engleski

Research of prehistoric pottery traditions - the potential and problems of a holistic approach

The tradition of studying archaeological ceramics on the territory of Croatia is deeply rooted in the culture-historical approach, especially when it comes to prehistoric pottery, which represents most of the archaeological record on prehistoric societies. Furthermore, our knowledge about prehistoric, especially Bronze Age communities in the area has been stagnating for decades. However, the amount of excavated archaeological sites and pottery as well as publications are greater than ever before. The paper will present the project and methodological concept according to which over the next five years it is planned to conduct extended research on Bronze Age (2400-800 BC) pottery traditions on the territory of Croatia. A large-scale and well-designed systematic archaeometry research programme will be combined with macroscopic physical forms of examination of already excavated ceramic material. The study of pottery throughout its lifecycle from raw material selection, different stages of production, to distribution and use, and final discard, will provide valuable research contributions, but it also represents a huge data set. Therefore, the methodological challenges, as well as the challenges arising from the nature of the processed material, will be presented too. Accordingly, interdisciplinary (mis)understanding, the correlation of different data sets, quantification methods, and digitalization of such data currently present the biggest challenges. In that sense, awareness of the advantages but also limitations of analytical methods and a well- formed theoretical framework, research questions, and hypotheses are key parameters of an optimal methodological approach.

Bronze Age, pottery tradition, analytical methods, chaîne opératoire, methodological challenges

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