Минералого-петрографско изследване на керамиката от обект 5 до с. Драговищица, община Костинброд

Mineralogical and petrographic analysis of the pottery from site 5 near the village of Dravovishtitsa, Konstinbrod municipality

Abstract

Site 5 is located at 500 m to the south of the village of Dravovishtitsa, Konstinbrod municipality (fig. 1). Rescue archaeological excavations conducted at the site in 2014 and 2015 identified cultural layers from several periods: Early Medieval, Late Roman and Early Bronze Age. Twenty-one fragments from different technological and typological groups from all three periods have been subjected to mineralogical and petrographic analysis. Four groups were identified according to optical characteristics. They comprise of 17 fragments of Late Roman vessels. The remaining four fragments (one Late Roman, two EBA and one Medieval) have no known petrographic analogues.   In the Roman period, materials with particular properties were used for the different technological groups and the clay was initially purified. A routine practice was to add certain components to the clay - minerals and temper - or to mix different clays, thus combining their physical and chemical properties. The clays used in the Early Bronze Age and the Early Medieval period are more 'ʹnatural'ʹ showing very little trace of preliminary processing.