Archaeometric research on the first pottery production in the Carpathian Basin: mufacturing traditions of the Early Neolithic, Körös Culture ceramics

The paper presents the results of an archaeometric study on the first pottery production of the earliest farmers of the Carpathian Basin. The ceramic samples belong to the Early Neolithic Körös Culture, radiocarbon dated to the beginning of the 7th millennium uncal. BP. The samples comprise both sherds and soils, as potential raw materials, which were collected from surroundings of the Neolithic sites from various geological deposits. In addition, some samples from later Neolithic phases were analysed in order to study possible technological changes trough time. This research represents the very first archaeometric study for the Körös Culture in Hungary. The methods of investigation include a petrographic study of thin sections under a polarising microscope, combined with mineralogical (XRD), geochemical (XRF, NAA) and SEM-EDS analyses. This paper will present and discuss mainly the results of petrographic analysis of clayey sediments and pottery, which allowed us to establish that Early Neolithic potters exploited local clay deposits of the Körös river, with the addition of vegetal temper. Among the possible raw materials, only those with no or very little primary carbonates were selected for pottery production. The ceramic fabrics of the various sites are very similar. Well-defined groups cannot be distinguished, but sherds belong to the same fabric group, which could be subdivided into four subgroups on the basis of minor textural differences. Finally, some ceramic samples of the Linear Pottery Culture from the same area are compared to those of the Körös Culture, which show technological changes in the pottery production through time.