The Early Medieval Pottery from Sângeorgiu de Mureş-Roman Catholic Cemetery (Mureş County) (original) (raw)
Related papers
2014
The Costișa archaeological culture has been known for more than half a century and it has been categorized as belonging to the Middle Bronze Age in the Eastern Carpathian area. From the very beginning it was supposed to be the result of local connections with southern Monteoru-type elements and northern ones such as Komariw-Bialy-Potik. This assessment was made on the basis of a comparative analysis of the known archaeological investigation methods (stratigraphy and pottery typology). The present contribution employs another type of analysis of the pottery from the eponymous site. Thus, starting from the archaeological database consisting of seven pottery shards, the following scientific investigations were performed: SEM-EDS analysis, optical spectroscopy, and chemical modules analysis. The aim was to cover all the steps followed during modern pottery investigation, from the archaeological description of the artefacts and the initial macroscopic evaluation, to the integration by the archaeologist of the data obtained from the other types of analysis. The results of these analyses could provide multiple coherent answers regarding the history of a site, the ceramic technology, the relations between the local community and the Monteoru ones. Rezumat: Cultura Costișa este cunoscută de peste o jumătate de secol. Aceasta a fost încadrată în perioada mijlocie a epocii bronzului din zona de răsărit a Carpaților Orientali. Încă de la debutul cercetărilor, cultura Costișa a fost considerată ca fiind rezultatul îmbinării unor elemente nordice de tip Komariw-Bialy-Potok cu elemente sudice de tip Monteoru. Această primă evaluare a fost făcută pe baza analizei comparative a rezultatelor aplicării metodelor de investigare arheologică (stratigrafie și tipologie ceramică). Contribuția actuală încearcă să utilizeze și alt tip de investigare a materialului ceramic din situl omonim. Astfel, pornind de la o bază de date arheologice formată din șapte fragmente de ceramică, au fost aplicate și următoarele tipuri de investigație NECULAI BOLOHAN 200 științifică: macroscopie și microscopie optică, analiza SEM-EDS, spectroscopie optică, module de analiză chimică. Am dorit parcurgerea tuturor etapelor unui tip actual de investigare a olăriei, care începe cu descrierea arheologică a artefactelor și prima evaluare macroscopică până la integrarea de către arheolog a datelor rezultate ca urmare a utilizării analizelor multiple. Rezultatele acestor investigații ar putea oferi mai multe răspunsuri coerente cu privire la următoarele aspecte: istoria de unui sit, tehnologia ceramică, relațiile dintre comunitatea locală și comunitățile Monteoru.
Multidisciplinary study on prehistoric pottery from Southeastern Romania
ArchéoSciences, 2019
Local production or import? This question always raises vivid debates among the archaeologists when they analyse pots and ceramic fragments regardless of the studied period. In the case of pottery from the Eneolithic tell settlement of Sultana-Malu Roşu from SouthEast Romania, we tried to address this issue through a series of physico-chemical investigations. To reach this goal, we analyzed several shards from two dwellings, as well as clay samples collected from some local deposits from nearby the tell settlement. Petrographic analyses on thin sections and X-ray fluorescence coupled with X-ray diffraction analyses were performed to get mineralogical and chemical information about the archaeological ceramic and local clay samples. One of the aims of this investigation was to explore the connection between Sultana-Malu Roşu pottery and the nearby clay sources, but also to check the local origin of the analyzed pottery. The physico-chemical analyses helped us to identify the procedures and recipes employed by the prehistoric potters, and those data were used in our experimental archaeology approaches when we tried to replicate the prehistoric vessels. The investigation of prehistoric vessels was complemented by imaging analyses using radiography and X-ray computed tomography, in a trial of getting a clearer picture of the chaîne opératoire involved in pottery production process. Moreover, creating experimental replicas, we recorded how pots behave at all stages of manufacturing from modelling to firing. Alongside with the development of a reference database for Gumelnița pottery, an important achievement of this research was that we proved that the vessels from Sultana-Malu Roşu site were made using local clays. Résumé : Production locale ou importation? Cette question suscite toujours de vifs débats parmi les archéologues. Dans le cas de la poterie provenant du tell énéolithique de Sultana-Malu Roşu situé dans le sud-est de la Roumanie, nous avons essayé d'aborder cette question par une série d'investigations physico-chimiques. Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous avons analysé plusieurs tessons provenant de deux maisons, ainsi que des échantillons d'argile à proximité du tell. On a réalisé des analyses pétrographiques sur des lames minces et des analyses de fluorescence des rayons X et de diffraction des rayons X afin d'obtenir des informations minéralogiques et chimiques sur les échantillons de céramique et d'argile. L'un des buts de cette étude a été d'explorer la relation entre la poterie de Sultana-Malu Roşu et les sources d'argile des environs, afin de vérifier l'origine locale de la poterie analysée. Les analyses physico-chimiques nous ont aidés à identifier les procédures et les recettes utilisées par les artisans antiques. Les résultats ont été utilisés dans nos ateliers d'archéologie expérimentale lorsque nous avons essayé de répliquer les récipients préhistoriques. L'investigation de la céramique préhistorique a été complétée par des analyses d'imagerie en utilisant la radiographie et la tomographie aux rayons X par ordinateur, dans l'effort de former une image plus claire sur la chaîne opératoire employée dans la fabrication de la poterie. Par la création des réplicas modernes nous avons enregistré la manière dont la poterie se comporte à travers toutes les étapes de fabrication, à partir du modelage jusqu'à la cuisson. À côté du développement d'une base de données de référence pour la poterie de Gumelnița, un résultat important de cette recherche a été d'avoir prouvé que la vaisselle de Sultana-Malu Roşu était fabriquée en utilisant les argiles locales.
Evaluation of the Pottery by Archaeometrical Methods
2013
Abstract Ceramic artefacts, generally accepted as archaeological keys, bear the remarks of spectacular cultural, economic and political shifts in the short-term histories of the ancient settlements. Exposed to continuous diversifications due to the social and economic structure of the era and to the utilisation needs, ceramics is one of the rare finding groups that can last until today with well-preserved structural features. The variations observed on forms and decorations make the ceramics most important findings to exhibit the technological standards of raw material processing in the ancient cultures. However, today’s science requires a determinative understanding of the material not only by the artistic features, but also by the structural means. Studies on ceramics focus on the analyses of co-operational archaeometrical methods of pedology, geology, geomorphology, petrography and metallurgy, besides ceramic classifications, detection of the raw materials and inter-regional comparisons.
HYPOTHESES REGARDING THE POTTERY PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION (THE 8 th -12 th CENTURY
Confirming the archaeological data and the ethnographical information, the author presents the reconstitution of an 8 th-12 th centuries potter workshop (structure, inventory, working area etc), to identify minimum of necessary time to produce the quantity of vessels (from the discovery of the clay source up to the burning process), some workshops production capacity and the spreading area of their production. Rezumat: Coroborând datele arheologice cu cele etnografice, autoarea urmăreşte reconstituirea unui atelier de olar din sec. VIII-XII (structură, inventar, suprafaţă de lucru etc.), să identifice un minim de timp necesar pentru producerea unei cantităţi date de vase (de la descoperirea depozitului de lut până la procesul de ardere), capacitatea de producţie a unor ateliere şi aria de răspândire a mărfurilor acestora. Key words: the 8 th-12 th century, pottery workshops, the production capacity. Cuvinte cheie: sec. VIII-XII, ateliere de olari, capacitate de producţie. The impressive quantity of pottery found in the 8 th-12 th century settlements permit the supposition the pottery art had an essential role for the economic activity of that period, the products being requested sufficiently by the community. As pottery is the most frequent material in the early medieval sites, sometimes the only one, we might believe there are no news about it, that all about ceramics is already known. But, one can easily see there are a lot of unknown aspects in connection with the pottery skill itself, as well as with this material circulation, aspects we are going to analyse in the next lines, but no pretending to finalize the disscussion. It is possible, we expected or wished to see also more often, during the researches, workshops and specific installations for this trade, based on which to be able to suggest hypotheses on the production capacity of such a " centre ". Retrospectively, taking into consideration the researches of the last seven decades, we record six pottery workshops and 29 kilns for burning pots, on the present territory of Romania 1. There is no doubt the small number of these complexes results from the extension of the inhabited areas, being already known the fact that working areas were situated, usually, at the outskirts of the settlements, both for practical reasons (the neighbourhood with different primary necessary resources) and the protection of the houses, understanding by that avoiding fires, or, in the situation of other trades, avoiding the remains with pestilential smells. The phenomenum is current mainly for large settlements or towns. Or, it can be possible in a later period, even during a modern one. Many workshops were near a water course. The changing of its direction or an increased output could be causes not permitting those complexes to last until our time. Not last, the research still incomplete of some sites or not knowing others can represent other causes, and, obviously, not the last ones.
The aim of laboratory analysis carried out on pottery fragments recovered from the Poienești-Lucaşeuca (PL) site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni was to verify the hypothesis that there was a continuity in pottery technology traditions and the hypothesis that there was continuity in raw material use. In order to verify these hypotheses, i.e. to determine whether we are dealing with continuity or with changes in pottery manufacturing, two factors must be taken into account: know-how and raw material. This means that it is necessary to perform both technological and raw material analyses. For the purposes of this study the following methods were used: MGR-analysis, chemical analysis by WD-XRF, thin-section studies and an estimation of physical ceramic properties. The results of archaeometric analysis of pottery from the PL site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni did not substantiate the hypothesis that there had been a continuity in pottery technology traditions. The results of archaeometric analysis of pottery from the PL site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni did, conversely, confirm the hypothesis that there was a continuity in raw material use. At both sites and in both phases there is a marked emphasis on local production of ceramics using locally sourced raw materials. The analyses performed show how vital technological analyses are in the study of ancient pottery. If only chemical composition and/or thin-sections are analysed (which is the most common practice) and a report is then written up based on even the precise findings of a technique such as WD-XRF and on sophisticated statistical methods, there is a chance that the resultant cultural and historical conclusions may be erroneous. Without technological analyses, the conclusions drawn solely from the results of chemical analysis/thin-section studies would be that from an archaeometric point of view, there is nothing to suggest a lack of continuity in ceramic production traditions between the Getic site and the PL site. In summary, the similarities in production between pottery from the Getic site and the PL site are clearly reflected in the raw materials used, both in terms of plastic ingredients and intentional temper. However, the results of preliminary technological analyses suggest that there is a lack of continuity in pottery technology traditions. In this way, given the differences observed in the physical ceramic property values, a broader range of analyses is required that will enable us to more accurately reconstruct the ceramic technology.
Some Thoughts on the Appearance of Pottery in the Lower Danube Plain (Romania)
Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 23 (2007), 109-19
We aim to prouide a background for the recent inuoluement of the Department of Pottery Technologt (Leiden Facuhy of ArchaeologD and of TACBT in the Southern Romanian Archaeohgical Project (SRAP) carried, out U Cardif Uniuersity and directed by Douglass Bailey. Preliminary rEnrts of our worh haue appeared in preuious issues of this journal. We are also participating in the associated project by Radian Andreescu and Pauel MireA concerning the neolithisation of the Lower Danube region. Among the set of issues addrased by our ceramic reseArclt, the appenrAnce of pottery in Neolithic pastoral societies in the Lower Danube ualley is a hrl one. We haue first-hand acquaintance with two early sites here, both subsumed und,er the generic nAme of Mdgura, neAr the modern town ofAlexandria in South Romania, where tbe earlier nne, at about 6000 cal BC, is in fott independent from the lorgtr main site first settled some time later during the Starteuo-CriS period.2 Ceramic programme of SRAP The Southern Romanian Archaeological project (SRAP) pto'oided the impulse to treat settlement patterns, land-use, and material culture within a micro-regional context (Bailey et al. 2002). In terms of pottery, SRAP is concerned with a set of research issues that are being addressed to sites and materials within this region dating from the first uses of ceramics during the early Neolithic (.". 6000-5600 cal BC) to the subsequent Dudegti and Vidastra phases (ca. 5500-5000 cal BC), r'rp until the 5'h millennium Boian and Gumelnita periods. Major research issues the SRAP ceramic programme is deali.g with focus on: o Technology: resource acquisition (clays, tempering materials, pigments and fillers); fabric analysis (makirg use of microscopic observations, and, eventually, of thin-sections); formirg techniques, chafnes opiratoires, surface-finishitg and decoration techniques; firing procedures; motor habit patterns; o Morpholory and categorisation: establishing suitable, quantified rypological schemes to come towards an emic categorisation of assemblages making use of the technological analyses, the gestures involved in handling pottery, the use-functions (cooking, serving, storage, ritual uses); Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 23, 2007 : I 09-120.
Roman pottery in the countryside of Dobruja. Topolog as case study
Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, 2018
This paper presents a pottery assemblage discovered at Topolog (Tulcea County) in 2010, at approximatively 500 m northwest of the village, in two refused pits severely affected by the extraction of clay by the locals. In the same area a rectangular kiln for the production of bricks and tiles was investigated. The pottery assemblage consists of transport amphorae for wine and salt fish (Shelov C and Zeest 84/85), fine ware (Pontic sigillata), drinking and cooking ware, and a number of handmade pottery of La Tène tradition. These forms date back to the 2 nd century AD and reflect the trade relations of a rural community from the periphery of the Empire with the north and southeastern Pontic regions. Rezumat. Acest articol prezintă un lot de ceramică descoperit la Topolog (jud. Tulcea) în anul 2010, la cca. 500 m nord-vest de localitate, în două gropi grav afectate de extragerea lutului de către localnici. În aceeași zonă a fost cercetat un cuptor rectangular pentru producția țiglelor și olanelor. Ceramica constă în amfore pentru transportul vinului și al peștelui sărat (Shelov C și Zeest 84/85), ceramică fină (Pontic sigillata), ceramică de băut, ceramică de bucătărie și un important lot de ceramică lucrată cu mâna de tradiție La Tène. Aceste forme sunt datate în secolul II p.Chr. și reflectă legăturile unei comunități rurale de la periferia Imperiului cu regiunile nord și sud-est pontice.