A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 44. (2005)

Simonyi Erika: Adatok a 10-13. századi kerámiakészítéshez Északkelet-Magyarországról

The ceramics - most of them are sherds - were analysed by traditional archaeological methods but in eleven cases we had the opportunity of having pétrographie investigations as well. These were made by Veronika Szilágyi. The technical characteristics of the vessels are: 7. Tempering Our first step was to make archaeological specifications from the material of the fragments. The statistical induction could be seen on Fig. 7. The macroscopic and microscopic investigation has partly modified the initial results. There are two types of row material: naturally tempered and knowingly tempered. Most of the fragments belong to the first group. The potter may have used local row material from the nearby river. The clay of this group contain mainly quartz, metamorphic lithofragments (limestone, mica, feldspar, radiolatite, muskovit) and vegetable matter in small quantities . (Fig. 11. 2.) Most of the pottery finds belong to this group. The other group (the knowingly tempered one) was presented in two periods. First in the turn of the 9

th and 10

th century. In the earliest house of the village at Mezőkeresztes-Lucernás we have found some typical cauldron fragments, which have been organically-tempered (the burnout chaff is gross on the surface, Fig. 8. 1. and 11. 1.). The second period of the group is dated to the 12

lh and 13

th century, and is typified with grained, sandy temper materials in pure clay. The fabric of the investigated sample is hiatal. (Fig. 11.3.) 2. Forming Generally speaking it is an established fact that hand-made ceramics have been in use up until the end of the 9'

1

' century. In our case hand-made pots have been found in the earliest horizon of Karos-Tobolyka and Felsőzsolca-Várdomb. From the 10

th century though, the pottery has been made by slow-turned wheels. In many cases even the marks of a slowly-revolving wheel could be found: the cast of the wheel's board or the potter's mark. (Fig. 10. 2.) Pottery made on fast-turned wheel has only been found at Felsőzsoca-Várdomb, dating from the 14

th-15

th century. 3. Ornamentation The earliest vessel was decorated with many incised line-brands and wavy line-bands. This kind of ornament was followed by close-spirals combined with wavy lines and nail-like impressions from the 10

th century. (Fig. 8.3.) Incised herringbone patterns appeared as early as in the 11

th century. From the 12

th century the incised spirals became more loose. (Fig. 10. 1.) The so called 'white ceramic' with red painted patterns has been in use from the late 13

th century, but only became rather common in the 14

th century. (Fig. 10. 2.) 4. Pottery firing From the 10

th century there are examples of all of the three firing way: in reducing and oxidising atmosphere in kiln, and in the neutral way in a pothole. The measurements of Veronika Szilágyi proved that the firing temperature was relatively low (c.a. 700-800 C°), and it was not higher than 850 C° even in most of the cases of the samples from the 13

th and 14

th century. Erika Simonyi 55