Manufacture of Late Neolithic Pottery from the Southern Balkans: An Integrative Approach

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Throughout their life, from manufacture to final discard, ceramic vessels participated in different human activities within Neolithic communities throughout the Balkans. As a result, vessels, potters, and users are involved in a relational interaction leading to a continuous negotiation of various aspects of the Neolithic world. The outcome of this relation is also reflected in the technological variation of Late Neolithic ceramics. The study of the manufacture of ceramic vessels, which is the subject of this presentation, should be set within its context to understand how and why different technological options were chosen. In order to investigate the whole range of the operation sequences, I have used various methods, including typological classification, ceramic petrography, X-ray fluorescence analysis, X-ray analysis, and residue analysis. The first results of these analyses show that although there are significant similarities between different sites as to how the vessels were manufactured and elaborated, there are also technological differences that characterize the ceramic assemblage of each settlement. The variety of technological choices is also evident within each site as the potters have used different clay sources or recipes for making the vessels, while a number of different techniques were used for finishing their surfaces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23850