A New Methodology Towards the Bell Beaker Communities in Thy

A very large study on the Bell Beaker “Culture”, the strange phenomena of similar pottery wares spread across Europe, was done in Thy, northern Jutland, Denmark. This archeological project, the Thy Archaeological Project, covered a large amount of data that had recently been discovered in 1990. The Thy site was part of an expansion of the Bell Beaker phenomena, the site was previously unknown until some rescue excavations(Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:116) The site is under the instruction of Kristian Kristiansen and this article “Bell Beaker Communities in Thy: The First Bronze Age Society in Denmark” is by M. Pilar Prieto-MartIacutenez. What is laid out by Prieto-MartIacutenez is an intricate look at the possible social contexts of the Bell Beaker Pottery in the Thy society and a possible new methodology for identifying pottery types. She also compares the Thy site findings to other areas in Germany, Poland and Holland and these site’s Bell Beaker pottery to see the similarities and differences.

What Prieto-MartIacutenez discusses are the 3361 sherds found on the site and the different housing sites themselves at the Jutland site (Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:125.) Before discussing them in depth however she lays the foundation for her research by stating that there are three things that the archaeologists of Denmark Bell Beaker sites agree upon. One that Bell Beaker was passed from Germany’s coast to Denmark’s Jutland. Two Denmark only has about 400 years of Bell Beaker material culture spanning form 2350-1950 B.C. Three that the Bell Beaker “culture” and the Single Grave Culture(SGC), an earlier Danish Neolithic culture, must have coexisted or had some sort of contact. (Prieto-MartIacutenez 2008:117)

Prieto-MartIacutenez’s research question aims to explain possible parts of the culture of the Denmark Bell Beaker era through its pottery production. Showing that the production of pottery is an extension of the person who has made it, who is then in turn an extension of the culture they are from, so the pottery has the ability to accurately show what the culture is like.( Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:121) She goes on to explain that this can also show the different social levels of society through the different changes in the pottery wear. Then she finalizes all of this by stating that “…the material culture from the Bell Beaker and particularly the Bell Beaker vessel itself, has a meaning that transcends any single community…”( Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2009:122.)

This article is at its core about a methodology of defining and conceptualizing styles of pottery. Prieto-MartIacutenez uses the opportunity that the Thy Bell Beaker site presents to test her style methodology, creating sections underneath the overall “Style” to go in depth with what she calls “Category…a group of ceramics that share…formal attributes using the same technical solutions…”and even more detailed descriptions with Stylistic Tendencies “When small difference exist within a category…” (Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:123) Through this methodology she theorizes the ability to determine connections between the pottery work, find cultural attributes and compare the findings to other Danish archaeological records.

Prieto-MartIacutenez finds a multitude of possible social and stylistic conclusions. Using the best site of the three studied for pottery analysis, Thy-2758 which reportedly had most of the 3361 pottery sherds found, Prieto-MartIacutenez mapped out the possible pottery connections. (Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:125) From the analysis made Prieto-MartIacutenez finds that there is a connection between the SGC and the Bell Beaker pottery because of the similarities between some of the stylistic themes of the Bell Beaker pottery and the SGC pottery, called Corded-Ware Pottery. She also finds that there is a connection between the spatial analysis of the pottery and the social structure of the culture. Theorizing that House I with the most pottery and the most Bell Beaker pottery and the largest amount of Bell Beaker design pieces is the house with the most cultural standing. She furthers this claim with the comparison between House I and it’s variety of designed Bell Beaker pieces and House D from Myrhoj, a house with many prestige items and it’s large variety of designed Bell Beaker pieces(Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:139, 141.) Her comparisons between the pottery sherds of Thy site and the rest of Denmark and Germany, Holland and Poland all have very strong evidence that the Bell Beaker pottery was treated as a prestige item fairly consistently across the area of its effect. (Prieto-Prieto-MartIacutenez2008:147)

This article lays out an easy to follow new methodology for comparing pottery that has special significance to different cultures. Prieto-MartIacutenez also is starting the job of integrating the pottery data from the Thy Archaeological Project (that was run in the 1990s) into what has been found so far from the Danish Bell Beaker material culture. There are a few things that Prieto-MartIacutenez does not completely go back to cover like some of her more theoretical premises such as how pottery can accurately show what a culture is like. Overall Prieto-MartIacutenez puts forth a great research base to start possible further research on the connections between the phenomena of the Bell Beaker pottery and its overall designs and prestige status especially in the area of Jutland.

Written By: Catherine Johns

Bibliography

Prieto-MartÍnez, M. Pilar.
2008 Bell Beaker Communities in Thy: The First Bronze Age Society in Denmark.
Norwegian Archaeological Review. 41(2):115-158.