Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)
III. Habitation of te Suciu de Sus Archaeological Culture
with pot types and decorative motifs of the pottery from other archaeological sites of the Suciu de Sus culture, there emerges the possibility of a more precise appreciation of the position occupied by the settlement at Petea—Csengersima within the evolution of the culture. Technological considerations. As in the case of other prehistoric cultures, the pottery of the Suciu de Sus culture has been separated into two or three categories according to the criteria of clay composition: coarse pottery, fine pottery70, and an intermediary category71, according to some studies. The coarse pottery has the clay containing much tempering material: gravel, large-grained sand, crushed shards. The presence of these tempering materials influences the adherence of the clay, thus if the clay and the tempering materials are well mixed and subjected to an optimum firing temperature, and the surface of the vessels is smoothed, even these pots frequently have a relatively compact structure and good resistance. It is rare for the vessels of the coarse category to not have their surfaces smoothed that gives them a porous aspect. Coarse clay is used for making vessels with thick walls, usually of large dimensions: large storage jars, some pot categories, bowls and portable cooking vessels, but also some amphora samples. Coarse clay was used for 23,8% of the vessels discovered in archaeological complexes of the Suciu de Sus settlement. Vessels made of semi-fine clay have good quality as the characteristic tempering material is fine river gravel, sand and finely crushed shards. Vessels of semi-fine clay occur frequendy (45,3%), due to the fact that this kind of clay was used to making vessels of medium and small sizes, at the preparation/storage of food, and for serving meals (cups, bowls, amphorae). For the third category of the Suciu de Sus pottery — vessels made of fine clay — the primary tempering material used was sand along with fine-grained gravel. Fine clay is usually used for vessels with thin walls (almost all of the cups and some categories of bowls/dishes), and also for some distinct types of vessels with thick walls (amphorae or even some pots or portable cooking vessels). The percentage of vessels made of fine clay is 30,9%. In what concerns the firing method, it is observable that the majority of the vessels, especially the vessels of coarse clay, have been fired in oxidizing atmosphere. But there are many cases of differendy coloured areas on the surface of the vessels due to variable concentrations of carbon dioxide on different parts of the same vessel. This firing method was used even in the case of decorated vessels, especially for the large-sized ones. Serving vessels having smaller dimensions are better fired, their colours are homogeneous, whether the firing method used was the one in reducing atmosphere or the one in oxidizing atmosphere. Some cups and bowls had been fired so that their outside walls turned into an intense, sometimes even shiny, black colour. As in other Suciu settlements72, a very small number of vessels from the Suciu de Sus setdement at Petea—Csengersima (0,93% of the identified vessels) had been fired in a manner that made them bi-chrome, black on one side and brick-red on the other. Vesselforms In order to include as many pottery fragments discovered in the setdement as possible into the statistics of vessel forms, it was decided to first incorporate these into large pottery categories. Using all-embracing categories — bowls/dishes, cups/beakers — the stratum. Having as a starting point the existence of several different elements of form or decoration, the database includes 806 vessels. 711 Bader 1978, p. 70. 71 Kacsó 1981, p. 25-26 (for the pottery of the Lăpuş cultural group). 72 Kacsó 1980, p.39 (Oarţa de Jos - Vâlceaua Rusului). 21
