| Abstract [eng] |
The subject of this study is medieval wheel-turned pottery of Kernavė. The main goal of this work is to observe the development of pottery of medieval town and later settlement of Kernavė. Particular attention is paid to the pottery making traditions in 13th-14th centuries. Pottery from the later settlement meanwhile is used mainly as the comparative material in order to observe some changes through time. Technological, morphological and ornamental properties of pottery were identified for the study of their significance and evolution through time and space. The majority of pottery under consideration can be attributed to the pots of different sizes. These pots were differentiated into several functional groups: small pots, pots and jars. All these groups could be used for a variety of purposes such as cooking, transportation or storage. The amount of single-purpose vessels is very small and even these few belong to the settlement which was established in the 15th century in the place of earlier town. The evolution of technological attributes of Kernavė’s pottery in the Middle-ages is quite gradual. It is especially characteristic to the pottery of the 13th-14th centuries when most of discrepancies in pottery are influenced mainly by the individual peculiarities of every potter but not by the chronological differences. Crushed granite is typically used as a temper, the intensity of turning varies from the subtle surface smoothing to the partial forming of vessel. However, some gradual development in pottery making technology is evident already in the 14th century – the temper is getting finer, turning – more intensive, surface of the pot – unruffled and even. These features became even more characteristic since the 15th century. Potter’s individual abilities and stylistics highly influenced the diversity of morphological attributes of the 13th-14th century pottery as well. It is quite evident as individual pot shapes are typical for the separate farmsteads. Chronological development of the morphological attributes of pottery is not very significant in the 13th-14th centuries. Higher necks are characteristic for the earlier period; their height gradually decreases in the 14th century. Quantity of sharply profiled pots with raised shoulders increases in the 14th century as well; this tendency is even more evident since the 15th century. Ornamentation of Kernavė’s pottery is similar with the ornamentation of contemporaneous pottery from other sites in Lithuania and neighboring Slavs. Motives of horizontal lines and wavelets are dominant in the 13th-14th centuries. The compositions of these motives are quite varying and they depended mainly on the choice of particular potter. Some other motives are known as well, but they are infrequent. Same transformations in the ornamentation traditions are observable in the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. Horizontal lines and wavelets covering significant part or even entire body of pot, which were so characteristic for the preceding period are replaced with rather minimalistic style - ornamentation is restricted only to the upper side of pot; the dashes of various length and direction become the main motive of ornaments. The peculiarities of technological, morphological attributes and ornamentation of pottery and their dispersion in space and time provide some evidence about the development of the pottery as a craft. One can conclude that we cannot describe this craft as professional in the 13th-14th centuries yet. It is most likely that almost all pottery under consideration is a home-made pottery, i.e. every household produced pottery mainly for their own needs. The next level of craftsmanship – small-scale production for the sale – possibly could emerge in the end of the 14th century. Both these modes of production persisted in later centuries when one of the most important centers of the state turned into the small province settlement. |
