ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF CERAMIC INCRUSTATION INDICATES LONG-TERM CULTURAL CONTINUITY IN THE PREHISTORIC CARPATHIAN BASIN

An important debate in European prehistory centers on whether so-called Kurgan groups migrated into the Carpathian Basin from the south Russian Steppes sometime before the beginning of the Bronze Age. This article summarizes the results of elemental analyses on samples of white incrustation that was used to decorate Copper Age vessels from the Great Hungarian Plain. Our results indicate that crushed bone, not snail shell, was used to create the decorative paste. A recent study of incrusted pottery from the Bronze Age in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin also identified the use of crushed bone in the creation of the paste, suggesting continuity in ceramic traditions before and after the Kurgan ‘invasion.’