Pottery technology at the dawn of the Metal Age : a view from Vinča culture

This PhD research focuses on the reconstruction of pottery recipes and their transmission in the Neolithic/Chalcolithic sites of Belovode and Pločnik (c. 5200-4650 BC). These two Vinča culture sites, located respectively in North-East and South Serbia, have recently yielded some of the earliest known copper artefacts in Eurasia. The rich material culture of these two sites, therefore, offers a unique opportunity for the study of the evolution of pottery craft technology during the transition into the Metal Age. An interdisciplinary approach employing macro observation and analytical methods including thin section petrography XRF, XRPD and SEM was applied to a wide selection of ceramic samples representing the full spectrum pottery at Pločnik and Belovode in order to reconstruct and compare pottery recipes and their transmission in different phases of the two studied sites. The primary aim was to trace trajectories of knowledge transmission in pottery making and to explore potential pyrotechnological associations and related changes in pottery production concomitant with the introduction of metalworking at these two sites. The results of this study show the potential of integrating material science perspectives to the study of pottery technology; this has allowed us to reconstruct different technological aspects that well illustrate the remarkable craftsmanship achieved at that time and shed new light on the relation between pottery and metal pyrotechnology at the time of the rise of metallurgy. The transmission of pottery making recipes was then examined in a diachronic perspective: this allowed us to trace and compare pottery recipes and their evolution in the two sites, thus significantly contributing to elucidate different mechanism of cultural transmission in these two important late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic communities in the Balkans at a time of major technological change.