Daniel Hlásek

Pottery is the most abundant artefact category on prehistoric settlement sites, yet it is still used mainly for chronology and cultural classification.
This project aims to unlock a key but underexplored dimension of ceramic evidence: the original functions and actual use of vessels, with a focus on food and beverage processing, storage, and consumption. The project develops an integrated analytical framework that combines objective, data-driven ceramic typology based on digitised vessel morphology (using the LAP system) with targeted organic residue analysis (ORA).

Vessel function is understood as a structural property encoded in formal attributes such as shape or size, while vessel use is reconstructed through chemical identification of processed substances. Linking these two analytical levels allows robust functional interpretation of defined vessel types. The methodology will be tested on large ceramic assemblages from Bronze Age settlements dating to the first half of the second millennium BC in southern Bohemia (Czech Republic) and central Hungary. These datasets enable a comparative study of culinary practices across environmentally and culturally distinct regions.

The project will produce a reproducible workflow for analysing fragmentary pottery and generate new insights into Bronze Age diet, subsistence strategies, and everyday social practices, while contributing methodological advances relevant to digital archaeology and archaeometry.