Tradition, Technology and Communication Structures of the Potter’s Craft during the Funnel Beaker Culture
A project within German Research Foundation Priority Programme 1400 "Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation"
Pottery analysis facilitates far-reaching conclusions to be drawn about the chronology and cultural interconnectedness between individual settlement areas. While archaeological research has traditionally paid much attention to the form and decoration of pottery vessels, the technologies employed in their manufacture have mostly been considered only in a cursory manner, even though their detailed analysis would frequently yield important evidence about communication structures. This is the starting point for the project which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the scope of the Priority Programme “Monumentality“. The study aims to gather information about the technologies employed by the various regional groups of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TBK) in order to understand structural links between the different craft traditions practiced in the various settlement regions. In order to address this objective, Dr. Katrin Struckmeyer is carrying out comparative scientific analyses on TBK-pottery fragments from all study areas covered by the Priority Programme. The ceramological study proved the existence within the TBK of regional tradition areas which were distinguished by differences in pottery production technologies. At the same time petrographic and chemical analyses allowed differentiating the pottery raw materials and thereby facilitating the reconstruction of small scale networks and interactions within settlement regions. Further information is available here.
Bibliography
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