Attila Kreiter
Attila Kreiter
Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre
Archaeometry Laboratory
H-1113 Budapest
Daróci út 3.
I'm head of laboratory and ceramic specialist. I received my PhD from Southampton University, UK, in 2006. My research interests include utilization of interdisciplinary analysis in archaeological interpretation and the combination of interdisciplinary research with archaeological theory, the origins and transmission of ceramic technologies, continuity and change in ceramic technologies and the social meaning/application of these processes. Apart from ceramic petrography I employ a broad range of analytical techniques to gather data including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Laser Ablation (LA-ICP-MS, LA-ICP-AES). I conduct research in Hungary analysing ceramics from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages.
Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre
Archaeometry Laboratory
H-1113 Budapest
Daróci út 3.
I'm head of laboratory and ceramic specialist. I received my PhD from Southampton University, UK, in 2006. My research interests include utilization of interdisciplinary analysis in archaeological interpretation and the combination of interdisciplinary research with archaeological theory, the origins and transmission of ceramic technologies, continuity and change in ceramic technologies and the social meaning/application of these processes. Apart from ceramic petrography I employ a broad range of analytical techniques to gather data including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Laser Ablation (LA-ICP-MS, LA-ICP-AES). I conduct research in Hungary analysing ceramics from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages.
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Bestellungen sind zurzeit über E-Mail an [email protected] möglich.
Chapter 20: Abstracts
Stadler Peter, Kotova Nadezhda
In Chapter 1 the new results of magnetic prospection are shown. Including all excavations and former prospection, we now have 125 – 135 houses constructed from about 5650 to 5050 BC. If we take all into account, there might be up to 150 houses, thus making Brunn am Gebirge Wolfholz by far the largest settlement of the LPC, beginning in the Formative phase.
Chapter 2 presents the triangulation map and aerial photos of site 3. Aerial photos were taken on a flight with a helicopter in the excavation year 1999.
In Chapter 3 Alexander Minnich presents statistics of all newly detected hearths and ovens, in which he interpreted the houses in the triangulation map with the exception of those already discussed in volume 1, mostly from site 2.
Chapter 4 investigates technological aspects and the shape of pottery from site 3.
In Chapter 5 the ornamentation of pottery from Brunn site 3 is shown and cast into a typology.
Chapter 6 shows the clay objects, which are amulets and bells, with their parallels in eastern Europe.
In Chapter 7 Beate Pomberger discusses further musical instruments from Brunn – vessel flutes and bells made from ceramics and their parallels in eastern Europe.
In Chapter 8 similarities between the features of the Formative phase of Brunn site 2 are compared with Brunn site 3.
Chapter 9 is the Bayesian approach to a house sequence, for about 27 houses. Only in these houses enough information – radiocarbon dates and ceramics – was available. The same radiocarbon data used in this way can be used for a sequencing of the phases.
In Chapter 10 is given the chronology of the Brunn Sites in the context of the Linear Pottery Culture.
In Chapter 11 Nadezhda Kotova tries to give a sequence of houses from site 3, by using different parameters, such as topography, orientation, climate, seriation, and radiocarbon data.
In Chapter 12 we give an overview of rock materials found at all sites of Brunn Wolfholz.
In Chapter 13 we present a typology of the macrolithic artefacts.
In Chapter 14 a complete dataset of macrolithic artefacts from Brunn Wolfholz is shown.
In Chapter 15 we present a stray find of a stone axe from a geological inspection.
Chapter 16 deals with the further investigation of petrographic and mineralogical analyses of additional selected pottery from the excavation Brunn am Gebirge (locality Wolfholz) from sites 1, 3 and 4 and a comparison with some reference samples.
Chapter 17 disproves our hope to identify Hungarian sites, from where we thought some imported ceramics of Brunn came from.
In Chapter 18 our student Yanik Hahnekamp investigates the topographical situation of LPC
Cemeteries and settlement burials in comparison with the distribution of Mesolithic and LPC settlements.
I. Palaeoecology
Pál Sümegi: Long-term relationship between human and environment Introductory thoughts to the Palaeoecological Section of the Environment – Human – Culture conference
Attila Barczi, Tünde Horváth, Ákos Pető, János Dani: Hajdunánás-Tedej – Lyukas-halom: archaeological assessment and scientific examination of a typical kurgan from the Great Hungarian Plain
Balázs Benyhe, Tímea Kiss, György Sipos, Andrea Deák, István Knipl: Investigation of human induced surface development at an archaeolgical excavation site near Bugac (Hungary)
Gergely Bóka: Changes in settlement patterns in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in the Körös Region Hydrogeology, reliefs and settlements
József Dezső, Gergely Kovaliczky, Réka Balogh, György Sipos: On loess hills and in floodplains. Preliminary report on geoarchaeological investigations near Szederkény – Kukorica-dűlő (M60 Motorway) and its floodplain in Hungary
Zoltán Horváth, Zoltán Kárpáti, Endre Krolopp†, Csaba Gulyás-Kis, Zsófia Medzihradszky, Bálint Tóth: Assessment of the relationship between environmental changes and urbanization through sedimentary, soil formation, malacological and pollen analyses (Pécs – Búza tér)
Gábor Ilon: The present and potential future strategy of environmental historical research in Western Hungary
Gabriella Kovács: Potentials of the archaeological application of soil micromorphological thin sections at Százhalombatta-Földvár Bronze Age tell settlement
Rozália Kustár, Pál Sümegi: Palaeoenvironmental changes inferred from results of excavations implemented in 2002 and 2003 near the settlement of Harta
Pál Sümegi, Sándor Gulyás, Gergő Persaits: Environmental history of Hungary: long time connection between man and environment in the Carpathian Basin. An instance for Early Neolithic economy on the loess covered alluvial island (Nagykörű – Tsz Gyümölcsös site)
Csaba Szalontai: The role and importance of the Maty Stream in the settlement history of Szeged neighbourhood. Preliminary results
Gábor Serlegi, Szilvia Fábián, Márta Daróczi-Szabó, Gabriella Sholl-Barna, Attila Demény: Climatic and environmental changes during the Late Copper Age in the Transdanubian region
II. Archaeobotany
Ferenc Gyulai: Archaeobotany. Opening lecture
Ferenc Gyulai: Archaeobotanical investigation of an Early Iron Age tumulus at Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary
Árpád Kenéz, Ferenc Gyulai, Ákos Pető: Archaeobotanical examination of food remains from Keszthely – Fenékpuszta Late Roman inner fortress with special focus on the consumption of cereals and the preparation of food
Ákos Pető, Árpád Kenéz, Orsolya Herendi, Ferenc Gyulai: Assessment of potential plant exploitation and land use of the Late Avar period in the light of micro- and macroarchaeobotanical analyses of an archaeological site in Southeastern Hungary
III. Archaeozoology
László Bartosiewicz: Archaeozoology in Hungary: the anatomy of a discipline
Erika Gál, Gabriella Kulcsár: Changes at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Characterizing subsistence on the basis of animal remains in southern Transdanubia, Hungary
György Goldman, Júlia Szénászky: Settlement unit of the Tiszapolgár culture at Battonya – Vertán-major archaeological site
Beáta Tugya, Zoltán Rózsa: Use of horn as a raw material from the Sarmatian excavation site of Szűcs Tanya in Községporta, Orosháza. Archaeological, archaeozoological and ethnographical references
IV. Anthropology
Ildikó Pap: Anthropology and Archaeology. A changing relationship?
Orsolya László: “Long gone childhood”. Comparative analysis of children in Medieval cemeteries
Brigitta Ősz, Vanda Voicsek, Csaba Vandulek, Péter Zádori: Paleopathological analysis of the human skeletal material from the cemetery at Lánycsók – Gata-Csotola (Hungary) dating to the Early Árpádian Age: a preliminary study
V. Archaeometry
Katalin T. Bíró: Archaeology and archaeometry: magic wand, fashion or routine?
László Csedreki, Rozália Kustár, Péter Langó: Micro-PIXE analysis of gilt silver mounts from the Hungarian Conquest Period
Marianna Dági: Goldsmiths and techniques of manufacture. Gold myrtle wreaths from Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Macedonia
Katalin Gherdán, Tünde Horváth, Mária Tóth: Potentials in ceramic petrography research. A case study at a multi-period site (Balatonőszöd – Temetői-dűlő, M7 / S-10)
János Jakucs, Judit Sándorné Kovács: Identification of Middle Neolithic ceramics paintings from nort-eastern Hungary and north-western Romania by the means of Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
Nándor Kalicz, Zsuzsanna Siklósi, Gabriella Scholl-Barna, Bernadett Bajnóczi, George H. Hourmouziadis, Fotis Ifantidis, Aikaterini Kyparissi-Apostolika, Maria Pappa, Rena Veropoulidou, Christina Ziota: Stable isotope geochemical provenance study of shell ornaments from Aszód – Papi földek
Éva Kelemen, Mária Tóth, Bernadett Bajnóczi: Archaeometric analysis of Árpádian Age and Late Medieval building materials from Csongrád County
Szilvia Lakatos, Zoltán May, Mária Tóth: Examination of a bronze Venus statue by archaeological and archaeometric methods
Emilia Pásztor: The role and significance of astronomy in prehistoric archaeological research. Case studies from Europe and the Carpathian Basin
Béla Rácz: Transcarpathian obsidians: literature data and field experience
Miklós Rácz, Sándor Puszta: Comparison of the results from a ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological excavation in the Medieval church of Sóly
György Sipos, Tünde Horváth, Zoltán May, Mária Tóth: Data to the dating of a Late Copper Age ritual human mask from Balatonőszöd – Temetői-dűlő
György Szakmány, István Sajó, Eszter Harsányi: Archaeometric investigation of Pannonian imitations of the black-coated pottery from Trier
Péter Pánczél, Attila Kreiter, György Szakmány: Petrographic, XRF, SEM-EDS and CL analyses of Celtic ceramics from Bátaszék – Körtvélyes-dűlő
Ildikó Zsók, György Szakmány, Attila Kreiter, Tibor Marton: Archaeometric analyses of Neolithic ceramics from Balatonszárszó
Papers by Attila Kreiter
analyses can contribute to a better understanding of the origins and aftermaths of fundamental socio-political
changes in prehistoric societies. To study pottery technology, we carried out petrographic analysis on ceramics
from six Late Neolithic (ca. 5000–4500 BCE) and Early Copper Age (ca. 4500–4000 BCE) sites located
within a single microregion in the K¨or¨os Basin on the Great Hungarian Plain. The communities representing two
Late Neolithic cultural units (i.e., the Tisza and the Herp´aly) applied distinct ceramic decorations and sustained a
strongly enforced socio-cultural boundary. By the Early Copper Age, dramatic changes unfolded, including the
abandonment of Neolithic centers, a departure from Late Neolithic symbolic systems, and the emergence of an
overall homogeneity in material culture. The petrographic analysis, however, revealed a high degree of similarity
in ceramic manufacturing between the Tisza and Herp´aly that persisted into the Copper Age. To understand these
patterns, we apply the concepts of communities and constellation of practice, alongside technological investment
theory. We argue that a potting constellation of practice explains the similarities between Tisza and Herp´aly
manufacturing practices. In addition, the ceramic technological continuity into the Copper Age, despite major
socio-political turbulence, illustrates that potters continued to interact with the landscape, technology, and each
other in similar ways, even as other, social aspects of the craft changed. The persistence of technological traditions
suggests that internal developments rather than external factors were responsible for the profound sociocultural
transformations that occurred during the transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age on the Great
Hungarian Plain.
In this study, we provide a working hypothesis and use ceramic and clay petrographic data to highlight the variability in ceramic technological practices, and in turn, identify the organization of ceramic production at the Late Neolithic (Lengyel I; 4750–4500 BCE) site of Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny, South Moravia, Czech Republic. The site is characterised by a large circular enclosure, the construction of which required a high level of social cooperation. It is still under scrutiny whether the cooperation required for building the enclosure system was only temporary and related to this construction activity, or if it reflects a higher degree of social organization in general.
By understanding ceramic production, we may clarify the complexity of the most common production processes that took place at the site. Large-scale ceramic and clay petrographic data provide information on the first steps of the chaîne opératoire in ceramic fabrication, which can be used to assess the organization of production. A systematic analysis of a large number of ceramic samples, representing all basic typological and macroscopically distinguishable fabric groups, revealed a high degree of individuality in choices of raw materials and tempers. Ceramic petrographic data, compared with the petrographic data of local sediment sources, further highlighted individuality in raw material and temper preferences, and even mixing of raw materials was identified.
Our analyses suggest that Lengyel culture potters likely produced their vessels on a household level, with no evidence suggesting non-domestic production. These data, in conjunction with ceramic petrographic data from Hungarian Late Neolithic sites, suggest that Late Neolithic communities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production. Ceramic petrographic data also indicate interaction between the inhabitants of Těšetice and other Lengyel culture communities in the vicinity, perhaps further indicating a higher degree of social organization at the site.
Bestellungen sind zurzeit über E-Mail an [email protected] möglich.
Chapter 20: Abstracts
Stadler Peter, Kotova Nadezhda
In Chapter 1 the new results of magnetic prospection are shown. Including all excavations and former prospection, we now have 125 – 135 houses constructed from about 5650 to 5050 BC. If we take all into account, there might be up to 150 houses, thus making Brunn am Gebirge Wolfholz by far the largest settlement of the LPC, beginning in the Formative phase.
Chapter 2 presents the triangulation map and aerial photos of site 3. Aerial photos were taken on a flight with a helicopter in the excavation year 1999.
In Chapter 3 Alexander Minnich presents statistics of all newly detected hearths and ovens, in which he interpreted the houses in the triangulation map with the exception of those already discussed in volume 1, mostly from site 2.
Chapter 4 investigates technological aspects and the shape of pottery from site 3.
In Chapter 5 the ornamentation of pottery from Brunn site 3 is shown and cast into a typology.
Chapter 6 shows the clay objects, which are amulets and bells, with their parallels in eastern Europe.
In Chapter 7 Beate Pomberger discusses further musical instruments from Brunn – vessel flutes and bells made from ceramics and their parallels in eastern Europe.
In Chapter 8 similarities between the features of the Formative phase of Brunn site 2 are compared with Brunn site 3.
Chapter 9 is the Bayesian approach to a house sequence, for about 27 houses. Only in these houses enough information – radiocarbon dates and ceramics – was available. The same radiocarbon data used in this way can be used for a sequencing of the phases.
In Chapter 10 is given the chronology of the Brunn Sites in the context of the Linear Pottery Culture.
In Chapter 11 Nadezhda Kotova tries to give a sequence of houses from site 3, by using different parameters, such as topography, orientation, climate, seriation, and radiocarbon data.
In Chapter 12 we give an overview of rock materials found at all sites of Brunn Wolfholz.
In Chapter 13 we present a typology of the macrolithic artefacts.
In Chapter 14 a complete dataset of macrolithic artefacts from Brunn Wolfholz is shown.
In Chapter 15 we present a stray find of a stone axe from a geological inspection.
Chapter 16 deals with the further investigation of petrographic and mineralogical analyses of additional selected pottery from the excavation Brunn am Gebirge (locality Wolfholz) from sites 1, 3 and 4 and a comparison with some reference samples.
Chapter 17 disproves our hope to identify Hungarian sites, from where we thought some imported ceramics of Brunn came from.
In Chapter 18 our student Yanik Hahnekamp investigates the topographical situation of LPC
Cemeteries and settlement burials in comparison with the distribution of Mesolithic and LPC settlements.
I. Palaeoecology
Pál Sümegi: Long-term relationship between human and environment Introductory thoughts to the Palaeoecological Section of the Environment – Human – Culture conference
Attila Barczi, Tünde Horváth, Ákos Pető, János Dani: Hajdunánás-Tedej – Lyukas-halom: archaeological assessment and scientific examination of a typical kurgan from the Great Hungarian Plain
Balázs Benyhe, Tímea Kiss, György Sipos, Andrea Deák, István Knipl: Investigation of human induced surface development at an archaeolgical excavation site near Bugac (Hungary)
Gergely Bóka: Changes in settlement patterns in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in the Körös Region Hydrogeology, reliefs and settlements
József Dezső, Gergely Kovaliczky, Réka Balogh, György Sipos: On loess hills and in floodplains. Preliminary report on geoarchaeological investigations near Szederkény – Kukorica-dűlő (M60 Motorway) and its floodplain in Hungary
Zoltán Horváth, Zoltán Kárpáti, Endre Krolopp†, Csaba Gulyás-Kis, Zsófia Medzihradszky, Bálint Tóth: Assessment of the relationship between environmental changes and urbanization through sedimentary, soil formation, malacological and pollen analyses (Pécs – Búza tér)
Gábor Ilon: The present and potential future strategy of environmental historical research in Western Hungary
Gabriella Kovács: Potentials of the archaeological application of soil micromorphological thin sections at Százhalombatta-Földvár Bronze Age tell settlement
Rozália Kustár, Pál Sümegi: Palaeoenvironmental changes inferred from results of excavations implemented in 2002 and 2003 near the settlement of Harta
Pál Sümegi, Sándor Gulyás, Gergő Persaits: Environmental history of Hungary: long time connection between man and environment in the Carpathian Basin. An instance for Early Neolithic economy on the loess covered alluvial island (Nagykörű – Tsz Gyümölcsös site)
Csaba Szalontai: The role and importance of the Maty Stream in the settlement history of Szeged neighbourhood. Preliminary results
Gábor Serlegi, Szilvia Fábián, Márta Daróczi-Szabó, Gabriella Sholl-Barna, Attila Demény: Climatic and environmental changes during the Late Copper Age in the Transdanubian region
II. Archaeobotany
Ferenc Gyulai: Archaeobotany. Opening lecture
Ferenc Gyulai: Archaeobotanical investigation of an Early Iron Age tumulus at Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary
Árpád Kenéz, Ferenc Gyulai, Ákos Pető: Archaeobotanical examination of food remains from Keszthely – Fenékpuszta Late Roman inner fortress with special focus on the consumption of cereals and the preparation of food
Ákos Pető, Árpád Kenéz, Orsolya Herendi, Ferenc Gyulai: Assessment of potential plant exploitation and land use of the Late Avar period in the light of micro- and macroarchaeobotanical analyses of an archaeological site in Southeastern Hungary
III. Archaeozoology
László Bartosiewicz: Archaeozoology in Hungary: the anatomy of a discipline
Erika Gál, Gabriella Kulcsár: Changes at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Characterizing subsistence on the basis of animal remains in southern Transdanubia, Hungary
György Goldman, Júlia Szénászky: Settlement unit of the Tiszapolgár culture at Battonya – Vertán-major archaeological site
Beáta Tugya, Zoltán Rózsa: Use of horn as a raw material from the Sarmatian excavation site of Szűcs Tanya in Községporta, Orosháza. Archaeological, archaeozoological and ethnographical references
IV. Anthropology
Ildikó Pap: Anthropology and Archaeology. A changing relationship?
Orsolya László: “Long gone childhood”. Comparative analysis of children in Medieval cemeteries
Brigitta Ősz, Vanda Voicsek, Csaba Vandulek, Péter Zádori: Paleopathological analysis of the human skeletal material from the cemetery at Lánycsók – Gata-Csotola (Hungary) dating to the Early Árpádian Age: a preliminary study
V. Archaeometry
Katalin T. Bíró: Archaeology and archaeometry: magic wand, fashion or routine?
László Csedreki, Rozália Kustár, Péter Langó: Micro-PIXE analysis of gilt silver mounts from the Hungarian Conquest Period
Marianna Dági: Goldsmiths and techniques of manufacture. Gold myrtle wreaths from Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Macedonia
Katalin Gherdán, Tünde Horváth, Mária Tóth: Potentials in ceramic petrography research. A case study at a multi-period site (Balatonőszöd – Temetői-dűlő, M7 / S-10)
János Jakucs, Judit Sándorné Kovács: Identification of Middle Neolithic ceramics paintings from nort-eastern Hungary and north-western Romania by the means of Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
Nándor Kalicz, Zsuzsanna Siklósi, Gabriella Scholl-Barna, Bernadett Bajnóczi, George H. Hourmouziadis, Fotis Ifantidis, Aikaterini Kyparissi-Apostolika, Maria Pappa, Rena Veropoulidou, Christina Ziota: Stable isotope geochemical provenance study of shell ornaments from Aszód – Papi földek
Éva Kelemen, Mária Tóth, Bernadett Bajnóczi: Archaeometric analysis of Árpádian Age and Late Medieval building materials from Csongrád County
Szilvia Lakatos, Zoltán May, Mária Tóth: Examination of a bronze Venus statue by archaeological and archaeometric methods
Emilia Pásztor: The role and significance of astronomy in prehistoric archaeological research. Case studies from Europe and the Carpathian Basin
Béla Rácz: Transcarpathian obsidians: literature data and field experience
Miklós Rácz, Sándor Puszta: Comparison of the results from a ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological excavation in the Medieval church of Sóly
György Sipos, Tünde Horváth, Zoltán May, Mária Tóth: Data to the dating of a Late Copper Age ritual human mask from Balatonőszöd – Temetői-dűlő
György Szakmány, István Sajó, Eszter Harsányi: Archaeometric investigation of Pannonian imitations of the black-coated pottery from Trier
Péter Pánczél, Attila Kreiter, György Szakmány: Petrographic, XRF, SEM-EDS and CL analyses of Celtic ceramics from Bátaszék – Körtvélyes-dűlő
Ildikó Zsók, György Szakmány, Attila Kreiter, Tibor Marton: Archaeometric analyses of Neolithic ceramics from Balatonszárszó
analyses can contribute to a better understanding of the origins and aftermaths of fundamental socio-political
changes in prehistoric societies. To study pottery technology, we carried out petrographic analysis on ceramics
from six Late Neolithic (ca. 5000–4500 BCE) and Early Copper Age (ca. 4500–4000 BCE) sites located
within a single microregion in the K¨or¨os Basin on the Great Hungarian Plain. The communities representing two
Late Neolithic cultural units (i.e., the Tisza and the Herp´aly) applied distinct ceramic decorations and sustained a
strongly enforced socio-cultural boundary. By the Early Copper Age, dramatic changes unfolded, including the
abandonment of Neolithic centers, a departure from Late Neolithic symbolic systems, and the emergence of an
overall homogeneity in material culture. The petrographic analysis, however, revealed a high degree of similarity
in ceramic manufacturing between the Tisza and Herp´aly that persisted into the Copper Age. To understand these
patterns, we apply the concepts of communities and constellation of practice, alongside technological investment
theory. We argue that a potting constellation of practice explains the similarities between Tisza and Herp´aly
manufacturing practices. In addition, the ceramic technological continuity into the Copper Age, despite major
socio-political turbulence, illustrates that potters continued to interact with the landscape, technology, and each
other in similar ways, even as other, social aspects of the craft changed. The persistence of technological traditions
suggests that internal developments rather than external factors were responsible for the profound sociocultural
transformations that occurred during the transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age on the Great
Hungarian Plain.
In this study, we provide a working hypothesis and use ceramic and clay petrographic data to highlight the variability in ceramic technological practices, and in turn, identify the organization of ceramic production at the Late Neolithic (Lengyel I; 4750–4500 BCE) site of Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny, South Moravia, Czech Republic. The site is characterised by a large circular enclosure, the construction of which required a high level of social cooperation. It is still under scrutiny whether the cooperation required for building the enclosure system was only temporary and related to this construction activity, or if it reflects a higher degree of social organization in general.
By understanding ceramic production, we may clarify the complexity of the most common production processes that took place at the site. Large-scale ceramic and clay petrographic data provide information on the first steps of the chaîne opératoire in ceramic fabrication, which can be used to assess the organization of production. A systematic analysis of a large number of ceramic samples, representing all basic typological and macroscopically distinguishable fabric groups, revealed a high degree of individuality in choices of raw materials and tempers. Ceramic petrographic data, compared with the petrographic data of local sediment sources, further highlighted individuality in raw material and temper preferences, and even mixing of raw materials was identified.
Our analyses suggest that Lengyel culture potters likely produced their vessels on a household level, with no evidence suggesting non-domestic production. These data, in conjunction with ceramic petrographic data from Hungarian Late Neolithic sites, suggest that Late Neolithic communities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production. Ceramic petrographic data also indicate interaction between the inhabitants of Těšetice and other Lengyel culture communities in the vicinity, perhaps further indicating a higher degree of social organization at the site.
Keywords: Craft networking, Change and innovation, Ceramic chaîne opératoire, Technological traditions/Knowledge transfer, Neolithic/Chalcolithic, Eurasia
The database is part of ARIADNE. ARIADNE brings together and integrates existing archaeological research data infrastructures so that researchers can use the various distributed datasets and new and powerful technologies as an integral component of the archaeological research methodology.
The emergence of the so called `Protoboleraz horizon` in the Great Hungarian Plain is signalled by the appearance of the Furchenstich pottery as well as more common types of ceramics. It would be, however, an oversimplification to identify this phase as having its roots in Transdanubia solely on the basis of the Transdanubian pottery types present at the sites.
A chronological as well as spatial review of the so called `Protoboleraz` assemblages may contribute to a more precise understanding of later archaeological phases and their already better explored phenomena.
The presentation focuses on the transitional period of the Middle-Late Copper Age in a yet unexplored region, namely the northern part of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, an area scarcely mentioned in studies dedicated to the Copper Age.
This presentation summarizes the results of pottery analyses based mainly on the ceramic material of a recently excavated Middle Iron Age settlement in the outskirts of Nagytarcsa (N Hungary). Forty-four sherds were selected from the ceramic material of the settlement, which were examined by the usual typological methods of archaeology and were also submitted for petrographic thin section analysis. Ceramic petrographic analysis was also supplemented by the petrographic analysis of sediments, which were collected at the site. Three sherds, characteristic of the Alföld/Vekerzug group (a wheel-made biconical pot or plate, a hand-built bowl with inverted rim and a hand-built barrel-shaped pot), were also analysed by LA-ICP-MS and XRD analyses to identify possible connections and variations between the raw materials and tempers in the different ceramic types. The outcome of this research is compared with the preliminary results of ceramic thin-section petrographic analysis of another Middle Iron Age settlement in North East Hungary. One of the aims of our analyses was to determine the provenance of the ceramics and to assess whether the technological characteristics postulate the former existence of specialized workshop at the site, since wheel-made wares required distinctive technological knowledge.
In the first stage, a complete refitting experiment was carried out in the Museum of Soria (Spain) using the whole ceramic assemblage of 1,349 sherds. This task enabled the recognition of a number of direct or physically matching sherds - mostly intra-feature but also cross-feature refits. On the other hand, several probable but not conjoining refits have been identified based on their decorative and technological similarities. For the second stage, a series of 17 ceramic samples was selected from different pits to test the previous observations on non-conjoint re-fitting. The samples include a variety of post-breakage alterations, including weathering and calcite accretions. Thin-sections from these samples were made and studied petrographically in the Laboratory for Conservation and Applied Research, National Heritage Protection Centre (Budapest).
The results show the reliability of the proposed method of assessing the visual association of non-conjoint sherds. Especially useful here were technological criteria such as the building technique, type, amount, size, roundness and sorting of inclusions, and raw material preparation such as the distribution of inclusions in the fabric, and the presence of cracks or air bubbles within the fabric. Another important finding was that some of the mentioned post-breakage alterations do not seem to detract from the applicability of the method, which enables matching of sherds with contrasting physical appearance, which otherwise would have been ruled out as possible refits.
"
In this paper we are going to focus on the issues of origin, function and meaning of encrusted pottery found and distributed in Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age archaeological contexts on the Great Hungarian Plain. It has been recognised for a long time that vessels with encrusted decorational techniques and motives of Kisapostag and Transdanubian Encrusted Pottery style had also appeared in the eastern Carpathian Basin in the remains of various contemporaneous sites, where they seem to be rare and "foreign". In connection with this phenomenon many explanations have been developed. The most frequent interpretations consider these vessels as imports which originated from the western Carpathian Basin, either as the material remains of groups of people moving from Transdanubia to the east, or as a special kind of trade ware which was exchanged for its own aesthetic value, or for its content.
The central issue of the presentation aims to examine the meaning of the term "foreign" in the case of this pottery group. We will address the following questions: 1) Were these encrusted vessels found in eastern contexts real imports and had been produced in Transdanubia? 2) How these rare, and in the local eastern contexts mostly unusual, practices (encrusted techniques and associated motives/forms) could have been transmitted through long distances? 3) How these "foreign" practices were appropriated and integrated in new, local contexts?
In order to reach these aims, after surveying the spatial distribution, the various archaeological contexts and the qualitative and quantitative attributes of vessels found with this decorational type east of the Danube, we are going to focus in more detail on the material of an EBA-MBA tell settlement, Tószeg-Laposhalom. With the help of macroscopic, petrographic, XRF and LA-ICP-AES analyses we will compare the various (formal, decorational and technological) attributes of the encrusted ("foreign") and the non-encrusted ("local") pottery found at the site.
Előadásunkban a Dunától keletre, kora bronzkor végi és középső bronzkori lelőhelyeken felbukkanó mészbetétes díszű kerámia kérdését járjuk körül, főként ezen edények eredetére, funkciójára és jelentésére fókuszálva.
A kutatás már régóta rámutatott, hogy a dunántúli régészeti anyagban általános, mészbetétes technikával díszített Kisapostag-, ill. ún. dunántúli mészbetétes kerámia stílusában készült edények a Kárpát-medence keleti felének számos, egykorú lelőhelyén is előkerülnek, noha ezen lelőhelyek régészeti anyagában meglehetősen ritka és szokatlan, „idegen" elemnek tekinthetők. A jelenség magyarázatára több elképzelés is született. Általános felfogás szerint ezek az edények tényleges importtárgyak voltak, melyek a Dunántúlról származnak, és elvándorló népcsoportok anyagi nyomaival, vagy az edények esztétikai értékén, esetleg tartalmán alapuló kereskedelmi tevékenységgel hozhatók összefüggésbe.
Előadásunkban ezen tárgycsoport „idegen" voltát vizsgáljuk meg részletesebben. A következő kérdésekre keressük a választ: 1) a Kárpát-medence keleti felében előkerült mészbetétes technikával díszített edények tényleges dunántúli importok voltak-e? 2) hogyan, milyen közvetítéssel terjedtek el a helyi, alföldi kontextusokban e ritka és szokatlan technikák (inkrusztáció) (ill. a hozzájuk kapcsolódó dunántúli formák és motívumok)? 3) a helyi fazekasok (ill. közösségek) hogyan vették át és integrálták ezen új, „idegen" technikai és stíluselemeket saját hagyományaikba? A fenti kérdéseket szem előtt tartva elsőként általános áttekintést adunk a Dunán innen talált mészbetétes edények térbeli elterjedéséről, változatos leletkörülményeiről, ill. mennyiségi és minőségi tulajdonságairól, majd egy korabeli Tisza menti teli-település, Tószeg-Laposhalom kerámianyagára fókuszálva bemutatjuk az itt előkerült mészbetétes („idegen/import") és nem mészbetétes („helyi") edények makroszkopikus, petrográfiai, XRF és LA-ICP-AES módszerekkel történt részletes összehason¬lításának eredményeit.
While still working on the tell settlement, it was decided that to broaden our knowledge on the central settlement, it would be equally important to study the Bronze Age settlement patterns in surrounding environs in order to gain new insights into the period’s social, economic and political dimensions. The complexity and stratification of Bronze Age societies can be correlated with the settlement hierarchy therefore one direction of social archaeology focuses on settlements, with a scope ranging from individual households to entire micro-regions.
• One of the key questions of the project is whether there were prominent, central settlements.
• Another goal is to identify possible divergences in the layout of the central settlements and the adjacent horizontal settlements, as well as in the layout of the broader area’s larger and smaller open villages, and to examine the houses and the number and size of storage pits uncovered on various settlement types.
• Another important issue is whether the hierarchy between the settlements reflected institutionalised social differences and political integration, or whether the settlement patterns reflect heterarchy, a settlement network made up of communities of equal in rank.
gain the widest possible picture about technological change and continuity the results of the investigation of Százhalombatta are compared with the ceramic technologies of other equally important Early and Middle Bronze Age communities. The chronological position of these sites makes it possible to investigate change and continuity in ceramic technology through time and to examine possible similarities or differences representative of a particular settlement, group of people or a particular period.
In pottery studies understandings of technology are often seen as limited as a result of functional and environmental constraints. There is little space for explanations of technology as stylistic expression. Through the concept of technological style, this thesis aims to break boundaries between the functional and social nature of technology and argues that the two are inseparable and that together they form a culturally accepted product. The concept of technological style
incorporates material selection, preparation and manufacturing and highlights the relationship between technology, manufacturing sequences and social production. Technological tradition and
change are investigated through macroscopic and ceramic petrological analyses. It is considered that in the process of material culture production technological choices are not only constitutive
towards an end product but complex, dynamic constructions that involve social strategies.
It is argued that Bronze Age social relations were maintained through material culture production. Ceramic technology and shared technological choices can be viewed as a process that
binds people together. Potters, and consumers, are seen to have a shared understanding of ceramic technological practices and how a culturally accepted vessel should be made. This approach calls into question the spatial boundedness of archaeological cultures and major historical processes such as migration, diffusion and acculturation, traditional to Hungarian approaches.