Neolithic flat-based pots from the Carnac Mounds in the light of Cycladic ‘frying pans’

Abstract

A rare type of pottery, found in four single graves under earthen mounds in the Carnac region of Brittany, consists of a circular, flat-based vessel with a near-vertical wall. On the basis of the equipment known from elsewhere in the world, it is possible that the morphology of these dishes is related to processes involved in the production of salt. To help us in exploring their function, we chose to compare these vessels with another enigmatic class of pottery from the Cyclades – the socalled ‘frying pans’ – which seems to have functioned in a similar way, as an object-sign, and has been found in a maritime milieu and in high-status contexts.

A later fifth-millennium cal BC tumulus at Hofheim-Kapellenberg, Germany

“…These are demonstrated by high-status burial evidence (Cassen et al 2012a;Gronenborn et al 2018), and by jade axe-head distribution patterns (Pétrequin et al 2012c), suggesting that they may represent exchange networks of prestige goods associated with elites. Another important component of these networks may have been the production and exchange of salt over long distances (Weller 2002;Cassen et al 2012b).…”