Shapes of the pottery vessels from the burial ground of the Late Bronze Age near the village of Peschanka in the Southern Transurals

Abstract

In this article, the first experience of applying methods of the historical-and-cultural approach to the analysis of the shapes of the pottery of the Alakul Culture is presented. Eighteen vessels from 13 burials of the Peschanka cemetery were used. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the capabilities of the historico-cultural approach in the study of pottery vessel shapes of the Alakul Culture with the example of the burial ground of the Late Bronze Age in the Southern Transurals. The analysis has been carried out within the framework of the historical-and-cultural approach developed by A.A. Bobrinsky. The study of the vessel shapes is conducted at three levels of the analysis: (i) general proportionality of the vessels; (ii) natural structure of the vessel shapes; (iii) the degree of formedness of the functional parts of the vessels. The author has identified the features that characterize the leading trends in the traditions of creating forms of clay vessels in the studied population. At the level of general proportionality, the vessels are evenly distributed among stages 33–35. At the level of the natural structure, a five-part construction ‘lip + neck + brachium + body + base’ dominates. At the degree of formedness of the functional parts, most vessels exhibit a rudimentary neck, an unformed brachium, and the fully formed body. The listed features of the forms characterize the cultural core of the traditions of molding forms of the clay vessels at the Peschanka burial ground. The traditions of the cultural core are indicative of an early phase of the existence of this cemetery. Shapes of the vessels which differ from the core in their structures and degree of formedness of the body are representative of the later phase of the site's existence. This is confirmed by the traits of independent cultural and chronological features of the morphology of the Alakul and Srubnaya-Alakul ceramics, as well as by two available radiocarbon dates. The results of the conducted research showed the possibility of: a) deriving a cultural core of the traditions, with the example of the specific site; and b) establishing a chronology of burial complexes on the basis of data on the traditions of creating the vessel shapes.