The present paper uses the parameters revealed by archaeometric investigations of the Foeni group Early Eneolithic pottery from Alba Iulia–Lumea Nouă site, in order to make possible the experimental reconstruction of the black-topped pottery local firing technique. The distinctive features of this fineware category are the well burnished red body, with black (sometimes metallic) look on the rim, as well as on the pot interior. The results indicate the chromatic effect is due to the controlled mixed firing, oxidation and reduction atmosphere, in one step operation technique. This process was carried out using an updraught kiln with a circular base having 0.80 m in diameter and a height of 0.90 m. During firings the temperatures reached did not exceed the temperature indicated by the analyses (700–850°C), and both firing atmospheres had been achieved simultaneously. The experimental samples resembled Foeni vessels completely. The most important aspect of the firing method which we used is the fact that the results are controllable and repeatable.
pottery
Considerations on Tableware Pottery of (L)Ibida III. X Research Area
From the analyses of the table pottery sample found in the X research area on the archaeological site Slava Rusă, it result that the pottery centre with the most vessels (23 fragments of pottery) is represented by the Phocaean workshops from western Asia Minor. This situation is not surprising, being encountered on the other research areas in Ibida but also in other Roman-Byzantine sites in Dobrudja. Noteworthy in the X research area is that all the Phocaean pottery can be framed in a time interval not exceeding a century (second half of the 5th century and first half of the 6th century). The identified forms are only two: Hayes Form 3 with some of the versions and Hayes Form 8. We can notice that the first forms of Phocaean workshops are absent (Hayes Form 1, 2 and the A version of the 3rd Hayes Form); that would be covered the second half of the 4th century and the first half of the 5th century. The Phocaean bowls (Hayes 10 Form); specific to the second half of the 6th and the beginning of the next century are absent, too. The African workshops are certified by the presence of five pieces, each belonging to a different form. Beside the forms already attested in Dobrudja (Hayes 82, 87, 91 and 104), this research area offered another two forms: Hayes 70 and 71, for which there are no analogies in the West-Pontic area. These forms date from the late 4th century and the first half of the 6th century (Hayes 104 Form, version C). In terms of quantity, North-African tableware ranges within the limits already known for the contemporary sites within the region. As for the pottery produced in the Black Sea basin—identified by four ceramic fragments—it also ranges within the limits known at Ibida from the analyses of the Extra Muros Vest III research area. The identified forms have analogies in settlements in both the North Black Sea basin and the North of modern Turkey. Unidentified pottery, probably belonging to other subsequent ages (like the medieval ceramic fragment), may mean that the existing archaeological situation was disrupted by other subsequent interventions after the abandonment of the fortification system at Slava Rusă. Besides the modern intervention, a medieval settlement may have also existed, also certified in the Curtina G research area. Further analysis of other material categories from the X research Area, plus comparing data with those obtained by studying the table ware sample, will provide more complete information about the chronology and functionality of the archaeological complex identified in the mentioned research area from (L) Ibida.
Preliminary notes concerning Middle Bronze Ages pottery analysis from Costişa-Cetățuia, Neamț County
The Costișa archaeological culture has been known for more than half a century and it has been categorized as belonging to the Middle Bronze Age in the Eastern Carpathian area. From the very beginning it was supposed to be the result of local connections with southern Monteoru-type elements and northern ones such as Komariw-Bialy-Potik. This assessment was made on the basis of a comparative analysis of the known archaeological investigation methods (stratigraphy and pottery typology). The present contribution employs another type of analysis of the pottery from the eponymous site. Thus, starting from the archaeological database consisting of seven pottery shards, the following scientific investigations were performed: SEM-EDS analysis, optical spectroscopy, and chemical modules analysis. The aim was to cover all the steps followed during modern pottery investigation, from the archaeological description of the artefacts and the initial macroscopic evaluation, to the integration by the archaeologist of the data obtained from the other types of analysis. The results of these analyses could provide multiple coherent answers regarding the history of a site, the ceramic technology, the relations between the local community and the Monteoru ones.