The development of pottery technology in Eythra from the Early Linear Pottery culture to the Late Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture

Abstract

The site of Eythra, a former village located on the western bank of the White Elster River, has yielded numerous remains of a settlement that existed there during the early Neolithic cultures – the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and the Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture (SBK). The site covers some 30 hectares, making it the largest excavated settlement of the LBK and SBK areas to date. Chemical analyses of the ceramic fragments from the consecutive stylistic phases that were represented in Eythra were carried out. The objective of this was to find out whether the stylistic changes in the shape and the decoration of the ceramic material correspond to technological changes in regard to such aspects as clay composition and tempering. The transitions between the earliest and the early LBK phases and between LBK and SBK were of particular interest in this respect, as also were the localised developments that took place within the two phases of the LBK and SBK.