NEOLITHIC FINE POTTERY: PROPERTIES, PERFORMANCE AND FUNCTION

International Journal

The present paper aims to establish a series of characteristics, as well as a theoretical and methodological framework, to help assess the possible utility of Neolithic pots, based on the analysis of its fabric. Our approach is based on the use of a series of analytical parameters, through the ...

BECAP- Belgrade Conference on Archaeological Pottery, Pots in context: Vessels use, function and consumption research strategies and methodology, Vuković, J., Bikić, V. (eds.), Beograd, 2020. , 2021

The paper will present the research results concerning use related properties of the Late Bronze Age pottery from the area of northern Croatia. The analysis was carried out on findings from the remains of several Urnfield Culture settlements located in different micro-regions and dated between the 14th and 9th centuries BC. Since the tradition of processing the archaeological ceramics in these areas is deeply rooted in culturehistorical approach, the aim of the study is to apply a different strategy to the processing of the same material in order to gain insight into more social and economic aspects of prehistoric communities who made and used ceramic vessels. In that regard, the main objective is to identify functional performance characteristics considering the links between technology, morphology, vessels' sizes and function, as well as use-alterations as markers of vessels' use. However, pronounced variability in vessel shapes, as well as a high level of fragmentation, represent a limitation in carrying out such analysis, and the imbalance of the context and depositional processes of pottery findings makes the interpretation more difficult. Therefore, in addition to the results, the methodological and interpretative challenges in pottery analysis related to the above-mentioned issues will be highlighted, especially those concerning the comparative and correlative considerations of the use-related properties of prehistoric pottery.

1. BİLSEL INTERNATIONAL GORDİON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES CONGRESS, 2023

This research focuses on examining fired clay pottery, a robust material that offers invaluable historical insights. The study analyses ceramics according to their various attributes, including shape, surface type, color, drawing patterns, and decorative styles. The analysis yields valuable information concerning production and decoration stages. Furthermore, this study elucidates the techniques employed in ascertaining the fabrication period of fired clay products and the comparative analysis with other ceramics. Notably, the research confirms that the ornamentation of ceramics from dissimilar regions and eras varies distinctively, while varying types of clay or modes of production are frequently used. The significance of these details lies in their ability to date the region, map trade and communication networks, and determine the presence of multiple human groups. Pottery development research utilizes a range of scientific methods to trace the raw material sources of ceramic production and underscores their importance in reconfiguring the economics, production techniques, organization, and social aspects of ceramic production. Conclusively, this research highlights the significance of investigating prehistoric kiln-fired ceramics for comprehending the function of pottery in the origination of early human communities and for gaining a deeper appreciation of our shared cultural legacy.

Painting Pots Painting People

This book offers a range of perspectives on current research on Neolithic pottery in ancient Mesopotamia. It was produced by members of a working group established during its founding meeting in Brno and Rejvíz (Czech Republic) in January 2012. For this fi rst meeting the group adopted the working title “Painting Pots – Painting People”. Participants attending the workshop personally knew each other from previous work, and represented academic institutions from several countries in Europe, the Middle East and Turkey, the United States and Japan.

De Gruyter Open Ltd.: Warsaw/Berlin, 2014

This open access peer-reviewed book presents a wide overview of certain aspects of the pottery analysis and summarizes most of the methodological and theoretical information currently applied in archaeology in order to develop wide and deep analysis of ceramic pastes. The book provides an adequate framework for understanding the way pottery production is organised and clarifies the meaning and role of the pottery in archaeological and traditional societies. The goal of this book is to encourage reflection, especially by those researchers who face the analysis of ceramics for the first time, by providing a background for the generation of their own research and to formulate their own questions depending on their concerns and interests. The three-part structure of the book allows readers to move easily from the analysis of the reality and ceramic material culture to the world of the ideas and theories and to develop a dialogue between data and their interpretation.

Understanding people through their pottery, Proceedings of the 7th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics (EMAC’03), Trabalhos de Arqueologia 42, Lisbon, 2005

Every archaeologist specialized in the study of pottery knows that the technology of pottery-making has largely been neglected, mainly because the limitations of archaeological methodology tend to keep inferences within the bounds of taxonomy. In fact, traditional archaeology, using pottery mainly as an aid in discriminating between strata and cultures, has not attached great importance to its technological aspect and contented itself with a basic distinction between two modes of manufacture: handmade or wheel-thrown pottery. This smallest but for the culture-historical school sufficient piece of information has been of secondary interest itself. Prehistoric archaeology, for example, has not even found it necessary to attach the "handmade" tag, almost all prehistoric pottery being made by hand. Furthermore, it has held that the specification "handmade" by itself says everything there is to be said about it. But, does it? Is all handmade pottery really made in the same way? As a rule these questions have not even been posed.

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.

Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences, 2018

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

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and no significant part has been taken from any document published or written by any other writer and confirm that the content of this dissertation has not been previously presented for the submission of any other degrees. All the intellectual content of this dissertation is the output of my own work and knowledge. All the contributions made during the preparation of this dissertation are acknowledged.