Pezmogty 3B - a small Neolithic dwelling on the Middle Vychegda (Komi Republic)

The paper publishes the results of a study of complex B of Pezmogty 3 site. The author has studied traces and remains of a depressed small dwelling with an excavation area of 81 m. The spatial distribution of artefacts, faunal remains and their association with deposits of different genesis have been analysed. It is defined that the studied structure was rounded in the plan, 3,0-3,5 m in diameter, 7-9,5 m in area, and, probably, a cone-shaped roof. The assemblage contains stone objects, fragments of ceramic ware and indeterminable items, fragments of calcified bones. The morphology of the flint arrowheads; the signs of secondary bifacial thinning technology; the ceramic pots, made of clay with an admixture of silt and decorated with a comb-pit ornament, allow us to attribute these materials to the Lyalovo culture in the European North-East and date them to the first half of the V millennium B.C. Until now, the most informative data for the study of this culture in north-eastern Europe were the remains of medium and large dwellings with an area of 26 to 100 m, so the published materials expand our understanding of the way of life and house-building traditions of the Middle Neolithic people of this region.

The Polyhedral and Elusive Nature of Geyao

For the last six and a half centuries, a lot has been written about Ge ware, but mostly in a fragmentary way that has made the understanding of this ceramic ware complex and confusing. Major archaeological excavations of the past 30 years have provided scholars with an unprecedented and unexpected wealth of material that has allowed them to piece together a much more detailed history of Chinese ceramics from the 10th to the fourteenth century (and beyond). However, the identification of Ge ware and its production place still elude the academic community. After analysing ancient literary records on Ge ware and related archaeological excavations, this paper suggests a new approach to the subject in the attempt to break the deadlock in which experts have got entangled.

Kinship, Marriage and Traces of Social Interaction - Aspects on the hunter-gatherer societies in northern Sweden during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age

A central problem in the explanation and description of decentralized hunter-gatherer societies is what kind of traces different sorts of social interaction will leave in the archaeological material. It is here suggested that the distribution of asbestos-tempered ceramic ware in northern Sweden during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age was a result of the social interaction between different groups. The decoration on the cermic ware is suggested to represent traces of intermarriage relations. It is further argued that the hunter-gatherer societies were open to interaction with other groups and individuals.

ON THE HANDLES OF CERAMIC VESSELS OF THE EARLY BRONZE PRIMORSKY DAGESTAN (QUESTIONS OF TYPOLOGY AND CHRONOLOGY)

The main purpose of this article is a typological and chronological study of the handles of ceramic vessels originating from fairly well-studied sites of the Early Bronze Age of the Primorsky Lowland of Dagestan, including both settlements (Velikent II, Gemetyube I, II, Kabaz-Kutan I, II, Torpakh-kala), and and burial grounds (Velikent I (catacomb No. 8), II (catacomb No. 1), III (catacomb No. 1), Karabudakhkent II, Kayakent VI). The first handles in the North-Eastern Caucasus appeared on ceramic ware back in the Eneolithic era. During the early Bronze Age, handles became a characteristic part of ceramic dishes (bowls, containers, cups, vases) on the considered sites of Primorsky Dagestan. Functionally, they have a utilitarian, decorative, artistic and religious purpose. The handles are of four types, which are characteristic of certain forms of dishes: type 1 - horizontal tubular, type 2 - ribbon, type 3 - pseudo-handles, type 4 - hemispherical. The article provides a description of each type of pens, provides analogues on the sites of the Early Bronze Age both in the Northeast Caucasus and the adjacent regions of the Caucasus, including the territories of modern Iran, Turkey and Palestine and Israel, which were part of the distribution area of ​​the Kuro-Arak cultural and historical community ( including Khirbet-Kerak culture). The work identifies the most common and early, dating back to the Chalcolithic period, types of pens, discusses the issue of their chronology. This article is the first special work devoted to a typological and chronological analysis of ceramic vessel handles.

Design and fabrication of potters kick wheel for ceramic wares production

An attempted to produce or fabricate a functional kick wheel have failed because some important principles guiding the fabrication of the kick wheel was neglected. Some of these are improper centered wheel head and low rotating force from the fly wheel. In this research, a design was generated in a bid to produce a functional kick wheel for pottery production using a marsonial wood for the skeletal part. The kick wheel was designed in such a way that the fly wheel and the centering can be self-controlled. Low cost of materials, reduced energy, lesser stress and conveniences during operation are all considered in the design principle. From the result of the ceramic ware produced, it was discovered that the machine can produce hollow ware with a well centered base with the advantage of self-reliant, no energy cost and less stress during usage.

A Complex of the Early-Eleventh Century Finds from a Cistern in Quarter IX of Chersonese

This paper discusses a complex of ceramic finds excavated from a cistern in quarter IX in the north-eastern area of Chersonese, which supplied water to a public bath at the first stage of its existence. Although the reasons why the cistern was covered with soil remain unclear, later on residential buildings appeared at this site. The finds published here comprised imported transport and table ceramic wares. The complex included brown-clay flat-handle transport pitchers, presumably from the Taman area; Günsenin I amphorae produced on the Marmara Sea coast to the south-west of Constantinople; Glazed White Ware II tableware (according to J. Hayes’ classification) and painted white-clay Polychrome Ware also produced in the vicinity of the Byzantine capital. A vessel with polished surface is probably connected with the manufacture of the Khazar Khanate circle. The questions of the chronology of specific pottery types nave been analysed with account to their modern dating. According to the combination of dates, the complex of finds from the cistern in question is attributable to the beginning of the eleventh century. An important role for the dating of the complex is played by the chronology of the white-clay polychrome ware clarified by G. Sanders and the absence of Günsenin II amphorae dating from the mid-eleventh to the early twelfth centuries. The ceramic ware from the infill of the cistern comprises only imported pieces and reflects the two directions of Cherson’s trade in the said period: first, Constantinople and its environs and second, the Azov Sea and Northern Caucasus area.

Glazed Red Clay Ceramic Ware with Images of Birds Excavated at Sudak (The Collection of the Museum Preserve of Sudak Fortress)

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the collection of red clay glazed ceramic ware featuring images of birds from the excavations of Sudak and now residing in the Museum Preserve of Sudak Fortress. The publication comprises 45 open-shaped vessels and one ceramic tile. Imported artefacts mostly from the Byzantine circle comprise 22% of them and Crimean products form 78%. Many finds are published for the first time. The products of the Byzantine circle dating back from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries mostly show a bird of the Accipitridae (probably eagle) and Columbidae. The dove is often depicted with palm branches and/or bunches of grapes which also have important meaning in Christianity. The dove most often occurred on the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century glazed ware ring of Crimean manufacture, where its image was probably associated with Christian symbols and Byzantine tradition. Original drawings of the birds demonstrate individual creativity of local craftsmen since there are many variants of such images. Some drawings allow the one to determine the breed of bird depicted by ceramic painters. Additionally, at the products of Crimean workshops represent at least four other species of birds, presumably swan, bustard, goose or duck, and heron or crane. The research undertaken allowed us to identify a few stylistic decorative series showing bird-shaped images, to discover the origin of artefacts, and to clarify the directions of various cultural influence on local ceramic production.

CERAMIC DISHES WITH HANDLES IN ALTAI: BRIEF OVERVIEW OF STUDIES, ANALYSIS OF SOURCES AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

Ceramic dishes with handles appeared in Altai approximately in the 2nd half of the 6th century B.C. Their design is very peculiar and has no parallel in the cultures of the preceding period. This article investigates the results of the earlier studies and talks about the spread of ceramics with handles in China (in Gansu and Xinjiang) and its adjacent regions. The article also presents published opinions of scientists about the finds in the Pazyryk burials. Comparative analysis has allowed us to make the assumption that the presence of ceramics with handles in the Early Iron Age monuments in Central Asia is a reflection of migration during which people mastered the technologies of making such ceramic ware. Further comprehensive research of the existing data on these archaeological finds will provide a more detailed picture of the interaction between different ancient populations. Thus, this article describes the research lines which are ought to be carried out. Keywords: altai, Eastern Xinjiang, bronze age, early Iron Age, ceramics with handles, Pazyryk culture, migration, technology diffusion

Numismatic Rarities of Ancient Chersonese: a Dichalkos from The Late-Third Century BC Featuring the Name of Matrodoros

Numismatics of ancient Chersonese comprises a big number of silver and copper coin issues. The variety of scenes on the coinage from the period of autonomy resembles the list of known names of officials featured on the coins as those responsible for the city’s mintage. In some cases, the names of mint-makers are abbreviated, which makes the deciphering complicated. In this regard, let us call the attention to an issue of the dichalkoi of Chersonese from the second half of the third century BC featuring Herakles’ head right / bull butting left, with the official’s name “MATP,” always in shortened form. Recently there appeared a coin from the series in question with a more detailed version of the official’s name abbreviated as “МАТРОΔ,” which certainly supposed the name of “Matrodoros.” In the epigraphic inscriptions on ceramic ware from Chersonese, particularly among the local amphorae stamps, there is a name of astynomos Matrodoros son of Lysippos dated from the last third of the third century BC. From the coincidence of this name which rarely occurred in Chersonese with specific numismatic type and the chronology of the stamps there are reasons to infer that this case is related to works of the same official of Chersonese, an archon, who consequently held positions of astynomos and then mint-maker in the polis government. If it was the case, the low chronological frame of the stamps on Chersonesan amphorae showing the name of Matrodoros was close to the time when he became the mint-maker. Therefore, the chronology of the coins in question should be close to the last decade of the third century BC.