Celtic Pottery

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

La région correspondant aux anciennes provinces d’Aunis et de Saintonge est souvent restée en marge des grandes synthèses récemment consacrées à la période laténienne. Vingt ans après l’article de R. Boudet traitant des aspects du peuplement autour de l’estuaire girondin à la fin de l’âge du Fer, ce colloque offre l’opportunité de dresser un état des connaissances sur la culture matérielle et les formes d’occupations de cette partie du Centre-Ouest entre le milieu du Ve et la fin du Ier siècle avant notre ère.
Les phases ancienne et moyenne du second âge du Fer (du milieu du Ve à la fin du IIIe s. av. J.-C.) ne sont encore illustrées que par de rares découvertes provenant d’habitats, de sépultures ou d’ateliers de sauniers. Pour l’heure, le mobilier domestique de cette période ne se démarque pas nettement d’un fonds commun propre au Poitou-Charentes et à l’Aquitaine septentrionale.
La fin de l’âge du Fer (IIe et Ier s. av. J.-C.), en revanche, est un peu mieux documentée grâce aux apports de quelques fouilles préventives ou programmées et au réexamen de certaines découvertes anciennes. S’il est encore trop tôt pour tenter une analyse globale de l’occupation du sol, une approche préliminaire des modalités de peuplement peut toutefois être prudemment proposée. Après une brève présentation des formes de l’habitat rural, la question des habitats groupés est discutée à partir des découvertes réalisées à Pons, Saintes, Muron et Mortagne-sur-Gironde. L’accent est mis sur la chronologie, la nature et l’organisation de ces sites en les replaçant dans une perspective plus générale.
Les différentes données archéologiques disponibles à ce jour sont ensuite confrontées pour illustrer les particularités de la zone d’étude soumise à la fois aux influences des pays de Garonne et de Dordogne au sud et  à celles des secteurs de mouvance armoricaine au nord-ouest. Au terme de cette présentation un modèle original de dynamique territoriale est proposé pour tenter d’expliquer les phénomènes observés à la fin de l’âge du Fer dans cet espace géographique attribué traditionnellement, et de façon globale, au peuple des Santons.

Das Gebiet, das die alte Provinzen Aunis und Saintonge umfasst, wurde in den neuesten, an die Latenzeit gewidmeten Studien kaum erwähnt. Zwanzig Jahre nach R. Boudets Artikel über die Aspekte der Besiedlung um die Mündung der Gironde, bietet dieses Kolloquium eine Gelegenheit an, die Kenntnisse über die Materialkultur und die Besiedlungsarten in mitelwestlichen Frankreich zwischen Mitte 5ten und Ende 1ten Jahrhundert v.u.Z. zusammenzufassen.
Die ältere und mittlere Phasen des zweiten Eisenalter (von der Mitte des 5ten bis zum Ende des 3ten Jahrhunderts v.Chr.) kennen wir nur durch seltene, aus Wohnorte, Grabstätte und Salzwerkstätte stammende Entdeckungen. Im derzeitigen Stand der Forschung unterscheidet sich das Hausmaterial dieser Periode kaum von einen typischen für Poitou-Charentes und Nördliche Aquitanien gemeinsamen Grund.
Das Ende des Eisenalters (2ten-1ten Jahrhunderts v.Chr.) ist dagegen besser dokumentiert, dank den Beiträgen einiger präventiver oder programmierter Ausgrabungen und der erneuten Untersuchung bestimmter alter Entdeckungen. Obwohl es noch zu früh ist, um eine globale Analyse der Bodenbelegung zu entwickeln, eine Heranghensweise der Bevölkerungsmodalitäten kann jedoch vorsichtig vorgeschlagen werden. Nach einer kurzen Darstellung der ländlichen Siedlungsformen, die Frage der gruppierten Siedlungen wird aus den Entdeckungen in Pons, Saintes, Muron und Mortagne-sur-Gironde besprochen. Besonders betont werden die Chronologie, die Natur und die Organisation dieser Stätte in einer verallgemeinerten Perspektive.
Die verschiedene aktuelle archäologische Daten werden danach gegenübergestellt, um die Besonderheiten des studierten Gebiets, das ebenfalls von der Länder Garonne und Dordogne im Süden (Gallischer Isthmus), wie von armorikanischen Kulturbereich im Nordwesten (das Ozean) beeinflusst wurde, zu illustrieren. Am Enden dieser Vorführung wird das Originalmodell einer territorialen Dynamik als Arbeitshypothese vorgeschlagen. Es soll versuchen Phänomene zu erklären, die am Ende des Eisenalters in dem an die Santonen üblicherweise zugeschriebenen geographischen Raum beobachtet wurden.

LATE CELTIC – EARLY ROMAN SETTLEMENT FRAGMENTS FROM PERBÁL
Katalin Ottományi

South from the inner town of Perbál the Archäologische Topographie Ungarns (MRT 7, sites 14/9 and 14/4.) shows a large villa economy and a settlement without stone buildings. The two sites belong together based on the field surveys and excavations.
At Kukorica-dombi-dűlő (site 14/9.), during the excavations of 2007–2008, we uncovered 2 170 m2, 120 features were found and from these, 40 dated to the Late Celtic – Early Roman period. Approximately similar to the number of the Late Celtic (16) and Celtic–Roman transition (16) features along with far less Early Roman features (8). The excavated features were 21 pits, 2 larger, half features were probably workshop fragments, 2 postholes belonging to one of the workpits, 8 pitcomplexes, 4 half subterranean houses along with 3 ovens.
In the life of the settlement the periods can be separated largely through the pottery material, but sometimes by stratigraphy as well. The kiln and and its firing pit (fetures 85 and 59) can be dated to the beginning of the Late Celtic Period (LT D1-2) based on the pottery with graphite, the bowls and granaries burned grey-red. In the rest of the Celtic pits grey wheeled, and hand-made pottery were found without Roman materials (LT D2). In the features of the Celtic – Roman transition (middle/late 1st century) the former grey, wheeled and hand-made Celtic pottery is accompanied by a small number of Roman (painted, glazed and houseware as well) ceramics. In the youngest, Early Roman features the autochtonouos and the new pottery made in Aquincum appear in equal number. Import objects appear as well (terra sigillata, amphora), with the help of these, the settlement’s this pre-stone building phase can be dated to the turn of the 1st and 2nd century (South Gallian, Flavius–Traianus Period terra sigillata from house 66). This dating is verified by the stray coins as well: Divus Augustus (14–37 AD), Nero (54–68 AD), Domitianus (90 AD). A Hadrianus coin from the beginning of the 2nd century closes this period, but it can mark the beginning of the stone built villa as well.
The earliest half subterranean house is feat. 57 (second half of the 1st century), it is cut by the Early Roman house 60 at its NW end. All the other houses are from the Early Roman period (turn of the 1st and 2nd century). Feat. 65 is the smallest (6 m2), it has no postholes, probably a workhouse. The other three were probably living houses with two or three postholes in the middle (14–25 m2). The houses are on the SE part of the excavation situated in a 10–13 m distance from each other.
The autochtonouos Celtic, Eraviscii population left not only pottery but jewellery as well. One buttoned, strong profiled and some stray winged brooch were found in the settlement as well. Foreign inhabitants can be seen in a Rhine disc brooch and a German belt buckle.
On the other site (Perbál, Zsidó-földek, MRT 7, site 14/4.) 4 half subterranean houses were found, one square, three rectangular shaped, along with 10 pits, 3 workshops and 2 ditches. One of the ditches bordered the whole settlement during the 2nd century.
This southern part of the Roman settlement was inhabited from the first half of the 2nd century to the first half of the 3rd century. This is later than the excavated part of site 9.  It has to be noted though that based on the field surveys, both side of the stream was inhabited during the 2nd and 3rd century, but while site 9 was inhabited continuously since the Late Celtic period, site 4 has very scarce 1st century material (coin and brooch).
Perbál is located in the Zsámbék Basin. Based on the newest research several, smaller roads were located here. Some of these are side roads from the Aquincum – Savaria main road, that run N–S across the basin and joined into the Aquincum – Crumerum/Brigetio diagonal road/ limes road. Others are E–W oriented and running to Aquincum (Perbál, Piliscsaba, Solymár). The Import objects along with the painted and stamped pottery from Aquincum or Brigetio support this trade connection.
These published settlement fragments gave new data to the history of the Early Roman habitation and the Romanisation process of Perbál, and more widely the surroundings of Aquincum.

The pottery from four sunken houses from the settlement in Komjatice (southwestern Slovakia)
is examined. The La Tène settlement was excavated in late 1980s. The decoration
and ornamental motifs used on the pottery were analysed. Hand-made and wheel-turned
pottery were examined separately. The greatest typological variability of ornament was found
on the wheel-turned pottery. Incised technique dominated, mainly vertical combed decoration,
while less represented was relief and stamped ornament. Significant is the presence of
the so-called twig motif, while in one case a stamped decoration in the form of reversed letter
“C” also occured.

Studie byla publikována roku 1981 v knize ,,Praehistorica VIII, Varia Archeologica 2 (sborník k poctě 80. narozenin akademika Jana Filipa)" / The study was published in 1981 in the book "Praehistorica VIII, Varia Archeologica 2 (Acta to Honor the 80th Anniversary of Academician Jan Filip)".

Red and white painting layers from Celtic pottery from Southern Poland (Modlniczka 2 site near Kraków) were investigated with the use of Raman microspectroscopy, SEM/EDS and optical microscopy. The painting layers were performed homogeneously for all the examined shards, i.e. red layers as thinner, ca. 0,02 mm and white of 0,04 mm. The white painting layers are very fine grained and amorphous under SEM, prepared of compositionally complex magnesium based raw material, with phosphates and fluorite probably used as fluxes. Unusual phases: fluorite and silicon were identified. Raman spectroscopy of fine grained red painting layers revealed the presence of hematite and anatase/leucoxen. Again, rare phases, of silicon and destinezite were found. Both paints were carefully manufactured by grinding and homogenizing the raw materials. Their preliminary firing cannot be excluded. The painted pottery was fired approx. at 700–900 C, but multistage firing is possible.

Während der systematischen archäologischen Untersuchungen,
die man in der letzten Zeit in Zagórzyce, Kr. Kazimierza Wielka, durchgeführt hat, wurde ein neuer Siedlungskomplex der Bevölkerung der Tyniec-Gruppe, die die Lössgebiete in der Gegend von Kraków bewohnte, entdeckt. Die Voruntersuchung zahlreichen Materialien aus der Fdst. 1 verweisen auf zwei zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten bestehende, kleine Siedlungen. Die ältere, mittellatènezeitliche Siedlung bewohnte keltische Bevölkerung. In der jüngeren vorrömischen Eisenzeit
wurde hier eine Siedlung der Przeworsk-Kultur gegründet, die eine große Sammlung handgemachter Keramik lieferte. Hinzu kommt eine kleine Zahl von spätkeltischen Importen, darunter einige Exemplare scheibengedrehter, weiß-rot bemalter Keramik, die vermutlich aus Töpfereien stammen, die am Ende der Latènezeit in der Umgebung von Krakau wirkten.

The aim of thesis is to answer the question why/for what reasons vessels, or their parts were added to the graves in the La Tène period (approx. 5th – 1st century BC). What function they were to perform, either during funeral customs or in the afterlife? For the La Tène period, the solution to this question is even more important because we can observe significant regional differences within the areas of the spread of La Tène culture. In some areas, we encounter vessels in the grave inventory commonly and in numerous representations of various shapes and sizes. On the other hand, there are also areas inhabited by Celtic tribes, whose funeral practices did not include grave equipment in the form of vessels. In this regard, thesis is geographically limited in the Central European area, respectively its parts with the occurrence of the mentioned type of archaeological source.
Several methodological procedures will be applied to solve set goal. These are analyzes in terms of shape, size, decoration of La Tène vessels and their comparison with ancient shapes, the function of which is well known to us. In the case of the La Tène period, which belongs to the protohistoric periods, they also represent an important type of source to use of historical written and iconographic sources of ancient prove-nance. A key approach to solving the topic is to find the circumstances of the vessels in the graves, which are often closed finds contexts. Within this category, it will be an analysis from the point of view of the original contents of the vessels, which is also used for scientific analyzes, often related disciplines and sub-disciplines (archaeozoology, archaeobotany, palynology). It is also an examination of the condition, position, and relationship to buried individuals.

Príspevok sa zaoberá problematikou značiek na dnách grafitových nádob z doby laténskej. Jeho cieľom je predovšetkým publikácia doposiaľ nezverejnených keramických fragmentov z lokalít Iža-km 1759 a Komárno-Stará a Nová pevnosť, ako aj zhrnutie aktuálnych poznatkov o tomto špecifickom druhu tovaru neskorolaténskeho obdobia.

The village Komjatice is situated in the SW Slovakia in the district of Nové Zámky, in the territory of the Nitra Region, between the cities of Nitra and Šurany. During several rescue excavations, between 1977 – 1979 a part of the La Tène settlement was explored in the site “Kňazova jama”. The exploration outcomes, as well as the required material, have not been systematically processed yet. 6 sunken pits and one cultural pit were identified. The huts represented a classical middle La Tène type settlement with two-pole construction and a bench along one of longer walls. From the features´ backfill a relatively large amount of material was obtained, especially pottery (2358 fragments in total, weighing 74.8 kg). Small items and other artefacts were found only sporadically, in the form of small iron (mostly difficult to determine) fragments, clay whorls, fragments of bracelets from sapropelite and glass, whetstones and clay weights. The pottery set contained, based on the way of production, groups of pottery produced manually and on the wheel. In all features pottery made on the wheel prevailed. As for the forms, there are mainly bowls with s-shaped profile and bowls with tapering mouth. Soft rounded profile prevails, and no single case of smoothed ornaments is represented in decoration. Alongside the bowls, more numerous occurrences were also determined for the pottery containing graphite, especially situlas and situlate pots decorated on the surface by horizontal combing. The manually made pottery was typical for its biconical and hemispherical pots and bowls with rounded or flat profile. In some cases they were decorated by plastic ornaments. Ceramic forms and types of decoration are very typical for the middle La Tène. Based on the absence of younger elements, such as oblique and metope-like combing, or painted pottery, it is impossible to confirm a longer life of any of the explored features. Bowls with slightly rounded profile and the absence of smoothed ornaments do not permit confirmation of their longer existence than the close of the LTC1. Such dating is confirmed also by the accompanying, chronologically more sensitive, material, i. e. a fragment of iron coil spring which probably corresponds to the middle La Tène scheme type of brooch, dated to the LTC1a – LTC1b – c. Moreover, the finds of two sapropelite bracelets, whose most frequent occurrence in the vicinity of Nitra can be determined between the stages LTC1 – C2 (Březinová 2005, 24). Beyond settlement contexts, also two finds of circular jewel made of glass come from the location. Both are dated within the LTC1 stage.