Specijalizacija za izradu grnčarije: Alternativna strategija strukturalno nedovoljno opskrbljenih domaćinstava? - Studija slučaja kasnog neolitskog naselja Okolište u srednjoj Bosni
Specialization in Pottery Production: An Alternative Strategy of Structurally Undersupplied Households? - A case study concerning the late Neolithic settlement of Okolište in Central Bosnia

Summary/Abstract: Based on a case study on pottery production in Central Bosnia, this contribution explores how production of non-subsistence goods was organized in densely populated Late Neolithic villages of the late 6th and first quarter of the 5thmillennium BCE, and to what extent we are already dealing with specialized potters. Since there is no direct evidence for ceramic production, we are reliant on the analysis of the finished products and their find contexts in the large settlement Okolište. Four groups of evidence are studied: 1) the stylistic and technological variability of pottery from a temporal perspective, 2) spatial distribution of pottery styles acrosshouseholds, 3) quantities of pottery produced, and 4) the degree of standardization of vessel dimensions. The result is contradictory insofar as, on the one hand, some indicators speak in favour of a relatively low degree of specialization in pottery production; namely the relatively small quantities of ceramics produced, growing stylistic diversity and low degrees of metrical standardization. On the other, the increasing mastery of firing techniques and the unspecific spatial distribution of ceramic styles indicate a growing importance of specialists in ceramic production and the distribution of finished products across household boundaries. Against the background of a growing social differentiation between economically particularly successful alpha households and structurally undersupplied households in the sphere of subsistence, the notion of whether the production of pottery potentially might have represented an alternative and complementary strategy for securing a sufficient household income is discussed.

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