First ceramics of Atlantic Europe: manufacture and function

Project Information

CERAM

Grant agreement ID: 653354

DOI

10.3030/653354

Project closed

EC signature date 8 April 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 454,80

EU contribution

€ 183 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CERAM (First ceramics of Atlantic Europe: manufacture and function)

Reporting period: 2015-10-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Complex post-industrial economies are heirs of the agrarian civilization which began in Europe with the spread of farming practices during the Neolithic. Consequently, “farming” is a crucial topic in archaeological and historical research. The period between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in the Atlantic Europe witnessed the introduction of farming and the development of new social and cultural communities associated to this new subsistence practice and the end of the previous and high density population of hunter-gatherers.
One of the traits traditionally associated with the transition to farming in Europe is the introduction of pottery technology, using it as proxy for the shift to the new subsistence practices. However, the role of pottery in the transition to farming is unclear. In other parts of the world, there are examples of both pre-farming pottery production and aceramic farming analysis. Currently, the application of organic residue analysis allows understanding the use and function of pottery and linking this technology to farming. Few studies, however, have investigated the role of pottery technology in the Southwest of the coast of Europe. CerAM project addressed this challenge though the application of the latest chemical and molecular analysis. The design of our project comprised the study of several pottery assemblages along the Atlantic coast of South Europe from Portugal to Normandy (Figure 1 and 2). CerAM aims to reconstruct the use of pottery during this key transition in this geographical region and to test the hypothesis that the earliest pots in this region were used for processing domesticated resources. To address these research questions, CerAM established four main objectives: i) to complete the first survey of the use of early pottery in this region by chemical and microscopic analysis of food residues; ii) Assess whether pot contents reflect the shift in subsistence strategy observed in the stable isotope of archaeological human record in this area or whether this region also experienced a similar transition in subsistence strategy to that observed in on the North Atlantic coast; iii) To determine whether variability in the use of different vessels within an assemblage corresponds to differences in shape, size, decoration, manufacturing technique or depositional context; and iv) establish the regional context for the transmission process of pottery technology on the western European coast.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"The implementation of the project was based on the sampling of several pottery assemblages (WP1) to provide the required material and to establish a robust basis to carry out a wide vision of the role of pottery technology in the Atlantic Coast of Europe. Previously to apply the analytical procedure, we carried out an initial assessment and analysis of the archaeological collections (WP2) with the systematization of the main characteristics of pottery assemblages and an intensive review of the chronology and contextual information. The WP3 was oriented to explore the lipid preservation and their identification. Our data suggest that lipids in archaeological pottery from this region present better preservation that the observed in other geographical areas. CerAM highlights different uses and motivations in the adoption of pottery technology in the area. In order to interpret the isotopic data values, CerAM extended the range of authentic reference lipid carbon isotopic values (WP4), contributing to build up a specific baseline for the region. To implement the interpretation of the results, CerAM has designed a workflow to explore the mixtures in the archaeological pottery (WP5). The project integrated all the results with the previous studies focused on paleodietary reconstructions (WP6), mainly stable isotopes analysis (carbon -δ13C- and nitrogen -δ15N-) from human and animal bones. The aim of this work package is to compare if the paleodietary patterns are represented as well in the archaeological pottery. Pottery might be unrelated to general diet and represent a more selective culinary function. In the same way, CerAM have integrated our data focused on the use and functionality of the pottery with the traditional studies on morphology and decoration to analyse the correlation between these variables (WP7). Preliminary results highlight different chronologies for the adoption of pottery technology from South of Portugal, North of Spain and Normandy, probably related to different motivations in the adoption of this technology (WP8).
The project included an ambitious strategy for dissemination both for academic and non-academic audiences (WP9). CerAM have collaborated to disseminate cutting-edge science into the broader public with the collaboration in several webpages (Early Pottery Research Group, Researchgate) in different languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese), blog posts (Blog ""1, 2, 3....Explore"" of the Spanish Researchers in UK Association -CERU/SRUK-; ""Postdoc Researcher in Focus"" of the Department of Archaeology, University of York), radio interviews (""En Fase Experimental"" by CERU/SRUK; Noticias de la Universidad de Cantabria), social events (Researcher's Night, Pint of Science) and press releases. Likewise, the Experienced Researcher has acted as Marie Curie Ambassador in different Marie Curie actions (MCAA, facebook) and collaborations with the Spanish Ministry in UK.
Results have been disseminated in different national and international conferences, as well as a series of invited talks in United Kingdom and Spain. Publications on organic residue analysis of Early Neolithic pottery in the South Atlantic Europe are currently on preparation. However, during the project the Experienced Researcher published important articles focused on the transition between last hunter-gatherers and first farmers, the analysis of different Neolithic pottery assemblages and the recording of new Mesolithic sites in the north of Spain.
"

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CerAM expanded the application of organic residue analysis to a novel region, Atlantic Southern Europe. CerAM is the first application of molecular and isotopic analysis and it provided a new synthesis of the use of the earliest evidence of pottery in the area, contributing to the debates about their use and relationship with the socio-economic trends. It enhances the robustness of the interpretation about the introduction of this new technology during the Early Neolithic and provides criteria to establish its role in the first farming societies. Likewise, CerAM has contributed to build up a network focused on Atlantic Archaeology, which join different researchers and institutions all along the region and consolidated long-term collaborations.

Figure 1. Pottery recorded in Verson, France. (Photo: A. Cocollos; in Germain, 2015)

Figure 2.GC-MS facilities at BioArCh (Photo: ERPG)