The Unbeknownst Pottery Craft at Alvastra Pile Dwelling
2023 (English)In: Changing Identity in a Chaging World: Current Studies on the Stone Age around 4000 BCE / [ed] Daniel Groß ; Mikael Rothstein, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2023, 1, p. 249-263Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Alvastra pile dwelling is one of the richest Middle Neolithic sites known in Sweden regarding the preservation of organic material and the display of different types of artifacts. The pottery assemblage in particular has been discussed more extensively than other materials in previous research. Funnel beaker and Pitted Ware pottery have been found at the site, together with the so-called pile dwelling pottery – a hitherto uncharacterised pottery type. Due to the fact that the pottery has played a big part in the interpretations of the site, the presented results concerning pottery and pottery craft also affect the understanding of the pile dwelling as a whole. Visual analyses of the pottery, based on the recording of craft specific parameters, have resulted in the categorization of the previously debated pile dwelling pottery. Furthermore, the results point to pottery production at the site and are strengthened by the presence of other material assemblages from the same cultural layer, such as bone artifacts and lithics. Pottery and other specialized crafts are suggested to have been a part of the activities at the pile dwelling. Moving towards an understanding that Alvastra pile dwelling was, among other things, a place for craft, challenges previous interpretations of the site as being foremost a ritualistic space and a place for the dead.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2023, 1. p. 249-263
Keywords [en]
Stone Age, Neolithic, Funnel beaker pottery, Pitted ware pottery, Pile dwelling pottery, wetland archaeology, chaîne opératoire
Keywords [sv]
Stenålder, Neolitikum, Trattbägarkeramik, Gropkeramik, pålbyggnadskeramik, våtmarksarkeologi, chaîne opératoire
National Category
Archaeology
Research subject
Historical Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-53210ISBN: 978-94-6426-168-4 (print)ISBN: 978-94-6426-167-7 (print)ISBN: 978-94-6426-169-1 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-53210DiVA, id: diva2:1826459
2024-01-112024-01-112024-01-12Bibliographically approved