of the origins of pottery shapes based on long-term experiments, ethnographic, archaeological data and primitive e cooking practices is discussed in the article. The experiments conducted have shown that it is possible to get a fully preserved clay vessel which could serve as a prototype of initial pottery shapes in the process of cooking meat food coated with clay of a specific composition in the oven. This assumption is indirectly confirmed by the results of a special study of the earliest ceramics in the Amur region. It is suggested in the article that the first clay vessels were used for cooking hot food over an open fire for ritual purposes.
Keywords: origins of pottery, experiment, ethnography, pottery firing, cooking, the earliest ceramics of the Amur region
Understanding people through their pottery : Proceedings of the 7th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics (EMAC'o3), 2005
Modern scientific approach in study of ancient pottery production elaborated in Russia has some s... more Modern scientific approach in study of ancient pottery production elaborated in Russia has some specific features in comparison of European one. It is not well known abroad. The paper is dedicated to the description of this approach, of recent possibilities in ceramic investigations and of main results, received by Russian scholars.
who was a noted scientific leader of Soviet and Russian specialists in ancient ceramics, died on ... more who was a noted scientific leader of Soviet and Russian specialists in ancient ceramics, died on 1 October 2010 at the age of 80. He worked at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences where he organised the History of Ceramics Laboratory in 1963 which he headed for more than 40 years. Bobrinsky graduated from the History Faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and then studied archaeology as a postgraduate student at Moscow University under A.V. Artsihovsky. In his dissertation, entitled Pottery wheels of Eastern Europe in the 9th-13th centuries, he combined a mass of ethnographic and archaeological data and proposed ways of reconstructing the various types of potter's wheels based on the impressions left on the base of the vessels.
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42/4, 2014
The present study was mostly aimed at reconstructing the traditions of ceramic manufacturing that... more The present study was mostly aimed at reconstructing the traditions of ceramic manufacturing that were practiced by the people of the recently identified Mariinskoye culture of the Early Neolithic (the 8th–7th millennia BC) in the Lower Amur. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of ceramics via a historical-cultural approach to the studies of ancient pottery production. General pottery traditions have been established, indicating a cultural homogeneity for the population of the Mariinskoye culture. The work represents a methodological study that suggests various perspectives of this approach.
Keywords: Lower Amur, Early Neolithic, ceramics, pottery traditions reconstruction, technique, technology, experiment.
The Old Potter’s Almanack, 2010
A common aspect of the study of ancient pottery technology is the investigation of the different ... more A common aspect of the study of ancient pottery technology is the investigation of the different properties of natural clays (especially the chemical composition and the proportion of natural nonplastic micro-inclusions) and the identification of deliberately added or natural occurring inclusions. This can be achieved using chemical, mineralogical and elemental analyses. These techniques were primarily developed in the natural sciences, and thus the transfer of these methods and results to the study and interpretation of ancient ceramics technology and material must be considered carefully.
Ceramic in the Society, 2003
The main goal of this investigation is to elaborate scientific methods for the reconstruction of a... more The main goal of this investigation is to elaborate scientific methods for the reconstruction of ancient cultural traditions of preparing pottery pastes with natural clay and various organic additions. As it is well known from ethnographic and archaeological data, one of the most widely distributed organic materials in pottery paste is the dung of herbivorous animals. The investigation is based on large experimental materials including about thousand and a half patterns of clay with cow-dung, sheep-dung, and horse-dung in different proportions (from 3 parts of dung to 1 part of clay, to 1 part of clay to 5 parts of dung). The method of reconstruction of pottery paste composition consists of two steps: 1) the microscopic study of clay plasticity and of the state (dry or wet) of clay and organic materials, and 2) the special study of the kind and proportion of organic temper. The method was applied preliminarily on the ceramics from the Near East (Sotto-culture, 6 millennium BC), from Moldavia (Linear Pottery culture, 5 millennium BC), and from North Caucasus Maikop-culture, 4 millennium BC). Now there are still some scientific problems which make dificult the extensive use of this method and which require further insvestigations.
Rivista di archeologia, 2004
Abstract This article is devoted to some results of an application of the historical-and-cultural... more Abstract
This article is devoted to some results of an application of the historical-and-cultural approach to an investigation of ancient pottery decoration. Three main questions are discussed in it: 1) the concept of "ornament" and its cultural content, 2) the main directions and stages of development of cultural traditions in pottery decoration, and 3) the use of pottery decoration as a source of information about ancient ethno-cultural history. Pottery decoration is considered here, from one point of view, as the result of a special system of notions on external view of vessels characterizing different groups of ancient population (the "outer" cultural sphere), and from another perspective, as a result of specific
pottery decoration traditions (the "inner" cultural sphere). On the basis of the historical-and-cultural approach to the study of some cultural traditions of ancient pottery decoration from the Near East and Eastern Europe, the author concluded that the appearance of mixed cultural traditions in this field was a result of mixing processes between different cultural groups.
V NORTHERN ARHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS (KHANTY-MANSIISK, OCTOBER 19–23 2015), 2015
Key Words: ancient ceramics. multidisciplinary approach, historical and cultural approach, source... more Key Words: ancient ceramics. multidisciplinary approach, historical and cultural approach, source study
Summary: The paper describes modern trends in ancient ceramics studies with the use of mathematical statistics and science methods, demonstrates their capabilities and applicability limits; discusses the most important, according to the author, research problems in the study of ceramics as the source of historical information the solution of which requires joining efforts of archaeologists and science specialists.
The Proceedings of International Symposium on Ancient Ceramics. 2009, Beijing. Beijing: SICCAS Press, 2009
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 2011
The article discusses the efficacy of modern science-based methods within the framework of variou... more The article discusses the efficacy of modern science-based methods within the framework of various research approaches and the opportunities they provide in the study of ancient ceramics as a source of historical evidence. It is the authors’ opinion that a combined historical and cultural approach is the most promising that has been proposed to date. Such methods can only be successfully applied given close, creative collaboration between experts in the fields of both ancient ceramics and the natural sciences.
Keywords: Ancient pottery making, ceramics, science-based methods, approaches and methods for studying ceramics, experiment, ethnography of pottery.
Modern Trends in Scientific Studies on Ancient Ceramics. BAR International Series 1011, 2002
A pottery kiln of the first half of the 3 rd millennium BC was discovered at Tell Hazna I in nort... more A pottery kiln of the first half of the 3 rd millennium BC was discovered at Tell Hazna I in northeastern Syria. The kiln represents a fire-construction with updraft motion of hot gases and consists of a deep fuel-firing unit, a permanent horizontal heat-conducting-and-separating unit, and a pottery-firing unit. According to Alexander A. Bobrinsky this kiln belongs to a rather early period of the pottery kiln evolution. The study of morphological and technological peculiarities of the pottery from the kiln was undertaken. Some vessels were completely handmade, while the others were also handmade but with limited (or secondary) use of a primitive potter's wheel or an acentric working support for smoothing the upper parts of the vessels. It is clear that the professional skills of local potters in making vessels by hand were well established, but the skills in using a potter's wheel were just at the first stage of mastering.
Documenta Praehistorica XXXIX, 2012
ABSTRACT – The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the centra... more ABSTRACT – The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the central Russian plain is presented in this paper. For this purpose, a systematic analysis of pottery decoration traditions was performed. We suggest that all studied archaeological cultures had the same social structure, which included two gentes groups, but the gens also had a core and a periphery.
KEY WORDS – Neolithic cultures; pottery decoration; social structure; the central Russian plain
Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 2013
This is the first technological analysis of the earliest ceramics from final Late Pleistocene sit... more This is the first technological analysis of the earliest ceramics from final Late Pleistocene sites on the Amur River Khabarovsk Province). Principal stages of manufacture are reconstructed, from the selection of raw materials to the chemical and thermal treatment of the surface. Differences between technological traditions practiced at three sites include the choice of paste. The general technological level corresponds to stage 3 of proto-ceramic manufacture, characterized by the use of “alluvial” or “mountain” silt as the principal raw material.
Keywords: Amur Region, multicomponent sites, Osipovka, Gasya, Gosyan, initial Neolithic, pottery manufacture, cultural traditions, experiment, technology.
Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences, 2018
The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence of vessel s... more The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence of vessel shapes and pottery technology. To clarify the nature of the first process we need to identify prototypes for the shapes of clay vessels and to determine the functions of the first clay vessels. The study of pottery technology involves the earliest plastic raw materials, composition of pottery pastes and vessels’ firing regimes. The research is based on archaeological ceramics from the Near East and Anatolia of 9-8 millennia ago and from the Japan and the Far East of Russia 13-11 millennia ago. A range of ethnographic data was also used. The origin of pottery production (including shapes and technology of vessels) was a result of two main factors - adaptive processes of the tribes to local natural and economical situation and human natural ability to imitation. That is why the origin of pottery production was a polycentric process. It had appeared a lot of times in various regions of the Earth as long as its all-round distribution closed the beginnings of the process.
Keywords: origin of ceramics, shape of vessel, raw material, pottery paste
Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science 17, pp. 65–81, 2017
This review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following thr... more This review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following three questions: 1) scientific approaches to the investigation of ancient pottery production and their development within archaeology, 2) the structure of pottery production as a functional system and as an object of scientific investigation, and 3) modern research potentials and some results of ancient pottery production investigations in Russia.
Keywords: Ancient ceramics, pottery production, Russia, historico-cultural approach, temper, pottery technology, ethnography
Prehistoric Pottery: Some recent research, 2006
The present monograph is the first comprehensive publication of the author's methods for systemat... more The present monograph is the first comprehensive publication of the author's methods for systematic periodization of Neolithic cultures from the Center of the Russian Plain in 6th–2nd millenniums BC on the basis of
ottery decoration and the stratigraphy of multi-layer settlements. Practical application of the new methods allowed the author to seriously reconsider the ethno$cultural history of the ancient population of this extensive East European region.
The original methods are of interest for the purposes of Neolithic studies in both the region in question and other regions where scholars encounter similar scientific tasks. The herein published results of investigating the history of ancient tribes can be used in lecture courses at history faculties of universities and pedagogical institutes.
The dictionary we are bringing to readers’ notice contains more than 350 scientific concepts and ... more The dictionary we are bringing to readers’ notice contains more than 350 scientific concepts and definitions developed within the framework of the Historical-and-Cultural approach to systemic study of ancient pottery and its products as a peculiar source of historical information. This approach considers pottery as the result of specific labor skills performance. These skills have been used by potters for pottery-making and ingrained in cultural traditions that passed from generation to generation within certain human collectives. Entries of the dictionary cover all aspects of ancient pottery study, methods of its analysis and historical interpretation.
The dictionary is intended for archeologists who study ancient pottery as well as for students of university departments of history and teachers’ training colleges who will nearly inevitably confront the task if they take interest in archeology.
Цетлин Ю.Б. Древняя керамика. Теория и методы историко- культурного подхода. М. ИА РАН. 2012. 384 с., 2012
Монография посвящена системному изложению теории и методов историко-культурного подхода, разработ... more Монография посвящена системному изложению теории и методов историко-культурного подхода, разработанных А.А. Бобринским и его школой, к изучению древнего гончарства и его продукции как источников исторической информации. Автор подробно рассматривает все аспекты исследования древней керамики и остатков гончарного производства, включая историю развития этих исследований в археологии, технологию изготовления, формы и орнаментацию сосудов, развитие орудий труда гончаров, а также вопросы происхождение гончарства и орнамента на сосудах, роль научного эксперимента и т.п. Особое внимание уделено возможностям использования всей этой информации для исторических исследований.
Цетлин Ю.Б. Древняя керамика. Теория и методы историко-культурного подхода. М. ИА РАН. 2012. 384 с., 2012, 2012
The monograph is dedicated to systems description of theory and methods of Historical-and-Cultura... more The monograph is dedicated to systems description of theory and methods of Historical-and-Cultural approach elaborated by A.A. Bobrinsky and his scientific school and directed to the investigation of ancient pottery production and clay vessels as a source of historical information. The author scrutinized various sides of ancient ceramics including development of these studies in archaeology, pottery technology, shapes and decoration of vessels, development of potters’ tools and equipment, the origin of pottery production and pottery decoration, and role of scientific experiments in ancient pottery studies. Besides, he gives a special attention to modern capabilities of using this information for the reconstruction of ancient human history.
This book will be useful to the historians, archaeologists, students of historical departments, and to all persons who take an interest in study of ancient industries.
ВЕСТНИК РГАТУ Рыбинск: РГАТУ, 2012
The paper deals with the possibilities of the source study as one of the main tools to liaise the... more The paper deals with the possibilities of the source study as one of the main tools to liaise theory andpractice. Ancient pottery has been considered as the source of information however the approach, themethod and the research rules involved are common and can be applied not only in archeology, butalso in other fields of science
Древнее гончарство / Ancient Pottery Production, 2010
In the paper according to Historical-and-Cultural approach the author has formulated and founded ... more In the paper according to Historical-and-Cultural approach the author has formulated and founded 37 of the most important, from his point of view, scientific issues which could be decided by scholars in close and distant future. Successful decision of them will permit to enlarge essentially the resent possibilities of studying as ancient ceramics as pottery production on the whole. Most of the issues (26) belong to historical-and-technical direction of pottery studies, 6 issues – to historical-and-cultural direction, and two issues – to historical-and-evolutional one. Besides, there are a common sourcestudying issue and two common methodological issues. Among all of them there are many issues which succession decision is impossible without of using the methods of modern natural sciences.
IV Северный археологический конгресс: доклады. 19–23 октября 2015, г. Ханты-Мансийск, 2015
Ключевые слова: древняя керамика, мультидисциплинарный подход, историко-культурный подход, источн... more Ключевые слова: древняя керамика, мультидисциплинарный подход, историко-культурный подход, источниковедение
Резюме. В статье рассматриваются современные направления изучения древней керамики с привлечением математической статистики и естественных наук, показаны их возможности и пределы применимости; обсуждаются наиболее важные, по мнению автора, научные проблемы изучения керамики как источника исторической информации, для решения которых необходим творческий союз археологов и специалистов
точных и естественных наук.
Уральский исторический вестник. 2019. № 4 (65). С. 6-16., 2019
The article discusses the basic laws of evolution of different aspects of pottery production, whi... more The article discusses the basic laws of evolution of different aspects of pottery production, which is considered as a specially organized functioning system that has a specifi c internal structure and is connected with the outside world in a certain fashion. The systemic nature of pottery is determined by the systematic nature of any purposeful human activity, which manifests itself in cultural traditions that are passed from generation to generation. The present analysis of the evolution patterns of pottery production is a generalization of A. A. Bobrinsky’s ideas of on this issue. The author considers modern data on the evolution of vessel forms, their decor, basic plastic raw materials, molding materials, vessel design technology, potter wheel functions, vessel firing techniques and technical devices for firing. The development of these aspects of pottery is manifested at three qualitatively different levels: macroevolution, mesoevolution and microevolution. The analyzed patterns of the pottery production evolution clearly demonstrate the fact that its development is a complex systemically organized process in the history of mankind. This does not contradict the many specific pottery traditions that different nations had in different eras. It was through the diversity of these traditions that the identified trends and patterns of development of this sphere of human culture paved their way.
Keywords: pottery as a system, evolution, vessel shape, vessel decor, pottery technology, evolution patterns, evolution mechanisms
Первобытные древности Евразии: к 60-летию Алексея Николаевича Сорокина, 2012
This paper is dedicated to the principles and method of conducting experiments in the study of an... more This paper is dedicated to the principles and method of conducting experiments in the study of ancient ceramics. Various kinds of experiments are described, along with scientiic framework and set-up. The historical-and-cultural approach to scientiic experiments is highlighted as an important tool in deducing new data on ancient ceramics. Case studies discussed include experiments in raw materials, pottery paste, molding and firing, vessel shapes and textile prints on surfaces.
Keywords: experiment, ceramics, technology of potter’s production, historical and cultural approach, methodology
Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии, 2010
К 80-летию А.А. Бобринского В статье обсуждаются возможности и результативность применения соврем... more К 80-летию А.А. Бобринского В статье обсуждаются возможности и результативность применения современных методов естественных наук для изучения древней керамики как источника исторической информации в рамках разных исследовательских подходов. С точ-ки зрения авторов, наиболее перспективным в этом плане является сегодня историко-культурный подход. Успешное при-менение таких методов возможно только в случае тесного творческого контакта специалистов в области древней кера-мики и ученых естественно-научного профиля. Ключевые слова: древнее гончарство, керамика, естественно-научные методы анализа, подходы и методы изучения керамики, эксперимент, этнография гончарства. Введение Сегодня все больше распространяется мнение о том, что археология представляет собой науку, которая на-ходится на стыке гуманитарного и естественно-науч-ного знания. К гуманитарному знанию она относит-ся, поскольку основной ее задачей является изучение истории человеческого общества, а к естественно-на-учному-потому, что объектом исследования служат остатки древней материальной культуры человечест-ва-поселения и могильники, святилища и храмы, ирригационные системы и т.п. Но самый массовый материал-древние вещи. Среди них, начиная с эпо-хи неолита, охватывающей в рамках Старого Све-та период истории человечества примерно с XIII до IV тыс. до н.э., наиболее богатым источником ис-торической информации является керамика. Целые сосуды доходят до нас достаточно редко, и обычно приходится иметь дело с их обломками, которые в огромных количествах встречаются при раскопках древних поселений и могильников. Древняя керамика является одним из важнейших исторических источников по ряду причин. Во-первых, глиняной посудой пользовались практически в каж-дой семье, поэтому она самым тесным образом свя-зана с повседневной жизнью людей. Во-вторых, гли-няные сосуды, будучи хрупкими, часто разбивались в ходе использования. Судя по этнографическим свиде-тельствам, обычный глиняный горшок служил не бо-лее одного-трех лет, а крупные сосуды для хранения продуктов-несколько дольше [Arnold, 1985]. Поэто-му имеющийся запас посуды должен был регулярно пополняться. Это с древнейших времен сделало изго-товление глиняных сосудов одним из наиболее массо-вых видов деятельности. Еще в XIX в. исследователи в разных странах прак-тически одновременно обратили внимание на то, что древние глиняные сосуды в различных районах сильно отличаются друг от друга по форме и особенно по ор-наменту. Это позволило выделять локальные «архео-логические культуры», т.е. группы поселений и мо-гильников с близкой по форме и орнаменту керамикой.
Краткие сообщения Института археологии, 2016
Abstract. The paper deals with a fundamental issue of principles underlying typology and classifi... more Abstract. The paper deals with a fundamental issue of principles underlying typology and classification of ancient pottery. Traditionally, archaeologists select the level of detailization of pottery classification by intuition depending on the tasks pursued. The paper offers an objective criterion of the ranging analysis based on random variations in the shape of clay vessels. The study relies on ethnographic and experimental data.
Keywords: ceramics, shape of the vessel, methodology, experiment, random variations, handmade and wheel-made vessels.
Краткие сообщения Института археологии, 2015
Abstract. The paper offers a principally new approach to the solution of an important methodologi... more Abstract. The paper offers a principally new approach to the solution of an important methodological issue, i.e. development of a unified scale for converting quantifying characteristics of archaeological artifacts to qualitative concepts and ideas. It is based on the assumption that such characteristics are objective and universal for all humans as dimensional parameters of the surrounding world are perceived and assessed by Homo sapiens biological species roughly in the same manner. The issue is addressed by taking the analysis of quantifying and qualitative characteristics of the clay pottery capacity as an example.
Shapes of Clay Vessels As a Subject of Study. Historical-and-Cultural Approach., 2018
The article is devoted to further development of historical-and-cultural approach and methods of ... more The article is devoted to further development of historical-and-cultural approach and methods of earthenware vessels study. A. A. Bobrinsky laid the principles of the approach and respective methods in several articles (Bobrinsky, 1986, 1988a, b, 1991). Three main stages of vessel shapes study are expounded in the article: preparatory, analytical and interpretation stages. The main attention is paid to the analytical stage. It is assumed that content of the interpretation stage will be expounded in a special article based on specific ethnographic and archeological materials.
Within framework of analytical stage of vessel shapes study 5 levels of analysis are considered successively: I – analysis of general proportionality (GP) of vessel forms; II – analysis of vessel shapes’ natural structure; III – analysis of extent of functional parts’ maturity; IV – analysis of vessel shapes’ elementary structure; V – analysis of vessel shapes’ curved line (“covers”). Various aspects of potters’ cultural traditions in the sphere of certain vessel shapes creation are analyzed at all levels. At the same time the deeper is the level of shapes analysis, the more detailed cultural peculiarities of population and potters are discovered and fixed.
Every level of analysis can be applied to any of 7 functional parts that form the natural structure of specific vessels. It should be emphasized that in this article an extent of functional parts’ maturity is analyzed in considerably greater detail than it was done earlier.
Some rules of vessel shapes comparative analysis are expounded in the concluding section. Such analysis is performed pursuant to research tasks in two directions: in direction of certain potters’ individual skills and in direction of cultural traditions of human collectives. In the latter case an extent of cultural homogeneity of collective traditions is fixed. Infraction of the pottery traditions may be related to cultural infiltration (which brings about the beginning of mixture process), to different stages of cultural integration (which means development of mixture process) and to cultural assimilation (the mixture process completion).
КСИА, 2014
Abstract. The publication presents a general view of investigations of clay vessels’ shapes based... more Abstract. The publication presents a general view of investigations of clay vessels’ shapes based on the historical-cultural approach worked out by A.A. Bobrinsky. Archaeological vessels are considered as an object of scientific analysis and the source of historical information on the past of the producers and consumers of clay pottery.
Key words: historical-cultural approach, cultural traditions, analysis of vessels’ shapes,
historical source
Тверской археологический сборник, 1996
The article deals with the main principles of historical-cultural approach to the analysis of pot... more The article deals with the main principles of historical-cultural approach to the analysis of pottery decoration. A lot of attention has been concentrated upon three questions: 1 - definition of the concept "ornament" and of its content, 2 - overall systematization of cultural and stylistic traditions in pottery decoration and 3 - the ancient ornament as a source of historical information.
The discussion is based upon the results of the data obtained in the process of the analysis of the main cultural traditions in ancient pottery decoration in the Middle East and in the Forest zone of Eastern Europe in the Early Neolithic.
Тверской археологический сборник, 2000
The article is dedicated to one of the most important problems concerning pottery decoration. The... more The article is dedicated to one of the most important problems concerning pottery decoration. The author puts forward an idea on the boundary between undecorated and decorated clay vessels as well as criteria for distinction one of them from another. Because a lot of modes of pottery decoration affects technologically the surface of a vessel, the author maintains that there are three different states of a vessel's surface: a) technologic; b) technological-and-decorated, and c) decorated. He prescinds 5 general directions in pottery decoration development and about 13 main modes of making ornaments. The special criteria for attribution certain state
of pottery surface to specific mode of decoration are discussed here. Besides that the author asserts that the history of pottery decoration passed through three general stages of development reflected in the appearance of vessels" surfaces: I - unformed, II - partly-formed, III - full-formed notions. These three stages were characterized by the above mentioned three different states of vessels" surfaces.
Известия Самарского научного центра Российской академии наук. Исторические науки, т. 2, № 4, 2020
The article on the basis of long experiments, ethnographic and archaeological data discusses the ... more The article on the basis of long experiments, ethnographic and archaeological data discusses the hypothesis about the origin of forms of earthenware based on the techniques of primitive cooking. Experiments show that as a result of the preparation of meat food in the
center, coated with clay of a special composition, it is possible to obtain a fully preserved clay container, which could be a prototype of the first forms of vessels. This assumption is indirectly confirmed by the results of a special study of the oldest ceramics of the monuments of the Amur Region. The article suggests that the first clay vessels were used to cook hot food on fire for ritual purposes.
Keywords: origin of pottery, experiment, ethnography, vessel firing, cooking, ancient ceramics
of the Amur region.
Традиции и инновации в изучении древнейшей керамики, 2016
According Alexander A. Bobrinsky's system of technological investigation of ancient ceramics the ... more According Alexander A. Bobrinsky's system of technological investigation of ancient ceramics the firing of vessels belong to the Fixative stage of pottery production and includes two special technological tasks - "hardening a vessel" (Step 10) and "waterproofing a vessel" (Step 11).
In the paper the accessible method of study firing temperature in the reducing and oxidising environment is discussed. The authors have carried into effect the Program of firing investigation during 2013-2015 in Samara's Ceramic Experimental expedition and in Rybinsk's archaeological expedition. A total of 18 firings were organized including 7 long low-temperature reduction firings in oven, 5 oxidising firings with various kinds of fuel in oven, 4 oxidising firings with various kinds of fuel at fireplace and in oven, and two oxidising firings in pottery kiln with various speed of heating and various duration of vessels at high temperature. The paper contains a short description of the experimental results.
On these base the method of firing temperature reconstruction through step by step heating of samples in the electric kiln was extend. It became clear that the method enables to make accurate reconstruction, firstly, the temperature of reduction low-temperature firing, secondly, the temperature of semi-reduction and oxidising high temperature firing at fireplace and in oven, thirdly, the temperature of the natural and special blacking of vessels during the firing in oxidising conditions. Besides, it was explore that under oxidising firing of vessels in pottery kiln the reconstructed temperature was a little higher than in reality especially during the speed heating and long duration.
The paper includes the results of application the method to the study of firing temperature by Neolithic ceramics from the Russian Far East.
Самарский научный вестник, 2015
Abstract. This paper is dedicated to the study of clay vessels’ firing treatment. It is one of th... more Abstract. This paper is dedicated to the study of clay vessels’ firing treatment. It is one of the most important scientific tasks in the field of ancient ceramic investigations which is low provided by the reliable methods till now. The next questions are described here: first – the history of study of firing process under historical-and-cultural approach to the ancient pottery production; second – the organization and results of field experimental study of clay vessels’ firing in fireplace and in oven made by the authors on the basis of Samara pottery experimental expedition (N.P. Salugina is a head of the expedition), third – the results of the laboratory research of firing temperature on experimental vessels by Bobrinsky’s color method. We concentrate our attention on the study of firing vessels in oxidizing and reducing conditions, on analysis of oxidizing firing at the first step and special chemical-and-thermal treatment of vessels in reducing conditions by blacking at the second step. In the results of laboratory tests of vessels sherds’ firing temperature we came to the conclusion that the method is need to improve. At the end of paper the authors put forward some kind of ways to decide the problem and a plan of future experimental study of pottery firing process.
Keywords: archaeology; pottery production; ceramics; experiment; firing process; firing temperature; methods of analysis.
КСИА (вып. 252), М: Наука. С.307-320, 2018
Статья посвящена технико-технологическому анализу керамики майя среднего и позднего доклассическо... more Статья посвящена технико-технологическому анализу керамики майя среднего и позднего доклассического периода (VIII в. до н.э. - II в. н.э.) из раскопок гватемальского археологического комплекса Вашактун (Гватемала), который был осуществлен в лаборатории Института археологии РАН.
Российская археология. № 2, 2004
The nature and the matter of pottery decoration are regarded in the paper as a part of human figu... more The nature and the matter of pottery decoration are regarded in the paper as a part of human figurative and object activity. First, the auther presents a review of recent notions on decorations and the models of its origin, and a comprehensive consideration of the matter of decoration according to to seven thematic groups of information. As a result, the author cames to the conclusion that the first three groups characterise the process of decoration origin, the forth group characterises ornament as such, and three last groups of information deal with various functions of decoration in human society. Finally, a general definition of decoration is suggested, the author makes an attempt to summarize in it different aspects of the discussed historical and cultural phenomenon.
Российская археология. №1, 2020
The article presents in details the data recently obtained by the authors as a result of specifie... more The article presents in details the data recently obtained by the authors as a result of specified technological study of ancient Middle Eastern pottery (Proto-Hassuna period and the Hassuna culture (the archaic stage)) and the earliest pottery of the Russian Far East (the Osipovka, Gromatukha, Novopetrovka and Mariinskoe cultures). In total, fragments of approximately 823 vessels were studied. The authors reconstructed earliest ancient traditions inherent in all stages of pottery technology, shapes of the vessels, their decoration and use in everyday life. Finally, the comparative analysis of the earliest Near Eastern and Far Eastern pottery traditions was conducted. The paper summarizes similarities and peculiarities of the pottery emergence in these two regions.
Keywords: chronology, periodization, the Neolithic, the Mesolithic, the North Caucasus, stone tools, trapeze, pressure.
Горы Кавказа и Месопотамская степь на заре бронзового века. Сборник к 90-летию Р.М. Мунчаева / отв. ред. Х.А. Амирханов, 2019
Abstract. The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence o... more Abstract. The origin of pottery production involves two interconnected processes: the emergence of vessel shapes and pottery technology. To clarify the nature of the first process we need to identify prototypes for the shapes of clay vessels and to determine the functions of the first clay vessels. The study of pottery technology involves the earliest plastic raw materials, composition of pottery pastes, and vessels’ firing regimes. The research is based on archaeological ceramics from the Near East and Anatolia of 9–8 millennia ago, and from the Japan and the Far East of Russia 13–11 millennia ago. A range of ethnographic data was also used. The origin of pottery production was a result of adaptive processes of men to local natural and human natural ability to imitation. That is why the origin of pottery production was a polycentric process, appeared a lot of times in various regions of the Earth.
Keywords: origin of ceramics; shapes and size of vessels; raw material; pottery paste; firing regimes.
Советская археология, 1980
Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий, 2016
The paper is dedicated to the results of all-round investigation of two small ceramic collections... more The paper is dedicated to the results of all-round investigation of two small ceramic collections from Novopetrovka-2 and Gromatuha sites. Ceramic study includes vessels size, natural structure of shapes, plastic raw materials, pottery pastes, modes of vessels’ construction, mechanical and thermal treatment of vessels, and pottery decoration. Pottery traditions of Novopetrovka-2 and Gromatuha population were close by the using of mountain silt as a plastic raw material, convex-form molds, beating of vessels with paddle, and fi ring regimes. But some differences show more developed level of Novopetrovka-2 pottery traditions included the using of various organic solutions in pottery paste, grouping the clay patches in wide circle band, developed added sculptural decoration with absolute absence of technological decoration. These facts drew to the conclusion that Gromatuha pottery traditions were closer to Osipovka ones. At the same time Novopetrovka potters did not turn yet to the use of natural clays and mineral temper as Mariinskaya culture potters.
Keywords: Low and Middle Amur-river, ceramics, Neolithic Age, Gromatuha and Novopetrovka cultures, pottery
traditions.
Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий, 2016
V.E. Medvedev, Yu.B. Tsetlin, E.V. Volkova, O.A. Lopatina. On Proto-Pottery Production in the Rus... more V.E. Medvedev, Yu.B. Tsetlin, E.V. Volkova, O.A. Lopatina. On Proto-Pottery Production in the Russian Far East (Amur Region).
The paper summarizes the data on ancient pottery traditions comparative study of the Osipovo, Mariinsk, and Malyshevo archaeological cultures owners from the Neolithic Age located at the Low Amur region. Ceramic investigation included pottery technology, shapes, decoration, and use of vessels but with various details. In the result of the study it became clear that the population of each three cultures was heterogeneous. But the population of Mariinsk, and Malyshevo cultures were much more close than these cultures and Osipovo inhabitants. By the general mechanism of pottery production evolution the pottery traditions of Osipovo culture belong to fi rst–third stages, and the tradition of Mariinsk, and Malyshevo cultures are typical to 4–5th stages of the proto-pottery production.
Keywords: Low Amur region, pottery, Neolithic age, Osipovo, Mariinsk, Malyshevo cultures, pottery traditions.
IV Халиковские чтения, 2007
Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий, 2017
The article analyzes traditions and techniques of pottery production, vessel shapes and decoratio... more The article analyzes traditions and techniques of pottery production, vessel shapes and decoration, as well as pottery use by the carriers of the Osipovka and Mariinskoe Neolithic cultures in the Russian Lower Amur region. The Osipovka culture is one of the earliest in the world, and its pottery reflects the initial stage of pottery production in the human history. Pottery of the Mariinskoe culture belongs to the next stage in ancient pottery production of the Early Neolithic period in that region. Analyzing the total data on ancient pottery traditions among the carriers of both cultures, the authors conclude that these pottery objects were produced by two different cultural groups of ancient population, and emphasize high cultural homogeneity of the Mariinskoe population.
Keywords: Neolithic of Priamurie, pottery, historical and cultural approach, technical and technological analysis, vessel shapes, decoration.
Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий, 2017
The article summarizes the results of many years of research into the Neolithic pottery from the ... more The article summarizes the results of many years of research into the Neolithic pottery from the lower Amur River basin. Pottery remains of the Osipovskaya (fragments of 122 vessels), Gromatukhinskaya (fragments of 12 vessels), Novopetrovskaya (fragments of 22 vessels), Mariinskaya (fragments from 149 vessels), and Malyshevskaya (fragments of 43 vessels) archaeological cultures have been studied from the historical and cultural approach. The authors describe the main features of various traditions followed by the carriers of these cultures in terms of pottery manufacturing techniques, shapes of vessels, and their ornamental decoration; the common and specific features of these traditions are described. Several general patterns of the origins and evolutionary development of pottery production in the early period of its history are demonstrated on the basis of the data obtained.
Keywords: Initial and Early Neolithic, Amur Region, historical and cultural approach, ceramics, formation of potterymaking traditions, ethno-cultural processes
Российская археология, 2011
A.A. Bobrinsky, Yu.B. Tsetlin, I.A. Gey. Some Evidences of Techniсal Devices and Technology of Ku... more A.A. Bobrinsky, Yu.B. Tsetlin, I.A. Gey. Some Evidences of Techniсal Devices and Technology of Kuro-Araxes Potters (On the Materials of Novo-Gaptsakh settlement in Dagestan).
The article presents the results of technical and technological study of Early Bronze Age pottery (Kura-Araxes culture) from the excavations at Novo-Gaptsakh settlement in Dagestan. The authors analyze the cultural traditions in the choice and treatment of clay, making of the clay mass, use of molds and potter’s wheels. Local and imported traditions are identified.
КСИА, 2021
Abstract. The Otverzhichi cemetery of the Zarubintsy culture in the Polesye is one of the most we... more Abstract. The Otverzhichi cemetery of the Zarubintsy culture in the Polesye is one of the most well-known burial sites attributed to this culture. The issue of its periodization was addressed by the scholars. At the same time in both cases the studies were based on the data on fibulae dating built on analogies with relevant materials in southern and
central Europe. This paper is the first attempt to develop periodization of the cemetery burials based almost entirely on systemic analysis of the shapes of unbroken clay vessels. To this end, a unique methodology developed by the author was used. Based on this methodology, four periods in the history of the cemetery were singled out which made
it possible to identify main development trends in the traditions related to shapes of the vessels made by the local Zarubintsy population within a specified timeline.
Keywords: Early Iron Age, Zarubintsy, Otverzhichi cemetery, periodization of burials, shapes of vessels, pottery traditions.
КСИА, 2019
Abstract. The paper summarizes the methodology of developing relative periodization of archaeolog... more Abstract. The paper summarizes the methodology of developing relative periodization of archaeological sites based on the data of studies regarding ancient ceramics and results of their practical application to the materials from the Podbolot’yevo cemetery of the ancient Muroma. The systemic analysis of shapes of 233 clay pots from 129 graves made it possible to identify five subsequent periods in the history of the emetery. These reflect changes over time in development of pottery-making traditions of the Muroma population that left behind this cemetery. The paper places a special focus on verification of the suggested periodization with the help of independent archaeological data.
Keywords: ancient Muroma, Podbolot’yevo cemetery, historical cultural approach, vessels shapes, periodization, pottery-making traditions.
"HISTORY OF CERAMICS" BULLETIN Volume 1, 2019
The article is devoted to presentment of the systemic analysis of earthenware vessel shapes from ... more The article is devoted to presentment of the systemic analysis of earthenware vessel shapes from the Otverzhichi burial ground (Brest region, Belorussia) of the Zarubinetskaya culture from the Early Iron Age. The analysis has been made from the position of historical-and-cultural approach developed by A. A. Bobrinsky and developed further by the author of the article. The analysis includes study of the vessels general proportionality, of their natural structure, degree of the vessels’ parts functional maturity and their presumable functional purpose according to data of the East European ethnography.
Study of the vessel general proportionality allowed distinguishing two main categories of vessel, i. e., pots and pots-bowls. The first category is represented by one mass tradition in their proportionality while the second category is represented by two traditions that are poorly resolved. Among the pot category 15 kinds of shapes are separated according to their natural structure. Three of them were also massive (75%). Among the pots-bowls six kinds were separated. Three of these were also massive (92%). Pots are characterized with predominance of partly-formed functional parts. Such pots comprise 64% of the total. In pots-bowls category unformed and partly-formed functional parts are presented nearly evenly (55 and 42% of the total). Fully-formed functional parts are extremely rare: in pots they represent 12% and in pots-bowls mere 3%. Study of pots and pots-bowls volumes has demonstrated that the Zarubinetskaya pottery by their functional designation covered nearly all main spheres of that population’s
economy and everyday life.
Key words: Zarubinetskaya culture, vessels’ shapes, systemic analysis, natural structure of forms, vessel volumes, cultural traditions.
Самарский научный вестник. 2015. №4 (13) УДК 902 , 2015
Abstract. The paper tells about the results of systematization and analysis of ethnography data o... more Abstract. The paper tells about the results of systematization and analysis of ethnography data on pottery production in Mordovia district, collected by Alexander A. Bobrinsky in the beginning of 1960th during complete questionnaire work. There are 75 messages as from the potters themselves (very rare) as from their younger relatives, local school-teachers, and others. Then became clear that most of the local potters were Russian migrants (not the Mordovians) lived here from 17-18th centuries. Distribution the Russian pottery traditions destroyed the local Mordovian ones preserved only in traces. But the Russian potters in Mordovia had retained more archaic pottery traditions than the same potters resided in Russia. Just these traditions have a lot of interest to study. The author investigates the Mordovian pottery production through the system of Historical-and-Cultural approach according to the universal structure of pottery technology and the whole pottery production process as a field of the human culture.
Keywords: Mordovia; ethnography; pottery production; clay vessels; technology; firing; cultural traditions.
It is very difficult to study the social structure of Neolithic communities on the basis of archa... more It is very difficult to study the social structure of Neolithic communities on the basis of archaeological materials, but circumstances sometimes arise that allow for such an analysis, as was the case in this re-
is review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following three... more is review of Russian investigations into ancient pottery production considers the following three questions: 1) scientific approaches to the investigation of ancient pottery production and their development within archaeology, 2) the structure of pottery production as a functional system and as an object of scientific investigation, and 3) modern research potentials and some results of ancient pottery production investigations in Russia.
Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences
Documenta Praehistorica, 2012
The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the central Russian p... more The possible identification of gentes groups in the Neolithic population of the central Russian plain is presented in this paper. For this purpose, a systematic analysis of pottery decoration traditions was performed. We suggest that all studied archaeological cultures had the same social structure, which included two gentes groups, but the gens also had a core and a periphery.
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Российская археология, № 1, 2020
The article presents in details the data recently obtained by the authors as a result of specifie... more The article presents in details the data recently obtained by the authors as a result of specified technological study of ancient Middle Eastern pottery (Proto-Hassuna period and the Hassuna culture (the archaic stage)) and the earliest pottery of the Russian Far East (the Osipovka, Gromatukha, Novopetrovka and Mariinskoe cultures). In total, fragments of approximately 823 vessels were studied. The authors reconstructed earliest ancient traditions inherent in all stages of pottery technology, shapes of the vessels, their decoration and use in everyday life. Finally, the comparative analysis of the earliest Near Eastern and Far Eastern pottery traditions was conducted. The paper summarizes similarities and peculiarities of the pottery emergence in these two regions.