Pottery as a Witness to Cultural Change? The Early Bronze Age Settlement Agglomeration in Plotiště n. Labem in the Light of Multidisciplinary Research

Project Description

Detailed analysis of pottery production technology has the potential to document (dis)continuity in the local craft tradition and, therefore, the extent of settlement continuity. Certain aspects of pottery manufacturing technology could be copied through mere observation (e.g. the shapes of vessels), but others were inherited mostly through direct learning. The Plotiště n. Labem micro-region, in which an agglomeration of settlements and grave finds from various phases of the Únětice culture (BA1 and BA2) have been found, enables the investigation of this problem. The results of the proposed analyses of pottery manufacturing technology will be both validated experimentally and supported by sequences of radiocarbon data. As such, the project will contribute to a revision of the chronological significance of Early Bronze Age pottery attributes and their relative and absolute dating. Aspects of settlement continuity will also be studied using a multidisciplinary approach to nonceramic material and ecofacts.

Investigator

• Mgr. Richard Thér, Ph.D. (Philosophical Faculty UHK)

Collaboration

• Institute of Archaeology of the CAS (principal investigator)

Timeframe

• 2023–2025

Identification

• GA23-07619S