Organic residue analysis and the use of pottery from the Neolithic settlements of Drenovac and Motel-Slatina (Middle Morava Valley, Serbia)

Abstract

The recognition of subsistence strategies, diet and culinary practices is one of the most important questions in the study of the development of Late Neolithic communities in the Middle Morava Valley. Pots serving as containers involved in many everyday activities related to preparing or the processing of food are an optimal and suitable source of information in this regard. However, the determination of vessel functions is usually a very problematic task, due to the preservation of the material, their fragmentation, scarcity of use-wear traces and heterogeneity of pot shape. Moreover, most of the Late Vin~a pots seem to have fulfilled more than just one established purpose. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present the results of organic residue analysis (GC, GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS) to examine the use of pottery involved in the preparation, storage and consumption of different types of foodstuffs by the Late Vin~a communities. Pottery from two Late Neolithic sites of Drenovac and Motel Slatina in the Middle Morava Valley, Central Serbia were chosen for the organic residue analysis. Vessels are shown to have been used to process a range of commodities including beeswax, ruminant dairy fats, ruminant adipose fats and nonruminant adipose fats. A predominance of the processing of dairy products was observed at both sites, in vessels of varying sizes and types.