THE PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF LATE IRON AGE SLIP DECORATED POTTERY IN CENTRAL EUROPE Christopher Guy Cumberpatch Department of Archaeology and Prehistory University of Sheffield Thesis submitted for the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. July 1991 The production and circulation of Late Iron Age slip decorated pottery in Central Europe. Christopher Cumberpatch Summary The aim of this study is to investigate the organisation of production and exchangein the Later Iron Age, or Late La Töne period in part of Central Europe. Although a wide range of goods are considered in relation to this aim (Chapter 2), the focus of the thesis is on the slip decoratedpottery which is a characteristic find on the larger settlements. Following a review of current approachesto the archaeologyof the period (Chapter 1), the second chapter summarisesthe current state of knowledge of the Later Iron Age in the study area (Czechoslovakia,Transdanubian Hungary and Poland). The third chapter considers the theoretical frameworks employed in the interpretation of non-capitalist economic systems. These are discussedin relation to the theory and practice of archaeological interpretation. In chapters4 and 5 the methodsof analysis used in the study of the the slip decorated pottery are described. Chapter 4 focuseson the production of the pottery and the technology employed, relating this to the organisation of labour. Chapter 5 is concernedwith the circulation of the pottery and the methods (petrological and typological analyses)used to interpret the distribution in terms of the actions which produced it. Chapter 6 draws together the data discussedin the secondchapter and that obtained from the analysis of the slip decoratedpottery. The picture of the period which emergesis at variance in a number of respectsfrom that traditionally accepted,in that there appearsto have been a high degreeof continuity with the situation in the Middle la Töne in terms of the economic structuresunderlyinmg the emergenceof sites of central character. The establishmentof thesesites was certainly associatedwith changesin economic relationships (some of which are symbolisedby the production and circulation of slip decoratedpottery), but theseappear to be in addition to, rather than in place of, traditional forms of organisation. A number of appendicesand tables summarisesupporting data. Contents Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Plates Acknowledgements Preface 1 0.1 Introduction 1 0.2 Chronology 4 Chapter 1 Approaches to the later European Iron Age 7 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 The study of Iron Age societies 7 1.3 'Celtic society' and the question of Roman influence 10 1.4 Entrepreneurialcapitalism 16 1.5 Patronageand proto-feudalism 19 1.6 Multifactoral approaches 21 1.7 Conclusion 22 Chapter 2 Settlement, economy and society in the Later Iron Age of Central Europe 23 2.1 Geographicalbackground 23 2.1.1 Czechoslovakia 23 2.1.2 Malopolska 25 2.1.3 TransdanubianHungary 25 2.2 The archaeologyof the Later Iron Age in Bohemia and Moravia 26 2.2.1 Farmsteadsand villages 27 2.2.2 Industrial villages and non-agrariancentres of production 29 2.2.3 Iron production 31 2.2.4 Non-ferrous metallurgy 34 2.2.5 Querns and stone working 35 2.2.6 Pottery production 37 2.2.7 Other craft and industrial activities 40 2.3 Castella 40 2.4 Ritual sites 42 2.5 Oppida 46 2.5.1 Metallurgy 48 2.5.2 Stone working 49 2.5.3 Glassproduction 50 2.5.4 Pottery production 51 2.5.5 Other craft and industrial activities 52 2.6 Coinage and the minting of coins 53 2.7 Circulation and exchange 57 2.7.1 Circulation: the evidence of artefacts 57 2.7.2 The location of settlementsand the methods of transport 63 2.8 The archaeologyof the later Iron Age in Slovakia and TransdanubianHungary 66 2.8.1 Introduction 66 2.8.2 South-westSlovakia: western section 67 2.8.3 South-westSlovakia: easternsection 67 2.8.4 TransdanubianHungary 68 2.8.5 EasternSlovakia 70 2.8.6 North and Central Slovakia 2.9 The Celto - Dacian problem and the question of multi-cultural assemblages 72 2.10 Slovakia: subsistence 2.11 Settlementand economy in Slovakia and Hungary 76 2.11.1 SouthernSlovakia and western Hungary 77 2.11.2 Fannsteadsand villages 77 2.11.3 Central sites 79 2.11.4 The characteristicsof central sites 79 2.11.5 Functional characteristicsof central sites 82 2.116 Pottery production 82 2.11.7 Metallurgy 83 2.11.8 Other craft and industrial activity 83 2.12 Exchangeand circulation of goods 84 2.13 Northern Slovakia and the Püchov culture 86 2.13.1 Settlement 86 2.13.2 Metallurgy 88 2.13.3 Pottery production 89 2.13.4 Stonemasonry 91 1.13.5 Other craft and industrial activities 91 2.13.6 Exchangeand the circulation of goods 92 2.14 The archaeologyof Later Iron Age settlementin Poland 93 2.15 Settlementlocation 2.16 Production and exchange 97 2.17 Summary 100 2.18 Conclusion 101 Chapter 3 Archaeological approaches to non-capitalist economies 108 3.1 Economic anthropology and archaeology 108 3.2 Neo-classicaleconomic theory 108 3.3 Non-formal approaches 110 3.3.1 Substantivism 111 3.3.2 Marxism 113 3.3.3 Political Economy 116 3.3.4 Circulation 119 3.3.5 Production and Reproduction 122 3.4 Archaeological applications and implications 123 3.5 Theory in practice 127 3.5.1 Modes of production 128 3.5.2 A redefinition of the mode of production 129 3.5.3 Production in a gift economy 132 3.5.4 Methodology: approachingthe mode of production archaeologically 133 3.5.5 The mode of exchange(or circulation) 134 3.5.6 Circulation, exchangeand discourse 136 3.5.7 Identifying exchangein a gift economy 137 3.5.8 Methodology: identifying circulation and exchange archaeologically 138 3.5.9 Consumption and use 139 3.5.10 Methodology: understandingconsumption 140 3.6 Conclusion 141 Appendix 1 Sites with slip decorated pottery 232 Appendix 2 Pottery production sites 247 Appendix 3 Viereckschanzen and other ritual sites 253 Appendix 4 CLUSTAN programme 257 Bibliography 258 Tables 281 Figures Plates List of Tables 2.1 Coin moulds and minting debris -281 3.1 Componentsand variables comprising a mode of production 282 3.2 Hypothetical modesof pottery production 283 3.3 Componentsand variables comprising a mode of exchange 284 3.4 Hypothetical modesof circulation/ exchange. 284 3.5 General ranks of production in a debt basedsystem 285 4.1 Firing temperaturesdetermined by thermal expansion 286 4.2 Firing temperaturesdetermined by mineralogical changes 286 4.3 Suggestedsequence of production for slip decoratedpottery 287 4.4 Suggestedmode of slip decoratedpottery production 288 4.5 Modes of production applicable to the Middle and Late La Tene 289 5.1 Summary of numbers of sherdsfrom sites within the study area 290 5.2 Distribution of decorative motifs on sites within the study area 291 Key to Figure 5.2 292 5.3 Summary of diagnostic vesselforms 293 5.4 Distribution of vesselforms on sites within the study area 294 Key to Figure 5.3 295 5.5 Regionally distinctive typological groups 296 5.6 Summary of relationship between typological groups and those defined in Figure 5.25 297 5.7 Principal geographicalareas represented in clusters identified in Figure 5.25 303 5.8 Summary of the material from sites outside the principal areasof distribution found in eachgroup 304 5.9 Summary of larger quantities of material (greater than 2% of assemblage)from sites outside the principal areasof distribution found in eachgroup 305 5.10 The principal typological groups (T1- T4) and their relationship to the samplestaken for petrological analysis 306 6.1 Goods in circulation in the eastern part of the study area 307 6.2 Suggestedranking of goods in Late Iron Age Central Europe. 308 List of Figures. 2.1 Modern political geographyof the study area. 2.2 Late La Tene settlementbetween Lhotka nad Labern and Lovosice. 2.3 Sapropelite sourcesand Late La T6ne settlementin the Kladno - Nove Straseci area 2.4.1 Gold, silver, tin and copper ore sourcesin Bohemia and Moravia 2.4.2 Non-ferrous metallurgy in Bohemia 2.5 Principal Late La Tene sites in Bohemia and western Moravia 2.6 Late La Tene settlementin Moravia 2.7 Middle - Late La Tene glass workshops 2.8 Distribution of Graphittonkeramik in Bohemia 2.9 Zoomorphic sherd from Stradonice 2.10 Late La Tene settlementin Slovakia 2.11 Principal Late La Tene sites in TransdanubianHungary 2.12 Bratislava and Devin 2.13 Esztergom 2.14 Komärno 2.15 Late La Tene settlement in Makopolska 2.16 Tyniec group sites around Nowa Huta 4.1 Slip decoratedpottery: Open forms 4.2 Slip decorated pottery: Closed forms. 4.3 Slip decoratedpottery: Bases 4.4 Slip decoratedpottery: Sherdsfrom minor sites in Bohemia 4.5 Slip decoratedpottery: Profiled vesselsfrom Stradonice 4.6 Slip decoratedpottery: Examples of grey geometric decoration 4.7 Slip decoratedpottery: Grey decoration from Zemplin 4.8.1 Micro-photographs of slip decoratedpottery fabrics: Stradonice 1 and Liptovskä Mara 90 4.8.2 Micro-photographs of slip decoratedpottery fabrics: Stare Hradisko 1 and Nitra Mikov - Dvor. 4.8.3 Micro-photographs of slip decoratedpottery fabrics: Stare Hradisko 2 and Zemplin 1 4.9.1 Refiring graph: Krzeslawice 4.9.2 Refiring graph: Esztergom 4.9.3 Refiring graph: Manching 4.10 Kilns from Esztergom and Liptovskä Mara 4: 11 Reconstruction of an updraft kiln Figures 5.1 - 5.15 illustrate the relative sizes of the fabric groups identified on the sites studied. 5.1 Tabän - Gellerthegy 5.2 Stradonice 5.3 Starb Hradisko 5.4 Trisov 5.5 Podxsze 5.6 Mogila 5.7.