Ceramic Traditions Research Articles

Decline in firing technology or poorer fuel resources? High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) archaeothermometry of Neolithic ceramics from Pool, Sanday, Orkney

The Neolithic ceramic assemblage from the multi-period coastal settlement at Pool on the island of Sanday, Orkney is unique because it stratigraphically spans both the earlier round-based (including possible Unstan bowls) and later flat-based (‘Grooved Ware’) traditions. High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) analysis objectively demonstrates that ceramics from the earliest Neolithic layers have been consistently better fired compared to examples from later layers. We suggest two interpretations of these data: either firing technology declined with changing social structures and/or adoption of a different ceramic tradition or that there was greater pressure on fuel resource and management in the later Neolithic. Paleoenvironmental and chronological evidence indicate climatic deterioration in the later Neolithic, which adds further support to an interpretation of a poorer fuel resource at that time. In addition to studies of the HTTL signal, analysis of the ambient temperature modification of the TL signal has potential to support or evaluate dating evidence, and is readily applicable to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age data.

Population and ceramic traditions: revisiting the Tana ware of coastal Kenya (7th–14th century AD)

Population and ceramic traditions: revisiting the Tana ware of coastal Kenya (7th–14th century AD)

Pour une archéologie du royaume Kongo: la tradition de Mbafu

A synthesis of archaeological research in and around the Kongo kingdom is outlined. It is shown that publications dealing with the Late Iron Age are few in number for a time segment which saw the birth and development of such social complexity as the Kongo kingdom. A general picture of Late Iron Age ceramic groups in Lower-Congo is drawn. One of the ceramic Groups, Group II, dated to AD 1400–1800, is thoroughly discussed. The ceramic style, dates, spatial analysis and regional context are dealt with. This paper partly helps to fill a major gap in Kongo ceramics studies and outlines future research trends. The formal methodologies developed over past decades for the analysis of ceramics are sadly not much used in Central Africa. The systemic approach permits one to at last describe thoroughly the ornamental style which is a prerequisite to being able to ascribe a particular ware or a particular site to a ceramic Tradition or Group. One key synthetic result is that the old Group II is now redefined as the Mbafu Tradition.

Monumentality in Western Amazonian formative societies: geometric ditched enclosures in the Brazilian state of Acre

In Amazonia, monumentality has traditionally been considered characteristic of the late pre-colonial densely populated complex societies. Recent archaeological fieldwork concerning the geometric earthworks in the Brazilian state of Acre has shown that the southwestern Amazonian interfluvial zone was a significant setting for long-term large landscape modifications. We describe the geometric ditched enclosure sites of Acre as early monumental public spaces reserved for ceremonial purposes, analogous to the central Andean ceremonial-civic centers of the Formative period. The geometric earthwork sites contain contiguous ditches and embankment structures of varying forms enclosing areas typically 3-10 hectares in size. Documented cultural features are sparse within the enclosed areas. Making use of satellite imagery, aerial photographs, and pedestrian surveys, 360 earthwork enclosures have been recorded in southwestern Amazonia. Our radiocarbon dates suggest that construction and use of geometric earthworks began at the latest around 1000 BC, and prevailed in the region until 1400 AD. The relatively small number of ceramics recovered from the geometric ditched enclosure sites appear to be local substyles of the same tradition, sharing certain attributes with contemporary ceramic traditions of the upper Amazonian region. This, and consistency in ceremonial earthwork architecture, indicate close cultural interaction between communities that built and used the earthwork sites, and imply probable relationships also with the central Andean area.

Cultural Dynamics in Southern Middle Asia in the fifth and fourth millennia BC: A reconstruction based on ceramic tradition

Cet article est un essai de synthèse portant sur les principales traditions céramiques du Sud de l’Asie moyenne lors du cinquième millénaire et au début du quatrième millénaire av. J.-C. La Mésopotamie, le sud-ouest de l’Iran et le Golfe persique, caractérisés alors par le développement de l’Obeid et de productions céramiques peintes en noir sur pâte claire, sont comparés aux situations observées dans le sud-est du Plateau iranien et au Pakistan. Trois principales conclusions résultent de cette synthèse. Premièrement, l’Asie moyenne méridionale à cette époque intégrait des situations très différentes en termes de production et d’utilisation de vases en céramique. Deuxièmement, la céramique est apparue dans cette région de façon graduelle et selon des processus variés au cours du Néolithique et du Chalcolithique. Enfin, certaines reconstitutions déduites des données du cinquième millénaire et du début du quatrième millénaire av. J.-C. semblent montrer que certains aspects des développements observés par la suite, à partir de la fin du quatrième millénaire, étaient déjà en place au cours des périodes précédentes.

Hunter-Gatherer Pottery and Charred Residue Dating: New Results on Early Ceramics in the North Eurasian Forest Zone

This article discusses 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the peat bog sites Sakhtysh 2a, Ozerki 5, and Ozerki 17 in the Upper Volga region. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and dispersal of early ceramic traditions in northern Eurasia and their connection to the Baltic. With 1 exception, all dates were obtained from charred residue adhering to the sherd. A possible reservoir effect was tested on 1 piece of pottery from Sakhtysh 2a by taking 1 sample from charred residue, and another sample from plant fiber remains. Although a reservoir effect was able to be ruled out in this particular case, 4 other dates from Sakhtysh 2a and Ozerki 5 seem too old on typological grounds and might have been affected by freshwater reservoir effects. Considering all other reliable dates, the Early Neolithic Upper Volga culture, and with it the adoption of ceramics, in the forest zone of European Russia started around 6000 cal BC.

Re-Examining Space Fillers and Potmarks: A New Perspective on their Role in Early Bronze Age Canaanite Glyptic and Ceramic Traditions

Re-Examining Space Fillers and Potmarks: A New Perspective on their Role in Early Bronze Age Canaanite Glyptic and Ceramic Traditions

The Iron Age Ceramics from the Tong Hills, Northern Ghana. Sequence and Comparative Perspective

The archaeology of Ghana north of 10 degrees remains little known, thus between 2004 and 2009 archaeological research was completed in the Tong Hills, the home of the Talensi ethno-linguistic group. An overview of the research is presented here with especial emphasis placed on the ceramic traditions and chronology. These are contextualised within the archaeology of the wider region of northern Ghana.

The early neolithic pottery of the volga-ural region (based on the materials of the elshanka culture)

This article deals with the technologies of pottery-making used by the population of the Volga-Ural region during the Early Neolithic. The analyzed assemblage includes 344 specimens of ceramics (conventionally regarded as separate vessels) from 12 sites of the Elshanka culture (end of the 7th–6th millennium BC). The research method elaborated by A.A. Bobrinsky is based on binocular microscopy, use-wear analysis, and physical modeling. The origins and evolution of the Early Neolithic ceramic traditions in the Volga-Ural region and the role of their admixture are discussed.

Chapter 7: Prehistoric Pottery Wares in the Aitape Area

Abstract Using a notational code having three levels of inclusiveness (attributes, attribute themes, and motifs), four stylistically distinct ceramic wares of evident chronological significance can be delineated in the Aitape area: Nyapin, Sumalo, Aiser, and Wain. The robustness of this stylistic sequence can be confirmed using two alternative computer-based algorithms: the software package Network 4.5.0.2 developed by Fluxus Technology, Ltd, for estimating all possible shortest and least complex phylogenetic trees in a dataset and the network software packages Ucinet 6.207 and NetDraw 2.083. Based on these analyses, it is reasonable to infer that people in this area of the Sepik coast have been using locally made pottery for at least 1,500–2,000 years belonging to a single, distinct, and stylistically evolving local ceramic tradition.

Raw materials and paste from wheel-thrown ceramics from the gnezdovo burial ground

This article presents the results of the technological study of wheel-thrown ceramics from the Gnezdovo burial ground. Analyses of the raw materials, methods of preparation and compositions of paste have shown that ancient potters obtained clay from several sources, but the major tradition was to use wet, plastic, ferrous clay with a low or moderate sand content. The most typical paste included clay + grit + organic solution. Other recipes were less common: clay + grit; clay + grit + organic substance of undetermined origin; clay + sand + organic solution. A blend of ceramic traditions is observed at the level of clay paste selection, as seen in two vessels made of a mixture of two types of clay. These fi ndings suggest that the Gnezdovo population was ethnically heterogeneous, and that one of the ceramic traditions was predominant.

Mairy (Ardennes françaises) : un site d’habitat ... ou pas ? Premiers éléments de réflexion sur la fonction du site

Interpreting Mairy as a settlement can seem rather straightforward from the characteristics of the site and especially from the presence of a great number of houses linked with «settlement » pits. This interpretation can however be questioned after a first reflexion on the general organization of the site and a brief analysis of «silo pits » and their contents. The former interpretation of these silo pits as storage pits re-used for refusal is finally rejected. Analysis of the ceramic associations from these pits helps defining 3 phases, but also highlights the coexistence on the site, throughout its occupation, of two different ceramic traditions. The first refers to a northern cultural area : initially influenced by an ancient Michelsberg (Mayen type), it can be later be compared to the Belgian Michelsberg. The second tradition is clearly a Western one, at first close to Menneville and ancient phases of Boury-en-Vexin ; it seems to later be influenced by Southern Rhenish Michelsberg, even if its Western base, best seen through a global morphological connection with the Noyen group, is not questioned. Beyond «ceremonial » aspects seen from silo pits and their content, the presence of two cultural groups on the site shows evidence of its supra-regional dimension, as meeting point of two culturally diffenciated communities.

Excavations at a Neolithic Enclosure on The Peak, near Birdlip, Gloucestershire

Surveys and excavations in 1980–1 confirmed Peak Camp as a Neolithic enclosure on a flat promontory of the Cotswold escarpment overlooking the Severn Valley just 1 km south of Crickley Hill. Although heavily eroded by quarrying the site can be reconstructed as having two concentric arcs of boundary earthworks forming an oval plan which was probably open to the north where a steep natural slope defined the edge of the site. A section through the outer boundary showed four main phases of ditch construction, at least one causewayed. An extensive series of radiocarbon dates shows construction began in the late 37th century calbcand probably continued through successive remodellings into the 33rd century calbcor beyond. An internal ditch or elongated pit situated in the area between the inner and outer boundary earthworks had a similar history. Where sampled, the ditch and internal feature were rich in material culture, including a substantial assemblage of plain bowl pottery; flint implements and working waste; animal remains dominated by cattle but including also the remains of a cat; human foot bones; slight traces of cereal production; a fragment of a Group VI axe; part of a sandstone disc; and a highly unusual shale arc pendant of continental type. It is suggested that the ditch fills represent selectively redeposited midden material from within the site that started to accumulate in the late 5th or early 4th millennium calbc. The construction and use of Peak Camp is contemporary with activity on Crickley Hill, and the two sites probably formed components of a single complex. Its use was also contemporary with the deposition of burials at local long barrows in the Cotswold-Severn tradition which are linked by common ceramic traditions and the selective deposition of human body parts.

Lockerbie Academy

Trial trenching carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd in 2006 to the north of Lockerbie Academy (NGR: NY 13398273) identified four areas of archaeological significance covering a timescale from early Neolithic to post-medieval periods. The earliest site identified was the remains of a Neolithic timber hall, which was situated on top of the flat plateau towards the northwest end of the site (Area A). Pottery recovered from the Neolithic structure was of the Carinated Bowl ceramic tradition. At the summit of the rounded knoll in the centre of the area (Area D) a Bronze Age phase consisting of a cremation and inhumation cemetery enclosed by a possible ring-cairn was identified. The Bronze Age cemetery included a Collared Urn and a copper alloy dagger of Butterwick type. At the base of the rounded knoll, the remains of an Early Historic timber hall were identified (Area C). This Anglian timber hall reoccupied the site of a post-built structure, which was interpreted as a timber hall, possibly belonging to an earlier British tradition. Radiocarbon dates taken from the primary fill of two of the post-holes of the earlier structure gave dates which are broadly contemporary with the dates obtained for the Anglian hall, suggesting that the post-built structure immediately preceded it. A corn-drying kiln was identified cut into the same knoll as the Bronze Age cemetery (Area D) and has been dated to the late medieval or early post-medieval period. A segmented ditched enclosure was located towards the north-east end of the site (Area B), but the poor survival of this feature combined with a lack of finds and palaeobotanical evidence means that it remains undated and poorly understood.

Sothi-Siswal Ceramic Assemblage: A Reappraisal

Harappan evidences in Chautan valley has a unique ceramic tradition. In the light of recent plethora of knowledge as well as against the background of the studies conducted by A. Ghosh, J.S. Nigam, Katy Frenchman, Suraj Bhan & Madhu Bala, we will have to not only reclassify the Sothi-Siswal ceramic assemblage but also alter basic nomenclatures and concepts involve in it. It will give us deep insight in to the process of evolution of Early Harappan cultures vis-à-vis the dynamic of regional cultural complexes.

Social Strategies, Ritual and Cosmology in Early Bronze Age Cyprus: An Investigation of Burial Data from the North Coast

Early Bronze Age communities on the north coast of Cyprus developed a distinctive ceramic tradition with a rich array of forms, including ritual vessels with symbolically complex decoration reflecting the importance of horned animals and other phenomena in a local cosmology. These were deposited in tombs together with decorated drinking bowls and quantities of cattle bones, suggesting the high cost of funerary events. In addition, some tombs appear to have been the scene of ongoing ritual activities and possibly mortuary 'shrines'. These and other forms of patterned behaviour relating to death and burial served to promote new forms of authority through connections with ancestors. North coast mortuary ceremonial also played a key role in the longer-term development of ritual iconography and ritualized practices in Bronze Age Cyprus.

Pre-Columbian Earthworks in the Riberalta Region of the Bolivian Amazon

Interpretations of the Amazonia prehistory have changed significantly in the last few decades, as the complexity and diversity of the Amazonian cultures are beginning to be documented and understood. Earthworking, a long-term conscious anthropogenic landscape alteration, was a widespread phenomenon throughout the South American tropical lowlands. A variety of earthworks has been documented in the Southwest Amazon, including ditches and embankments of different shapes and sizes, roads, extensive raised fields, canals, causeways, and artificial wetlands linked to adjacent mounds and forest island settlement sites. A field survey and test excavations were undertaken in the region of Riberalta, in the Bolivian Amazon. The purpose of these investigations was to study the distribution and characteristics of the pre-Columbian occupation in the region. We found different types of sites, some without visible earthworks, indicating fairly dense occupation on river bluffs and terra firme, but lacking long permanence in the same location. The earthwork tradition prevailed in the Riberalta region from at least 100 B.C. until the period of European contact. The function of the less-complex earthworks may have been to enclose the occupation areas, and in some cases, to serve as canals. Compared to the variable layout of the sites, the ceramic assemblages of the region are relatively homogeneous. A central objective for future research will be to determine if the earthwork sites correlate with a single or multiple cultural traditions.Key-words: Southwest Amazonian archaeology, earthworks, ceramic traditions.

ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF CERAMIC INCRUSTATION INDICATES LONG-TERM CULTURAL CONTINUITY IN THE PREHISTORIC CARPATHIAN BASIN

An important debate in European prehistory centers on whether so-called Kurgan groups migrated into the Carpathian Basin from the south Russian Steppes sometime before the beginning of the Bronze Age. This article summarizes the results of elemental analyses on samples of white incrustation that was used to decorate Copper Age vessels from the Great Hungarian Plain. Our results indicate that crushed bone, not snail shell, was used to create the decorative paste. A recent study of incrusted pottery from the Bronze Age in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin also identified the use of crushed bone in the creation of the paste, suggesting continuity in ceramic traditions before and after the Kurgan ‘invasion.’

TEMPORAL TRENDS IN NATIVE CERAMIC TRADITIONS OF THE LOWER CATAWBA RIVER VALLEY

Bennie Keel’s 1972 work at Upper Sauratown was the opening salvo of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology’s 30-year Siouan Project, which continues under the guise of the ongoing Catawba Project. Keel’s early work at the protohistoric Hardins and early historic era Belk Farm sites in the Catawba River Valley continues to inform the current phase of Piedmont Siouan research. This study compares and contrasts Keel’s Hardins and Belk Farm ceramic assemblages with those from the later Catawba sites of Nassaw Town, Old Town, and New Town to achieve a diachronic view of Catawba ceramic development. This comparison reveals a long span of stylistic and technological continuity abruptly terminated by rapid emergence of the modern Catawba ceramic tradition between 1760 and 1770.

Ceramic Traditions and Ethnicity in the Niger Bend, West Africa

While anthropologists and historians have clearly underlined the dynamics of human groups, ethnoarchaeologists have emphasized the stability of modes of transmission of technical knowledge within ethnolinguistic groups. Overcoming this apparent opposition by mobilizing and confronting lines of evidence from three distinct disciplines — ethnoarchaeology, ethnohistory, and archaeology — allows me to tackle the material expression of social identities in the past. Time depth, however, coarsens the resolution of interpretation, necessitating a shift in focus from the ethnic group to the linguistic family. Research I conducted with the Swiss MAESAO team since 1988 in central Mali provides a strong case study for understanding the complex links between ethnicity and ceramics. I propose a model of interpretation of archaeological ceramics that takes into account population dynamics.