Pottery production in pastoral communities: Archaeometric analysis on the LC3-EBA1 Handmade Burnished Ware from Arslantepe (in the Anatolian Upper Euphrates)

This paper reports the results of the petrographic and geochemical analyses of 69 Late Chalcolithic 3 to Early Bronze Age 1b (3800-2800 BCE) handmade burnished ceramics from Arslantepe-Malatya in south-eastern Turkey. The samples exhibit a high variety of raw materials and paste recipes, which do not simply reflect nonstandardized domestic production modes, but rather the exploitation of wider areas for pastoral purposes. Choices in paste preparation are aimed at obtaining multi-purpose vessels, particularly suitable for mobile strategies of subsistence. The typical bichromatic pattern of vessel surfaces also influenced the paste preparation modes. Archaeometric results point to a diachronic increase in standardization in parallel with the occurrence of a more accentuated sedentariness. Close affinities with cooking pots and strong differences with Mesopotamianlike vessels were noticed.