Abstract
AbstractThe introduction of agricultural practices fostered the development of specific technologies for the new subsistence practices and the production of new artefacts. Pyrotechnological structures such as ovens are part of the Neolithic equipment and accompanied the spread of agriculture from the Near East across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Ovens located within settlements – mainly domed, above-ground structures – have been traditionally linked to cooking and baking. The function is usually deduced from techno-morphological traits, although experimental approaches or ethnoarchaeological observations have often been used. This article aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary approach to understand the function of fire structures. An integrated methodology that combines archaeological analysis, archaeometry, and experimental archaeology has been applied to study the underground ovens of the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo (Marche, Italy) dated to the sixth millennium BCE. Samples of hardened sediment of archaeological ovens’ inner surface and selected pottery fragments were analysed through X-ray powder diffraction to estimate the temperature reached. A life-size replica of an underground oven was then created to perform firing experiments, including pottery firing. Samples of the oven’s walls and experimental vessels were analysed with the same method, and the values were compared. Our results indicate that the Portonovo ovens are potentially multifunctional structures, built for about 700 years, always with the same technique exploiting the natural soil’s insulating properties.
Highlights
Innovations in fire-related technology contributed to change in human physiology, social interactions, and human–environment relationship
To understand the functioning of the structures even in relation to temperature dynamics, this second experiment of pottery firing was set with one thermocouple placed in the oven chamber and three thermocouples inserted into the natural soil for recording the temperature reached by the lining of the experimental oven (Figure 7(a))
The experimental plan and the mineralogical analyses carried out on seven samples of the oven’s inner surface, and two samples of pottery fired in it allowed to verify the hypothesis of multipurpose use of these ovens
Summary
Innovations in fire-related technology contributed to change in human physiology, social interactions, and human–environment relationship. The location of ovens is crucial to understand if the use and function are related to a single household – this is the case of the ovens placed inside a dwelling or a room of the house – or if ovens were communal structures located in open areas within settlements. We applied an integrated methodology, which combines archaeological observation, experimental replication, and archaeometric analyses, to verify the archaeological interpretative model of new Italian evidence of underground ovens, frequently attested in Neolithic settlements of central Europe from France to Hungary (Cheben & Hajndova, 1997; Lüning, 2004; Pechtl, 2008; Petrasch, 1986) These underground structures are generally associated with baking and food processing their use for pottery drying has not been excluded (Staššiková-Štukovkhá, 2002). Large bowls and jars are the most represented vessels, articulated shapes are present
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