Modeling Late Copper Age demographics on the Great Hungarian Plain using ceramic petrography

Abstract

Ceramic petrography can be an effective method for studying demographic shifts and the possibility of migration into a region. This is based on the principle that ceramic manufacturing technology is resistant to change over time, while form and decoration can change quickly even in times of demographic continuity. As such, sudden shifts in raw material preparation and methods of pottery manufacture may be indicative of the arrival of new people in a region. The manufacturing characteristics indicative of such a demographic change are observable and measurable microscopically. Petrography was used to describe and measure paste characteristics of 114 Middle Copper Age, Late Copper Age, Early Bronze Age, and Middle Bronze Age sherds from the Körös region of the Great Hungarian Plain to determine if changes in manufacturing techniques accompanied changes in ceramic form and decoration at the beginning of the Late Copper Age Baden period (ca. cal. 3500 B.C.). A comparison of the petrographic results from the cultural phases showed that little manufacturing and technology change occurred during the time period covered by the study. Migration of new people into the region is therefore not supported, and changes in ceramic form and decoration associated with the Late Copper Age occurred during an extended period of demographic continuity.