Ceramic technology and the materiality of Celtic graphitic pottery more

The Celtic “graphitic ware” is a widespread, distinctive type of pottery, found in most parts of the Central European Celtic world. In Celtic research the term “graphitic ware” is commonly used for a special typological group of ceramics, the most characteristic of which are the situla-like pots or beakers that have a wide mouth, an inverted or swollen rim, accentuated shoulder and a wide, flat bottom. They are typically decorated with vertically incised bundles of lines.
This paper examines the technological aspects of Celtic ceramics obtained from a settlement at Dunaszentgyörgy (Hungary). They were examined by using polarising microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and electron microprobe analysis (EMPA). In this paper we will concentrate on the well-known, yet little-understood graphite-tempered situla-like pots of the Celts. The possible similarities and differences of graphitic and non-graphitic wares are also examined in terms of raw material compositions.
Multidisciplinary research has the potential to provide valuable insights into social aspects of prehistoric graphite procurement and the reasons behind manufacturing such pottery. It should be emphasised that we need to move beyond mere functionalist interpretations of pottery technology and raw materials because these practices divorce past human interactions with minerals from wider cognitive, symbolic, phenomenological and social contexts. Within pre-industrial societies minerals are frequently interwoven into not just economic and material, but also social, cosmological, mythical, spiritual and philosophical aspects of life.