Despre olăria medievală timpurie confecționată la roata înceată (sec. VII–IX) și etapa de început a răspândirii sale în regiunile carpato–danubiene
Abstract
In the investigated area the common use vessels made on slow wheel were the main technological category of pottery used since the second half of the seventh century and the eighth century especially, although regional variations can always be found. In the case of the Carpathian Basin, respectively the Avar Khaganate and the neighboring regions, the origin of slow-wheeled pottery, with almost stereotypical decoration, can be more clearly specified of the Late Antiquity environment in the central-southern and eastern regions of the Alpine arc, as the archaeological literature repeatedly indicates. Known data suggest the spread of this type of pottery in the Khaganate from the second half of the 7th century, probably against the backdrop of the gradual decline of pottery workshops that produced with the help of the fast wheel, in the cursive technological model of Late Antiquity, which was still present in ancient Pannonia and in Transylvania. The Avar Khaganate probably played a role in the transmission of the new type of pottery from the mentioned date. However, in peripheral areas or near its borders it seems that, though to a lesser extent, pots modeled on the slow wheel, with or without the usual decoration, were already used during the first half of the seventh century. It is possible that in some territories where the Early Slavs were already settled the slow potterʼs wheel was adopted a little earlier (gradually replacing crude-handmade vessels) compared to the stage when such pottery began to be used in the Avar Khaganate. The difference between products made with a „fast wheel” and those made with a „slow wheel” (terms whose suitability is debatable) is more related to the efficiency of the production supported by the appropriate devices, the former being more efficient. The potterʼs experience and skill have always mattered, and slow-wheeled vessels are no better than fast-wheeled in terms of their suitability for the requirements of food preparation or storage. For a relatively long time, the production of such pottery, as a household industry, has met the needs of small local markets, in connection with an entirely rural habitation.
Keywords
pottery; slow-wheel, 7th century; Carpatho-Danubian regions.