White-burning clay ceramics of hill-forts in the North-Western Ladoga region: typology, technology, place of production

During excavations of the ancient Karelian hillforts in the North-Western Ladoga region collections of ceramics containing items made of non-ferruginized and iron-poor clays were found. Typological analysis of ceramic assemblage allowed us to divide it into pot forms of three types (VI-IX). The results of synchronization of Karelian white-burning clay ceramics with the dated scales of pottery sets from medieval centers of North-Western Russia were used for material dating. It has been established that the main forms of the white-burning clay pots were produced in the XIV-XVI cc. The later pottery production presents a collection of Lopotti hillfort. Its ceramic artifacts appeared no earlier than in the XVI century. The technical and technological research of ceramics conducted with the application of archaeological (methodic by A. A. Bobrinskiy) and natural science methods (scanning electron microscopy) shows that the white-burning clay ceramics were produced from kaolin clay with mineral admixture. The latter was usually presented by debris and sand. The firing conditions were studied as well: most vessels bear the signs of the short-time heating procedure in the oxidizing atmosphere. The majority of the pots are decorated with the frieze of 1-3 lines or waves enlac ing the shoulder. One of the most controversial issues was the identification of the place where the white-burning clay ceramics were manufactured. The problem was tackled with the help of ICP-MS analysis. The method proved its effectiveness in the earlier provenance studies of the red-burning clay ceramics of Karelian hillforts. The obtained research data evidence that kaolin ceramics found at Karelian hillforts could have been produced by local manufacture.