The diversity of ceramic raw materials used in the production of Neolithic vessels in the upper Vistula basin near Krakow

Abstract

Specialist analysis of ceramics helps to identify the raw material used for their production and to determine whether the material was chosen deliberately for its specific parameters. The present study of Neolithic vessels and of sampled raw materials has shown that Linear Pottery population tended to use plastic Miocene clay, but silty alluvial loam was equally popular. A comparison between the types of vessels and ceramic bodies has proven that thin-walled vessels were more often made of material with a high content of grains of silty fraction, while thick-walled vessels were usually shaped from heavy clay. This suggests that there were certain rules to be observed when preparing the paste, despite the local diversity of raw materials.