Ранонеолитски и среднонеолитски керамички садови од Балканот:краток преглед

Abstract

Ceramics is the earliest synthetic material in history. Its origins can be traced back to the early hunter-gatherer societies when people realized that clay mixed with water when exposed to heat hardens and becomes suitable for different kinds of containers. The earliest pottery was identified in the Far East, namely China (17.500—16.000 BP), in the Amur River valley and in Japan. As it was argued, adoption of pottery was related to greater reliance on plant and shellfish foods, and from its beginnings, it was used for food preparation and storage. Through the millennia, this new technology spread to the west and north-west. Pottery was introduced to the Balkans as a part of the Neolithic package — along with plant cultivation, animal domestication, and food production. During the Neolithization process, pottery spread through different routes — by the land route from Anatolia to Greece and then further to the north, through the valleys of Vardar and Struma, or by the sea, as in the case of the Early Neolithic of the Eastern Adriatic. According to the radiocarbon dates, the earliest pottery production can be dated between 6.500 and 6.200 BC in the southern Balkans (Achilleion, Franchthi, Nea Nikomedeia, Sesklo, Sidari), and around 6.400 and 6.000 BC in northern and eastern Balkans (Amzabegovo, Blagotin, Donja Branjevina, Grivac, Gura Baciului, Lepenski Vir, Miercurea Sibului, Ocna Sibului, Poljanica-Platoto). In the Eastern Adriatic, adoption of pottery occurred a bit later —around 6.000—5.900 BC.

During the first half of the XX century, and even to the 80’s, the majority of considerations related to pottery were focused on the determination of ’archaeological cultures, their relative-chronological positions, phases, and their mutual relations, based on vessel morphology, but predominantly on ornamentation and appearance of the motifs and designs.The main Early/Middle Neolithic cultures were established: (Proto-, Pre-) Sesklo in Thessaly, KaranovoI—III in Bulgarian Thrace; Kremikovci — western Bulgarian painted pottery in western Bulgaria; Amzabegovo-Vršnik (la—c for the Early and II—IV for the Middle Neolithic) in northern half of Republic of Macedonia, northeastern Albania and western Bulgaria; Pelagonian, i.e. Velušina- Porodin in Pelagonia; Starčevo in the Central Balkans, northeastern Montenegro, Banat and parts of Transylvania, eastern Croatia and northeastern Bosnia; Impresso-culture followed by Danilo-culture on the Eastern Adriatic. In the vast corpus of traditional archaeological literature, pottery was mainly seen as an important chronological marker, and considerations related to this most numerous class of archaeological finds were focused on ‘evolution’ of shapes and ornamental techniques. However, in this culture- historical approach, some of the crucial aspects of ceramics were completely neglected, namely its dynamic role in everyday life and in social relations. The important aspects such as pottery technology, organization of production, consumption, use/function and the position of potters and pottery consumers in the Neolithic society were very rarely if at all, considered. Therefore, this brief overview will not focus on the endless vessels’ descriptions and the main ceramic features of the numerous cultures in the large territory of the Balkans, but rather to explore the interaction between pottery and people in the Early/Middle Neolithic.