EAA 2023: Abstract

Although pottery is in focus of many research, biographies of ceramic containers are still challenging field of investigation. Research have shown that the Early and Late Neolithic ceramic containers in the Central Balkans went through dynamic use-lives, from their entering into the context of use, to their discard. Different stages in vessels’ life-cycles will be presented both for Early and Late Neolithic: actual use – food (food preparation, thermal processing) and non-food related (storage of pigments and/or herbs; moistening of fibers); secondary use (storage of other vessels and tools, lids, usage of fragments as tools), and extended use, with specific emphasis on curation and repairs as expressions of social values. These various modes of usage urge the need for reconsidering the notion of ceramic assemblages, usually seen as contextually and chronologically associated group of finds. More importantly, identification of various stages in pottery life-cycles further leads to the need for re-examination of the role of typology as the most common methodological tool for pottery analysis and its relevance for understanding social relations and lifeways in the past.

pottery, use, secondary use, ceramic assemblage, typology

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Marija Svilar²

Jasna Vuković¹