Theses and Papers in Scientific Archaeology 17 Vasiliki Papakosta Early Pottery Use among Hunter- Gatherers around the Baltic Sea Early Pottery Use among Hunter-Gatherers around the Baltic Sea around Use among Hunter-Gatherers Pottery Early Vasiliki Papakosta ISBN 978-91-7911-236-3 ISSN 1400-7835 Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies Doctoral Thesis in Scientific Archaeology at Stockholm University, Sweden 2020 Early Pottery Use among Hunter-Gatherers around the Baltic Sea Vasiliki Papakosta Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Scientific Archaeology at Stockholm University to be publicly defended on Friday 16 October 2020 at 13.00 in Nordenskiöldsalen, Geovetenskapens hus, Svante Arrhenius väg 12. Abstract This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the dynamics underlying the adoption of pottery by pre-agrarian hunter- gatherer cultural groups around the Baltic Sea. The focus is on three approximately contemporaneous early pottery traditions of the region (ca. 5200–3900 cal BC); the Ertebølle (EBK) of southern Scandinavia (southern Sweden, Denmark) and northern Germany, the Narva of the eastern Baltic, and the Early Comb Ware (ECW) of north-eastern Fennoscandia. To develop knowledge about what ceramics in these traditions were used for, and whether intra- and/or inter-cultural variations occurred, EBK pottery material from Scania (southern Sweden) and Lolland (eastern Denmark), as well as material from ECW pottery sub-styles (Säräisniemi 1, Sperrings 1, and 2, Jäkärlä) from mainland Finland were selected from museum collections in the corresponding countries to be analyzed by means of lipid residue analysis. The use of the EBK pottery was compared to that of the contemporaneous Narva, to assess whether the typological similarities characterizing the two pottery traditions corresponded also to common functions. The comparison was conducted statistically by using the lipid residue data obtained by the author along with that previously published from Narva pottery assemblages in Estonia, and from EBK pottery assemblages from Denmark and northern Germany. The Finnish ECW pottery sub-styles were separately analyzed to assess spatio-temporal use variation. Pottery use determinations were based on characterizations of food and non-food residues preserved in the ceramic matrix of the analyzed vessels, assisted by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The technique provided molecular separation and identification of the residues’ lipid (fatty) components. For determinations of higher resolution, molecular analysis was complemented with stable carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis of specific fatty acid compounds, using gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-c-IRMS). Lipid residues were extracted from the ceramic matrix by using a one-step acid-methanol extraction and derivatization protocol, whose high lipid recovery efficiency was, in this study, first proven on very high-age and very small pottery samples of the Japanese Incipient Jõmon culture (ca. 13,900–13,300 cal. BP). The origin of the contamination detected in EBK samples from various sites in Scania, consisting of aromatic hydrocarbons that interfered with the extracted lipids during chromatographic analysis, and created problems with their quantification and isotopic determination, was investigated with multi-proxy compositional analysis of the samples’ clay fraction to identify any possible association with it. The analysis also revealed technological and social aspects of pottery production and use in the local EBK societies, corroborating and complementing knowledge from previous investigations on EBK ceramics of the same region. The research results showed inter-cultural pottery-use variation, while on an intra-cultural scale pottery uses were rather homogeneous. Differences in the ranges of foodstuffs with the processing of which pottery use was associated cross- culturally suggest different food cultures among the hunter-gatherer cultural groups studied, which could further indicate different processes and motives for the uptake of pottery. Keywords: Early Pottery Use, Hunter-Gatherers, Baltic, Late Mesolithic, Ceramics, Ertebølle, Narva, Early Comb Ware, Lipid Extraction, Lipid Residue Analysis, Molecular Analysis, Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis, Elemental Analysis, Mineralogical Analysis. Stockholm 2020 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-184728 ISBN 978-91-7911-236-3 ISBN 978-91-7911-237-0 ISSN 1400-7835 Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm EARLY POTTERY USE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS AROUND THE BALTIC SEA Vasiliki Papakosta Early Pottery Use among Hunter-Gatherers around the Baltic Sea Vasiliki Papakosta ©Vasiliki Papakosta, Stockholm University 2020 ISBN print 978-91-7911-236-3 ISBN PDF 978-91-7911-237-0 ISSN 1400-7835 Cover image: Unknown artist. Source: National Park Service (NPS), USA Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2020 Acknowledgements I wish to thank all my allies in the noble struggle towards the completion of my PhD, who supported me in various ways from the beginning till the end. It is no coincidence that I am using war terminology, since research on a doctoral level may feel, indeed, like a long struggle with lots of challenges to be overcome, but also a great deal of knowledge to be gained in the after- math. First and foremost, I am deeply thankful to my supervisors, Sven Isaksson and Ole Stilborg, who throughout my tenure as a doctoral student were always there to provide me with invaluable intellectual and practical help, and who also helped develop my scientific thinking and research skills through kind and constructive criticism, ongoing encouragement and sup- port. Thank you! I find myself fortunate to have spent my working time at the Archaeolog- ical Research Laboratory among nice colleagues, some of whom also be- came friends along the way. Kerstin Lidén, Gunilla Eriksson, Lena Holmquist, Anders Götherström, Christina Fredengren, Aikaterini Glykou, Dalia Pokutta, Matti Leino, Maria Wojnar-Johansson, Mikael Lundin, Hans Ahlgren, Markus Fjellström, Christos Economou, Joakim Brorson Schultzén, Andreas Viberg, Annita Malmius, Maja Krzewinska, Eugene Costello, Maiken Hemme Bro-Jørgensen, Madison Holly Llewellin, Crista Adelle Wathen, Aripekka Junno, Mariana Muñoz-Rodríguez, Alison Harris, Anne- Marijn van Spelde, Jack Dury, thank you all for good company, joyful lunches, fikas, and lovely discussions! I am particularly thankful to Lena Holmquist for the discreet and genuinely caring attitude towards me all these years we have been sharing working space. Special thanks are also extended to Mikael Lundin for his effort to save my analytical data from loss at a time when computer systems in the lab seemed to be getting autonomous and reluctant to cooperate. Georgia Galani, Romain Mougenot, Florent Audy, Marieke Ivarsson-Aalders, Bettina Stolle, Anne Hofmann, Anna Sörman, Ingrid Berg, Sara Gummensson, Johnny Karlsson, Marte Spangen, Linda Qviström, Tess Emanuelsson-Paulson, Kerstin Odebäck, Magnus Odebäck Ljunge, Maša Dizdar, Pedro Bentancour Garin, Anton Larsson, Adam Lind- qvist Wadstein, Astrid Noterman, it has been nice that we met! Anna Kjell- ström, Jan Storå, Laszlo Bartosiewicz, thank you for always being so kind to me! I express my gratitude to Professor Kristina Jennbert and Jackie Taffinder in Sweden, Søren A. Sørensen in Denmark, and Petro Pesonen in Finland, who facilitated my research by providing access to material in museums for sampling. I am grateful to Sven Isaksson, Rienk Smittenberg, Petro Pesonen, Oliver Craig, Carl Heron, Kevin Gibbs, Peter Jordan, Ester Oras, Olalla Lopez-Costas, for contribution in research and paper writing, to Anna Häg- glund for always providing her assistance in lipid residue isotope analyses, to Susanne Berndt Ersöz and to Aikaterini Glykou for dedicating time to read through and comment on my thesis. I am particularly thankful to Aika- terini Glykou for substantial guidance and help in research. I am grateful to the Berit Wallenberg, and to the Albert and Maria Berg- ströms foundations for financially supporting research travelling for sam- pling and communication of research results in conferences. The Greta Ar- widssons foundation is acknowledged for financing the language proof- reading of the kappa. I would also like to thank my parents, Zacharias and Paraskevi, and my sister, Theofano, for all their support and caring all these years. The geo- graphical distance between us was not an obstacle for me to feel close to them. My nephew, Thomas, has been an energy-charger. My husband, Ioan- nis Savvidis, is specially thanked for being a ‘rock’, always there to listen to my concerns and to encourage me in stressful times. He was the one who initiated everything after all. /Vasiliki ii List of papers I Papakosta, V., Smittenberg, R.H., Gibbs, K., Jordan, P. & Isaksson, S. 2015. Extraction and derivatization of absorbed lipid residues from very small and very old samples of ceramic potsherds for mo- lecular analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC- MS) and single compound stable carbon isotope analysis by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC- C-IRMS). Microchemical Journal 123: 196–200. II Papakosta, V., Heron, C., Isaksson, S. & Craig, O.E. (ms). Pottery use by late foragers in the Baltic: the potential of organic residue analysis and other associated techniques. III Papakosta, V., Oras, E. & Isaksson, S.