Informace o projektu
Perspectives On socio-economic practices at the Transition of the neoliThic and eneolithic periods through the INterdisciplinary investiGation of ceramic life cycles (POTTING)

Pottery is one of the paramount materials found in archaeological excavations in Central Europe, and as such it has been used to track regional chronologies, stylistic trends, and vessels’ distribution patterns. Recent developments in archaeological pottery analysis, however, focus on broader interpretations of socio-cultural and economic dynamics behind pottery-making practices by championing an approach based on the chaîne opératoire concept, i.e. the reconstruction of the steps related to production, use, and discard of objects. Building on this concept, the POTTING project will provide a new framework to understand continuity, transformation, and change in prehistoric economic practices at the pivotal Neolithic-Eneolithic transition in Moravia, by taking into account both production technology and vessel use. Thanks to the exceptionally long occupation over a time span of more than 1000 years at the Moravian site of Brno Modřice-CTP, the project will unlock socio-economic practices across multiple cultural horizons at a single site, offering unparalleled control over environmental and geographic variables. The analytical framework combining ceramic petrography and micro-CT coupled with the multi-scalar analysis of manufacturing traces, completed by lipid residue analysis to investigate the actual use of pottery, will unveil domestic practices and related economic activities, including raw material prospection, pottery-making, storage, cooking and food consumption practices. Leveraging the expertise in Central European prehistoric material culture offered by the host institution (Masaryk University), and the recent advances in imaging and biomolecular approaches on archaeological pottery brought together by the collaborators from partner institutions, the fellowship will equip the researcher with cutting-edge, interdisciplinary analytical expertise to advance the current knowledge on socio-economic dynamics at a time of major change in European prehistory.