Pottery
The most frequent find in all periods of “Stari Vinogradi”, excluding graves, is that of pottery. It is of various origin, make and purpose.
There are very few finds of prehistoric pottery, but they originate from various periods, such as the Neolithic photo 1, Eneolithic photo 2, and Bronze and Iron ages photo 3, 4, 5.
Three groups of pottery appear during the 1st century. Two of them are of local origin, while the third is of foreign, Celtic origin. The local pottery was made without the use of the wheel – by kneading and it has its roots in the pottery of the older Iron Age. The first group is of western, Panonian origin and mostly consists of neckless pots photo 25 decorated by the etching of vertical and diagonal groups of lines with a comb. The second group is of eastern, Dacian origin. It consists of neckless pots but also of those with necks and an outspread rim, as well as lids. The lids photo 24 are of a conical shape with a flattened top and an oval opening serving as an outlet. The pots photo 26 are decorated with plastic strip- and button-like applications as well as with sporadically etched single lines. Both groups of pottery are characterized by fire-clay as the main additive as well as by a very small percentual representation as compared to the pottery made on a swift wheel, in the Celtic tradition.
This third group of pottery was in mass use in “Stari Vinogradi”, but was also made there. The discovery of pottery kilns from the 1st century slide 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, with technical drawing which were first hinted at by pottery fragments, confirmed the manufacture of gray polished pottery on a swift wheel. Of pottery fragments pieces of unbaked dishes were found photo 6, 7 as well as deformed dishes photo 9 ruined by overheating. Clay tests photo 8, 173 for the manufacture of pottery as parts of the grids for pottery kilns found in the younger structures also indicate the existence of a center for manufacturing pottery. Painted jugs, chalises and bowls photo 20 and photo 21 as well as pots made of clay with graphite photo 23 and pots with ground shells photo 22 as additives in the clay, all made on a swift wheel, were not found in the vicinity of pottery kilns, so that we can say for now that they were probably brought to this settlement from some other manufacturing center.
Picture 2/11: Making of pottery on a swift wheel.
The local manufacture of pottery as a craft died off during the 1st century and as for now there is no proof that it was ever renewed in this settlement.
At the end of the 2nd and during the first half of the 3rd century there is a small number of gray polished pottery photo 90, and photo 91 whose workshop heritage is unclear. Kneaded pottery was manufactured locally photo 87, 88, 89 with a quite rough make and fire-clay as an additive, almost always without decorations. During this period Roman ceramics, which is barely present during the 1st century, is most greatly represented, and then less and less during the 3rd-4th century. While kneaded pottery was used only as kitchen dishes, Roman pottery was represented in the form of kitchen dishes (bowls, glasses, jugs) photo 82, 84, 85 and more rarely as packaging (amphorae and pythos) photo 83.
During the late Classical period, in the second half of the 3rd and the 4th century kneaded pottery photo 106, 107, 108 is of a more quality make, with more finely ground fire-clay and baked better. It is still undecorated and mainly used for cooking. Roman pottery photo 109, 110, 111 which is still used in the form of table dishes is partly replaced by gray polished pottery photo 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 made on a swift wheel, which was perhaps not made in “Stari Vinogradi” but is of local make for workshops for its manufacture were found both in the Serbian and the Romanian parts of Banat. It is not quite clear exactly when and in which circumstances the workshop manufacture of pottery originated in the late Classical era. In any case the pottery labeled as „Sarmatian“ in literature and which is technologically on a high level which can be compared to the Roman level of pot-making was manufactured for a broader market by someone with great technological experience, not by Sarmatians. Present in the market, of high quality, it was used by all those that could obtain it. A novelty in the late Classical era was pottery on a slow wheel photo 112, the manufacture of which was to be repressed during the Great Migration of the people but which would starting with the 8th-9th century become the dominant type of pottery in the entire Slavic world.
During the Medieval periods represented in this site the pottery is varied, depending on the period and the bearers.
Thus in the houses of the 6th century, apart from several sherds of kneaded pottery table 2/11-12, the most frequent pottery is that made on a swift wheel with sand in the facture table 2/1-6. They are always pots that satisfy the needs of kitchen pottery while the bowls and jugs used on the table were also made on a swift wheel and polished black on the outside photo 175. Such a context of pottery finds in some other sites is mostly linked to Gepids.
In the houses from the 9th century typical pots for the period were found photo 176, made on a slow wheel, with sand in the facture and decorated with a comb. The manufacturers and users of such pottery were Slavs.
In the structures from the 12th-13th centuries there is kitchen pottery in the shape of pots photo 186 and cauldrons photo 187. This pottery with some exceptions was made on a slow wheel, the cauldrons were not decorated while the pots were decorated with etchings and dimples on the shoulder. The pots were made in the tradition of earlier Slavic pottery making that was in the sphere of technology transferred to cauldrons as well although their origin should be sought among the nomadic people, starting with Hungarians at the time of their arrival, to Pechenegs, Ouzes (Oghuz Turks) and Cumans who stayed in these regions during the 11th-12th century. As the basic additive we have sand. As an exceptional piece we should mention part of a ceramic lamp photo 192, of which only the tip has been preserved.
Pottery of the 15th-16th century consists of pots photo 193 made on a slow and a fast wheel with sand or calcite in their faction. This pottery can be found with Serbs of this period, and its manufacture continues in a very slightly altered form in the 17th-18th century when it was introduced to the dugouts of the period excavated in “Stari Vinogradi”. In both periods, apart from such pots,there are also pots and pitchers made on a fast wheel with sand in the facture of Central European provenance photo 197. During the 17th-18th century we also have the appearance of pottery of Turkish origin made on a fast wheel, gray in color photo 196, as well as glazed vessels. Glazed bowls and jugs of the Serbian tradition are also present in these structures photo 194, 195.