Early Neolithic pottery technology

The ‘Archaeology of Social Dynamics‘ unit, hosted in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-IMF, Barcelona), in collaboration with the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, is organizing the 1st Conference on the EARLY NEOLITHIC of EUROPE (Barcelona, 6-8 November, 2019).
www.ene2019.org

Registration is open. Call for abstracts is also open until May 15, 2019. We positively welcome multidisciplinary approaches, regional syntheses and/or contextualized case studies.

This conference aims to be a meeting of researchers studying the Early Neolithic in Europe and surroundings areas, in relation with the Neolithisation process in the continent. This process followed different rhythms and presented singularities in each geographic area, and was therefore a very complex phenomenon. In order to address this scientific challenge, the conference is organised in nine thematic sessions:

- Neolithic spread and supraregional interactions,
  chaired by Catherine Perlès (Université Paris Nanterre);
- Chronology and modelling,
  chaired by Stephen Shennan (University College London);
- Human–environment interaction,
  chaired by Jean-François Berger (Université Lumière Lyon);
- Population characteristics and dynamics,
  chaired by Mattias Jakobsson (Uppsala Universitet);
- Territory and settlement,
  chaired by Daniela Hofmann (University of Hamburg);
- Subsistence,
  chaired by Amy Bogaard (University of Oxford);
- Technological processes,
  chaired by Annelou van Gijn (Universiteit Leiden);
- Funerary practices,
  chaired by Christian Jeunesse (Université de Strasbourg);
- Symbolism,
  chaired by Goce Naumov (University Goce Delcev).

Vários autores têm vindo recentemente a levantar a hipótese segundo a qual haverá cerâmica de tipo impressa no primeiro Neolítico do centro-sul português, designadamente na Galeria da Cisterna da Gruta do Almonda (Torres Novas) e Casas Novas (Coruche) no Vale do Tejo, e Vale Pincel (Sines) e Cabranosa (Vila do Bispo) na costa sudoeste. Esta hipótese acarreta a importante consequência de que a neolitização destes territórios se terá iniciado numa fase ainda pré-Cardial, e que portanto o processo cultural que se tem vindo a documentar no Mediterrâneo ocidental se teria manifestado em moldes similares no litoral atlântico do quadrante sudoeste peninsular.

Uma análise cronoestilística das produções cerâmicas atribuídas a meados do VI milénio a.C. demonstra no entanto que, nos casos publicados com inventários detalhados, não se encontram elementos definidores de produções de tipo Impressa, tais como bases planas, impressões com concha de lapa ou ungulações. As fiadas horizontais de impressões cardiais, também apontadas como associáveis à Impressa, são omnipresentes nos contextos portugueses deste período e não podem portanto ser entendidas por si mesmas como indicativas de outras filiações culturais. Um dos elementos mais característicos da Impressa de entre a Ligúria e Valência, o boquique ou punto y raya (equivalente ao sillons d’impressions francês), está até ao momento ausente das etapas iniciais do primeiro Neolítico português. Com efeito, sempre que se dispõe de contextos fechados e datações absolutas fiáveis, o boquique surge em datas posteriores a ca. 5100 a.C. A estratigrafia do Abrigo da Pena d’Água (Torres Novas) é eloquente a este respeito (ver figura): aqui regista-se uma sequência tripartida do Neolítico Antigo em que um primeiro momento se caracteriza pela presença de cerâmica cardial (c. Eb-base), à qual se associa depois o boquique (c. Eb-topo) e, finalmente, por volta de 4700 a.C., uma fase em que esta última técnica decorativa ocorre já sem cardial (c. Ea).

Pode-se concluir assim que não se conhece presentemente qualquer contexto arqueológico individualizável no território português passível de atribuição à Impressa. Os exemplos que têm sido apontados resumem-se a peças singulares pertencentes a conjuntos cerâmicos mais vastos, por regra provenientes de palimpsestos arqueológicos, cuja identificação se tem feito a posteriori com base em exercícios de tipologia comparada. Nada obsta à integração estilística e cultural destas peças no Cardial.

During the research conducted in the years 1992-1996 at the site 26 in Spytkowice (the Wadowice district, Małopolska province, southern Poland) the extensive settlements of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) and the Lengyel-Polgár complex (L-PC) were discovered. Based on pottery, the LBK settlement
seems to connected first and foremost with the music-note phase (II). The L-PC pottery is more difficult to associate with specific groups. Currently, we are of the opinion that its vast majority may be referred to the Pleszów-Modlnica group. Practically, all the chipped lithic artefacts were made of the Cracow Jurassic flint. In the case of the LBK settlement the structure of flint inventory and the morphological
characteristics of artefacts clearly indicate its workshop character. Spytkowice 26 was one of the extensive LBK production settlements, located in western Lesser Poland, from which the Cracow Jurassic flint and products made of it reached i.a. the areas of Silesia and Moravia. The settlement (settlements?) connected with the L-PC seems to exhibit similar intensity and use patterns of the Cracow Jurrasic flint. The patterns of the flint raw material economy from both periods give an opportunity for a diachronic comparison of this problem, from the point of view of the network of producers and consumers.

The appearance of the oldest pottery in the world is a major focus of Early Neolithic archaeology. So far, most discoveries of early pottery have occurred in South China, North China, the Russian Far East, Japan and Korea. The discovery of very thick, low-fired, fibre-tempered pottery dated from around 10,000 BP at the Houtaomuga Site, in Jilin Province, fills an important gap in the distribution of early pottery in northeast China. Based on multi-disciplinary research and an important series of dates, this article establishes the chronology of the early pottery remains discovered at the Houtaomuga Site and their morphological and technical characteristics, and sheds light on their function. Finally, the authors compare them to the other early pottery sherds discovered in the surrounding region, and throughout East Asia, in order to discuss the significance of this discovery and its implications for the subsistence mode developed in the northwest of the Jilin Province at the very beginning of the Neolithic.
Please find the full article on this webpage: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10963-018-9126-y or on JSTOR

The paper is dedicated to the results of all-round investigation of two small ceramic collections from Novopetrovka-2 and Gromatuha sites. Ceramic study includes vessels size, natural structure of shapes, plastic raw materials, pottery pastes, modes of vessels’ construction, mechanical and thermal treatment of vessels, and pottery decoration. Pottery traditions of Novopetrovka-2 and Gromatuha population were close by the using of mountain silt as a plastic raw material, convex-form molds, beating of vessels with paddle, and fi ring regimes. But some differences show more developed level of Novopetrovka-2 pottery traditions included the using of various organic solutions in pottery paste, grouping the clay patches in wide circle band, developed added sculptural decoration with absolute absence of technological decoration. These facts drew to the conclusion that Gromatuha pottery traditions were closer to Osipovka ones. At the same time Novopetrovka potters did not turn yet to the use of natural clays and mineral temper as Mariinskaya culture potters.
Keywords: Low and Middle Amur-river, ceramics, Neolithic Age, Gromatuha and Novopetrovka cultures, pottery
traditions.

V.E. Medvedev, Yu.B. Tsetlin, E.V. Volkova, O.A. Lopatina. On Proto-Pottery Production in the Russian Far East (Amur Region).
The paper summarizes the data on ancient pottery traditions comparative study of the Osipovo, Mariinsk, and Malyshevo archaeological cultures owners from the Neolithic Age located at the Low Amur region. Ceramic investigation included pottery technology, shapes, decoration, and use of vessels but with various details. In the result of the study it became clear that the population of each three cultures was heterogeneous. But the population of Mariinsk, and Malyshevo cultures were much more close than these cultures and Osipovo inhabitants. By the general mechanism of pottery production evolution the pottery traditions of Osipovo culture belong to fi rst–third stages, and the tradition of Mariinsk, and Malyshevo cultures are typical to 4–5th stages of the proto-pottery production.
Keywords: Low Amur region, pottery, Neolithic age, Osipovo, Mariinsk, Malyshevo cultures, pottery traditions.

The paper is dedicated to the investigation of various natural silts as the most ancient type of raw material used in pottery production. The authors describe the specific features of the composition of plain and mountain silts, and discover the same features in ancient ceramics from different regions in Russia. It can be concluded that silts were the earliest raw material used, a tradition that faded away during the evolution of pottery production.

Recent excavations at the Early Neolithic settlement of Mavropigi in western Macedonia, Greece have provided new and
important evidence for early farming developments in the region and over a wide geographical zone from western Anatolia
to the Adriatic coast and adjacent areas. The site represents a rare archaeological example of a fully uncovered early farming
community which settled in western Greek Macedonia just before the middle of the 7th millemium cal BC. The rich material record
of Mavropigi offers valuable insights into important aspects of the cultural identity of early farmers, and of the technological
traditions (architectural, building), production (agriculture, husbandry) and ideological practices (figurines, burials). The full
exposure of the settlement, the clarity of its spatial features and their high chronological resolution provides a controlled context
of reference for the study of the material record as will become clear in the presentation of the chipped stone industries which
is the main focus of the paper. It is clear that the early date of the lithic assemblage of the site provides a fair account of the
chipped technology, introduced by the first agriculturalists to northern Greece in the Early Neolithic period, and of affinities with
contemporary communities in the area and the preceding local tradition.

The archaeological record of the Western Sahara remains extremely fragmentary, with very few sites systematically excavated. The excavation at Ashash rock shelter (Zemmur region) has provided, for the first time in the region, the evidence of superimposition of two prehistoric occupations that have been radiocarbon dated to the early 9th millennium cal. BP and to the mid-7th millennium cal. BP. The Epipalaeolithic occupation is strongly marked by the standardised production of geometric microliths and points using a microburin blow technique. The Neolithic occupation of the site has yielded a few potsherds that provide the first unambiguous evidence of pottery in the Zemmur area in the mid-7th millennium cal. BP.Les données archéologiques du Sahara occidental sont encore très lacunaires et l’exploration systématique des sites demeure exceptionnelle. Les fouilles de l’abri sous roche Ashash (région de Zemmour) ont fourni, pour la première fois dans la région, la preuve de la superposition de deux occupations préhistoriques datées par radiocarbone du début du 9ème millénaire et du milieu du 7ème millénaire cal. BP respectivement. L’occupation épipaléolithique est fortement marquée par la production normalisée de microlithes géométriques et de pointes de projectiles fabriqués par la technique du microburin. L’occupation néolithique du site a livré quelques tessons de céramique qui fournissent la première preuve sans ambiguïté de la présence de poterie dans la région de Zemmour au milieu du 7ème millénaire cal. BP.This article is in English.

ÖZ
Güneybatı Asya ve özellikle Yukarı Mezopotamya’da son yirmi yılda yapılan araştırmalar Neolitik Dönemde çanak çömleğin ortaya çıkış sürecini daha iyi anlamamızı sağlamıştır. Buna göre, çanak çömlek Yukarı Mezopotamya’daki bir dizi yerleşimde MÖ 8. binyılın sonuyla 7. binyılın başlarında teknolojik olarak gelişkin bir biçimde ortaya çıkmıştır. Söz konusu çanak çömlek mineral katkılı, çoğunlukla koyu renkli ve iyi açkılanmış yüzeyli, kapalı formlu, ağıza yakın, yatay küt tutamakları olan derin ve sığ kaplardan oluşmaktadır. Yukarı Dicle Havzası, Aşağı Garzan Vadisi’nde yer alan Sumaki Höyük sözü edilen bu süreci iyi yansıtan yerleşimlerden biridir. Bu yazıda Sumaki Höyük Erken Mineral Katkılı çanak çömlek grubunun standart biçimleri dışındaki kutuları sunulmaktadır.

ABSTRACT
The investigation in Southwest Asia, and particularly in Upper Mesopotamia over the last two decades has clarified and helped the understanding of the emergence of pottery in the Neolithic period. According to the evidence, the pottery appeared in several settlements in Upper Mesopotamia in a technologically advanced form between the end of the 8th millennium BC to the beginning of the 7th millennium BC. This type of pottery is mineral tempered, with a dominantly dark coloured well-burnished surface, usually hole-mouthed with thick unpierced lugs that are placed horizontally near the rim. Sumaki Höyük, located in the Lower Garzan Valley in the Upper Tigris Basin, is one of the sites that demonstrates the development of this pottery. In this paper, an atypical form, the boxes, will be presented within the context of the Early Mineral Tempered pottery of Sumaki Höyük.

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