«One craftsman’s» vessels from the ceramic assemblage of the Balanovo cemetery

The paper deals with further development of methodological techniques of identifying «one craftsman’s» vessels. With the use of the methodology of identifying «one craftsman’s» vessels based on model forms which was piloted with the use of vessels from the Volosovo-Danilovo cemetery ascribed to the Fatyanovo culture, analyzing the Balanovo ceramic assemblage, the author singled out 15 potters who made pots, three craftsmen who produced amphora-like vessels and one potter who made bowls. The paper suggests that from 4 to 5 craftsmen worked in one generation. The examined materials help reconstruct the mixing process of two population groups of different origin, i.e. the Balanovo population and the Atlikasy population, which was quite deep due to sustainable marriage contacts. The dualism of the studied society’s social structure manifested itself in vessels brought for the deceased by relatives belonging to different cultures. However, both population groups continued to maintain their cultural specifics. The very fact that the same craftsman would make vessels according to different cultural traditions (both the Balanovo and the Atlikasy traditions) as well as the number of potters demonstrate that we deal with custom-tailored pottery production.