STAMPS FOR POTTERY DECORATION AMONG EKVEN CEMETERY’S TOOLKIT

Abstract

The artefacts found in Ekven cemetery and denoted as stamps for ornamentation for ceramic ware are examined in the paper. All the artefacts were crafted from walrus tusk or bone and are of the form of a spatula with a long handle. They are characterized with specific shape, size, pattern on the surface with some having complex zoo- and anthropomorphic carvings. What were these tools truly intended for? Why do prints, identical to those on the stamps’ working surfaces, appear so rarely on Ekven ceramic ware? Was the ornamentation of the ware the sole purpose of the stamps? In order to answer these questions the authors had to resort to trace evidence analysis of the stamps and experimental simulation of possible ways of their usage.