Email this article EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON ERTEBØLLE POTTERY: FOOD PREPARATION AND RADIOCARBON DATING
- Authors: Philippsen B.1
-
Affiliations:
- Aarhus AMS Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Issue: Vol 4, No 3 (2015)
- Pages: 128-132
- Section: Articles
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/2309-4370/article/view/22306
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.17816/snv20153212
- ID: 22306
Cite item
Full Text
Abstract
This article summarizes my experimental and archaeological research about the earliest pottery in Northern Germany and Denmark, belonging to the Ertebølle culture, a Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher culture. I will present firing and cooking experiments with copies of Ertebølle pottery and how a reference collection of experimental food crusts can be used to understand issues of radiocarbon reservoir effects and stable isotope measurements in food crusts. It will be shown that cooking food resources with a reservoir age, such as marine or freshwater fish, leads to the same reservoir age in the pottery. The results from the experiments will be compared to the archaeological record. I will discuss the implications of the experimental studies for radiocarbon dating of archaeological pottery, and for studies of style and function of ceramics.
About the authors
Bente Philippsen
Aarhus AMS Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Author for correspondence.
Email: bphilipp@phys.au.dk
Ph.D.
Aarhus AMS Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University. Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.References
- Hayashida, F., Bridging the Gap between Archaeology and the Physical Sciences. Hyperfine Interactions, 2003. 150: p. 7-11.
- Johnson, R.A., et al., Archaeologic sherd dating: Comparison of thermoluminescence dates with radiocarbon dates by beta counting and accelerator techniques. Radiocarbon, 1986. 28 (2A): p. 719-725.
- de Atley, S.P., Radiocarbon dating of ceramic materials: progress and prospects. Radiocarbon, 1980. 22 (3): p. 987-993.
- Hedges, R.E.M., C. Tiemei, and R.A. Housley, Results and methods in the radiocarbon dating of pottery. Radiocarbon, 1992. 34 (3): p. 906-915.
- Philippsen, B., Hard Water or High Ages? 14C food crust analysis on Mesolithic pottery from Northern Germany, Master thesis at Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University and Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Heidelberg.2008.
- Philippsen, B., Variability of freshwater reservoir effects: Implications for radiocarbon dating of prehistoric pottery and organisms from estuarine environments, PhD thesis at AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy 2012, Aarhus University.
- Philippsen, B., Terminal Mesolithic Diet and Radiocarbon Dating at Inland Sites in Schleswig-Holstein, in Landscapes and Human Development: The Contribution of European Archaeology. Proceedings of the International Workshop "Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes (1st - 4th April 2009)", Kiel Graduate School "Human Development in Landscapes". 2010, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH: Bonn. p. 21-36.
- Philippsen, B., Der Süßwasser-Reservoireffekt in der 14C-Datierung: neue Analysen und mesolithische Kochexperimente. Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa - Bilanz, 2013. 2013: p. 20-32.
- Philippsen, B., A. Glykou, and H. Paulsen, Kochversuche mit spitzbodigen Gefäßen der Ertebøllekultur und der Hartwassereffekt, in Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa - Bilanz, U. Weller, et al., Editors. 2012, Europäische Vereinigung zur Förderung der Experimentellen Archäologie / European Association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment e.V.: Unteruhldingen. p. 33-48.
- Philippsen, B., et al., The hardwater effect in AMS 14C dating of food crusts on pottery. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2010. 268 (7-8): p. 995-998.
- Klinge, M., De store Lerkar i Stenalderens Affaldsdynger. Naturens verden, 1932. 16 (1): p. 1-18.
- Klinge, M., Stenalderens Affaldsdynger. Hvilke Forhold typer paa, at de store Lerkar er blevet anvendt til Saltkogning? Naturens verden, 1934. 18 (2): p. 60-70.
- Mathiassen, T., Blubber lamps in the Ertebølle culture? Acta Archaeologica, 1935. 6: p. 139-152.
- Andersen, S.H. and C. Malmros, Madskorpe på Ertebøllekar fra Tybrind Vig. Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1984: p. 78-95.
- Håland, R., Ethnographical observations of pottery-making in Darfur, Western Sudan, with some reflections on archaeological interpretations, in New directions in Scandanavian archaeology, studies in Scandanavian prehistory and early history, K. Kristiansen and C. Paludan-Müller, Editors. 1979: Fischer, A. and J. Heinemeier, Freshwater Reservoir Effect in 14C Dates of Food Residue on Pottery. Radiocarbon, 2003. 45 (3): p. 449-466.
- Kriiska, A., M. Lavento, and J. Peets, New AMS dates of the Neolithic and Bronze Age ceramics in Estonia: Preliminary results and interpretations. Estonian Journal of Archaeology, 2005. 9 (1): p. 3-31.
- Nakamura, T., et al., Radiocarbon dating of charred residues on the earliest pottery in Japan. Radiocarbon, 2001. 43 (2B): p. 1129-1138.
- Glykou, A., Pointed-based pottery: An experimental approach to the manufacturing of the pottery of the Late Mesolithic in Northern Germany. The Old Potter's Glykou, K., Neustadt -- ein submariner Fundplatz des späten Mesolithikums und frühesten Neolithikums in Schleswig-Holstein. Untersuchungen zur Subsistenzstrategie der letzten Jäger, Sammler und Fischer an der norddeutschen Ostseeküste, 2011, Universität Kiel.
- Koch Nielsen, E., Ertebølle and funnel beaker pots as tools : on traces of production techniques and use. Acta archaeologica, 1986. Vol. 57 (1986): p. 107-120.
Supplementary files
