Attila Kreiter

Zala County Museum Directorate

According to the traditional Hungarian approach the majority of ceramic studies focus on the shape and decoration of vessels, which in turn are used to assess the relative chronological position of the finds. If we are to assess the chronological aspects of ceramic vessels through their shape and decoration the technological characteristics of the vessels and the reasons why they the look the way they are also need to be investigated. Through the case study from Százhalombatta it is examined how chronological differences between the Nagyrév and Vatya ceramic traditions are reflected in their ceramic technology. By the means of macroscopic, microscopic and ceramic petrological analyses this paper considers whether there are specific technological choices that are characteristic for either the Nagyrév or Vatya tradition, which can consistently be used to distinguish between the ceramic traditions and used to asses cultural relationships. This is particularly important in the case of Nagyrév and Vatya traditions, since in the emergence of Vatya the Kisapostag tradition also played a role. For this analysis storage vessels were chosen since in the examined periods they comprise the majority of the finds, allowing us to study a representative number of sherds and carry out comparative technological examination.