Projects per year
Abstract
Pottery was adopted by hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Baltic at the end of the 6th millennium cal BC. To examine the motivations for this cultural and technological shift, here we report the organic residue analysis of ceramic vessels from the earliest pottery horizon (Narva) in this region. A combined approach using GC-MS, GC-C-IRMS and bulk IRMS of residues absorbed into the ceramic and charred surface deposits was employed. The results show that despite variable preservation, Narva ceramic vessels were preferentially used for processing aquatic products. We argue that pottery was part of a new Late Mesolithic subsistence strategy which included more intensive exploitation of aquatic foods and may have had important implications, such as increased sedentism and population growth.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 112-119 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of archaeological science |
Volume | 78 |
Early online date | 25 Dec 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2017 |
Bibliographical note
©2016 Elsevier Ltd. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy.Keywords
- Aquatic resources
- Early pottery use
- Eastern Baltic
- Lipid residue analysis
- Mesolithic
- Neolithic
Projects
- 1 Finished
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The innovation and development of pottery in East Asia
Craig, O. E. (Principal investigator)
12/05/14 → 11/05/17
Project: Research project (funded) › Research