The Issue of Sphero-Conical Vessel Manufacturing Traditions of Bolgar Fortified Settlement (based on the materials of excavation 200 (CC) of 2014)

Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of the composition of sphero-conical vessel manufacturing traditions in the Golden Horde Bolgar. It features the results of a comprehensive study of a series of spherical cones, including the typology of the vessels and the technology of their manufacture. The heterogeneous composition of the traditions of designing and shaping of various types of products has been identified. The set of technologi­cal skills of spherical cone manufacture corresponds to the skill set of the artisan potters engaged in the mass production of circular ware (ceramics of the 1st all-Bolgar group) in Bolgar. Vessels of the early type were first manufactured in Bolgar in the early Golden Horde period in the workshops of the piedmont area of the city, and the vessels of the later type - in the Late Golden Horde period in the workshops of Lake Gollandskoe area. The tradition of the common use of both types of slightly oversanded clay, often with a large number of various ferruginous inclusions, by potters during the manufacture of spherical cones has been recorded. This circumstance confirms the specificity of this category of vessels, associated with the special concepts of the potters concerning the original plastic raw materials and their mining locations.

Keywords

• archaeology of golden horde
• bolgar ceramics
• sphero-conical vessels
• pottery technology
• raw material sources