Archaeometric study of pottery from the Early Iron Age stronghold at Starosiedle (Lubuskie Province, western Poland)

García-Heras, Manuel; Agua, Fernando; Villegas, Maria Angeles; Kobylińska, Urszula; Kobyliński, Zbigniew

doi:0066-5924

Planned object

Title: Archaeometric study of pottery from the Early Iron Age stronghold at Starosiedle (Lubuskie Province, western Poland)

Abstract:

The re-excavation of the Early Iron Age stronghold of Starosiedle (western Poland) has recently provided an important pottery ensemble, which can be associated to the transitional Göritz/Górzyca phase between the more general Lusatian/Late Hallstatt cultural tradition and the new influences of the La Tène Period. These associations contradicted past interpretations derived from the excavation undertaken in early twentieth century. The results of an archaeometrical study carried out with the aim of approaching the production technology of the main pottery types are reported in this paper. Selected pottery samples and two samples of raw clay from the surroundings of the site were characterized by different analytical techniques, such as thin-section petrography, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal analyses (TG-DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. Resulting data determined the existence of a single technological tradition in the manufacture of all the pottery types, which is characterized by the use of local illitic-kaolinitic raw clay materials predominantly fired under reducing conditions at temperatures between approximately 700 and 750°C. Mechanical properties of such raw clay materials were improved by adding crushed rock fragments of granite, thereby creating a sort of ancient ceramic composite

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