Pottery Styles Research Articles

Establishment and changes of pottery styles: focusing on double-rip and meander decorated pottery of flat-bottom pottery tradition in western part of Northeast Asia during the 2nd half of Neolithic period

동북아 평저토기 문화권 서부 지역의 신석기시대 후기 토기 양식의 성립과 변동과정을 검토하는 것이 본고의 목적이다. 대상 지역은 압록강 하류역, 丹東, 遼東半島, 遼河 下流 및 太子河 上流, 通遼의 科科沁 지역 까지를 포함한다. 중국에서 偏堡文化, 小珠山 上層文化, 北北文化로 명명된 이 지역 후기 토기 양식 검토를 위해 대표적인 토기인 이중구연토기와 뇌문토기를 중심으로 편년을 재검토하고 양식의 성립과 변화과정을 추적하였다. 이중구연토기는 구연에서 약간 내려와 돌대가 일주하는 것(Ⅰ류)과 돌대가 구연부와 일체를 이루어 전형적 이중구연 형태를 갖는 것(Ⅱ류)으로 나뉘는데, 전자가 이르다는 것이 일반적 견해이다. 그러나 검토 결과 일률적으로 그러한 판단을 할 수 없으며, 지역에 따라 차이가 있는 것으로 판단하였다. 특히, Ⅰ류 구연은 내몽고 중남부에서부터 요동 반도 남단에 이르기까지 광범위한 분포를 보이며 요동반도 남단이나 압록강 하류역을 제외한 대부분 지역에서 처음부터 Ⅱ류 구연과 공반하고 있음을 확인하였다. 이중구연토기는 이후 Ⅱ류 구연을 중심으로 동체부가 무문화하는 변화과정을 밟는다. 뇌문토기는 대상 지역 내에서 고루 분포하지만 通遼의 科科沁 지역에서 가장 다양하게 나타나고 남쪽으로 올수록 단순해진다. 뇌문토기의 성립은 소하연문화로 대표되는 요서 지역 후기 단계 채도와 관련 속에서 이루어진 것으로 판단하였으며, 신암리 양식 단계가 되면 압록강 하류와 단동지역으로 분포 범위가 축소되는 것을 알 수 있었다. 뇌문은 평행선 내부를 사선으로 채우는 전통적 방식이 시종일관 유지되지만, 신암리 1기 단계가 되면 새로이 평행선만으로 뇌문을 시문하는 방식이 유행한다. 신암리 양식의 성립은 전단계 이중구 연토기와 뇌문토기의 전통 속에서 산동 용산문화 기원의 소주산 상층 단계 기물이 수용되면서 이루어진 것으로 볼 수 있는 바, 이는 양식의 성립 과정 중 병존과 융합의 단계에 해당되는 것으로 판단하였다.This paper focuses on the establishment and change of pottery styles in western part of flat-bottom pottery tradition of Northeast Asia during the 2 nd half of Neolithic period. Study areas include the lower basin of Aprok river, Dandong, Liaodong peninsula, lower basin of Liao river, the upper basin of Taize river, Keerchin area of China. Pottery styles of these areas in this phases are called Pianbu (偏堡) culture, Xiaozhushan upper layer (小珠山 上層) culture, Nanbaoligaotu (南寶力皐吐) type, Beigou (北北) culture in China. Chronology of double-rip pottery and meander decorated pottery characterizing these area is reexamined. Double-rip pottery is divided into Ⅰ and Ⅱ type by lip shape, and many have been thought the former is earlier. But, result of reexamining the data reveals that the distribution of two types are variate locally rather than chronologically. Type Ⅰ distributed very widely, from southern inner Mongolia to Liaodong peninsula, and coexist with type Ⅱ from the beginning except Liaodong peninsula and the lower basin of Aprok river. Type Ⅰ and body decoration of double-rip pottery disappeared by the next phase. Meander decorated pottery distributed all the region but, the variation of that design is very rich in Keerchin area and simpler in southern areas. This pottery design is appeared by the copying process of painted pottery of Xiaoheyan culture in Liaoxi area of China. Distribution of this pottery is restricted to the lower basin of Aprok river and Dandong by the next phase of Shinamri style. Double-rip pottery and meander decorated pottery that represent Pianbu culture are the key elements of newly appeared Shinamri style, and the potteries of Xiaozhushan upper layer culture like Dou (豆) and tripod (三足器) added to this new pottery style. It is one of many processes in the appearance of new pottery style, the process of coexistence and fusion categorized by the author.

An Imported Attic Kylix from the Sanctuary at Poggio Colla

Abstract This study focuses on an Attic red-figure kylix excavated in a North Etruscan ritual context at a major sanctuary site in the Mugello region at Poggio Colla. Attributed to the Painter of the Paris Gigantomachy (490–460 B. C. E.), the kylix depicts youths boxing. Careful excavation of the site over 20 years allows detailed presentation here of the votive context for the kylix and thus supports a plausible hypothesis for how it was integrated into rituals marking the transition from the first monumental stone temple to its successor at the site, sometime in the late fifth-early fourth century. Placing the kylix in the oeuvre of the painter, his workshop output, and its appearance in Etruria demonstrates that the shape and subject matter were well known to Etruscan audiences; discussion of the relationship of the Attic boxers to imagery in Etruscan tomb painting, black-figure silhouette style pottery, and funerary reliefs reveals links to and differences from Etruscan renderings of similar subject matter. Conclusions confirm the role of the Attic kylix in Etruscan ritual and establish the familiarity of the iconography of the kylix to Etruscan audiences. Although one of the tinas cliniiar, Etruscan Pultuce and Greek Pollux, is identified in fourth-century Etruscan art as an outstanding boxer, this study reveals no obvious link between the imagery on the kylix and the major deity honored at the site, very likely the goddess Uni.

Study on the burial aspect large-sized jar excavated in the tomb of the 5th centuries, Busan region.

대호는 기본적으로 50cm 이상이며, 기벽이 0.7cm 이상으로 단경호나 장경호에 비해 두껍다. 색조는 주로 (암)청색이고 속심은 자색을 띠며 타날을 한 뒤 회전물손질로 깨끗하게 지운다. 특히, 기대 위에 얹혀서 부장되는 장경호·단경호와는 달리 대호는 피장자의 발치에 구덩이를 파서 안치되어 장경호·단경호 등 他 壺類와는 다른 부장양상을 확인할 수 있었으며, 이에 착안하여 장경호·단경호와 대호를 구분하는 기준을 마련하였다. 부곽이나 피장자의 발치에 구덩이를 파서 대호를 안치하는 습속은 전대의 고식도질토기단계부터 이어져온 부산지역 고유의 매장방식이다. 5세기 전반대에 일시적으로 확인되지 않으나 복천동39호분 등 대형분을 중심으로 그 습속이 다시 이어지며 6세기를 전후한 시점에 사라진다. 이는 5세기 2/4분기 후반대부터 부산 식고배를 지속적으로 창출해내며, 호류를 기대에 얹어서 대량으로 부장하는‘부산식 기종조합’의 존속기간과도 일치한다. 즉,‘부산식 기종조합’이 의연히 傳承되는 5세기대의 부산지역은 타지역 토기양식과는 차별화 된 신식도질토기문화를 공유하고 있다는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.Basically, The large-sized jar is larger than 50cm and thicker than 0.7cm, which is thicker than short-necked jar and long-necked jar. The color tone of large-sized jar is mainly (dark) blue, and internal component is purple, and it was cleared turning after paddle and anvil. Especially, the large-sized jars burial custo m is different from long-necked jar · short-necked jar. The unique burial custom in Busan region were found such as Busan-style mounted dishes, the combination of pottery stand and jar, and large-sized jars around feet in large tombs. Based on this, large-sized jars and long-necked jar · short-necked jar are distinguished from each other. The tradition that dig a hole at the feet of the buried person and set the large-sized jar is unique to the Busan area that has continued from the former early-stlye pottery stage. Although it was temporarily disappearing in the first quarter of the 5th century, and the tradition continues again as Bokcheon-dong tombs No.39, etc. The tradition is finally disappearing around the 6th century. In the late second quarter of the 5th century, the unique burial custom in Busan region were found such as Busan-style mounted dishes, the combination of pottery stand and jar, large-sized jars around feet in Bokcheon-dong tombs. In other words, Busan region, which has traditional combination of “Busan style pottery was found to have different pottery styles from other regions.

The time is ripe for a change. The evolution of harvesting technologies in Central Dalmatia during the Neolithic period (6th millennium cal BC)

The Dalmatian coast has been occupied by Neolithic seafaring communities since the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. On the basis of pottery styles, a transition between the Impressed Ware and Danilo culture is defined, around 5300 cal BC. Nevertheless, bioarchaeological and archaeological data indicate general continuity between the two periods. In the current paper, we present an integrated technological and use-wear study of a large selection of lithics from several sites of both inland and insular Dalmatia. The results provide strong evidence for a change in harvesting techniques between the Impressed Ware and Danilo cultural phases. This change can be related to the pursuit of better performing inserts that could be used for longer periods and would be quicker to resharpen. Such a switch may have been associated with an initial increase in agricultural production during the Middle Neolithic.

A cemetery of the Gáta–Wieselburg culture at Nagycenk (Western Hungary)

The 29 individuals found in 27 graves at Nagycenk were buried there in the time period between 2000–1700 BC, according to radiocarbon dates – i.e. at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in Hungary. The cemetery is of unique importance, both because of the richness of burial assemblages (altogether 30 bronze objects, 5 gold jewelries) and the scarcity of known Gáta–Wieselburg cemeteries. 15 percent of the ca. 180 burials in total, which relate to this culture in Hungary, are in this cemetery, and because of the few published burial sites, the cemetery at Nagycenk represents about one fourth of the materials published so far in the whole distribution area of the culture. Pottery style, typology and raw material of metal artefacts, as well as the radiocarbon dates (with the earliest among the published radiocarbon dates in context of this culture) support the dating of the cemetery section to the early phase of the Gáta–Wieselburg culture. The oval arrangement of burials around grave 55 and grave 1 suggest that each of these correspond to a household of high status men representing a few generations of the population living in the settlement excavated in the vicinity of Nagycenk.

Radiocarbon dates and XRF analyses from two prehistoric contexts in the Badisco area (Otranto –Le)

We presents the results of a radiocarbon dating and XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) measurements performed on organic samples and pottery recovered from “Grotta dei Cervi” and “Cunicolo dei Diavoli” caves, two important prehistoric contexts located in the area of Porto Badisco, Southern Italy. The radiocarbon dating analyses allowed to assess the funeral use of the “Cunicolo dei Diavoli” cavity during the Copper Age and to clarify the long debated chronology of one of the pottery style widely diffused in Southern Italy during the Neolithic and namely the Macchia a Mare/Zinzulusa style. This was obtained through the analysis of a charcoal fragment extracted from a jug ascribed to this ceramic style. At the same time XRF (X-ray Fluorescence), non destructive analyses allowed to identify as cinnabar a red pigment used to decorate pottery recovered in the “Grotta dei Cervi” and dated to the 5th millenium BC.

Anglo‐Saxon Style Pottery from the Northern Netherlands and North‐Western Germany: Fabrics and Finish, Regional and Chronological Patterns, and their Implications

This paper presents the results of a study of Anglo‐Saxon style pottery in the northern Netherlands and north‐western Germany, involving macroscopic and microscopic analysis of fabrics and finish. Both regions show similar developments in form and decoration in the pottery of the fourth and fifth centuries ad, the late Roman and Migration period, resulting in the typical decoration and shapes that are known as the Anglo‐Saxon style. In the northern Netherlands, this style is traditionally associated with Anglo‐Saxon immigrants. It has, however, been suggested that this style was, rather, part of an indigenous development in areas in the northern Netherlands where occupation was continuous, though influenced by stylistic developments in north‐western Germany. That hypothesis is supported by the analysis of fabrics and finish presented here. The characteristic of fabrics and surface treatment indicate technological continuity. The use of local clay sources for Anglo‐Saxon style pottery and for contemporary regional types indicates that most of the Anglo‐Saxon style pottery in the northern Netherlands was not brought by Anglo‐Saxon immigrants or as imports, but must have been made locally. That applies to settlements with continuous habitation, as well as settlements in the coastal area that were not inhabited during the fourth century ad.

Contrasting patterns of prehistoric human diet and subsistence in northernmost Europe

Current archaeological evidence indicates the transition from hunting-fishing-gathering to agriculture in Northern Europe was a gradual process. This transition was especially complex in the prehistoric North Fennoscandian landscape where the high latitude posed a challenge to both domestic animal breeding and cereal cultivation. The conditions varied, the coastal dwellers had access to rich marine resources and enjoyed a milder climate due to the Gulf Stream, while those living in the inland Boreal forest zone faced longer and colder winters and less diversity in animal and plant resources. Thus, the coastal area provided more favourable conditions for early agriculture compared to those found inland. Interestingly, a cultural differentiation between these areas is archaeologically visible from the late 2nd millennium BC onwards. This is most clearly seen in regionally distinct pottery styles, offering unique opportunities to probe diet and subsistence through the organic residues preserved in ceramic vessels. Herein, we integrate the lipid biomarker, compound-specific stable carbon isotopes (δ13C), and zooarchaeological evidence to reveal culturally distinct human diets and subsistence patterns. In northern Norway, some of the coastal people adopted dairying as part of their subsistence strategy, while the inhabitants of the interior, in common with northern Finland, continued their hunter-gatherer-fisher lifestyles.

The Late Intermediate Period ceramic traditions of Ayacucho, Apurimac, and Huancavelica: current thoughts on the Chanca and other regional polities

This article serves to evaluate the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) and early Late Horizon Period (LH) ceramic traditions of Ayacucho, Apurimac, and Huancavelica, and provides an updated review of the pottery styles known across this area. It also provides a view of the implications of these data regarding the social, religious, and political structure of the polities active across this area. The article reviews the available ceramic data for the LIP Chanka tradition in Peru (AD 1000–1470) and develops a model for the development and interactions of the local ceramic styles from Ayacucho, Apurimac, and Huancavelica, and their temporal sequence. The Chancas and their allies were claimed by the Incas to have been instrumental in triggering the expansion of the Inca empire. The implications of the results of the research for current ethnohistoric models of the interactions between the Chanca polity and the Inca state have been examined and are presented.

Los nuevos sujetos imperiales del valle de Copiapó: estilos Diaguita e Inca local en los pucos del período Tardío

During the Inca imperial expansion, new kinds of pottery forms and styles appeared inCopiapo valley. Besides the presence of new pots such as aribalos, aisanas, and shallow plates,local unrestricted and simple profile pots persisted. Furthermore, their designs incorporated amix of locally re-interpreted Diaguita-Inca styles.This paper is based on the morphological and stylistic analysis of pots from museumcollections, which came from Copiapo coast and valley, excluding the Copiapo black-on-redstyle local pots. The most abundant stylistic patterns in the sample are the Zigzag, DoubleZigzag, Diamonds in Double Mirror Reflection, and Greca Inca including all their variations,which are local interpretations of Cuzco and Diaguita designs. The creation of these newtypes suggests the rise of new social identities, where local actors negotiated the symbolicreferents of their material culture during a time of important political and social changes.

Classificazione della ceramica e analisi dei contesti all’inizio dell’età del Bronzo: la capanna F del villaggio di Filo Braccio (Filicudi, Isole Eolie)

Classificazione della ceramica e analisi dei contesti all’inizio dell’età del Bronzo: la capanna F del villaggio di Filo Braccio (Filicudi, Isole Eolie)

Specialized pottery production in Dalma tradition; a statistical approach in pottery analysis from Soha Chay Tepe, Zanjan, Iran

Soha Chay Tepe is located on the right bank of the Sojasrud River and lies within the province of Zanjan, in Western Iran. During excavation, one cultural period and two architectural phases have been distinguished, contemporary to the Middle Chalcolithic period (Dalma tradition). More complex activities in Chalcolithic period are well studied and accepted by researchers, however analyzing pottery according to stylistic attributes revealed more details about systematic pottery production of this period in the west of Iran. A total of 96 pottery samples was chemically analyzed with portable XRF device in order to detect clustering pattern. Results have revealed meaningful similarities concerning composition between the sampled groups in regards to their decoration style. It showed that the potters of Soha Chay Tepe might have made distinct operation decisions for their various pottery style productions. Portable XRF with relative internal calibration used in this study confirmed that it has high potential in compositional studies of ceramic regarding to more detailed questions.

Evaluating the utility of archaeological index fossils: Optically-stimulated luminescence dating of Fort Ancient Pottery at the Hahn Site

One of the most common undertakings in archaeology is to establish absolute temporal sequences of artifacts. Once such tasks are completed, items become index fossils that serve to inform on chronology often in the absence of absolute dates. While such chronologies are best constructed through the direct dating of the items in question, this is too rarely the case. In contrast, various associations are made between the objects and dated organic materials. Change is often then seen as being abrupt, with important consequences for archaeological interpretation. Here we use optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to directly examine this issue with a case study involving the timing of Anderson-style and Madisonville-style pottery, two of the main styles of Fort Ancient pottery that are seen as reliably separating later (after 1400CE) from earlier periods (ca. 1000–1400CE). This temporal distinction is best expressed by the common designation of sites with both pottery styles as being temporally multicomponent. However, it has been noted by some researchers that these styles may overlap to a significant degree, based on associated radiocarbon dates. Our findings confirm this suspicion, with direct evidence through OSL dating with samples from the Hahn site.

Pottery decoration in contemporary southeastern Botswana

ABSTRACTThe presumed link between pottery style and linguistic identity has played a key role in the archaeological interpretation of the peopling of southern Africa. To re-assess this link, we study ceramic vessel decorations used by 41 contemporary potters in southeastern Botswana, who are from two separate language groups, come from six different ethnic groups, learned their craft in one of five different ‘schools’ of pottery and live scattered in ten different villages. Our observations of ceramic style are on a small sample of pots available at the time of fieldwork. We isolate 24 attributes under three major categories of decoration motif, technique of plastic decoration and surface treatment. Our study shows that in contemporary southeastern Botswana pottery style does not help to distinguish the pots made by potters from different language groups. However, to varying degrees it can reveal differences in the products of potters from different locations, ethnic groups and schools of learning.

Entangled traditions: Lengyel and Tisza ceramic technology in a Late Neolithic settlement in northern Hungary

The Late Neolithic period (5000–4500 BCE) of the Carpathian Basin is characterised by two major cultural complexes: the Lengyel culture in western Hungary and the Tisza–Herpály–Csőszhalom complex in eastern Hungary. The occupation area of the two cultural complexes had a ‘common border’ along a large area in recent northern Hungary, from the Danube River to the Upper Tisza River region. Their relationships are indicated in the mixed nature of their material culture, settlement types and mortuary practices. The focus of this paper is the site of Aszód-Papi földek, which was situated in the borderlands. A peculiarity of this site is that a considerable number of the ceramic finds represent typological forms and decorations characteristic of both the Lengyel and Tisza cultures. Lengyel and Tisza ceramics appear together in the settlement features and graves, and no spatial or chronological distinction has been identified between them or the features containing them. The number of Tisza and Lengyel vessels appearing together indicates that this site could have been a meeting point for the cultures. The mixed nature of the ceramic assemblage at Aszód therefore has profound implications concerning the cultural relationships in Late Neolithic Hungary. In order to better understand Lengyel and Tisza relationships at Aszód, ceramic petrographic analyses were carried out on 68 ceramic samples from the site and on seven local sediment samples. The results indicate that both Lengyel and Tisza vessels were made from locally available raw materials, and there was no technological distinction between them. Only stylistic features can be used to distinguish between Lengyel and Tisza vessels. The similarities between Lengyel and Tisza ceramic technologies could only have existed if there was a more complex social relationship and interaction between the people and communities who produced these two pottery styles than has previously been assumed. The results are also compared with other, previously analysed, sites, showing that the ceramic technology at Aszód corresponds well with technological results from other Late Neolithic sites. The Late Neolithic period witnessed considerable changes in ceramic technology, namely a sharp increase in grog tempering and also a sharp decrease in chaff tempering. These changes distinguish this period from the Early and Middle Neolithic in Hungary, which are also represented at Aszód.

Límites e interfaces de Chachapoyas en la región Rodríguez De Mendoza

Chachapoyas was one of the largest prehispanic cultures located in the eastern montane forest. The location on the interface of Andean and Amazonian environments gave middle-man status in trading important exotic goods withneighbors. The nature of the interface with the Chachapoyanos eastern neighbors speaks to important aspects of Chachapoya identity in the past. If Chachapoyas was an extension of highland cultural hegemony, then the eastern Chachapoyas interface may have been an important location for boundary maintenance between «Andean» and «Amazonian» peoples. Conversely, the Chachapoya may have been a bridge society that facilitated interaction by presenting a mutually intelligible venue for exchange. The LIP sites in the Mendoza region share many characteristics with typical Chachapoya sites: settlement pattern; pottery styles; and mortuary style, but Mendoza sites lack elaboration of household architecture, such as cornices, friezes, tenon heads, or platform bases, and these sites do not have the same density of stone constructions as documented at most “Classic” Chachapoya sites. This article reviews survey of Mendoza area habitation sites, mortuary sites, and pathways of movement as part of a network of local, regional, and interregional connections to consider what Mendoza sites can tell us about the construction of what was «Chachapoyas.»

The Late Helladic IIB to IIIA2 Pottery Sequence from the Mycenaean Palace at Ayios Vasileios, Laconia

The ongoing excavations at Ayios Vasileios have revealed one of the most important Mycenaean palatial centres in the Peloponnese. The following study aims to establish the sequence of pottery phases of the site from the early Mycenaean period up to the conflagration that destroyed the palace at the end of the 14th or at the beginning of the 13th century BC. One of the main tasks has been the detailed analysis of well stratified material, which will clarify the development of the local pottery styles including evidence for continuity or discontinuity in the commonest pottery types and fabrics from the site. Based on the preliminary results from this study the developments and changes in the pottery tradition have been compared to those known from other centres in Laconia and beyond. An attempt has also been made to date the most important building horizons represented in the palace and to correlate them with those from the other known major sites of the region, the Menelaion in the north and Ayios Stephanos to the south.

A network of the steppe and forest steppe along the Prut and Lower Danube rivers during the 6th millennium BC

The transition from a (predominantly) mobile way of life relying on hunting, fishing and gathering to a (predominantly) sedentary life-style based on farming and animal husbandry is considered in the western Pontic archaeological tradition almost exclusively from a southern, AegeanAnatolian perspective. Contacts between the steppe and forest steppe of the north-eastern Balkans and the north-western Pontic were seen as linear and unidirectional; ‘cultures’ were defined almost exclusively on the basis of pottery styles. Not only such traditional viewpoints, but also the political conditions of the 20th century further biased prehistoric research. However, the outer Carpathian region should not be treated as a periphery of the inner Carpathian Cris culture, but as a region of multidirectional exchange networks. Moreover, certain traditions are obviously rooted in the Mesolithic of that area.

Between Cultic Fear and Lack of Wood

AbstractDuring the first and second centuries of the fifth millennium BC, the LBK (Linearbandkeramik) pottery style disappeared in the Rhineland (Germany); it was replaced by the Großgartach style, which was in turn followed by the Rössen style. While in some regions, the former settlement sites of the LBK population remained occupied by subsequent Middle Neolithic societies, nearly all were abandoned in the vast loess area located between modern-day Cologne and the Netherlands. Middle Neolithic villages were instead established in new locations. The following text considers some possible reasons for this development.

Forming and Shaping Pottery Boundaries in Contemporary South-Eastern Botswana

In southern African archaeology, the equation of pottery styles with archaeological ‘cultures’ and their attribution to the antecedents of contemporary ethnic groups has been a common practice for a long time. Ethnoarchaeological studies from other parts of Africa and beyond have shown that the matter is complex and that stylistic and technological boundaries in ceramic distributions can reflect different kinds of social boundaries under different circumstances. To expand on these findings and make them locally relevant, a large-scale ethnoarchaeological study of 41 potters in south-eastern Botswana aims for a better understanding of ceramic technological style and boundary relations. Here, we present and explain only the results concerning the boundaries in the forming and shaping stage of ceramic vessel manufacture. We conclude that learning networks explain the visible boundaries in the technological style of forming and shaping pots in south-eastern Botswana today; language and ethnic affiliation do not. Boundaries in the other stages in the operational sequence of pottery manufacture, such as clay sourcing and preparation, vessel surface treatment and decoration, firing and finishing, will be presented in a series of further publications.