Weronika Patrycja Polanska

• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2024). Bronze Age pottery and gendered narratives through archaeometric approaches.
• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2023). Bronze Age pottery in Eastern Norway and Western Pomerania .
• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja; de Ferri, Lavinia; Austvoll, Knut Ivar & Steindal, Calin Constantin (2023). A multi-method approach to Bronze Age ceramics from Hunn, Eastern Norway. Show summary

  Located in Eastern Norway, Hunn is a site with a rich archaeological landscape that includes Bronze Age burial mounds and metal workshops. One of the workshops contained a large number of ceramics dating back to the Nordic Bronze Age Period III–IV (1300-900 BCE). Ten ceramic fragments were chosen for a multi-technique analytical study aiming to investigate their production technology and possible provenance. In addition to optical and scanning electron microscope, observations carried out on thin section, handheld X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), Fourier Transferred Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) in ATR mode and X ray diffraction were applied. The analyses were intended to determine whether the ceramic sherds from Eastern Norway were imported from the continent as previously hypothesized. The comparison with data obtained on three clay samples from locations in Norway, Germany and Poland indicate that the analyzed pottery samples were of local origin, as the chemical and mineral analyses confirmed the use of a local clay. At the same time, the tempering material consists primarily of locally available granitic rock. However, thin-section petrography revealed the occurrence of chamotte previously found in contemporary ceramics from Swedish sites [1]. The ceramic traditions in Eastern Norway share similarities with Southern and Central Swedish finds, especially when it comes to rusticated ceramics and tableware [2]. There has been as well previous associations between the Nordic Bronze Age pottery types and the Lusatian Culture in Poland (1300-400 BCE) [3]. However, a link between ceramics in Norway and Northern Central Europe has never been explored before [4]. [1] T. Eriksson, Grog tempering during Scandinavian Bronze Age, Naturwissenschaftliche Analysen vor-und fr Grog tempering during Scandinavian Bronze Age. Naturwissenschaftliche Analysen vor-und frügeschichtlicher Keramik III.: Anwendungsbereiche, Auswertungsmöglichkeiten, 2013, 331-351. [2] H.M, Hop Wendelbo, Keramikk fra norske bronsealdergraver: En studie av morfologi, kronologi, forbindelser og deponeringspraksiser i tidsrommet 1700-500 f. Kr., 2020 [3] T. Eriksson, Kärl och social gestik: keramik i Mälardalen 1500 BC-400 AD, Uppsala universitet/Riksantikvarieämbetet, 2009 [4] W. P. Polańska et al. in prep - A multi-method approach to Bronze Age ceramics from Hunn, Eastern Norway

• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja; de Ferri, Lavinia; Steindal, Calin Constantin & Austvoll, Knut Ivar (2023). Preliminary investigation of the production technology of Norwegian Bronze Age ceramics. Show summary

  Archaeological ceramics are among the most studied artifact categories since they can refer to both social and economic traditions of past communities. Investigations usually point at determining the production technology and special attention has been given to the firing conditions. This poster presents the intricate knowledge system of pottery production occurring in Norway in the Bronze Age (1300–900 BCE). To this aim, aliquots of clays sampled in Norway, Germany and Poland were fired in an electric furnace at 500, 550, 600, 700, 800 and 900℃ and successively analyzed by colorimetry, XRD and FTIR-ATR to determine modifications in term of structure and mineralogical composition. Temperatures were chosen based on pre-existing knowledge of ceramic technology in the geographical region of interest in that period [1]. Results were compared with those obtained on a set of ten ceramic fragments dated to the Bronze Age at the site of Hunn in Eastern Norway. The aim was to estimate the temperature used in the production of these prehistoric ceramics exhibiting typological similarities with contemporary finds from Southern and Central Sweden as well as Northern Poland [2]. Due to the abundance of the thermally stable grain minerals such as quartz and feldspar, the study of the clayish fraction through XRD resulted particularly hostile, while FTIR-ATR confirmed its usefulness in investigating ceramics and ceramic-related materials. A progressive modification of the color of the fired material, turning towards a reddish hue, was due to the gradual formation of iron oxide (Fe2O3), starting from 700 ℃. In parallel, carbonates decompose and weak features due to CaO appeared. In addition, small amounts of chlorite, a phase decomposing at 600–650 ℃, were found through the petrographic analysis of some archaeological sherds highlighted, . However, its structural similarity with other clay minerals and the abundence of silicate phases, made the identification of chlorite by XRD and FTIR not possible in the fired clays. Despite this, the experiment helped to strengthen the hypothesis about the technological correspondence of similar ceramics in Eastern Norway and Western Pomerania in the Bronze Age, as the results seem to indicate that the Bronze Age ceramics were fired at a temperature not higher than 700 ℃, more probably ranging between 600 and 650 ℃. [1] H.M. Hop Wendelbo, Keramikk fra norske bronsealdergraver: En studie av morfologi, kronologi, forbindelser og deponeringspraksiser i tidsrommet 1700-500 f. Kr., 2020 [2] T. Eriksson, Kärl och social gestik: keramik i Mälardalen 1500 BC-400 AD, Uppsala universitet/ Riksantikvarieämbetet, 2000

• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2022). Gjennom arkeometri og teori. En studie av bronsealderkeramikk fra Hunn.
• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2022). Kvinner i bronsealderens Nord-Europa.
• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2022). ENCIRCLED BY STONES. POTTERY, DEATH, WOMEN, AND POLITICS ACROSS THE BALTIC SEA.
• Polanska, Weronika Patrycja (2022). An archaeometric comparison of Bronze Age pottery in Eastern Norway and Western Pomerania. Universitet i Oslo. Show summary

  Ceramics dating to the Bronze Age period III-IV found at the site of Hunn in Eastern Norway exhibit similarities to the contemporary pottery from the Western Pomeranian Lusatian Culture. Ten ceramic sherds from Hunn and three clay samples from Poland, Norway, and Germany were thus analysed by using ceramic petrography and analytical techniques such as pXRF, FTIR-ATR, and XRD. Identifying potential correlations between ceramic materials and the source of raw materials and firing technology was possible. The thesis is the first archaeometric study on Bronze Age ceramics in Norway. The archaeometric studies contributed to the discussion on the social and material responses to connectivity and uniqueness for each site due to the mobile Bronze Age societies. The thesis presents the concept of fragmented memories based on collective memory and ethnoarchaeological example of women’s expression of political alliances through pottery and their choices of technique against the backdrop of a mobile Bronze Age society. The archaeometric analysis suggests that a local production occurred at Hunn. However, the ceramic technology resembles the one associated with the contemporary sites from Sweden, which previously have been associated with Lusatian Culture.

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