KEVEOKI 1: Exploring the Hiri ceramics trade at a short-lived village site near the Vailala River, Papua New Guinea

Investigations at the newly discovered, once-coastal but now inland archaeological village site of Keveoki 1 allows us to characterise the nature and antiquity of ancestral hiri trade ceramics around 450-500 cal BP in the recipient Vailala River- Kea Kea villages of the Gulf Province of the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. This paper reports on the decorated ceramics from Keveoki 1, where a drainage channel cut in 2004 revealed a short-lived village site with a rich, stratified ceramic assemblage. It represents a rare account of the ceramic assemblage from a short duration village on a relic beach ridge in southern Papua New Guinea, and contributes to ongoing attempts to refine ceramic sequences in the recipient (western) end of the hiri system of longdistance maritime trade. Because of the presence of a single occupational period of a few decades at most, short duration sites such as Keveoki 1 allow for chronological refinement of ceramic conventions in a way that multilevel sites usually cannot, owing to the lack of stratigraphic mixing between chronologically separate ceramic assemblages in the former.

«ONE CRAFTSMAN’S» VESSELS FROM THE CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE OF THE BALANOVO CEMETERY

Статья посвящена дальнейшей разработке методических приемов выделения посуды, изготовленной условно «одним мастером». Используя методику выделения посуды «одного мастера» по формам-моделям, апробированную на посуде из Волосово-Даниловского могильника фатьяновской культуры, автор выявил по керамическому комплексу Балановского могильника эпохи бронзы 15 гончаров, делавших горшки, трех мастеров, изготовлявших амфоровидные сосуды, и одного, производившего миски. Предполагается, что в рамках одного поколения работали 4-5 мастеров. По изученным материалам реконструируется глубоко зашедший в результате устойчивых брачных контактов процесс смешения двух разных по происхождению родовых коллективов - балановского и атликасинского. Дуализм социальной структуры изучаемого общества проявлялся в том, что покойному приносили посуду родственники, различные по своей культурной принадлежности. Но оба коллектива продолжали частично сохранять культурную обособленность. Тот факт, что один и тот же мастер мог делать сосуды, соответствующие разным культурным традициям (и балановским, и атликасинским), а также число гончаров указывает на то, что в данном случае мы имеем дело с ремесленным на заказ гончарным производством. The paper deals with further development of methodological techniques of identifying «one craftsman’s» vessels. With the use of the methodology of identifying «one craftsman’s» vessels based on model forms which was piloted with the use of vessels from the Volosovo-Danilovo cemetery ascribed to the Fatyanovo culture, analyzing the Balanovo ceramic assemblage, the author singled out 15 potters who made pots, three craftsmen who produced amphora-like vessels and one potter who made bowls. The paper suggests that from 4 to 5 craftsmen worked in one generation. The examined materials help reconstruct the mixing process of two population groups of different origin, i.e. the Balanovo population and the Atlikasy population, which was quite deep due to sustainable marriage contacts. The dualism of the studied society’s social structure manifested itself in vessels brought for the deceased by relatives belonging to different cultures. However, both population groups continued to maintain their cultural specifics. The very fact that the same craftsman would make vessels according to different cultural traditions (both the Balanovo and the Atlikasy traditions) as well as the number of potters demonstrate that we deal with custom-tailored pottery production.

The Early Iron Age IIA Ceramic Assemblage from Khirbet al-Ra‘i

The early 10th-century BCE pottery assemblage from Khirbet al-Ra‘I is presented. The assemblage, which came from a few rooms that were suddenly destroyed, offers a large number of complete profiles. This is the second largest pottery assemblage, after that of Khirbet Qeiyafa, of this poorly known ceramic phase.

The chaîne opératoire of Korenovo pottery: hybrid ceramics? Analysis of mixed Starčevo and Korenovo ceramic assemblages from Kapelica-Solarevac and Kaniška Iva (Central Croatia)

The chaîne opératoire of Neolithic Korenovo ceramics is poorly known, as hitherto potsherds from only three sites, Malo Korenovo, Tomašica in central Croatia, and Becsehely–Bukkaljai dűlő in Hungary have been analysed archaeometrically. Korenovo is considered the southernmost aspect of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK). In this paper, the ceramic assemblage from Kapelica-Solarevac and Kaniška Iva (Central Croatia) will be discussed. Kapelica-Solarevac and Kaniška Iva are the only two sites in which Starčevo and Korenovo ceramics have been found together in closed contexts. Twenty potsherds from the Kapelica-Solarevac and Kaniška Iva assemblages were analysed using polarised microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDX). In combination with equivalent data from 49 Korenovo ceramics from Tomašica and Malo Korenovo, the results offer an insight into the practices of Korenovo potters and show the lack of exchange of technological knowledge between Korenovo and LBK potters in Austria and central Transdanubia (Hungary). On the other hand, Korenovo potters seem to closely follow ceramic recipes typical of the neighbouring Vinča potters, suggesting Korenovo to be a hybrid group between the Vinča and the LBK pottery communities.

Mineralogical and Microstructure Analysis for Characterization and Provenance of Ceramic Artifacts from Late Helladic Kastrouli Settlement, Delphi (Central Greece)

The present study deals with the characterization of a ceramic assemblage from the Late Mycenaean (Late Helladic III) settlement of Kastrouli, at Desfina near Delphi, Central Greece using various analytical techniques. Kastrouli is located in a strategic position supervising the Mesokampos plateau and the entire peninsula and is related to other nearby coeval settlements. In total 40 ceramic sherds and 8 clay raw materials were analyzed through mineralogical, petrographic and microstructural techniques. Experimental briquettes (DS) made from clayey raw materials collected in the vicinity of Kastrouli, were fired under temperatures (900 and 1050 °C) in oxidizing conditions for comparison with the ancient ceramics. The petrographic analysis performed on thin sections prepared from the sherds has permitted the identification of six main fabric groups and a couple of loners. The aplastic inclusions recognized in all fabric groups but one confirmed the local provenance since they are related to the local geology. Fresh fractures of representative sherds were further examined under a scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDS) helping us to classify them into calcareous (CaO > 6%) and non-calcareous (CaO < 6%) samples (low and high calcium was noted in earlier pXRF data). Here, the ceramic sherds with broad calcium separation are explored on a one-to-one comparison on the basis of detailed mineralogical microstructure. Moreover, their microstructure was studied, aiming to estimate their vitrification stage. The mineralogy of all studied samples was determined by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), permitting us to test the validity of the firing temperatures revealed by the SEM analysis. The results obtained through the various analytical techniques employed are jointly assessed in order to reveal potters’ technological choices.

Innovations of the Beginning of the Sixth Millennium BC in the Northern Pontic Steppe

This study focuses on the pottery-bearing (“Neolithic”) sites of the northern Azov Sea region. The vessels ornamented with comb imprints appeared there in the sixth millennium BC. In the light of a recent re-dating of the Rakushechny Yar site sequence, the sites of the northern Azov region appeared to be the earliest evidence for this innovation. The innovation in the ceramic assemblage is accompanied by an innovative lithic tool set. The latter included macro-blades and fan-shaped end-scrapers, which were previously unknown in the studied region. Their reanalysis (including new field work at the single-layer site of Chapaevka) helped formulate a hypothesis of maritime transmission of comb-ornamented ceramics in the Black and Azov Sea. This hypothesis will stimulate further discussions regarding the ways of Neolithization in Eastern Europe. It underlines the connections between Balkan “classic” Neolithic and pottery-bearing sites of the Ukrainian Steppe. The impressed ware from Makri and other mainland Greek sites is treated as the closest analogy to the finds of the northern Azov Sea region.

The Early Neolithic at the Muge Shellmiddens (Portugal): Analysis and Review of the Ceramic Evidence from Cabeço da Amoreira

This article, on the Early Neolithic pottery from the Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden in the Muge region of central Portugal, presents a detailed review of the evidence to date and a systematic analysis of the decorative and mineralogical characteristics of the stratified and radiocarbon-dated ceramic assemblage. A homogenous pottery manufacturing tradition seems to be present right from the beginning, including both local and non-local ceramics. The authors formulate a working hypothesis on the geographic origin of the exogenous pottery, which contributes to the discussion of the dynamics of mobility and social networks in the Neolithization of south-western Europe.