Shared traditions and shard conservatism: pottery making at the Chalcolithic site of Radovanu (Romania)

Abstract

This work investigates the technology of pottery production at the Chalcolithic site of Radovanu-La Muscalu (first half of the fifth millennium BCE), in southern Romania. The excavation of this settlement yielded a rich and well-contextualised archaeological assemblage that represents the last phases of development of Boian material culture, a Chalcolithic phenomenon that spread throughout the lower Danube area at the end of the sixth millennium BCE and the first half of fifth millennium BCE. To carry out this investigation, a total of forty-nine ceramic samples, representative of the different pottery types and chronological horizons attested at this site, together with geological samples collected around Radovanu, were selected. These were analysed using a multi-pronged scientific approach including ceramic petrography, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. This interdisciplinary study elucidates different aspects of the local pottery production and indicates that ceramics at Radovanu were manufactured according to a conservative tradition that consistently made use of grog tempering throughout all phases in which this settlement was inhabited. The results also show that at Radovanu, regional technological traits coexisted with elements that were widely applied in the Balkan region at that time, such as graphite-painted decoration. This investigation together with the identification of potential non-local productions well illustrates the complex interrelationships between the Boian phenomenon and the neighbouring material cultures in the Balkans.