The selection of ceramic raw material: convenience or a technological idea? A case study of the Danubian cultures north of the Carpathians. Archeologické rozhledy 69 (2017), 261-280 (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Exploitation of Raw Materials in Prehistory: Sourcing, Processing and Distribution, 2017
The paper considers certain technological aspects of the production of ceramic vessels by the Danubian cultures around the Western Carpathians. The analysis covers the vast areas north of the Carpathians (Lesser Poland) and the northern part of the Carpathian Basin (the borderland between Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Trans-Carpathian Ukraine). At the same time the analysis embraces a long time period, spanning 5500 and 4000/3800 cal. BC. The petrographic analysis of the pottery is focused on mineralogical and petrographic composition and component quantity ratios. Thin sections taken from the ceramic fragments have been examined with a polarized light microscope. The technological groups of ceramics of the Danubian cultures in Lesser Poland were distinguished. Pottery from the Carpathian Basin was also classified into a few petrographic groups. The results of the analysis of ceramic technology are helpful in the reconstruction of culture change processes around the Western Carpathians.
MICHELA SPATARO, MARTIN FURHOLT (eds.),Detecting and explaining TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN PREHISTORY, 2020
This article explains the place, and role of innovation in selected aspects of ceramic technology in the process of the transformation of areas located north of the Carpathians in the early Neolithic. Due to the availability of rich archaeological materials and their geographical location, this goal can most easily be achieved through a multilateral analysis of the early Neolithic remains, represented mainly by Linearbandkeramik (LBK), in the Rzeszów settlement region. Among others, the trends of the variability of the technology and stylistics of ceramics, the supply of stone raw materials, and the size of settlements against the dynamics of the development of demographic processes were analysed. As the most effective method of interpretation, the theory of Pierre Bourdieu was recognized. In the transformation process of early Neolithic communities in the Rzeszów region, innovations in ceramics technology appeared to be a routinized and non-discursive element of a broad stream of social and culture changes. They are the result and mirror of these changes and, at the same time, one of their co-constitutive and co-shaping factors. Keywords: LBK, society, technological innovation, pottery, transformation
Archeologické rozhledy, 2024
This study investigates a medieval pottery kiln and its fill excavated at a 13th-century settlement site near the Žďár Cistercian monastery. The short 30-40 year lifespan of the settlement provides valuable insight into how pottery was made and appeared in a chronologically specified timeframe of the mid-13th century. The kiln was a single-chamber type, either with an open-topped or domed superstructure with a very narrow stoking channel in terms of height. Technological analysis of the pottery inside the kiln points to consistent production techniques utilising a combination of coiling and early rotational devices with rapid firing practices. The interpretation of the forming technique is backed by 3D scanning, which quantifies the wall thickness variability over various vessel body parts. Cross-analysis with settlement finds shows a uniform ceramic morphology and technological nuances, with petrographic data suggesting both local and external material influences. The study enhances the understanding of the socioeconomic dynamics during medieval colonisation based on the case of the Žďár region and provides a benchmark for regional ceramic research. Middle Ages-Bohemian-Moravian Highlands-Žďár nad Sázavou-pottery kiln-pottery productionpetrography-XRF analysis Tato studie zkoumá středověkou hrnčířskou pec a její výplň odkrytou v rámci sídliště ze 13. století poblíž cisterciáckého kláštera ve Žďáru. Krátká 30-40letá existence sídliště poskytuje cenný vhled do způsobu výroby a vzhledu keramiky v chronologicky vymezeném časovém horizontu poloviny 13. století. Pec byla jednokomorová buď s otevřenou, nebo klenutou nástavbou s výškově velmi úzkým topným kanálem. Technologický rozbor keramiky uvnitř pece ukazuje na konzistentní výrobní postupy kombinující výrobu z válečků s ranými rotačními zařízeními a s rychlým výpalem. Interpretace techniky tvarování je podpořena 3D skenováním, které kvantifikuje variabilitu tloušťky stěn na různých částech nádoby. Srovnání se sídlištními nálezy ukazuje na jednotnou morfologii keramiky a technologické nuance, přičemž petrografická data naznačují jak místní, tak vnější materiálové vlivy. Studie rozšiřuje poznání socioekonomické dynamiky během středověké kolonizace na případu Žďárska a poskytuje východisko pro regionální výzkum středověké keramiky. středověk-Českomoravská vysočina-Žďár nad Sázavou-hrnčířská pec-hrnčířská výroba-petrografie-XRF analýza
2018
In area of Podolsk Upland and Upper Dniester in the second half of V and in the first half of IV millennia BC periodically co-existed the communities of three Eneolithic cultures: Tripolye (stages BII, CI), Malice (late phase) and Lublin-Volhynian (classical phase). For these cultures mentioned area was a peripheral zone of ranges, on which a various mutual relations, manifested in ceramic and flint production, took place. The most explicit evidences of intercultural relations are manifested in the pottery production, when the technical and stylistic traditions are diffused among culturally different communities, living on the same or neighbouring territories. To identify the nature of the intercultural relationship, an analysis of selected ceramic collections was carried out, taking into account successive stages of production: raw material selection, ceramic mass preparation, forming vessels along with surface treatment, decorating and firing. We also used petrographic analyzes and chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine the organic components of the ceramic painting of the Tripolye and Lublin-Volhynian cultures.
The selection of ceramic raw material: convenience or a technological idea?
Archeologické rozhledy
This paper reconstructs the rules governing the selection of ceramic raw material and considers certain technological aspects of the production of ceramic vessels in some Danubian cultures around the Carpathians in the Neolithic. The analysis encompassed more than 500 samples of ceramics produced by various cultural units across different chronological horizons. The results of the analysis are used to verify several hypotheses concerning the relationships and the mechanisms of cultural change in the Carpathian region. The most important questions include: (1) evolution of the LBK ceramics, (2) influence of the ALPC on the evolution of the LBK pottery in Małopolska, (3) technology of the LBK ceramics east of the Carpathians, (4) culture change at the turn of the LBK and the MC in Małopolska and (5) culture change at the turn of the MC and the L-VC in the same region. The suitability of the pottery technological analysis to solve some prehistoric problems was confirmed.
Abstract: The subject of this article is the relationship between Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) from the Karków region in western Lesser Poland and Transcarpathian Eastern (Alföld) Linear Pottery (ALPC) culture from the Slovak-Hungarian borderland, based on mineralogical-petrographic analyses of ceramics. Clear linkages between these areas are attested in the importation of obsidian into Lesser Poland from the South, and of different types of flint into the Carpathian Basin from the North. Significant importation of ALPC pottery has been recorded to the north of the Carpathian Mountains. These relationships not only involved the exchange of goods (raw materials and ceramics) but also the constant transfer of ideas, as evidenced by the frequent occurrence of imitation ALPC ceramics in the LBK settlement centres. It has been found that evolutionary changes in LBK pottery resulted primarily from intensified contact with the ALPC. The growing influence of the ALPC, together with other factors, led to cultural change in Lesser Poland and to the replacement of the LBK by the Malice culture. Keywords: Neolithic, Linear Pottery Culture, LBK, Alföld Linear Pottery culture, ALPC, Lesser Poland, Carpathian Basin, ceramic mineralogical-petrographic analyses.