Development of pottery style on the Bronze and Early Iron Age cemetery at Kietrz, Głubczyce district, in the light of statistical analyses

This article attempts to determine the relative chronology of the Kietrz cemetery of the Lusatian culture proceeding from the stylistic development of forms and ornamentation of vessels coming from selected pottery inventories. The co-occurrence matrix of forms and ornaments, developed from the sources described above, was examined using correspondence analysis. Graphic representation of the results forms a quite distinct arc-shaped layout in the plot of two principal axes. Correspondence analysis was also conducted for the identified types of decoration. The results, transposed into a two-dimensional diagram, show a different, not arch-like distribution. Objects and variables form two separate clusters. Detailed analysis of the two diagrams allowed for many valuable conclusions: (1) phases of vessel form development are polythetic assemblages, which means that they are formed by specific combinations of attributes or their frequencies rather than by strictly defined sets of phase-unique attributes; (2) in the development of pottery forms, one can observe a continuous evolution between phases BrC2 and HaC, i. e. in the period spanning nearly 800 years (ca 1380–600 BC). This confirms earlier conclusions, based on planigraphy data, concerning the uninterrupted functioning of the cemetery; (3) development of pottery decoration followed a different pattern – a “revolutionary” change in HaA was followed by a continuous development until the end of early Hallstatt period, when a regression in pottery ornamentation probably took place; (4) there is some discrepancy between the present results and M.Gedl’s chronology with respect to the older phases of vessel form and decoration development (among other things, the present results suggest dating the appearance of bossed decoration as early as BrC2).