Horváth László szerk.: Zalai Múzeum 17. (Közlemények Zala megye múzeumaiból, Zalaegerszeg, 2008)

KREITER ATTILA: A Celtic pottery kiln and ceramic technological study from Zalakomár-Alsó Csalit (S-W Hungary). Kelta edényégető kemence és kerámia technológiai megfigyelések Zalakomár-Alsó Csalit lelőhelyről

It was observed that in all cases, after the vessel was built using the slab technique, they were finished on a wheel or turn table. Wheel marks were commonly identified on the interior of the examined sherds. The utilisation of a slow wheel or a turn table is suggested rather than the use of a fast wheel to finish off the vessels since it would be very difficult to work with an already built vessel on a fast moving wheel. First of all when a vessel is made on a fast wheel a lump of clay is thrown on the wheel, and it should be attached to the wheel firmly. The strength of throwing determines whether the lump will stay on the wheel and can be formed into a vessel or comes off. The next step is to centre the clay on the wheel. The aim of centring is to make the clay revolve centrally on the wheelhead so that when subsequently it is opened and pulled up the walls have a constant thickness (in horizontal section) and even height. The closer the lamp of clay is placed to the centre, the quicker and easier will be the centring process (COLBECK 1991: 24). This is also essential to make a symmetric vessel. This is a simplified outline of vessel throwing but it is aimed at highlighting that when a vessel is already made by the slab technique it would be very difficult to attach it onto a fast moving wheel firmly so it would not come off when the wheel spins. Moreover, it would also be very difficult to place a ready vessel exactly on the middle of the wheel otherwise it would not revolve centrally. Technological practices are governed by the traditions of the potters and from the many available technological possibilities they tend to choose the ones that are dictated by their tradition (VAN DER LEELJW 1993). It seems that at Zalakomár Celtic potters had a potting tradition of slab building combined with the slow wheel technique. There are minor variations between the slab techniques in terms of the sizes of the slabs although in general the ceramic technology at Zalakomár is very similar between the different vessel types. It must be noted that the fabrics of the examined sherds are also very similar showing a sandy raw material with occasional appearance of small pebbles. Assessment of the scale of production would shed more light on the meaning of technological similarities, however, at this stage of the research the scale of pottery production could not be assessed. At Zalakomár slab building was identified as the main method of vessel construction (Fig. 7) and even though slab building of Celtic vessels was not reported previously it is probably not an isolated case. Preliminary studies of Celtic ceramic technology from Bátaszék-Kálvária 56-os út and Dunaszentgyörgy 6os út also show that the majority of vessels were made by the slab technique and were finished by the slow wheel/turn table technique (KREITER 2008a, b). Moreover, Celtic pottery representations in the literature often show vessels which broke along more or less straight lines (JEREM 1984b, 92-93, Figs. 5.4, 5.5, 5.10, 6.3). Perhaps these vessels were also made by the slab technique although a comprehensive study of Celtic potting technology has yet to be carried out. Nevertheless, this paper shows the potential of ceramic technological studies in understanding the organization of pottery production and in assessing the nature of intra-site ceramic traditions, which in turn makes it possible to compare the organisation of ceramic production between different settlements. The paper also provides a unique way of a pottery kiln construction indicating an exceptional skill of the producers and their outstanding knowledge about the properties of raw materials. References cited: BONIS 1981 Bonis, B. E.: A pannóniai rómaikori fazekaskemencék. In: Gömöri, J.: Iparrégészeti kutatások Magyarországon. Egetőkemcncék régészeti és interdiszciplináris kutatása. Sopron, 1980. július 28-30. Veszprém: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia veszprémi akadémiai bizottságának történelmi szakbizottsága. 11-17. COLBECK 1991 Colbeck, J.: Pottery: the technique of throwing. London: B.T. Batsford Limited. CIZMÁR 1987 Cizmár, M.: Latenénké sidlistë ze Strachotina okr. Breclav - Eine latènezeitliche Siedlung aus Strachotin, Bez. Breclav. PA LXXVIII (1). 205-230. FEWKES. 1940 Fewkes, V. J.: Methods of Pottery Manufacture. American Antiquity 6 (2). 172-173. GOSSELAIN. 1992 Gosselain, O. P.: Bonfire of the inquiries - pottery firing temperatures in archaeology - what for? Journal of Archaeological Science 19 (3). 243-259.