engleski

People Behind the Fragments: Use-Related Properties of the Late Bronze Age Pottery

The paper will present the research results concerning use related properties of the Late Bronze Age pottery from the area of northern Croatia. The analysis was carried out on findings from the remains of several Urnfield Culture settlements located in different micro- regions and dated between the 14th and 9th centuries BC. Since the tradition of processing the archaeological ceramics in these areas is deeply rooted in culture-historical approach, the aim of the study is to apply a different strategy to the processing of the same material in order to gain insight into more social and economic aspects of prehistoric communities who made and used ceramic vessels. In that regard, the main objective is to identify functional performance characteristics considering the links between technology, morphology, vessels’ sizes and function, as well as use-alterations as markers of vessels’ use. However, pronounced variability in vessel shapes, as well as a high level of fragmentation, represent a limitation in carrying out such analysis, and the imbalance of the context and depositional processes of pottery findings makes the interpretation more difficult. Therefore, in addition to the results, the methodological and interpretative challenges in pottery analysis related to the above-mentioned issues will be highlighted, especially those concerning the comparative and correlative considerations of the use-related properties of prehistoric pottery.

late Bronze Age, settlements, pottery, use-alterations, methodology

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