Bronze Age Pottery Research Articles

First molecular and isotopic evidence of millet processing in prehistoric pottery vessels.

Analysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from centres of domestication but also to determine modes of food processing, artefact function and the culinary significance of the crop. Here, we propose a new approach to identify millet in pottery vessels, a crop that spread throughout much of Eurasia during prehistory following its domestication, most likely in northern China. We report the successful identification of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether), a pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether that is enriched in grains of common/broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), in Bronze Age pottery vessels from the Korean Peninsula and northern Europe. The presence of millet is supported by enriched carbon stable isotope values of bulk charred organic matter sampled from pottery vessel surfaces and extracted n-alkanoic acids, consistent with a C4 plant origin. These data represent the first identification of millet in archaeological ceramic vessels, providing a means to track the introduction, spread and consumption of this important crop.

Notes on Derivation of the Early Bronze Age Pottery with Cord Decoration in Upper Thrace

Notes on Derivation of the Early Bronze Age Pottery with Cord Decoration in Upper Thrace

Organization of ceramic production at a fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in Moravia (Czech Republic) inferred from minimally destructive archaeometry

This paper explores how pottery production was organized at fortified sites of central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The organization of pottery production in terms of ethnography-based models was inferred jointly by non-destructive multi-elemental analysis, micropetrography and powder X-ray diffraction. This minimally destructive approach was used to explore the mode of pottery production at the fortified central site Blucina (Moravia, Czech Republic). Archaeometry-based indirect evidence indicates that tableware of a specific shape was produced using a specific technology at the site or in its close vicinity and that coarse ware was brought to the site from elsewhere. The results obtained were complexly evaluated and compared with ethnography-based categorizations to reveal the features of production organization of the Early Bronze Age pottery. Multidimensional analysis classified the production as intensified household labour and work of individual retainers, or nucleated corvee, depending on its scale and intensity.

A Burning Issue: Firing Temperatures and the Production of Late Bronze Age Pottery from Tarsus-Gözlükule, Turkey

Although ceramic pyrotechnology is a critical component of pottery production, archaeometric studies rarely integrate firing practices into discussions of the organization of pottery manufacture. The primary obstacles to such studies are the limited range and accuracy of many analytical methods, small sample populations, and observed variation within a single firing. We posit in this study that a robust sampling strategy paired with magnetic susceptibility, which has been shown to be an accurate means of estimating maximum firing temperatures, can identify patterns in ceramic pyrotechnology explainable in terms of production strategy. In our case study we analyze Late Bronze IIA pottery from Tarsus-Gözlükule in southern Turkey. The data indicate that the potters consistently fired their pottery to two different maximum temperatures. It is suggested that these two maximum temperatures may have been the result of either the use of two different firing structures or the seasonal exploitation of different fuels.

Tarsus-Gözlüküle Höyüğü Geç Tunç IIB Katmanında Rastlanan Seramik Devamlılıkları

The period extending from the end of the Bronze to the Iron Age is one of the most discussed in the East Mediterranean, marked by the collapse of re­gional powers, a shift from urban and centralized or­gan­i­za­tion to a more rural one, migrations, and an over­all heterogeneity in material culture. However, in the last three decades many new excavations in the region and the re-evaluation of past excavations has confirmed that the narrative of this period is more nuanced. This article investigates the local pottery tradi­tion of Tarsus-Gozlukule in the Cilician Plain during the Late Bronze Age IIb Period. This settlement is at an important cross-roads linking the Syro-Anato­lian world with Central Anatolia and to maritime trade routes opening into the Mediterranean. Both continui­ties and divergences from the earlier Late Bronze Age pottery traditions of this settlement are studied, with the aim of understanding the reconfigura­tions of various networks during this period, tumultu­ous for the entire eastern Mediterra­nean region. The results indicate that this is a period of both instability and continuity eventu­ally taking the different regions in their distinc­tive trajectories, each determined by a wide variety of var­ia­bles, the combina­tion of these variables being specific to each region.

Eretrian ceramic products through time: Investigating the early history of a Greek metropolis

Eretria, an important ancient Greek polis with a rich Bronze Age past, was among the first colonial and commercial powers in the ancient world that founded already in the 8th c. BC a number of colonies and trading posts across the Aegean and the Mediterranean. In the context of a diachronic investigation of Eretrian pottery production and supply from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period, a large number of pottery samples and geological materials have been analysed. The current article summarises the results of the analyses of the Bronze Age pottery from the site, comprising 151 pottery samples carefully selected from stratified deposits, which have been examined through petrographic and chemical (WD-XRF) analyses and compared to geological materials and experimental ceramic briquettes. Overall, the current evidence for local pottery production indicates that during the third and the early second millennia BC no dramatic change occurred in the exploitation of raw materials in Eretria for pottery production, in spite of conspicuous stylistic and technological transformations. The first possible change in raw material sources, which occurs in the Middle Helladic period and affects coarse wares only, corresponds with a major break in the site occupation. Unlike local products, most imported fabrics do not show continuity through time, indicating changes in the direction of external relationships in Eretria.

Early Bronze Age Pottery Covered with Lime-Plaster: Technological Observations

With the emergence of urban culture in the southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age, new types of pottery and ceramic techniques appeared, among them pottery (usually combed) coated with a white material. A selection of sherds from Early Bronze strata was studied in an attempt to analyze this material. Using microscopy and various other methods, the authors were able to determine that the white material was a lime-plaster applied to the vessels after firing. The paper contends that the most likely reason for applying the lime-plaster was functional—to decrease permeability and protect the contents of the vessels.

Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Pottery from the Field Survey in Northwestern Cyprus, 1992–1999, by Dariusz Maliszewski. Polis-Pyrgos Archaeological Project, Volume 1; BAR International Series 2547. VI + 183 pages, 1 table, 3 diagrams, 3 maps, 21 pages of drawings, 18 pages of photographs, 3 color plates. Paper. £33.00.

<i>Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Pottery from the Field Survey in Northwestern Cyprus, 1992–1999</i>, by Dariusz Maliszewski. Polis-Pyrgos Archaeological Project, Volume 1; BAR International Series 2547. VI + 183 pages, 1 table, 3 diagrams, 3 maps, 21 pages of drawings, 18 pages of photographs, 3 color plates. Paper. £33.00.

Petrographic and chemical characterization of Bronze Age pottery from the settlement of Mount San Paolillo (Catania, Italy)

The excavations at Mount San Paolillo (Catania, Italy) led to the discovery of a Prehistoric site that still represents the most important evidence of Middle and Late Bronze Age settlement in this area. During the excavations, archeologists located a hut, a store for ceramic storage vessels, and a pottery workshop, all of which provided a large quantity of heterogeneous ceramics with apparent typological parallels in other areas of Sicily, such as Syracuse, Augusta, and Messina. A large number of specimens were selected in order to cover all the macroscopic types and the main classes. The results identified four petrographic fabrics. Most of the ceramics are characterized by abundant tempers consisting of volcanic rock fragments and occasionally of grog. Only a few samples contained common fine-grained quartz. The groundmass ranges from non-micaceous to very micaceous. In some cases, there is evidence of mixed clays. Analysis of the chemical composition of the ceramics revealed the existence of two groups with low and high CaO contents. The high Fe2O3 content (more than 8.7 wt%) is probably due to the use of temper from altered pyroclastic rocks which are of local provenance as SEM-EDX data suggest, even if petrographic and chemical results suggest that different raw materials may have been used. The data provided by these archeometric analyses have made a significant contribution to the study of Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery from the Catania area, by offering insights into the methods, production processes, and high technical level of the prehistoric craftsmen.

Developing Strategies for Sustainably Managing Archaeological Collections

Developing Strategies for Sustainably Managing Archaeological Collections

The Bronze and Iron Age Pottery from Sovjan

The Bronze and Iron Age Pottery from Sovjan

The colour of ceramics from Bell Beaker contexts in NW Spain: relation to elemental composition and mineralogy

In this paper we characterise the mineralogical and elemental composition and the colour (CIELab space) of Bronze Age pottery sherds from NW Spain, using X-Ray diffraction, X-Ray fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy, respectively. For half of the samples we also determined the content in secondary iron oxi-hydroxides (sFe, iron extracted with dithionite–citrate), using atomic absorption. The aim of the investigation was to study the relationship between the colour and the elemental and mineralogical composition, and to explore the intentionality of the resulting colour. Samples had a low luminosity and were located in the quadrant of the CIELab space ranging from red to yellow (hab: 0–90°), showing low hue variability but a wider range of variation in chromaticity. In terms of composition they showed a large mineralogical (12 different minerals were identified) and chemical (from acidic/felsic to basic-ultrabasic/mafic compositions) variation.A principal components analysis using elemental composition and colour parameters demonstrated that luminosity (L*) depends on organic matter (OM) content and to a lesser extent on sFe content. Chromaticity (C*ab) depends on sFe content, but also on the felsic/mafic relative composition and OM content, while hue (hab) is only related to iron mineral phases. We also verified that these general trends differ to a certain extent depending on whether the pottery contains amphibole or not: the effect of sFe on L* and of OM on b* (yellowing) and C*ab was only detected for pottery sherds without amphibole, while an increase in felsic in relation to mafic minerals has a more decisive effect on the chromaticity (C*ab) of the amphibolic clays. Thus, colour seems to result from the interplay between i) the original colour of the raw material/clays, ii) compositional factors (overall composition -felsic vs mafic-, and sFe and OM content), and iii) interactions between composition and processing (sFe and firing conditions controlling yellowing). We interpret that there was an intentional selection of raw materials (felsic or mafic) and their processing (addition of iron oxides and organic matter) and a control over the firing conditions in order to give the vessels a specific colour.

Earlier Prehistoric Activity and a Later Iron Age and Roman Field System at Beacon Lagoons, Kilnsea, East Riding of Yorkshire

An archaeological strip, map and record exercise on behalf of the Environment Agency was undertaken as part of the Easington Wetlands Project. The excavations revealed earlier prehistoric activity, probably representing seasonal occupation at times of the year when intermittently available resources were abundant. This activity is dated by predominantly later Neolithic and early Bronze Age flints, two Bronze Age radiocarbon dates and later Bronze Age pottery. A Romano-British field system that may have had Iron Age origins was also identified. The pottery assemblage suggests the field system was in use up to the fourth century ad.

Tracking the social lives of things: biographical insights into Bronze Age pottery in Spain

Pottery has sometimes been compared to a living organism in its cycle of birth, life and death or discard. A biographical approach to an unusual assemblage of pottery from the Late Bronze Age site of Pico Castro in central Spain suggests that they had been used together at a communal feast. The shared social memory that they acquired thereby conferred on them a special status that resulted in their eventual placement in the pit, fine wares and coarse wares together. Thus the varied biographies of the individual vessels—and the individual sherds—eventually converged not only in their discard but in the episodes that preceded it.

A potter's workshop from Middle Bronze Age Cyprus: new light on production context, scale and variability

When fire swept through a workshop at Ambelikou Aletri on Cyprus in the nineteenth or twentieth century BC it brought a sudden halt to pottery production, leaving the latest batch of recently fired vessels. The remains of the kiln and its immediate surroundings provide a rare opportunity to gain direct insight into the technology and organisation of a Middle Bronze Age pottery workshop in the eastern Mediterranean. Analysis of the batch of cutaway-mouthed jugs adjacent to the kiln reveals a level of standardisation focused more on vessel shape than capacity, and shows that at a detailed level, no two jugs were alike. This pottery production site provides vital background for the study of contemporary pottery assemblages on Cyprus and elsewhere in the broader region.

The Frankfurt University's Southeast Anatolia Project (SOAP): Archaeometric investigations on Early Bronze Age pottery

This paper is a first report on the chemical analyses carried out on samples of North-Mesopotamian Metallic Ware from Southeast Anatolia and on clay samples from the Pütürge Massif area, southeast of Malatya (Turkey), collected in the framework of the Southeast Anatolia Project (SOAP) of the Goethe University of Frankfurt/M. The chemical data obtained by applying wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectrometer were used to locate the provenance area of the raw clay source of non-calcareous North-Mesopotamian Metallic Ware, which is a characteristic major feature of the population groups settling in Southeast Anatolia and Northeast Syria in the 3rd millennium B.C. The analytical results show that the raw clay source of the pottery derived from metamorphic rocks with felsic affinity (e.g., schist/slate or similar parent rocks). It is suggested that the similar metamorphic rocks exposed in the Pütürge Massif area may be the source for the non-calcareous clay of the North-Mesopotamian Metallic Ware.

Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: definition of Temper Compositional Reference Units by an integrated mineralogical and microchemical approach

An integrated microchemical–petrographic approach is here proposed to discriminate the provenance of archaeological pottery artefacts from distinct production centres. Our study focuses on a statistically significant sampling (n=186) of volcanic temper-bearing potteries representative of the manufacturing and dispersion among the islands of the Aeolian Archipelago during the Bronze Age. The widespread establishment of new settlements and the abundant recovery of Aeolian-made ceramic in southern Italy attest for the increased vitality of the Archipelago during the Capo Graziano culture (Early Bronze Age–Middle Bronze Age 2; 2300–1430 BC). Potteries from three of the main known ancient communities (Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli) have been studied integrating old collections and newly excavated material. Volcanic tempers have been first investigated through multivariate analyses of relative abundances of mineral and rock clasts along with petrographic characters. In addition, we performed in-situ mineral chemistry microanalyses by Electron Microprobe and Laser Ablation—Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to assess major and trace element composition of the most common mineral phases.

Middle Bronze Age Pottery Kilns at Şaraga Höyük

As a result of archeological research conducted on prehistoric and protohistoric periods in Anatolia a limited number of ceramic kilns were found. Therefore, two kilns, which have been found during the 2003 excavation season in Saraga Hoyuk and which belong to MBA II, are of great importance because they provide information regarding the ceramic production technology in the 2nd millennium B.C. One of these kilns is of big (Kiln 1) and the other is of small (Kiln 2) size. The both kilns show the similar work systems but both of them show same different features as the typologically. The kilns consist two chambers, in which the combustion and firing chambers. The kilns have heat transmission duct for the transfering of heat between combustion and firing chambers. Kiln 1 was used for firing of big size vessels and Kiln 2 for small size vessels. A few Middle Bronze Age pottery kiln were found in Southeast Anatolia and culturally related neighboring regions. Although, when we look Bronze and before age pottery kilns, we can say no radical shift has been empirically observed in the pottery firing techniques in the region. Kilns of Saraga Hoyuk proved that grooved rim ceramic group found along the Euphrates Valley has been produced locally at Saraga Hoyuk. The Middle Bronze Age level of Şaraga Höyük yielded material evidence for all stages of ceramic production at the site, including rotary stone, lumps of unbaked clay, pottery kilns of small and large sizes, scatters of ceramic wasters concentrated around the kilns, as well as intact ceramic vessels found in situ in the kilns.

Thermoluminescent dating of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age pottery on sites in Kłyżów and Jarosław (SE Poland)

Abstract The absolute chronology of Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Polish territories is a result of long-term and complex research. Here, we have investigated the absolute dating of two sites, namely Kłyżów, a cemetery of the Tarnobrzeg Lusatian culture, and Jarosław, a settlement spanning from the late phase of the former to Pomeranian culture, possibly with Jastorf elements. Having been spurred by promising results of thermoluminescence (TL) dating of medieval and Przeworsk materials, we have employed it in those situations, where no other chronometric methods seem to be efficient. TL dating has been combined with typological analysis of the dated pottery and, partially, with radiocarbon method. Albeit the produced TL dates do not represent the level of sought-for fine chronological resolution, they indicate the temporal trends and corroborate the typological research. Our study has shown the potential of TL dating for periods with plateaus on 14C calibration curve. We also have dealt with unexpected TL ages and suggested some solutions of the problem. Finally, we have demonstrated that the condition sine qua non for archaeological interpretation of TL dates is a thorough stylistic-chronological analysis of dated pottery and clear understanding of relations between chronometric dates and the archaeological event to be dated.

On the Origins of Decorative Traditions in the Early Bronze Age Pottery of the Middle Tobol Basin, Western Siberia

The Early Bronze Age is one of the least documented stages in the prehistory of the Middle Tobol region. The key issue in the study of this period concerns the origins of several cultural traditions and the role of the native Chalcolithic population in this process. The analysis of pottery decoration from the Bairyk-Lybayevo Chalcolithic sites reveals cultural heterogeneity, evidently reflecting the immigration of tribes, unrelated to local tribes, and their contacts with the natives. Two tendencies can be traced in this process. The first is a gradual transformation of separate decorative components of the Bairyk-Lybayevo complex. These components are detached from the main complex and are represented by pottery from sites of the Imbiryai and Mostovoye types. The second is an abrupt change caused by intense contact with the immigrants, eventually resulting in the emergence of the Tashkovo culture.