PAINTED AND DYED POTTERY OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF HLYBOKE OZERO 2 ON THE SIVERSKYI DONETS RIVER
Authors: Korokhina A. V. , Gershkovich Ia. P. 
Published: November 2023

The paper is aimed at the publication of pottery with painted decoration and traces of paint manipulation discovered at the settlement of Hlyboke Ozero 2 in the middle reaches of the Siverskyi Donets. The finds are associated with stratigraphic layers II and III, marking the transition from the Late Zrubna culture to the so-called Post-Zrubna culture (12th—11th centuries BC).

The settlement of Hlyboke Ozero 2 is located in the middle reaches of the Siverskyi Donets River and was explored by excavations in 1991 (Y. P. Gershkovych, Y. B. Polidovych, V. V. Tsymidanov, O. R. Dubovska, S. M. Degermendzhy). The area of the site is at least 3000 sq.m., of which 1685.5 m2 have been excavated.

The scheme of cultural and stratigraphic division of the site includes four «layers» (I—IV), with layers II and III divided into two «horizons» each. Based on radiocarbon dates and traditional methods, the period of the settlement’s existence is determined to be the late 13th to 11th centuries BC. Based on analogies with the materials of the North-Western Black Sea coast, layers I and II are synchronized with the developed and late Sabatynivka culture; the following layers are attributed to the «post-Zrubna period».

Two variants of paint application on pottery were identified.

1) Painting before firing. Red paint (probably, ochre) was used to cover large areas of the outer surface of the vessels (or possibly the entire vessel). Often this technique is combined with a «pattern» made with black paint: the bottom parts of the vessels were covered rhythmically with vertical stripes, probably around the entire perimeter of the body.

2) Application of paint to the surface after firing. This technique is likely to be associated with actions carried out, in particular, with already broken vessels. It is possible that pottery sherds served as available tools for the processing of raw materials for paint. Visually, the fragments with paint do not differ from the bulk of the ceramics at the settlement.

The so-called ochre engobe characterises the materials of the Stepanivka type of the Berezhynivka-Maivka Zrubna culture, while red or polychrome engobe is mentioned as a method of painting vessels from some Late Bronze Age burials of the Dnipro—Donets and Don—Donets interfluve. It is likely that the production of painted vessels on the Hlyboke Ozero 2 was caried out by the bearers of the local or kindred cultural tradition.

Looking for a probable external source for this decorative style, let’s consider the final stage of the Bronze Age in Eastern Europe as a period of interaction of cultural components of different origins and, probably, population movements on a wide Eurasian scale. One of the main directions of cultural influences on the Siverskyi Donets’ region is the «Eastern» one, associated with the cultures of the Volga region, the Urals and Northern Kazakhstan. It is this direction that was the main source of changes in the material culture of Hlyboke Ozero 2, which is reflected in pottery and bronze metal-working. In this context, we propose to consider the hypothesis of the appearance of painted decoration on Late / Post-Zrubna pottery of the western periphery of the culture under the impact of the traditions of the agricultural entities of Central Asia. This could have been carried out through the agency of the Post-Andronovo population.