Cultural Composition of the Muroma Based on the Study of the Pottery Traditions

Abstract

Purpose. To reveal the cultural composition of the Muroma tribe at different stages of its history, two aspects of research of the pottery were included: the traditions of making specific shapes and preparation of pottery paste.Results. Analysis of the shapes of 679 vessels from the Muroma burial grounds allowed us to distinguish three traditions of shaping. The first shape dominates at the early and middle stages and represents the original cultural core of the Muroma. The second shape marks the spread of the population of another culture in the Muroma area. The analysis of the pottery pastes of 137 vessels from Podbolotevo burial ground has shown that Muroma pottery developed as a result of contacts between potters with different skills, such as tempering clay (C) with crushed rock (CR) and chamotte (Ch). For Muroma of a middle stage such mixed recipe of pottery paste as C + CR + Ch + Org is typical. At the later stage, the tradition of C + Ch + Org begins to dominate in the Muroma, and the addition of crushed rock almost disappears. A comparison of the data on the shapes of the vessels and the pottery pastes from which they were made distinguished a connection between the first shape tradition and the C + CR + Ch + Org recipe, and the second tradition – with the C + Ch + Org recipe.Conclusion. Both aspects of pottery technology allow reconstruct a whole picture of a quick change in the Muroma cultural composition at the late stage. This change was associated with the influx of the new population.