Evidence of continuous pottery production during the late Byzantine period in the Studenica Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Application of analytical techniques to the unveiling of the glazing technology of medieval pottery from the Belgrade Fortress

“…The investigated samples were classified into three groups (Group I -3 samples (BG-1, BG-2, BG-4), Group II -11 samples and Group III -2 samples (BG-12, BG-15)) based on the decoration techniques and colours (archaeological context and detailed description of the samples are given in the Supplementary material). Five pottery shards, which were part of large assemblage of 43 pottery shards excavated in Studenica Monastery and characterized by multi-analytical approach in earlier studies, 13,14 were used as reference material in this study.…”

“…Uniform matrix colours, red for BG-1 and BG-4 and yellowish red for BG-2, and presence of hematite identified by micro-Raman spectroscopy indicate firing in oxidizing conditions for samples from group I. 14 For the samples BG-3, BG-5, BG-11, BG-12, BG-13, the outer parts are light red and the inner parts are darker different shades of brown, which indicates a rapid firing procedure. The pottery shards from the Belgrade Fortress, groups II and III, have similar fabric and clay colour to the pottery shards from the Studenica Monastery.…”

“…In addition, a low content of calcium oxide classifies the clay used for the production of samples from Studenica as non-calcareous, as previous studies have shown. 13,14 The other samples from the Belgrade Fortress contained higher amounts of lime and samples BG-2 and BG-12 could be classified as calcareous clay having lime contents higher than about 10 wt. %.…”

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Medieval Balkan states, Bulgaria and Serbia, each in its own way, inherited Byzantine decorative techniques and used them to develop their own design of tableware. 10,11 Several archaeometric studies of medieval glazed pottery from the most significant centres of the medieval Serbian State have been performed: the first state capital Ras, 12 the first monastery Studenica 13,14 and the most important mining centre Novo Brdo. 15 Considering the raw materials and procedures employed in their manufacture, the investigations confirmed the local pottery production and originality.…”

“…10 For this reason, pottery samples from the Ras area, well characterized in recent archaeometric studies, dated to the 14 th to early 15 th century and found in the Studenica Monastery, were used in this work as material for comparison. 13,14 Previous investigations showed the use of local raw materials for the preparation of the clay body and local pottery production. 13,14 An archaeometric study of glazed pottery shards found at the Belgrade Fortress could contribute to the understanding of pottery production technology in Serbia in the late medieval phase and would be an addition to the existing archaeometric data on Serbian medieval ceramics.…”