Early Nomadic Horsemen and Their Pottery

Volkswagen Foundation Sponsors Research Project with 225,000 Euros The aim of the research is to reconstruct the socioeconomic conditions of mounted nomads north of the Black Sea between 1100 and 600 BC based on an analysis of their pottery. The project was accepted for grants within the funding program "Trilateral Partnerships - Cooperation Projects among Researchers from Ukraine, Russia, and Germany." - The scientists at Freie Universität plan to use archaeometric methods to analyze crockery from communities who lived in forest steppe and steppe zones north of the Black Sea between 1100 and 600 BC. One major focus will be to study relationships between groups with different material legacies. Other related issues are, for example, the organization of ceramic production or its function in trading. Up to now the production, distribution, and significance of ceramic vessels in nomadic communities has received little attention in research. It is generally believed that many of these communities rarely used ceramic vessels because they were not suitable for transport due to their fragility. According to the Volkswagen Foundation, the goal of its funding program "Trilateral Partnerships - Cooperation Projects Involving Researchers from Ukraine, Russia, and Germany" is to contribute to rapprochement, confidence building, and communication in times of crisis.