STAREVOCRIPOTTERYFROMTELEOR003,SROMANIA

STAREVOCRIPOTTERYFROMTELEOR003,SROMANIA

byThissenLaurens

Source: TeleormanCountyMuseumBulletin(BuletinulMuzeuluiJudeeanTeleorman),issue:4/2012,pages: 545,onwww.ceeol.com.

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STAREVO - CRI POTTERY FROM TELEOR 003, S ROMANIA Laurens THISSEN

Abstract: This paper provides a summary of my work on a pottery sample from the S Romanian site TELEOR 003 (Mgura Buduiasca, Teleorman county), focusing on technological and morphological aspects. The material dates to the Starevo-Cri period, about 58th century cal BC. The analysis suggests we are dealing with a coherent and sophisticated ceramic assemblage in technological and categorical terms, implying a solid manufacturing tradition able to produce vessels differing in outlook and function, but unified in fabric, surface treatments, vessel build-up, and form concept. Rezumat: Acest articol reprezint un rezumat al studiului efectuat asupra unui eantion de ceramic provenit din situl TELEOR 003 (Mgura Buduiasca, jud. Telorman), axat pe aspectele tehnologice i morfologice. Materialul dateaz din neoliticul timpuriu (Starevo-Cri, aproximativ 5800 .Hr.). Analiza sugereaz faptul c avem de-a face cu un ansamblu coerent i complex din punct de vedere tehnologic i al categoriilor morfologice, ceea ce presupune o tradiie solid n fabricarea ceramicii, capabil s determine producerea unor vase de concepie i funcionalitate diferite, dar unitare din punct de vedere al compoziiei pastei, tratare a suprafeelor, modelare i forme. Keywords: Romania; Starevo-Cri; Early Neolithic; Pottery. Cuvinte cheie: Romnia; Starevo-Cri; neolitic timpuriu; ceramic.
Introduction The site of TELEOR 003 or Mgura-Buduiasca is located about 7 km north of the modern city of Alexandria, 1 km southeast of the Mgura village, and approximately 500 m east of the Teleorman River, on the middle terrace 4.5 m above the river (Figure 1). The site, a complex cluster of horizontally as well as vertically shifting settlements spreading over at least 500 m, has earliest attested occupation starting during the first half of the 6th millennium cal BC and dating to the Starevo-Cri period, followed by two subsequent occupations of the Dudeti period, a Vdastraperiod settlement and traces of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age, Classical (Roman) and later periods (Table 1). I confine myself to the Early Neolithic deposits, Starevo-Cri in Romanian terminology. Pottery studies dealing with this period of South Romanian prehistory are perhaps not altogether rare, but often lack in detailed quantitative assessments1, resulting in snapshots of Neolithic assemblages. These generally rather quick investigations are subsequently used to buttress assumed cultural distributions and connections and, preferably, to demarcate archaeological regions, where the presence or absence of specific guide fossils in assemblages are seen as explanations for cultural and chronological ordering. The present study wants to contribute to counteracting the impressionistic trend still largely underlying present-day ceramic research2 by tackling S Romanian Neolithic ceramics in a comprehensive way.
Period Late Bronze/Iron Age Estimated age cal BC ? Comparable key sequences ?

hiatus
Vdastra phase Late Dudeti phase Early Dudeti phase 5200-5000 5300-5200 5500-5300 Karanovo IV/ Hamangia Karanovo III-IV Karanovo III/ Samovodene B

hiatus
Starevo-Cri phase Table 1. 5800-5600 Karanovo I-II/ Starevo/ Krs

TELEOR 003. Preliminary chronological sequence.

TELEOR 003. O secven cronologic preliminar. Buletinul Muzeului Judeean Teleorman. Seria Arheologie 4, 2012: 5-45

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Laurens THISSEN

Figure 1.

Location of TELEOR 003. Source: SRAP archive.

Amplasarea sitului TELEOR 003 (arhiva SRAP).

Temporal setting The Starevo-Cri occupation at TELEOR 003 is dated through three radiocarbon dates, two of which stem from a rather undisturbed small pit C13A dug from the base of a larger Starevo-Cri pit C13 in Sounding 10 (Table 2). While the three dates sum between the 58th and 57th century cal BC at 1, the C13A dates are very close to each other. Combining them yields a 1 range between 57915707 cal BC. The younger date of the sample from the large C13 pit is possibly due to the mixed nature of the C13 pit fill, although it might indicate a younger Starevo-Cri phase present somewhere on TELEOR 003, the refuse of which settlement was partly dumped into C13. Due to the mixed nature of C13, however, I was unable to deduce older or younger phases within the Starevo-Cri material, so this option remains undecided. For the moment, a 58th Century cal BC date for the Early Neolithic at TELEOR 003 is the most reliable estimate for dating the site.
Lab. No. Wk-14436 Wk-14437 Wk-14435 Table 2. Date BP 6896 6833 6784 Error 61 53 56
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Material animal bone animal bone animal bone

Provenance pit C13A pit C13A pit C13

TELEOR 003. Starevo-Cri

14

C dates. Source: SRAP archive.

TELEOR 003. Starevo-Cri, date

C (arhiva SRAP).

Sample The pottery was studied in order to make a beginning with understanding Neolithic technical know-how and systematising the categorical structure of forms. While a lot of progress is being made in the technological field (e.g., articles by G 1994; G and Galbenu 1998-2000; Ciuta 2005: 77ff.; Ciut et al. 2000; Manson 1995: 71; Spataro 2006; Van As et al. 2005), the existing typology, because

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

of insufficiently quantified assemblages, is, to my mind, lacking in precision and straightforwardness. The Starevo-Cri ceramics studied were excavated in SRAP season 2002 and derive from seven individual features in Sounding 10 which covers four quadrants 10/A, 10/B, 10/C and 10/D. Occasionally use is made of research done earlier on various pit contexts where good contexts in Sounding 8, pit B5, provided additional data on fabric/category interrelations and also supplied more insight in the category structure of the same period. Occasional use was also made of contexts outside of the study area, in particular when better examples were available for illustration. The sample basis for assessment of the Starevo-Cri pottery of TELEOR 003 consists of the pottery from Sounding 10, pits C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19 and C44 (Table 3). There are very few rather uncontaminated contexts available, most of the pit material and the material from outside of the pits having been found with substantial mix of later periods, including the Early Dudeti, Vdastra and Late Bronze Age/Iron Age periods. There are three pits yielding fairly pure Starevo-Cri pottery, viz. pits [C10], C12 and C13A. For a general picture of the nature of the Starevo-Cri pottery on TELEOR 003 I have made use also of evidence from the Sounding 10 non-pit areas and from Starevo-Cri material in the Vdastra pits in that sounding. In addition, I also used analyses carried out on Starevo-Cri ceramics from feature B5 in Sounding 8.
Total sherds/ complete vessels C10 C12 C13 C13A C18 C19 C44 Total Table 3. 34 71 1,702 182 700 198 549 3,436 of which SC diagnostics ? 16 283 40 86 31 78 534

Vdastra 0 12 308 13 0 0 0 333

Early Dudeti 5 0 0 0 309 61 154 529

Other 0 0 28 0 9 0 3 40

Starevo-Cri 29 59 1,366 169 382 137 392 2,534

TELEOR 003, sounding 10. Sample amount per pit for the Starevo-Cri (SC) period.

TELEOR 003. Sondaj 10. Eantioanele de ceramic raportate la gropile Starevo-Cri.

Fabrics On the basis of microscopic analysis (20) of the pottery from two selected features S10/D pit C44 and S8 pit B5, I have distinguished two different fabrics, viz. Cri Fine (fabric code F12) and Cri Standard (fabric F13), being a fine ware and a medium, or common ware, as far as non-plastics are concerned, both having moderate-abundant chaff inclusions. As is already suggested by source analysis by the Leiden Department of Pottery Studies the clay body was most probably taken from a single source, or from sources having the same characteristics, from one of the river banks in the neighbourhood, possibly the Clania River (Van As et al. 2004: 126). The matrix is quite homogeneous and consistent, and dominant minerals are quartz, together with feldspar and siltstones. Both on vessel surfaces, in the red slips and visible in fresh fractures, a micaceous shimmer is always present, confirming alluvial clay sources (cf. G 1994). Cri Fine has a well-levigated paste, with sparse, fine, white-coloured quartz inclusions. Occasional sparse, very white coloured limestone blobs (up to 1 mm in size) occur, which are probably accidental and natural to the clay matrix. Minerals are ill sorted, the inclusions are subangular-subrounded (SA/SR). Finely chopped chaff 4 mm occurs in moderate quantities and is fairly sorted. The interior and exterior margins on a fresh break have a buff (=ochre-brown) colour, while the core is black. These margins are often sharply delineated (1mm). Hardness is soft, feel is smooth, while fracture breaks are fine-irregular. Inside and outside surfaces are smoothed, and medium burnished. Wall thickness varies between 6-9 mm, but is 7 mm on average. Vessels are carefully made; the chaff is oriented parallel to surface which may imply use of the coiling method. A fine mica simmer is always visible on the vessel surfaces, and it is also present in the red slip used for coating or painting specific categories, suggesting that a fine, micaceous diluted clay slip was used.

Cri Fine (F12)

Laurens THISSEN

Cri Standard is slightly coarser than Cri Fine, but is otherwise very similar. Inclusions: moderate amounts of chaff (often distributed parallel to surface, and well visible on surfaces and fracture); moderate amounts of fine-medium (up to 2 mm), grey to dark grey quartz often protruding through surface, fairly sorted SA/SR (occasionally, sparse, coarse greyish pebbles of up to 4 mm occur which are ill-sorted, rounded-well rounded (R/WR); thirdly: sparse, pale white, non-opaque coloured, limestone/calcite blobs (up to 1 mm), powdery, ill-sorted, SA/SR, probably accidental; fourthly some sparse, medium-coarse sized, ill-sorted, R/WR reddish particles (Fe2 nodules?). Interior and exterior margins on a fresh break of 1-2 mm wide, are buff (=ochre-brown) coloured like vessel surfaces, while the core is black. Also with Cri Standard there is a sharp separation between core and margins (occasionally the core is fully oxidised). Hardness of vessel surfaces is soft, while the feel is smooth, and fractures are fine-irregular. The distribution of these fabrics has been investigated on the Sounding 8, B5 Cri material (feature and body sherds, n=395). It is clear that the two fabrics crosscut ware groups with the exception that Cri Fine has not been used for the surface roughened ware (see below) (Figure 2).

Cri Standard (F13)

10000 8000 Grams 6000 4000 2000 0

PB W

R SW

PB W

Fi ne

St an da rd

ne

SF

rd

ris

St an da

Figure 2. TELEOR 003, Sounding 8, Pit B5. Distribution of fabrics and ware groups by weight (total weight = 14,469 g). PBW=Plain Burnished ware, RSW=Red Slipped ware, SFRW=Surface Roughened Ware. TELEOR 003, sondaj 8, groapa B5. Distribuia compoziiei pastei i a tratrii suprafeelor raportat la greutate (greutatea total=14,469 g). PBW=suprafa lustruit, RSW=suprafa cu slip rou, SFRW=suprafa aspr.

A more limited calculation on feature sherds only from Sounding 10/D, Pit C44 yields a different picture, with a more solid presence of Cri Fine PBW and of Cri Standard RSW, while the difference between the proportion of Standard SFRW in both pits is also striking (Figure 3). I have no explanation for the strong difference in proportions of the groups and fabrics, but it must be recalled that C44 is a mixed Cri/Dudeti fill of a Dudeti period pit where the original Cri source material cannot be seen as a discrete context, while B5 is possibly a Cri pit with little admixture of later periods. On this account, B5 would give the more reliable distribution. There is no correlation between either vessel form and decoration with either fabric: painted and/or red-slipped vessels do not occur more in Cri Fine than they do in the standard fabric. Typically, Cri Fine is used for the small- and medium sized S-shaped bowls, for some of the jars and associated vertically pierced knobs, for a miniature, an everted carinated dish, and for a low disk base usually associated with the S-shaped bowls (based on the C44 data).

C ris

C ris

St an da

C ris

C ris

Fi

rd

SW

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

50 45 40 35 30

25 20 15 10 5 0

C44 B5

RS W

PB W

SF RW

St an da rd

Fi ne

Fi ne

St a

Figure 3. by count.

TELEOR 003, Soundings 10 and 8, C44 and B5. Frequency distribution of fabrics and ware groups

TELEOR 003, sondajele 10 i 8, C44 i B5. Frecvena distribuiei compoziiei pastei i a tratrii suprafeelor raportat la numrul de fragmente ceramice.

Manufacturing methods Manufacture is by hand, possibly coiled, although among the Cri Fine group breaks are usually not along coils, pointing both at an excellent plasticity of clay (obtained, as explained, from the river beds being sedimentary, montmorillonite clays), and at a possibly different manufacture method, like pinching and/or drawing. In several sherds, however, clear signs of coil building are noticed, where sherds were fractured along the joins of the coils, or where coils were clearly visible in the sherds sections. The holemouth vessels were built from the base upward by coiling, and it is of interest to note that pot bases are coils themselves, i.e., a sort of coiled spiral creating the disk base. Serving as base, the vessel was subsequently built up, while often an additional coil was added along the base and wall junction (Plate H.3). No traces of mat impressions occur among the sample studied. Many lip treatments are similar, involving a slightly pointed aspect, either of symmetrical crosssections, or else pointed towards the outer exterior side. The treatment occurs on different categories, including the bowls, dishes, the collared holemouth pots and on the jars. This similarity in method applied over the whole corpus of vessel shapes would suggest that one person was able to make most (if not all) of the various categories. Very few handles occur, but the vertically pierced knob handles and tubular lug handles are applied cold to the vessel wall without any scoring of the contact surfaces (as was the case, e.g., in Neolithic assemblages of NW Turkey). Significantly, the handles were nearly always broken along these attachment places. After joining them to the vessel and smoothing the contact places, the handles were subsequently pierced vertically with a roundsectioned tool. Surface treatments After the primary forming, interior and exterior vessel surfaces are smoothed to obtain even surfaces, while, subsequently, both insides and outsides of Plain Burnished Ware and the insides of Surface Roughened ware are coated with a thin, diluted clay slip. These surfaces are then lightlymedium burnished, possibly with pebbles or bone smoothers, the PBW outsides in horizontal, continuous strokes. Present in the Starevo-Cri assemblage are sherds with either one or two smoothed edges. Such reused sherds or loamers will have additionally been used for scraping vessel walls during manufacture in order to smooth out and level surplus clay from coil joins or in general

Cr is

Cr is

Cr i

St an da rd

Cr is

Cr is

nd ar d

RS W

PB W

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Laurens THISSEN

smoothing of vessel walls. They were carefully selected and lay comfortably in the hand making them ideal tools. Often rim sherds from red slipped dishes were selected possibly combining the ideal thickness with a smooth gradation in thickness, simultaneously the red slip giving these tools additional salience and identity, while being easily recognisable. After preliminary surface treatments were finished, holemouth pots were given a barbotine coating by adding a coat of slightly diluted clay over the exterior walls. This coating was subsequently roughened with cloth or perhaps bundles of grass, or else fingers were used to create parallel strokes along the body. In other cases only a very thin coating was applied and subsequently impressed with fingertips, fingernails or by pinching the clay with thumb and forefinger. The rim zones of such pots were not coated or impressed, but were burnished, thus leaving a small smooth zone along the collar or rim of the pot. The red slip in the case of painted vessels is of a deeper hue generally than the merely all over slipped pottery. Application of the coating was thicker (repeated layers?) and perhaps more careful. This is not always the case. Deep-red slipped all-over sherds do occur as well, while also paint has been applied over thinly slipped vessels. When decorated, the paint was applied prior to burnishing the whole vessel. Firing As already mentioned, colour zonations on the fractures of Starevo-Cri sherds display sharply delineated black cores with buff-coloured margins; the sharpness of the zonation indicating that firing was done in reducing conditions (Rye 1981: 116). These margins show the natural clay colour and also indicate that the vessels were rapidly cooled in the open air, creating the oxidation of the in- and outsides of the pots (ib.: 118). The black core is the result of the carbon not having been burnt all out, also due to the reducing firing environment (cf. Orton et al. 1993: 133). Van As et al. estimate the firing temperature at about 800 C (2004: 124).3 Ware groups On the basis of the surface treatment I have distinguished between three ware groups, which, as I mentioned supra, were manufactured in both the Cri Fine and the Cri Standard fabrics, with the exception that Surface Roughened Ware does not occur in the Cri Fine. Both interiors and exteriors are well burnished, and often they were slipped first by a clay solution of the same colour as the clay.4 Burnish strokes are horizontal, and continuous. Generally, vessels are well made, well smoothed and evenly walled. The degree of burnish may vary from medium to high. Wall thicknesses between 5-9 mm are most common, though they range from 3-13 mm. Colours are usually dark brown, grey-brown, grey-black, or black. Manufacture is by coils, but fractures along the coils are in fact not common, evidencing the strong plasticity of the clay. Bases bear heavy use-abrasion traces, and occur as low disk bases, and in one instance as a high disk base. Most common shapes carried out in PBW are small- to medium sized bowls, some larger bowls, jars, and deep holemouth pots with slightly out turned lips, quite distinct from the Surface Roughened holemouth pots. Large PBW tubular lugs are occasionally present in the sample and indicate the existence of large, probably closed, jar-like vessels, their exact form remaining elusive at the moment. A few body sherds of up to 16 mm in thickness (Sounding 8a, C1) suggest the existence of similarly large, heavy PBW vessel categories. All vessels belonging to this group have their exterior surfaces roughened in one way or other, which additionally may be slashed, impressed/pinched by nail or grooved. Average wall thicknesses are at 9-10 mm, but vary from 8-17 mm. Diameters range from 12-30 cm, but concentrate between 12-20 cm, the sample not being big enough to be more precise here. General exterior colours are buff, brown, occasionally dark brown or orangey, the lighter shades dominating. Interior colours may have similar shades as the outsides, but many are a shade darker, or even dark brown to blackish and black. Some fragments have soot marks (traces of smudging or smoke blackening on the inside base areas), or on the insides of shoulder pieces (Sounding 8a, C1). Interiors are well smoothed, provided with a diluted clay slip (probably in order to make them less permeable, see Schiffer 1990, Schiffer et al. 1994), and carefully burnished all-over, which is in clear contrast with the exterior surface roughening. Some of the base fragments, although inside burnished, appear lightly use-abraded, with a slightly less clear and bright burnish cover. This is particularly the case for the very centre of the base interior, which part is also lighter coloured than the bordering interior

Plain-Burnished Ware (PBW)

Surface-Roughened Ware (SFRW) 5

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

11

zones, which occasionally appear smudged. Some of them look paled, which might possibly be a consequence of frequent water heating and cooking. In a few instances bases are cracked, possibly due to heating. In this respect the absence of exterior smudging is also of interest and would have been preserved on the rough surface if it had been the case. Bases are either flat, or low or high disk bases (the latter more common). The roughening of the surfaces often has been interpreted functionally: since increasing a vessels overall surface area the technique increases resistance to thermal shock (Kaiser 1984, 49). On TELEOR 003 five different, but interrelated systems of surface roughening were applied: Simple surface roughening possibly by light brushing of the still wet clay (reed bundle or flint, etc.), probably quite quickly after manufacture; Barbotine (i.e., Schlickbewurf), where a thick clay solution was applied on the surface (Code 801), subsequently to be worked in two different ways: Barbotine is stroked with the fingers, leaving parallel ridges of clay stand out; can appear orderly or more haphazardly; Lumps of schlick put all-over the surface, creating a very rugged appearance; Simple surface roughening with incision, surfaces are additionally grooved, incised or slashed in long strokes, parallel, oblique or in net patterns; Nail impresso: there is no surface roughening; the plain, unburnished surface is nailimpressed in two different ways which may be found combined: Surface is pinched between thumb- and fingernails, or occasionally by fingertips; Surface is impressed with nails in one direction; Simple surface roughening combined with appliqu ridges on the vessels bodies, never as an additional band along the lip. The ridges are subsequently impressed by fingertip. Considering surface roughening treatments used in the Sounding 10 assemblages, simple surface roughening is by far the most popular method used, followed by pinched impresso (Table 4).
C12 (n=16) Simple surface roughening Barbotine Incised Pinched 1 direction nail Appliqu Column % TOTAL 20.0 3 2 1 C13 (n=283) 18 2 6 5 5 3 13.78 39 17.5 7 2 13.95 12 19.35 6 12.66 10 77 1 3 C13A (n=40) 3 C18 (n=86) 3 2 2 3 2 1 3 1 C19 (n=31) 3 C44 (n=78) 2 4 Row % 38.96 10.39 11.69 23.38 9.09 6.49

Table 4. TELEOR 003, Sounding 10. Distribution of Surface roughened fragments (calculated on diagnostic sherds, indicated in brackets per pit). TELEOR 003, sondajul 10. Fragmente ceramice cu suprafaa aspr (numrul de fragmente diagnosticate raportat la gropi).

When setting off the proportions of surface roughenings from Sounding 10 pits against pit B5 from sounding 8, the difference in the relative quantities of barbotine and impresso treatments is striking (Figure 4). Maybe we should take into account that chronological variation on the site is very possible, with horizontal shifting of features. Although no 14C dates for B5 are available, one radiocarbon date from Sounding 10/A, pit C13 gave a later age than the two dates from pit C13A (cf. supra, Table 2), possibly proving the existence on site of later Starevo-Cri occupation. Apart from

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the difference just observed for surface roughening treatments between Sounding 10 and pit B5, no other differences were noted.

Figure 4. TELEOR 003. Starevo-Cri surface roughening treatments compared, based on diagnostic sherds: Sounding 8, Feature B5 (n=174) and Sounding 10 pits (n=534). TELEOR 003. Fragmente ceramice Starevo-Cri cu suprafaa aspr: comparaie ntre sondajul 8, groapa B5 (n=174) i gropile din sondajul 10 (n=534).

Usually the ware is red-slipped on both interior and exterior sides of the vessel, but with closed shapes such as small-mouth jars (Plate K.5, 7, 10) the insides are scraped or smoothed only. RSW shows a clear-zoned fracture: buff/ochre-black-buff/ochre. Occasionally vessels are fully oxidised giving a buff/ochre fracture, although both non-oxidised and fully oxidised zones can occur in one single sherd. The firing of red-slipped vessels must have been very careful and likely done separately from the other vessels in order to get the right degree of redness. According to Van As et al. vessels from this ware group were subjected to a short period of end oxidation (2004: 124), which is in contrast to the firing procedures for the other two ware groups. The red-firing slip is a micaceous red ochre pigment containing iron oxides (cf. G 1994; Van As et al. 2004: 123), indicating the same source as the paste, which also contains a constant mica shimmer. The RSW is well made, having smooth and evenly walled surfaces. There are no clear bulges created by the coil building, indicating a careful finish, even though some of the dishes are of substantial dimensions with diameters over 30 cm. Belonging to this same group I have classified the painted sherds, which always carry a red slip serving as a background to the decoration. Motifs are made with a black-firing paint applied before burnishing. In the sample studied, the paint is mostly quite abraded, and patterns are only occasionally visible. Decoration may appear both on the in- and outsides. In a few instances a whitefiring paint is used (Plate F.2), and some sherds have bichrome decoration (black and white on red). The insides of these sherds are scraped or lightly smoothed only, suggesting that we deal with closed vessels (possibly small mouth jars?). Only body sherds are preserved. Categories associated with red slip and/or paint are usually of the dish category including their pedestals, but also noted are goblets, S-shaped bowls, jars and thick-walled pots similar to the deep PBW pots. The distribution of the painted sherds in Sounding 10 is taken on basis of both diagnostic and body sherds from the individual pits. The painted fragments are thus a proportion of all StarevoCri sherds counted in the pits (Table 5). It follows that paint-decorated sherds are very few in the sample studied: out of a total sherd bulk of 2,505 only 79, or 3.15% is decorated in this way.

Red-Slipped Ware (RSW)

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

13

E black-on-red I black-on-red I+E black-on-red E white-on-red I white-on-red E bichrome (white+black-onred)

C12 (n=59) 0 0 0 0 0 0

C13 (n=1366) 36 4 4 5 1 0

C13A (n=169) 1 1 0 0 0 1

C18 (n=382) 6 5 1 1 0 0

C19 (n=137) 1 0 1 0 0 1

C44 (n=392) 9 1 0 0 0 0

row % 67.09 13.92 7.59 7.59 1.27 2.53

column %
TOTAL

3.66
50

1.78
3

3.4
13

2.19
3

2.55
10

79

Table 5.

TELEOR 003, Sounding 10. Distribution of painted fragments. E=exterior side, I=interior side.

TELEOR 003, sondajul 10. Distribuia fragmentelor ceramice pictate. E=suprafaa exterioar, I=suprafaa interioar.

The relative frequencies of the three Starevo-Cri ware groups in Sounding 10 show a quite consistent picture over the different pits, with the exception of C13A where the RSW is strongly present. Also differing is the almost equal distribution of PBW and SFRW in pit C18 (Figure 5). In all pits, PBW is the dominant ware group, closely followed by the SFRW group. Since only pits C12 and C13A contain nearly uncontaminated Starevo-Cri contexts, these must be regarded as the most reliable ones. The distribution of ware groups in the other pits, filled during Early Dudeti and Vdastra times, will have been determined partly by the original constellation within the original (secondary) discard location, and is dependent on unknown factors.

Figure 5.

TELEOR 003, Sounding 10. Relative percentages of Starevo-Cri ware groups.

TELEOR 003, sondajul 10. Proporiile relative ale categoriilor de suprafee Starevo-Cri.

Categorisation On the basis of the diagnostic sherds from Soundings 10 and 8, a grouping into categories has been attempted along basic-level categories, where I divide into open and closed shapes and in special shapes. I have discerned 10 separate, main (basic-level) categories in the Starevo-Cri vessel repertoire (Table 6). It is imaginable that original, i.e., emic categorisation went much along the line of the immediately salient aspects of the constituting elements of the corpus, viz. along the three wares (RSW, SFRW, and PBW). The categorisation below may be partly of emic qualities as

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well, certainly where I distinguish between open and closed (cf. discussion of these concepts in Thissen 2001: 7, and Kaplan and Levine 1981: 876ff., Table 3). In addition, to this analyst, surface treatment intuitively appears to determine partly also my categorisation. Similar morphology might affect labelling a shape as a bowl or as a pot depending on, respectively, whether the vessel was burnished only or treated with a barbotine coating or covered with fingernail impresso. Although nearly sharing similar size and proportions, the PBW vessels from Plate A.5, 8 and 11 I call (smallmedium) bowls, while the impresso vessels on Plate F.4-6 I label as pots. In the latter case it is both the surface treatment and the shape that rather suggest them to be small versions of the larger, real SFRW/impresso pots. Thus, surface treatment does seem to constitute the primary categorisation axis. To be noted also is that similar proportions, hence similar types might still be conceived as dissimilar emic categories. The deep PBW pots (which actually very much resemble deep PBW bowls) are similar to the SFRW pots in general form, but are not only distinguished by surface treatment but also by different bases and subtle variations in wall thickness. Therefore, these differences have been prioritised over similarity in proportion/form, and both types have been separately categorized. The aim here is also to attain as detailed an idea as possible concerning the typological variety of the particular assemblages. A major limiting factor is the uncertainty about the time span involved in the deposition of the material, and also if the filling of the pits involved noncontemporaneous events. Additionally, the poor state of research on the Starevo-Cri period in the area makes it difficult to discern in the body of ceramics typical items that can be linked to specific stages within the larger trajectory of the period. After all, within current chronological parameters, Starevo-Cri in the Lower Danube may have lasted two or perhaps three centuries (cf. supra Table 1). The categorisation as presented below, it should be borne in mind, is based and limited by the body of data from Starevo-Cri pits C12 and C13A, from Starevo-Cri but Vdastra-period filled pit C13, and from the Starevo-Cri mix in what appear to have been Early Dudeti pits C18, C19 and C44. Occasionally recourse could be taken to the better-preserved material from pit B5, which was not subject of this study. Therefore, while I estimate to have approached a typical Starevo-Cri assemblage for this particular time set (the 58th C cal BC) by perhaps 90%, important vessel categories are not sufficiently caught by the present data, like, for instance, those fine table wares which the variously painted body sherds hint at; those certainly existing but not tangible large vessel forms of which occasional thick-walled body sherds with impresso and appliqu ridges point to; or those large PBW jars (?) with thick walls and heavy bases at which some tantalizingly few but very present lugged body sherds are referring to. And apart from all this, there is of course the severe fragmentation: very few complete profiles exist, rather few large profiles exist, and rather few rims preserved over 20% are present in the sample. I have occasionally attempted the reconstruction of forms, cq. the completion of profiles on paper, where only rim or base segments exist (for instance, Plates A.6, 9; B.1-2), but have chosen to limit use of this method and will discuss vessel shape in the text, or hint at it by juxtaposing possible associations (see Plates A.1-4 cups and their bases; A.6-7 bowl and base; E.4-5 dishes and their pedestals; G3 and H3 SFRW pots and their bases; I.4 PBW pot base; K.8 and K.10 jars, their bases and handles).

POTTERY
A. OPEN FORMS (4) I. Goblets (1) a. Pedestaled goblets II. Bowls (3) a. Small-medium-sized S-shaped bowls [HD] b. Inturned carinated bowls c. Hemispherical bowls III. Dishes (4) a. Small-sized dishes [D20 cm] b. Medium-sized dishes [20<D<27] c. Large-sized dishes [D>27] d. Carinated dishes IV. Basins (1)

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

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B. CLOSED FORMS (3) V. Pots (7) a. Holemouth pots SFRW (small/medium size) b. Holemouth pots (large) c. Collared pots SFRW (small) [D10] d. Collared pots SFRW (medium) [10<D20] e. Collared pots SFRW (large) [D>20] f. Spherical pots [H=D] g. Angle-neck pots PBW VI. Thick-walled, large sized vessels (1) VII. Jars [D 2H] (2) a. Small-mouthed decorated jars b. Plain-burnished jars C. SPECIAL FORMS (3) VIII. Lids IX. Sieves X. Miniatures
Table 6. Category structure of TELEOR 003 ceramic assemblages, Starevo-Cri stage. Within the superordinate category of POTTERY the syntax is A. COVERT CATEGORY; I. Basic-level category; a. subordinate category. TELEOR 003, forme ceramice Starevo-Cri. n cadrul categoriilor ceramice subordonarea este urmtoarea: A. form; I. categorie de baz; a. categorie subordonat.

Goblets are understood as small cuplike vessels with mouth diameters between 8 and 11 cm on low pedestal bases, judging from the few examples present in C13 and from a complete goblet from outside the study area in B5 (Plate A.1-4). Lips are pointed and finish is careful. Two of the pieces are red slipped on both inside and outside, one of these has additional painted decoration in black, singling out this category as a probably valid subordinate category playing a role in drinking and/or presentation possibly linking up to other decorated table ware. The dominant subordinate category of bowls, what I have termed S-shaped (IIa), occurs in a variety of small and medium sizes that share similar proportions, where height is generally less or equal to the mouth diameter, never exceeding this ratio (Plates A.5-12, B.1-4). Belly diameters tend to exceed those of the apertures, at 4-6 cm below the rim or more generally midway along the vessel profile producing gently inflexed, or more pronounced, restricted-rim shapes. Rim diameters vary between 7 and 25 cm, but the majority concentrates between 10-20 cm (Figure ). Sharply carinated bowls (Plate C.1-4) and hemispherical bowls with a more open aspect (Plate C.5) are sufficiently different from the S-shapes to create separate subordinate categories for them (IIb and IIc, resp.). Bowl rims are pointed and lips are vertical or slightly pushed outward to create a characteristic demarcation or end zone of the vessel, while occasionally rolled-outward bead rims are particularly clear on the sharply carinated bowls (Plate C.1, 3). Wall thicknesses concentrate between 6 and 8 mm. Handles or knobs do not occur, the smooth outlines provided with flat, slightly concave, low disk or ring bases (Plate A.5, 7, 10). Bowl manufacture is careful and well executed, producing walls of even thickness, which are usually left undecorated, but seem to have been generally covered with a diluted clay-slip suspension that was subsequently burnished. A few S-shaped bowls carry a red slip and one has vague traces of black paint on the outside (Plates A.6, B.2). A large S-shaped bowl (Plate B.4) and a carinated bowl (Plate C.2) have shallow grooved decoration on the shoulder in a dense fishbone pattern.

Goblets

Bowls

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12

10

0 0 5 10 15 Diameter (cm) S-shaped bowls Hemispherical bowls Carinated bowls 20 25 30

Figure 6. TELEOR 003. Rim diameter by wall thickness of Starevo-Cri bowls from Sounding 10, C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19 and C44. TELEOR 003. Raportul dintre diametrul gurii i grosimea pereilor pentru bolurile Starevo-Cri provenite din sondajul 10, gropile C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19 i C44.

The S-shaped bowls in particular represent a characteristic Starevo-Cri category, mostly manufactured as plain burnished ware. Dominantly present in each pit in Sounding 10, they belong, together with the dishes and pots (in the strict sense) to the most common categories of TELEOR 003. The various sizes, which the limited sample available does not really permit to systematise, suggest possibly various but related uses involving eating, drinking and short-time storage of products. These functions may have been enhanced within individual contexts by the visual enrichment of painted, red slipped and incised decoration. Interesting is the S-shaped bowl from B5 with a drilled hole near the base, applied after firing of the vessel, indicating that, whatever its function was, it was an afterthought beyond the primary envisaged use of the bowl (Plate A.10). The category of dishes includes the most salient vessels of the TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri assemblage by size, appearance and general shape (Plates D-E). On the basis of mouth diameter I have divided the basic gently convex-walled form into three subordinate categories (IIIa-c), making up small-, medium- and large-sized dishes with rounded or pointed, undifferentiated lips (Figure ). Though the division in size is a bit arbitrary where the small-medium sizes are concerned, the large dishes clearly stand out by their generally thicker vessel walls generally falling between 10-14 mm, as opposed to the smaller sizes with average walls 8 mm in thickness. A deviating shape is represented by what I have called carinated dishes (IIId), characterised by a straight everted upper part, elegantly bending towards the base area about half way of the profile, producing an altogether deeper form than the convex-sided dishes (Plate F.1-2). Such dishes conform in size and wall thickness to the small-medium dish sizes. A sherd from outside the study area in B5 has a vertically pierced knob handle on the carination, and probably the vessel originally will have carried four such knobs distributed symmetrically along the carination. All the instances recovered from C13 bear exterior and occasionally also interior painted decoration over a red slip, one of which has the motifs applied in a white-firing paint (Plate F.1-2). No bases can be associated with these particular dishes, but they are probably of the low pedestal type.

Dishes

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20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 15 20 Diameter (cm) 25 30 35 40

Small dishes

Medium dishes

Large dishes

Carinated dishes

Figure 7. TELEOR 003. Rim diameter by wall thickness of Starevo-Cri dishes from Sounding 10, C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19, and C44. TELEOR 003. Raportul dintre diametrul gurii i grosimea pereilor pentru strchinile Starevo-Cri provenite din sondajul 10, gropile C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19 i C44.

Whether large or small, all convex-sided dishes were originally fitted out with pedestal bases, but unfortunately no complete instances were recovered (Plate E.3-5). The large sizes among these dishes can reach diameters up of 30 cm, and their pedestals were heavy and massive, making such vessels into heavy and conspicuous objects, strongly present by mere form and their bright colours in the domestic context. One dish having a scalloped rim exemplifies the subtle and playful ways by which the potters knew how to enhance and individualise specific vessels, and the decoration perhaps imitates the rim-top impresso found on the basins and some SFRW pots (Plate D.6). Occasionally quatrefoil pedestals occur, having a deeply carved out cross in base, the four bulging sides mirroring the scalloping of the rim. One pedestal base bears shallow burnished-in impressions on its exterior side (Plate E.5). These base undersides are cut off straight by manufacture, are never smoothed or slipped, and bear traces of intense use-wear. The hollow pedestal insides are heavily scraped, and likely manufacture started with a system of coils creating an originally solid pedestal which was subsequently hollowed out (cf. Plate E.5 showing coil structure). All-over manufacture of the dishes is careful, the vessels walls increasing gradually in thickness towards the pedestal, and they are well smoothed. A linking factor among all different sizes is their highly burnished, thick redslip coating on both the insides and outsides, and only a few dishes were left unslipped and remained plain burnished only, including a heavy, plain-burnished pedestal base from C18 pit bottom. Painted decoration applied over the slip may have been used additionally to enhance the appearance of this category. Traces of black paint appear on the inside rim of a small-sized dish (Plate D.1), and vague traces are similarly attested on medium dishes. The preservation of the paint is bad, and no clear patterns can be made out. Slightly better preserved are the black painted motifs on a large-sized dish, which show a row of inverted triangles along the rim and a zone stretching towards the lower body (Plate E.7). Vague traces of white paint are attested on another large dish. Several of the heavy quatrefoil pedestals have neatly chopped off or trimmed edges at the joining point of pedestal and vessel wall (Plate E.4). This could point to reuse of such bases after breakage. Several of the large dishes show heavy use-wear traces on the pedestals interior surfaces (Plate E.3), such as heavy pockmarks, and what looks like greyish black smoke traces, and interior surfaces in general are more abraded than exterior surfaces. These signs suggest use of these dishes in the preparation of food or other stuff, whether or not involving heat. Occasionally large dish rims show a hole below the rim perforated after firing, possibly for suspending the vessel.

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Basins are large, sloping-sided vessels with flat bases, smooth and burnished insides, and surface-roughened (via slashes or impresso) outsides (basic-level category IV). Only a few fragments have turned up from Sounding 10, but two complete examples exist from B5 outside the sample studied, justifying this particular category. Also from outside the study area, a basin rim is red washed all-over on the inside. Walls are thick, reaching up to 17 mm, while bases are low disks. Typical is a wavy rim, created by impressing the top at regular intervals either by finger or more gently by nail (Plate F.3).

Basins

Figure 8. TELEOR 003, Sounding 3. Basin with slashed surface roughening (source: Mirea 2005, Fig. 27:5). TELEOR 003, Sondaj 3. Castron cu suprafaa aspr i decorat cu crestturi (dup Mirea 2005, Fig. 27:5).

For pots in general, vessel height is equal or larger than diameter while forms are bag shaped or spherical and closed (restricted). I have divided the basic-level category of Pots into several subordinate categories assuming that size will have played a role in Starevo-Cri categorization principles (Figure ). Additionally, surface treatment may have been a major distinguishing criterion, resulting in surface-roughened and plain-burnished subordinate categories (Va-e, and Vf-g, resp.). The former link various sizes of holemouth and collared holemouth pots through interior and exterior surface treatment (Plates F.4-8, G.1-6, H.1-3). Interiors are well smoothed, usually coated with a diluted clay slip that has been lightly but carefully burnished. Exterior surfaces are roughened in several ways including barbotine, fingernail impresso, nail pinching, incision or grooving, occasional appliqu, or a simple wiping of an added coat of clay with the fingers or with a tool (flint, grass, straw, etc.). Combinations of various roughening techniques do occur. Surface-roughened pots typically have thick, heavy disk bases (Plates G.3, H.3) and never have any kind of handles or appendages. The collared types (IVc-e) are by far dominant, where the large sizes are characterized by their short, vertical collars abruptly set off from the shoulders, and by squared rim tops often with impressions on the top. The larger pots also often have appliqu in the form of obliquely or vertically placed strips of clay, which are impressed with the fingertips (Plates G.4-6, H.1-2). Despite their format, these larger pot sizes in particular have carefully smoothed and burnished interiors, while walls are not substantially thicker than those of the medium-sized pots.

Pots

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16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Diameter (cm) Small and Medium SFRW pots Large SFRW pots PBW Pots

Figure 9. TELEOR 003. Rim diameter by wall thickness of Starevo-Cri pots from Sounding 10, C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19, and C44. TELEOR 003. Raportul dintre diametrul gurii i grosimea pereilor pentru oalele Starevo-Cri provenite din sondajul 10, gropile C12, C13, C13A, C18, C19 i C44.

Strongly different from these surface-roughened pots are two subcategories that are plain burnished, or may be decorated with paint or incision/grooves (Plates I-J). Consisting of spherical or slightly pear-shaped vessels (Vf) and angle-necked pots (Vg), both with gravity point in the lower body, by outlook, by the use of low disk bases (Plate I.3-4) and by the treatment of the lips they link up with S-shaped bowls, though by their proportions I classify them as pots in the strict sense, where height equals mouth diameter. The insides of these vessels are often abraded by use, being pockmarked especially on the interior lower body areas (Plate I.3). One vessel carries vague traces of black paint over a red slip (Plate I.4), while two others have incised or grooved motifs, the latter redslipped on the interior and exterior sides as well (Plate J.3-4). Both subordinate categories could be candidates for the large vertically pierced knob handles approaching tubular lug handles that are occasionally recovered in the sample studied as isolated body sherds (Table 7). All of the handles or handle attachment places (h.a.p.) belong to the PBW group, but outside of the pits a handle has been found with red slip and vague traces of paint, which may rather belong to the Jar category (below). The larger tubular lugs represent the common type (Plate K.9), and their vessel walls range in thickness between 6 and 13 mm, with a tendency towards the thicker walls. Such handles are carefully made and finished, and usually smoothed or lightly burnished on their insides. One example is scraped on the inside. All these examples suggest fairly closed vessels for a variety of purposes, where the scraped one would not be suitable for cooking. Unfortunately, at present no clear proof in the sense of a rim-handle join is retrieved from the site. Several sherds with handle attachment places occur as well, demonstrating that handles were applied cold to the vessel wall, without any scoring other than a slight roughening of the surface prior to attachment of the handle itself. Interestingly, such handles provide a reliable insight in the estimated vessel equivalents of such pots, where we can assume that - analogous to the use of such handled vessels all over SE Europe (and also, e.g., in NW Anatolia, at the site of Ilpnar, cf. Thissen 2001: 4) - they occur in fours on each pot, distributed symmetrically along the widest diameter (Table 7). Thus, the combined count on the Sounding 10 features establishes that at least 7.25 vessels with such handles have been in use.

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Vertically-pierced knob handles Tubular lugs h.a.p.

C12 -

C13 3 9 7

C13A 1 -

C18 1 3 1

C19 1 -

C44 1 2 -

total 6 15 8

eve
1.5 3.75 2

Table 7. TELEOR 003, Sounding 10 pits. Distribution of PBW handles and estimated vessel equivalents (h.a.p.=handle attachment place; eve=estimated vessel equivalent). TELEOR 003, gropile din sondajul 10. Distribuia torilor din categoria celor cu suprafaa lustruit i estimarea numrului echivalent de vase. (h.a.p.=loc de prindere a torii; eve= numr estimat de vase).

Thick-walled (up to 20 mm), SFRW body sherds sporadically present in the Sounding 10 corpus (C18, unit 955; C9, unit 391) hint at the existence of large and substantial vessels, exceeding the large-sized holemouth vessels of subordinate category Ve in size. Both examples mentioned have appliqu decoration. Another thick-walled body sherd comes from S8a, C5, and has two parallel, vertical strips of impressed appliqu enclosing a cross hatched zone of slashes, possibly in imitation of basketry. A thick walled holemouth rim with simple surface roughened exterior comes from Sounding 8, B5, and has a diameter of 30 cm. Really large vessels are also implied by the existence of some large heavy base fragments. Although their exact size cannot be estimated but could, I presume, reach up to a height of 50 cm or more, they must have been substantially larger than the common pots in use at the site, and their functioning in a similar way as the pots may be doubted. Their size, assumed heaviness and their allusion to basketry would suggest that such vessels were used rather for storage, and were moved about as little as possible. The fact that only very few fragments have been recovered from the site, implies that such vessels were rare and simultaneously probably had long use-lifes. Vessels with small rim diameters and globular bodies I have called jars. The two subordinate categories (VIIa-b) separate a plain-burnished group (Plate K.1-4) and paint decorated jars (Plate K.58), where the motifs, applied in black paint over a red slip hardly have survived the various postdeposition processes the material must have undergone in the course of time. The exception is a nice pedestal-based lower jar part (Plate K.8). Though no complete profiles are preserved, it is likely that such painted jars should be reconstructed with vertically pierced knob handles like that depicted on Plate K.10, which still bears faint traces of black paint, as well as with small vertical collar rims like on Plate K.6. The inside base area of the pedestaled jar is heavily pitted probably through use. Analogous to the painted category, the plain burnished jars might have been fitted out with vertically pierced knob handles, but also in this case no solid evidence is at hand. No lids or sieves were recovered from the Sounding 10 pits, although a few lid fragments do occur in outside pit contexts as well as in B5, testifying to the existence of this category among the Starevo-Cri assemblage. They concern small disk shapes with low, raised vertical rims, and usually four small holes on the top in a square arrangement. Some indistinct small rim sherds suggest the existence of miniature vessels (Plate K.11-12). Conclusions The Starevo-Cri assemblage as visible from Sounding 10 and added upon by glancing at previously excavated trenches outside of the study area is coherent and displays interlocking and overlapping application of fabric and surface treatment. There is coherence first in selection, preparation and manufacture of the clay body. A standard clay, Cri Standard, has been used for all categories, although the finer variant, Cri Fine, appears to be reserved for the smaller table wares, such as cups and small bowls, and some dish forms. However, these shapes were also manufactured in the standard ware. The clay body was tempered with small chaff inclusions in varying quantities. Vessels are usually coil-built, although some of the small bowl shapes might have been pinched out and drawn up. Given the large size of some of the RSW dishes, it is conceivable that some sort of mould or support was used either for shaping the whole bowl of the dish or else for supporting the coils during manufacture. The fact that chaff inclusions lay parallel to the vessel walls would
Jars

Thick-walled, large sized vessels

Special forms

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corroborate that the clay body has been rolled into coils. Coherence is also apparent from the three basic surface treatments defining the ware groups. Diluted clay slips of the same nature as the clay body were used to seal insides of pots and also to treat the surfaces of the PBW group, while subsequent burnishing of these surfaces was a standard procedure for all categories. The red ochre slips were based on the same clay matrix as from which the two fabrics are made of - taken from alluvial clay beds in the vicinity of the site, with natural inclusions of quartz and feldspars and of micaceous content. Overlap exists between the PBW, SFRW and RSW, but this is most apparent between the PBW and the RSW. The large, convex sided dishes, usually covered with a red slip, do occur as plain burnished variants, while, alternatively, shapes typically made in PBW, such as the small- and medium sized bowls and the deep plain burnished pots, are occasionally covered with a red slip. There even exist a few examples of basins with an outside surface roughening and an inside red washed coating. Overlap exists furthermore in decorated vessels. While painted decoration of blackon-red or, more rarely white-on-red, seems preferred on the elegant carinated dishes in particular and small cups, also the deep pots usually left plain burnished are occasionally provided with painted decoration. Thirdly, there is coherence in form. Smooth curving, slightly S-shape profiles with inflexion point halfway down the body, as typical for the small- and medium sized bowls, are underlying form concepts also of the deep PBW pots, which also share similar low disk shaped bases with the bowl category. Simple convex profiles without abrupt inflexion points are preferred for the SFRW pots, where a preference to finish the rims vertically creating a collar, or for bending them outwards, makes them approach S-shapes as well. Also with the SFRW pots disk bases, although of more solid aspect, relate to the disk bases noted for the PBW vessels. Jars are spherical shaped with low upright collars, and possibly finished with low ring bases. An altogether different form class is represented by the large category of dishes. Occurring in varying sizes, the largest may reach up to 35 cm, and are brought into prominence by their high pedestal bases and their bright red slips covering in and outsides. We are dealing with a sophisticated and efficient mode of production, making use of standard procedures and able to apply these to differentially desired categories. The potters knew very well how to achieve different outcomes with the same or related methods and techniques. Firing procedures, for instance, were basically similar, by using open fires and allowing rapid cooling afterwards. However, for the generally dark coloured plain burnish ware the firing happened in a neutral/reducing atmosphere, while the red slipped pottery, as well as the usually bright brown coloured SFRW pots, were exposed to oxygen flows at the end of the firing process to create the bright reds and the bright browns. Each ware group is clearly associated with a specific outlook combining the smoothness of the PBW, the prominence of the RSW and the brown colours linked with the surface roughening of the SFRW to the implied feel and tactical, visual and mental impact of each group. In conceptualising the meaning underlying the assemblage and the use(s) to which the various categories were put, the fragmented material is difficult to decipher. The cups were obviously used for drinking, lying smoothly in the hand, and this may also be the case for the smaller sized bowls which could be grasped by the rim and supported by the fingers of one hand underneath the base, thumb resting on the in turned shoulder while drinking. Larger bowl sizes may have been gripped with two hands and may have been involved in the offering of food or liquids. The presenting of food stuffs is possibly also at play in the case of the red slipped and painted dishes of various sizes. Although we can only guess at the meaning of these dishes, slip, decoration and the pedestal bases themselves make them prominent and highly visible in the living area. The more elegant carinated dishes with their everted sides and decoration often on the interior rims would also make them fit for presentation possibly in special contexts. The interior decoration (inside lips only) may hint at presentation contexts where the bowls are full - leaving the inside lip dcor visible, in a good example of object-viewer, cq. receiver relationship (cf. Day/Wilson 2004). They are also less ubiquitous than the convex sided dishes. Some of the large dishes may have been involved in the preparation of foodstuffs involving heat and frequent manipulation, the sturdy pedestals possibly combining concerns about balance and solidity with prominence. The heavy use-wear traces on the undersides of all these bases betray the frequent use of these dishes and suggest they were not reserved for special events like the carinated dishes might have been. About the use of the SFRW pots several articles have already appeared dealing specifically with their purposed functions, and I will not repeat that here. It is important that an additional pot category exists in the PBW deep spherical pots with rolled lips or angle necked rims. Both their depth and the heavy use traces on the interior lower sides and base area of the complete example suggests that these pots may have been involved in the preparation of food, whether or not involving heat. The

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bulging shape, with greatest capacity residing in the lower body region, may hint at repeated stirring or pounding of contents while the vessel might have been held on the lap or on the knees. As I have suggested above, some of these pots may have been provided with vertically pierced knob or tubular lug handles, although the complete pot does not have them. Alternatively, such handles might belong to the jars categories. The matter of purposeful destruction of the pottery (or part of the pottery, e.g., the decorated vessels), perhaps within contexts of feasting, cannot be deduced from the Sounding 10 corpus, if only given the nature of the depositions and its concomitant fragmentation. (The two whole vessels from C12 are only partially preserved). Exclusivity of some of the vessels from Sounding 10 resides not so much in the raw materials (since all pottery is made from standard ware or a finer variety of the same; and since the red slip is rather frequently used on a large variety of categories, and is, in addition, based on a similar clay source with the addition of red ochre), nor in special knowledge and expertise requested for manufacture, as might be indicated by exclusive paints, firing methods, tempering materials, etc. Indeed, the non-exclusivity suggested by the overall assemblage, points rather to individual household production, domestic expertise being able and allowed to produce more refined and special products next to the full range of the standard StarevoCri repertoire. I do not exclude the possibility of (some of the) decorated vessels as high/er status products, but their exclusivity remains within the productive possibilities and know-how of the domestic potters. As far as the scant evidence suggesting the existence of quite large (50 cm high?) SFRW vessels is concerned, the appliqu on their sides, apart from possibly referring to basketry, might imply pot content or ownership. One such rim with appliqu and wavy rim top from outside the study area in Sounding 8a, pit C4 has a lightly smoothed interior and a hole perforated below the rim after firing, maybe for securing a cover. This Starevo-Cri material is definitely not the assemblage of a society on the move, at least this is not a pottery to take with you while moving about. The repertoire is diverse and differentiated (the discrete sizes of a specific category), many shapes are large and not easily transportable in a loose way; or else they are heavy, certainly so when full. When we envisage Cri society as pastoralist, then the pottery would not seem apt to be carried along, and was possibly substituted by perishable containers and other ways of dealing with food preparation, serving and storage. Fully committed perhaps to agriculture and animal husbandry, this still would not contradict a scenario where moving around with the herds may be involved, up and down the valley. Acknowledgements I am particularly thankful to Douglass Bailey for inviting TACB to study the pottery of TELEOR 003 within the context of the Southern Romanian Archaeological project. I would also like to thank the co-leader of SRAP, Radian Andreescu for help during my stay in Alexandria. I am greatly indebted to Ecaterina nreanu, former director of the Teleorman County Museum in Alexandria, as well as her staff, for hospitality and finding me a place to work in the museum. My friends Alecu Dragoman and Sorin Oan are thanked for the powerful discussions on Romanian pottery and archaeology. I thank Eduard Florea for helping me finding a place to live and for advice on photography. Pompilia Zaharia owes my admiration and debt for Monday cakes and giant tomatoes. My biggest thanks go out to Cristi Mirea, who made room for me in his famous Lab, gave me a table and produced numerous cups of Turkish coffee to keep me going in front of big heaps of sherds. Without his help in cleaning the pottery, restoring it and in many other ways organising stuff, my stay in Alexandria would have been fruitless. This article is dedicated to him. Notes Beyond the coarsest of approaches, like in the final publication of the Starevo-Cri site of Trestiana (Popuoi 2005: 75-84), where a comparison between the pseudo-statistics applied to ceramics and the precision applied to assessing figurines, flint and bone tools, as well as to typological description is insightful and a representative example of the scientific presentation of archaeological material.
2. Although movements away from this approach are beginning to emerge with excellent pottery studies such as the one by Voinea (2005). 3. 1.

Maniatis and Tite (1981), relying on scanning electron microscopy, determined that Starevo sherds were fired at less than 750 C. Manson, using archaeomagnetic analysis, is confident that

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

23

temperatures between 500-600 C will have the maximum firing temperatures of Starevo pottery (Manson 1995: 71). I assume this procedure to have been rather standard, but given the strong abrasion on most of the Sounding 10 Starevo-Cri sherds, traces are often obliterated by weathering and general erosion. The term coarse ware with which this pottery often has been burdened both in Balkan and in western literature (e.g., Manson 1995) is misleading and unjust, since the vessels are carefully produced and their interiors smoothly walled, often provided with a diluted clay slip, and burnished with care. Moreover, the non-plastics do not differ from the plain burnished ware and red slipped ware groups References As, A. van, Jacobs, L. and Thissen, L. (2004) Preliminary data on Starevo-Cri and Dudeti pottery from TELEOR 003, TELEORman river valley, southern Romania, Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 20: 121-7. As, A. van, Jacobs, L. and Thissen, L. (2005) Arguments for and against stone cooking in early sixth millennium B.C. southern Romania, Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 21: 103-110. Ciut, M. (2005) nceputurile Neoliticului Timpuriu n spaiul Intracarpatic Transilvnean. Alba Iulia: Ed. Aeternitas. Ciut, M., Anghel, D. and Sabu, D. (2000) Consideraii cu privire la tehnologia de confecionare a ceramicii culturii Precri, Apulum 37(1): 103-32. Day, P. and Wilson, D. (2004) Ceramic change and the practice of eating and drinking, in P. Halstead and J. Barrett (eds.), Food, cuisine and society in prehistoric Greece, pp. 45-62. Oxford: Oxbow. G, G. (1994) Caracterizarea tehnologic a ceramicii Starevo-Cri de la Dulceanca, Analele Banatului 3: 41-43. G, G. and Galbenu, D. (1998-2000) Caracterizarea tehnologiei de past a ceramicii Starevo-Cri de la imnic, Cercetri Arheologice 11: 599-608. Kaiser, T. (1984) Vina ceramics: economic and technological aspects of Late Neolithic pottery in Southeast Europe. [unpublished PhD. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley]. Ann Arbor: UMI. Kaplan, F. and Levine, D. (1981) Cognitive mapping of a folk taxonomy of Mexican pottery: a multivariate approach, American Anthropologist 83: 868-84. Maniatis, Y. and Tite, M. (1981) Technological examination of Neolithic-Bronze Age pottery from Central and Southeast Europe and from the Near East, Journal of Archaeological Science 8: 59-76. Manson, J. (1995) Starevo pottery and Neolithic development in the central Balkans, in W. Barnett and J. Hoopes (eds.), The emergence of pottery. Technology and innovation in ancient societies, pp. 65-77. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. Mirea, P. (2005) Neoliticul timpuriu din Bazinele Vedei i Teleormanului [unpublished thse de referat, Archaeological Institute, Bucharest]. Orton, C., Tyers, P. and Vince, A. (1993) Pottery in archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Popuoi, E. (2005) Trestiana. Monografie arheologic. Brlad: Ed. Sfera. Rye, O. (1981) Pottery technology. Principles and reconstruction. Washington: Taraxacum. Schiffer, M. (1990) The influence of surface treatment on heating effectiveness of ceramic vessels, Journal of Archaeological Science 17: 373-81. Schiffer, M., Skibo, J., Boelke, T., Neupert, M. and Aronson, M. (1994) New perspectives on experimental archaeology: surface treatments and thermal response of the clay cooking pot, American Antiquity 59: 197-217. Spataro, M. (2006) Pottery typology versus technological choices: an Early Neolithic case study from Banat (Romania), Analele Banatului Serie Nou 14: 63-77. Thissen, L. (2001) The pottery of Ilpnar, phases X to VA, in J. Roodenberg and L. Thissen (eds.), The Ilpnar Excavations II, pp. 3-154. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. Voinea, V. (2005) Ceramica complexului cultural Gumelnia - Karanovo VI, Fazele A1 i A2, Muzeul de Istorie i Arheologie Constana. Constana: Ed. Ex Ponto.
5. 4.

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE A A.1

Provenance 10D/845

Ware RSW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment slip I and E, highly burnished, vague traces of black paint medium burnished and E medium burnished and E medium burnished and E; pedestal scraped I

Colour red 13

cm

Radius 10%

A.2

10A/790

F.13-PBW

rim

A.3

10A-C13/666

RSW

base

10YR 6/4 (light yellowish brown) red

12

10%

50%

A.4

10A-C13/694

RSW

base

I I

red

20%

A.5

10A-C12/994

PBW

complete profile 20% in two pieces

I down to arrow, and E medium burnished; below arrow low burnish slip I and E, E high burnish, I low burnish medium burnish E medium burnished I and medium burnished E

brownish black

20%

A.6

10A-C13/843

RSW

rim

orange-red

10

10%

A.7 A.8 A.9

10A-C13/760 10DC18/924+799 10A-C13/739

PBW PBW PBW

base rim rim

brown

3.5 12

40% 30% 20%

brown-black

12

A.10

8-B5/

F.13-PBW

half complete; 379 grams

diluted clayslip all-over; E mediumhigh burnish, evenly walled; I wetsmoothed, low burnish E mediumhigh burnish, I low burnish I and medium burnished E

E brownblack, I dark grey, blackish towards rim; black core

rim 14, base 7.5

A.11

10A-C13/997

PBW

rim

13

20%

A.12

10D-C18/807

PBW

rim

brown

13

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

25

5 7

11

10

12

Plate A.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-4 Cups and Cups bases, 5-12 small-medium-sized Bowls.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Cupe i baze de cupe (1-4), boluri de dimensiuni mici i medii (5-12).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE B B.1 B.2

Provenance 10D-C18/19West profile 10D-C19/825

Ware PBW RSW

Vessel part rim rim

Surface treatment I and E medium burnished I and E slip, E very vague traces of black paint E medium burnished, I lowmedium burnished E medium burnished, diluted clay slip; I smoothed, low burnished; thin grooves/incision

Colour brown red

cm 15 17

Radius 10% 10%

B.3

10A-C13/992

PBW

rim

black

23

10%

B.4

10A/395

F.13PBW

rim

dark brown

22

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

27

Plate B.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-4 medium-sized Bowls.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Boluri de dimensiuni medii (1-4).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE C C.1

Provenance 10A/524

Ware F.13-PBW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment I and E diluted clay slip, medium burnished I and E medium burnished; shallow grooves burnishedin I and E wellsmoothed, medium burnished I and E medium burnished I and E medium burnished

Colour brown-black

cm 14

Radius 20%

C.2

10A-C13/709

PBW

body sherd, shoulder

brown-black

14 on I neck

10%

C.3

10A-C13/638

PBW

rim

brown-black

19

10%

C.4 C.5

10A-C13/665 10A-C13/700

PBW PBW

rim rim

black grey black

24 17

10% 10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

29

Plate C.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-4 carinated, and 5 hemispherical Bowls.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Boluri carenate (1-4) i bol semisferic (5).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE D D.1

Provenance 10A-C13/700

Ware RSW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment I and E slip; vague traces of black paint on I rim E medium burnished, I low burnished I and E slip I and E medium burnished I and E slip I and E slip I and E slip I and E medium burnished I and E slip

Colour red

cm 19

Radius 10%

D.2

10D-C18/975

PBW

rim

dark brown

18

10%

D.3 D.4 D.5 D.6 D.7 D.8

10A-C13/995 10A-C13/502 10A-C13/West profile 8-B5/ 10A-C13/1010 10A/866

RSW PBW RSW F.13-RSW RSW F.13-PBW

rim rim rim rim rim rim

red

23 20

10% 10% 10% 20% 10% 10%

red red orangey 10YR (greyish brown) red 5/2

22 23 25 24

D.9

10D-C44/910

RSW

rim

22

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

31

4 3

5 6

Plate D.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-2 small-, 3-7 medium-sized Dishes.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Strchini de dimensiuni mici (1-2) i medii (3-7).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE E E.1 E.2 E.3

Provenance 10A-C13/1010 10A/468 10A-C13/864

Ware RSW F.13-RSW RSW

Vessel part rim rim body sherd with beginning of pedestal base

Surface treatment I and E slip, medium burnished I and E slip, I black paint E thick slip, medium-highly burnished, I thin slip, low-medium burnished; pitted and abraded surface towards center (arrow) slip bottom pedestal use-wear, no slip I and E slip, I slip abraded; E shallow burnished-in motif; bottom base usewear, no slip, I smooth I and E slip I and E slip, E black paint (motifs vague, reconstruction tentative); medium burnished I and E

Colour darkish red red red

cm 28 29

Radius 10% 10%

E.4

10A-C13/865

RSW

pedestal base; edge chipped-off pedestal base; edge chipped-off

red

E.5

10A-C13/743

RSW

red

10

40%

E.6 E.7

10A-C13/West profile 10A-C13/755

RSW RSW

rim rim

red red

32 30

10% 10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

33

Plate E.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-7 Large-sized Dishes, 5 Pedestal base showing coils.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Strchini de dimensiuni mari (1-7); detaliu de modelare al unei baze-pedestal (5).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE F F.1

Provenance 10AC13/1009

Ware RSW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment I and E slip and black paint; paint worn off showing negative motifs like white paint I and E slip, E highly burnished; I low burnish; white paint I medium burnished, smooth; E roughened/wiped, nail impresso I well-smoothed, medium burnished; E nail/pinched

Colour red 28

cm

Radius 10%

F.2

10A/524

F.12RSW

rim

red

21

10%

F.3

10A-C13/884

SFRW

rim

orangey brown

not measurable

F.4

10A-C13/879

SFRW

rim

20%

impresso

F.5

10A-C13/731

SFRW

rim

impresso
F.6 10D-C1819/West profile 10A-C13/853 SFRW rim

I medium burnished; E only rim zone medium burnished, below nail/pinched

10%

I medium burnished; E slashed impresso I well-smoothed, low-medium burnished; E wiped and grooved I well-smoothed, medium burnished; E wiped, grooved and nail-pinched I black

10%

F.7

SFRW

rim

15

10%

F.8

10A-C13/793

SFRW

rim

14

30%

impresso

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

35

4 3

5 6

Plate F. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-2 everted carinated Dishes; 3 Basin; 4-6 smll-, 7-8 mediumsized collared holemouth Pots. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Strchini evazate, carenate (1-2); castron (3); oale, cu buza ngroat, de dimensiuni medii (7-8).

36

Laurens THISSEN

PLATE G G.1

Provenance 10A-C12/994

Ware SFRW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment I smoothed, eroded; E roughened, nailpinched impresso and appliqu I smoothed, medium burnished; E rim medium burnished, below roughened only and nail impresso I smoothed, roughened E

Colour

cm 18

Radius 20%

G.2

10A-C13/540

SFRW

rim

19

20%

G.3

10A-C13/852

SFRW

base

I base area grey-brown, rest black; E grey-brown

11

20%

G.4

10A-C13/700

SFRW

rim

I well-smoothed, medium burnished, E rim medium burnished; rest E roughened and nail impresso I well-smoothed, low-medium burnished; E nailpinched I well-smoothed, medium burnished; E below rim roughened and grooved I black

23

10%

G.5

10DC18/1080

SFRW

rim

22

10%

impresso
G.6 10A-C13/542 SFRW rim

27

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

37

Plate G.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-3 medium-, 4-6 large-sized collared holemouth Pots.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Oale, cu buza ngroat, de dimensiuni medii (1-3) i mari (4-6).

38

Laurens THISSEN

PLATE H H.1

Provenance 10D-C1819/West profile

Ware SFRW

Vessel part rim

Surface treatment I well-smoothed, medium burnished; E rim medium burnished, rest of body roughened I diluted clay slip, well-smoothed, medium burnished; E nailpinching impresso; two appliqu strips one on shoulder, the other on lower body I low burnished, smooth; E roughened

Colour

cm 29

Radius 10%

H.2

10A-C12/480

SFRW

rim

I and E pale orange-brown

24

30%

H.3

10A-C13/843

SFRW

base

15

20%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

39

Plate H. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-2 large-sized collared holemouth Pots; 3 holemouth Pot base showing coils. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Oale, cu buza ngroat, de dimensiuni mari (1-2); baz de oal cu detaliu de fabricaie (3).

40

Laurens THISSEN

PLATE I I.1 I.2

Provenance 10A-C12/994 10D-C1819/West profile 10AC12/480+994

Ware PBW PBW

Vessel part rim rim

Surface treatment I low burnished, E smoothed only I and E medium burnished I smoothed and low burnished, E medium burnished. I attritioned (arrows) I heavy usewear/abrasion; E medium burnished I and E slip, E very vague traces of black paint

Colour I dark brown, E light brown secondary fired dark grey

cm 17 18

Radius 10% 10%

I.3

PBW

complete (c. 50%)

rim 19 base 10 Height 22

I.4

10AC13/1020 10A/713

PBW

base

brown-black

10

20%

I.5

RSW

rim

red

19

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

41

Plate I.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-5 spherical Pots.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Oale de form sferic (1-5).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE J J.1 J.2

Provenance 10A-C13/785 10A-C13/693

Ware PBW PBW

Vessel part rim rim

Surface treatment I low burnish, E medium burnished I until arrow and E medium burnished; I below arrow low burnish I low burnished, E diluted clay slip, very shallow grooves, medium burnished I and E slip, shallow grooves I and E wellsmoothed, medium burnished I and E medium burnished originally

Colour

cm 21

Radius 10% 10%

ochre-brown

20

J.3

10DC18/1024

PBW

rim

15

10%

J.4 J.5

10A-C13/997 10A-C13/731

RSW PBW

rim rim

orangey I black, E pale brown secondary fired to brown

18 23

10% 10%

J.6

10A-C12/480

PBW

rim

24

10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

43

Plate J.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-4 spherical Pots; 5-6 angle-neck Pots.

TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Oale de form sferic (1-4) i cu gt unghiular (5-6).

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Laurens THISSEN

PLATE K K.1 K.2

Provenance 10A-C13/879 10A/733

Ware PBW PBW

Vessel part rim rim

Surface treatment I and E medium burnished I high burnish down until arrow, below unworked; E high burnish I and E medium burnished I and E medium burnished E slip and very vague traces of black paint; I wash (?) I and E slip; E traces of black paint I medium burnished only, E slip I thin wash, lightly burnished, E slip and motifs in black paint; I base area heavily abraded (pitted) I well-smoothed, low burnished, E medium burnished I burnished only, E slip and traces of black paint; slip and paint almost gone to subsurface I and E medium burnished I and E medium burnished

Colour black

cm 9 9

Radius 20% 20%

K.3 K.4 K.5

10A/800 10A/501 10A/443

PBW PBW RSW

rim rim rim

brown grey brown red

12 17 10

20% 10% 20%

K.6 K.7

10A/866 10A-C13/585

RSW RSW

rim rim

2.5YR 6/6-8 (light red) red

9 14

20% 10%

K.8

10AC13/584+864

RSW

pedestal base

ochre orangey

50%

K.9

10A-C13/636

PBW

handle

28 on inside red (subsurface ochre) grey-brown 10YR 7/4 (very pale brown) 24 on inside

10%

K.10

10A-C13/502

RSW

handle

10%

K.11 K.12

10B-530 10D-C44/790

F12-PBW F.13-PBW

rim rim

6 8

30% 10%

Starevo-Cri pottery from TELEOR 003, S Romania

45

3 7

11

12 10

Plate K. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. 1-4 plain-burnished Jars; 5-8 decorated Jars; 9-10 verticallypierced knob handles; 11-12 Miniatures. TELEOR 003 Starevo-Cri. Vase globulare, cu gtul nalt, lustruite (1-4) i decorate (5-8); butoni perforai vertical (9-10); vase miniaturale (11-12).