Analiza pozostałości organicznych w ceramice kultury rzucewskiej z Rzucewa

• Authors: Cramp Lucy J. E. , Król Danuta , Rutter Matilda , Heyd Volker , Pospieszny Łukasz

Title variants

EN

Organic residue analysis of Rzucewo culture pottery from Rzucewo

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

During the lifetime of an unglazed pot, biomolecules from the vessel contents accumulate into pores in the vessel wall. Lipids, especially, survive over millennia and when extracted from archaeological pottery therefore yield diagnostic information regarding its original contents. Here we report the analysis of preserved lipids extracted from 15 Rzucewo culture pottery sherds, including bowls, vases and storage vessels, from Rzucewo, Puck Bay, Poland. This was undertaken in order to gain further insights into the subsistence economy and use of material culture by this Late Neolithic culture, who are thought to practice a mixed economy that incorporated domesticates into a subsistence base focused primarily upon seal-hunting. Lipids recovered from 13 of 15 sherds analysed could be characterised as of predominantly aquatic origin, with more limited evidence for some likely plant waxes from two vessels. The range of stable carbon isotope signatures of the fatty acids reflect a marine through to freshwater origin, which may have derived from animals fished or hunted from brackish waters, as well perhaps as the sea and inland rivers. There was no evidence for processing dairy products, in contrast with the published Rzucewo pottery from Nida, Lithuania (Heron et al. 2015), which may arise from the lack of beakers included in this vessel assemblage. These findings may also be contrasted with previously published studies from related Corded Ware and Globular Amphorae cultures (Cramp et al. 2014a; Heron et al. 2015; Roffet-Salque et al. 2017a; Robson et al. 2019) which reflect greater processing of terrestrial products, particularly ruminants, and including a strong dairying component (Cramp et al. 2014a; Roffet-Salque et al. 2017b). This preliminary study indicates the potential and necessity to investigate greater numbers of Rzucewo culture pottery from different vessel forms and a greater number of sites to gain more nuanced insights into the cultural and economic practices taking place.

Keywords

PL

Zatoka Pucka; neolit; użytkowanie ceramiki; lipidy

EN

Puck Bay; Neolithic; pottery use; lipids

• Publisher: Muzeum Archeologiczne w Gdańsku
• Journal: Pomorania Antiqua
• Year: 2019
• Volume: Tom XXVIII
• Pages: s. 245-259

Contributors

author

Cramp Lucy J. E.

• Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, BS8 1UU Bristol, Wielka Brytania

author

Król Danuta

• Muzeum Archeologiczne w Gdańsku

author

Rutter Matilda

• Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, BS8 1UU Bristol, Wielka Brytania
• Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Road, OX1 3QY Oxford, Wielka Brytania

author

Heyd Volker

• Department of Cultures, P.O. Box 59, Unioninkatu 38, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finlandia

author

Pospieszny Łukasz

• Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, BS8 1UU Bristol, Wielka Brytania