Counting Devices and Networks of Interaction: Tokens and cylindrical clay fragments from northern Moldova in the 4th millennium BC
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2021-01-29 15:13
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902/903.2(478) (77)
Preistorie. Vestigii preistorice, artefacte, antichități (254)
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Counting Devices and Networks of Interaction: Tokens and cylindrical clay fragments from northern Moldova in the 4th millennium BC. In: Patrimoniul cultural: cercetare, valorificare, promovare, Ed. 11, 29-31 octombrie 2019, Chișinău. Chișinău: Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural, 2019, Ediția 11, pp. 58-59. ISBN 978-9975-84-104-7.
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Patrimoniul cultural: cercetare, valorificare, promovare
Ediția 11, 2019
Conferința "Patrimoniul cultural: cercetare, valorificare, promovare"
11, Chișinău, Moldova, 29-31 octombrie 2019

Counting Devices and Networks of Interaction: Tokens and cylindrical clay fragments from northern Moldova in the 4th millennium BC

CZU: 902/903.2(478)

Pag. 58-59

 
 
Disponibil în IBN: 27 ianuarie 2020


Rezumat

Due to a technological turn, large-scale geomagnetic survey methods have revealed astonishing sizes and internal structures of Chalcolithic settlements in the last ten years in the northern Pontic area. Many of the so-called Tripolye mega-sites show very large, plan-schematic settlements, which hint at an increasing complexity of societies at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. Moreover, these settlements are densely interconnected on a regional scale along the rivers and beyond. According to recent research in Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, many of these settlements show round outlines with functional features such as hollow ways or pottery kilns, which seem to be separate from other activities at the sites. Together with the large quantity of regularly shaped ceramic vessels and textile tools, they suggest standardi zed production processes that were conducted by specialized potters and professional craftspeople. Apart from this, recent excavations at the site of Petreni in the north of the Republic of Moldova brought to light a manifold range of clay objects: geometric clay miniatures and cylindrical clay fragments were found in deep features and “ashy layers”. Among these were scattered clay-miniatures of furniture and parts of zoomorphic figurines. In larger quantities, such objects are as well-known from other Tripolye settlements, but in Petreni, for the first time, these objects were registered with cylindrical, burnt clay fragments with imprinted marks that had been cut at certain marks from larger, burnt clay-pens. In Greater Mesopotamia, diverse geometric clay objects have been denominated as tokens and their interpretation as counting devices is widely accepted. So far, similar objects from Tripolye sites are poorly investigated or have been treated only unilaterally as ritual objects. Together with the cut cylindrical fragments, they do represent extraordinary assemblages and open a new framework for their interpretation. Certainly, these objects do not necessarily bear the same functionality as the tokens in Mesopotamia, but their attribution to the sphere of counting or registering might independently seem consistent. The paper outlines an argument for the objects from Petreni to be understood as counting devices in the