COOKING POTS: CERAMICS MADE ON A POTTER’S WHEEL

Budapest – Tabán

Even though the Scythian people living east of the Danube used the potter’s wheel already in the 6^th and 5^th centuries BC, in the Carpathian basin the potter’s wheel only became widespread as a result of the Celtic invasion. In the Late Iron Age not only the pots used for burial rituals, but also most of those used on the settlements were made on a manual wheel. The use of the potter’s wheel made mass production possible, but at the same time it also led to the simplification and uniformity of the shapes.

The bowls found on settlements in Tabán and on Gellérthegy represent the bowl-types of the whole late Celtic period in Hungary. These bowls differ only in size but hardly in their form. The inside of the bowls is sometimes decorated with an engraved wave-pattern and they are made of grey material.

The form of the black cooking pots was widespread all across the Celtic world. The material of the pots was mixed with graphite and this material was the most fire-resistant. As the closest graphite mine was in the Check lands, these pots were quite expensive, thus some damaged items often show traces of mending with wire. The outside of the pots is covered with combed decoration in a horizontal and criss-cross pattern.

Literature

Hunyady Ilona: Kelták a Kárpátmedencében. Diss. Pann. II.18. (Budapest 1944)

B. Bónis Éva: Die spätkeltische Siedlung Gellérthegy-Tabán. Arch. Hung. 47 (1969) 174-188.