Pingsdorf ware is a high fired earthenware, or proto-stoneware,[1] that was produced between the late 9th and 13th century in different pottery centres on the Eastern margin of the Rhineland as well as the Lower Rhine region. Characteristic features of vessels in Pingsdorf ware are a yellow-coloured fine sand-tempered sherd and a red painting. It is archaeologically evident within various Medieval settlements of North Western Europe and thus represents an important chronological marker for the Medieval archaeology.
It was a forerunner of the first European stoneware, produced in the same region and exported to much of Europe for the rest of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Places of manufacture
Known places of manufacture of Pingsdorf ware and related pottery wares along the promontory beam besides Pingsdorf are various places near Brühl (e.g. Badorf and Walberberg) also Liblar, Wildenrath, Langerwehe and Jüngersdorf, Meckenheim as well as Urbar. Pingsdorf ware was also produced in Siegburg during its earliest period of production. In this regard, especially for the Lower Rhine Region Brunssum is of importance.
Along the promontory beam of the Rhineland low iron clays can be found which are excellent for the production of ceramic vessels. These clay deposits are in connection to the brown coal field of the Rhineland. Despite of the exposures along the promontory beam, these clays are also outcropped on the geological zones of disruption on the Lower Rhine Region. In addition to the availability of appropriate clays, the availability of fuel (forest) as well as the accessibility to trading routes was essential to the development of a successful place of pottery manufacture in the Middle Ages.
Typology and distribution
Pingsdorf Ware (12th century), Burg Linn, Krefeld.
During the early Middle Ages Badorf Ware was produced within the promontory of the Rhineland. A painted type of Badorf Ware was developed from the originally plain and pale promontory ware which was decorated by using a roller handstamp. This painted Badorf Ware is divided into a group of Hunenschans Ware which is decorated by use of a roller handstamp and partly features a fine-sand temper, and a second group of late Carolingina Ware with red finger stroke painting which still exhibits a chalky surface.
The Pingsdorf Ware represents a further development of the painted Badorf Ware which becomes established as an independent group from the late 9th century. It is characterised by a sandpaperlike surface which was achieved by its temper with fine sand. Within this group bellied pots and beakers as well as jugs and early types of stove tiles are prevalent. The early types of Pingsdorf ware vessels still feature a lensoid bottom, which is now stabilised by a wavy foot.
Within its nearly 400-years of existence in which Pingsdorf ware was produced, the variety of ceramic types did not experience any considerable change. Until now there are only a few stratified finds which could ascertain a detailed chronology. Nevertheless, in general a development form pale vessels with a smooth surface to more high fired, darker serrated vessels is noticeable, which are displaced by vessels with clearly more carved out external rotational grooves. This change to serrated types was conducted during the late 12th century. Until now a periodic change could not be proven only on foundation of its painting. Red patterns of brush strokes are evident within all periods of Pingsdorf ware. Patterns of grids are by tendency a development of the 12th century onwards.[2] The red painting is gradually abandoned during the late period on the end of the 12th century.[3]
Around 1200, shortly before Pingsdorf ware passes out of use, the variety of pottery types experiences an addition by jugs and jars of a cylindric shaped neck. Vessels of the Pingsdorf Ware were traded by the Rhine trade route up to England, Scotland, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. As a high fired earthenware it was the appropriate transport vessel for goods of the Rineland. On the upstreams of the Rhine, Pingsdorf Ware was less common.
Controversially discussed is the classification of an in 1949 found canteen from Zelzate, which was burrowed together with a Carolingian coin hoard.[4] Within the literature this find is usually referred to be the oldest dated vessel of the Pingsdorf Ware range. By now the canteen of Zelzate is attributed to the painted Carolingian pottery of the Baldorf type.[5] In general, a coin hoard vessel from Wermelskirchen,[6] dating to 960, is referred to be the oldest vessel of the Pingsdorf Ware with an absolute date.
Research history
Varieties of Pingsdorf ware according to Koenen 1898
First scientific attention to Pingsdorf Ware was dealt by Constantin Koenen. 1889 Koenen conducted a first systematic excavation on a pottery complex in the courtyard of the Kleins Inn in Brühl-Pingsdorf. Withal, he analysed an 80 m³ sherd store, which comprised approximately a dozen different pottery forms. The publication of this excavation in the Bonner Jahrbücher displays until today the most complete overview of the variety of pottery types of the Pingsdorf Ware.[7] In 1927, Franz Rademacher published an approach to a chronology of the medieval pottery that was based on an art historical analysis of the pottery ware. He ascribed the red-painted Pingsdorf Ware into the Carolingian time, whereas he distinguished these from the pottery vessels of the Ottonian Period.[8] In the 1930s, archaeological analyses on Dutch medieval settlements relativised the art historical approach of Rademacher. Wouter C. Braat was referring to a development of the Pingsdorf Ware in succession of the Hunenschans Ware and assumed a constitution of the Pingsdorf Ware around 900. Furthermore, Braat postulated its expire around 1200.[9]
Of further importance for the chronological attribution of the Pingsdorf Ware was the stratigraphy of the stream bed of the systematic excavations conducted at the Viking settlement of Hedeby on the Schlei from 1930 until 1939. Whilst the Badorf Ware is still present on the latest horizons of the find spot, it expires shortly around or after 900 and gets replaced by Pingsdorf Ware, which is archaeologically evident until the 13th century. However, an exact chronology of single types of vessels was not possible on foundation of the material found at Hedeby.[10]
In the aftermath there are various individual publication on different find spots. In 1975 Beckmann published a seriation on the finds from the Aulgasse in Siegburg. However, he only focussed on vessels that were found in a complete condition during the excavation. In 2002, for the first time, Markus Sanke published an overview of the variety of pottery of the Pingsdorf Ware that was independent from the find spot.
Notes
↑ Crabtree, Pamela, ed., Medieval Archaeology, Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 2013, Routledge, ISBN113558298X, 9781135582982, google books
Kurt Böhner: Frühmittelalterliche Töpferöfen in Walberberg und Pingsdorf. In: Bonner Jahrbücher 155/156, 1956, 372–385.
Reinhard Friedrich: Eine chronologisch bedeutsame Bechergruppe der Pingsdorfer Ware. In: David Gaimster, Mark Redknap, Hans-Helmut Wegner: Zur Keramik des Mittelalters und der beginnenden Neuzeit im Rheinland. Medieval and later pottery from the Rhineland and his markets. BAR International Series 440, Oxford 1988, 271-297.
Reinhard Friedrich: Mittelalterliche Keramik aus rheinischen Motten. Rheinische Ausgrabungen Band 44. Köln 2002, 213-227.
Andreas Heege: Die Keramik des frühen und hohen Mittelalters aus dem Rheinland. Holos, Bonn 1995, 82ff.
Wolfgang Hübener: Zur Ausbreitung einiger fränkischer Keramikgruppen nach Nord- und Mitteleuropa im 9.–12. Jahrhundert. In: Archaeologia Geographica Band 2, Hamburg 1951, 105ff.
Wolfgang Hübener: Die Keramik von Haithabu. Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 2, Neumünster 1959.
Walter Janssen: Produktionsbezirk mittelalterlicher Keramik in Brühl-Pingsdorf. Rheinische Ausgrabungen 76. Köln 1977, 133-138.
Walter Janssen: Die Importkeramik von Haithabu. Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 9. Neumünster 1987.
Constantin Koenen: Karlingisch-fränkische Töpfereien bei Pingsdorf. In: Bonner Jahrbücher 103, 1898, 115–122.
Uwe Lobbedey: Untersuchungen mittelalterlicher Keramik vornehmlich aus Südwestdeutschland. Arbeiten zur Frühmittelalterforschung 3. Berlin 1968.
Hartwig Lüdtke: Die mittelalterliche Keramik von Schleswig. Ausgrabungen Schild 1971–1975. Ausgrabungen in Schleswig. Berichte und Studien 4. Neumünster 1985, 60ff.
Hartwig Lüdtke: The Bryggen Pottery. Introduction and Pingsdorf Ware. The Bryggen Papers Band 4. Oslo, 1989.
Markus Sanke: Gelbe Irdenware. In: Hartwig Lüdtke, Kurt Schietzel (Hrsg.): Handbuch zur mittelalterlichen Keramik in Nordeuropa. Schriften des Archäologischen Landesmuseums Schleswig 6, Neumünster 2001, 271–428.
Markus Sanke: Die mittelalterliche Keramikproduktion in Brühl-Pingsdorf. Technologie - Typologie - Chronologie. (= Rheinische Ausgrabungen 50). Zabern, Mainz 2002, ISBN3-8053-2878-8.
Bonn is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. It has a population of over 300,000. About 24 km (15 mi) south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region, Germany's largest metropolitan area, with over 11 million inhabitants. It is a university city, was the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven and was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990. Bonn was the seat of government of reunited Germany from 1990 to 1999.
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif. Its highest elevation, at 657 m above sea level, is the Fuchskaute in the High Westerwald.
The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between c. 3000 BC – 2350 BC, thus from the late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from the contact zone between the Yamnaya culture and the Corded Ware culture in south Central Europe, to the Rhine on the west and the Volga in the east, occupying parts of Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Early autosomal genetic studies suggested that the Corded Ware culture originated from the westward migration of Yamnaya-related people from the steppe-forest zone into the territory of late Neolithic European cultures; however, paternal DNA evidence fails to support this hypothesis, and it is now proposed that the Corded Ware culture evolved in parallel with the Yamnaya, with no evidence of direct male-line descent between them.
The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age, arising from around 2800 BC. Bell Beaker culture lasted in Britain from c. 2450 BC, with the appearance of single inhumation graves, until as late as 1800 BC, but in continental Europe only until 2300 BC, when it was succeeded by the Unetice culture. The culture was widely dispersed throughout Western Europe, being present in many regions of Iberia and stretching eastward to the Danubian plains, and northward to the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and was also present in the islands of Sardinia and Sicily and some small coastal areas in north-western Africa. The Bell Beaker phenomenon shows substantial regional variation, and a study from 2018 found that it was associated with genetically diverse populations.
Bolesławiec is a historic city situated on the Bóbr River in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec. As of June 2021, it has a population of 38,280. Founded in the 13th century, the city is known for its long-standing pottery-making tradition and heritage Old Town.
Stoneware is a broad term for pottery fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. End applications include tableware, decorative ware such as vases.
The Únětice culture, Aunjetitz culture or Unetician culture is an archaeological culture at the start of the Central European Bronze Age, dated roughly to about 2300–1600BC. The eponymous site for this culture, the village of Únětice, is located in the central Czech Republic, northwest of Prague. There are about 1,400 documented Únětice culture sites in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 550 sites in Poland, and, in Germany, about 500 sites and loose finds locations. The Únětice culture is also known from north-eastern Austria, and from western Ukraine.
Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of the Roman Empire; and more recently, as a description of a contemporary studio pottery technique supposedly inspired by ancient pottery. Usually roughly translated as 'sealed earth', the meaning of 'terra sigillata' is 'clay bearing little images', not 'clay with a sealed (impervious) surface'. The archaeological term is applied, however, to plain-surfaced pots as well as those decorated with figures in relief, because it does not refer to the decoration but to the makers stamp impressed in the bottom of the vessel.
The Nordwestblock is a hypothetical Northwestern European cultural region that some scholars propose as a prehistoric culture in the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, far-northern France, and northwestern Germany, in an area approximately bounded by the Somme, Oise, Meuse and Elbe rivers, possibly extending to the eastern part of what is now England, during the Bronze and Iron Ages from the 3rd to the 1st millennia BCE, up to the onset of historical sources, in the 1st century BCE.
Naumburg is a town in the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. This UNESCO designation recognizes the processes that shaped the European continent during the High Middle Ages between 1000 and 1300: Christianization, the so-called "Landesausbau" and the dynamics of cultural exchange and transfer characteristic for this very period.
Red-figure pottery is a style of ancient Greek pottery in which the background of the pottery is painted black while the figures and details are left in the natural red or orange color of the clay.
Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, it is officially Rüdesheim am Rhein, to distinguish it from Rüdesheim an der Nahe. It is a major tourist attraction, especially for foreign visitors.
Zons, formerly known as Feste Zons(Fortress Zons), today officially called Stadt Zons is an old town in Germany on the west bank of the Lower Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf. It has been a part (Stadtteil) of the town of Dormagen since 1975. In 2020 its population was 5,452.
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. Some of this pottery has been uncovered into the 21st century in the former territory of the Roman Empire, as well as in other parts of the world, especially in waste mounds such as Monte Testaccio.
The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing c. 5500–4500 BC. Derived from the German Linearbandkeramik, it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, falling within the Danubian I culture of V. Gordon Childe.
The Royal Palace of Werla is located near Werlaburgdorf in Lower Saxony. The grounds of the royal palace cover about 20 hectares rising atop Kreuzberg hill, a 17 m high natural plateau overlooking the Oker river. In the Early Middle Ages the palace was an important place in the Holy Roman Empire, serving as an important base for the Ottonians in the 10th century in particular. Although it subsequently lost its political significance to the newly established Imperial Palace of Goslar at Rammelsberg, it developed into an independent settlement with a busy industrial quarter. In the 14th century it fell into ruin and was completely unknown until its rediscovery in the 18th century. The core fortress in particular was thoroughly excavated in the 20th century. Excavations carried out since 2007 have brought new understanding to the hitherto largely unexplored outworks. Since 2010 the palace complex with foundation and enceinte, as well as earthworks, has been partially reconstructed and is now open to the public as the Archäologie- und Landschaftspark Kaiserpfalz Werla.
Ancient Egyptian pottery includes all objects of fired clay from ancient Egypt. First and foremost, ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Such items include beer and wine mugs and water jugs, but also bread moulds, fire pits, lamps, and stands for holding round vessels, which were all commonly used in the Egyptian household. Other types of pottery served ritual purposes. Ceramics are often found as grave goods.
Werra ware and Weser ware are related classes of slip-decorated earthenware made in central Germany from the second half of the sixteenth century to the first half of the seventeenth century. Werra and Weser wares were part of a wider flourishing movement of Renaissance slipware manufacture in Europe which began in the early sixteenth century. This included the French pottery of Beauvais and Saintonge, North Holland slipware and similar wares made in other parts of the German-speaking lands, as well as in Switzerland, Poland and Hungary. In Britain, imports of these and similar wares are thought to have influenced the slip-trailed ‘Metropolitan’ pottery made in Harlow, Essex, throughout the seventeenth century as well as some Staffordshire and other wares.
The Leipzig group in archaeology refers to the Slavic pottery from the Early to High Middle Ages in the Elbe-Saale area in today's state of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. It has four ceramic sub-groups or phases named after the eponymous sites of Rüssen, Rötha, Groitzsch and Kohren. It derives from Prague-Korchak culture. The group's area is considered to roughly correlate to the area of the Early Slavic tribe of Sorbs situated in Elbe-Mulde-Saale rivers valley.
Johannisberg is a prominent ridge of the Wöllmisse, a Muschelkalk plateau east of Jena. The steeply sloping spur of land to the Saale Valley north of the district of Alt-Lobeda bears the remains of two important fortifications from the late Bronze Age and the early Middle Ages. Due to several archaeological excavations and finds recovered since the 1870s, they are among the few investigated fortifications from these periods in Thuringia. Of particular interest in archaeological and historical research is the early medieval castle. Due to its location directly on the eastern bank of the Saale, its dating and interpretation were and are strongly linked to considerations of the political-military eastern border of the Frankish empire. It is disputed whether it was a fortification of independent Slavic rulers or whether it was built under Frankish rule. According to a recent study, it may have been built in the second half of the 9th century in connection with the establishment of the limes sorabicus under Frankish influence.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
