Experience in comprehensive analysis of the radiocarbon dating results and the physical-chemical studies of two vessels of the network pottery culture from Pesochnoye 1

The article is devoted to the analysis of clay paste and burnt crust adhering to the surface of two vessels attributed to the «network» pottery culture (pottery with textile imprints) from the Pesochnoye 1 settlement on Lake Nero. The radiocarbon dating of these samples shows that on average the dates obtained are older than the radiocarbon dates of the samples from the occupation layer where the vessels were found by ~ 500– 700 years. The age difference is probably caused by the fresh water reservoir effect related to presence of organic matter in the water and presence of organic matter from water in the composition of clay paste used to make the studied vessels. Sapropel from Lake Nero is the only natural material in the Pesochnoye 1 vicinities which contains organic matter of water origin comparable with the clay used for the vessels making. To determine similarities and differences in the elemental and mineral compositions by the SEM/EDS and the XRD analyses, ceramic samples from each vessel and a gyttja clay sample from the lake were examined. It was found that sapropel tempered with feld spar and quartz sand, sapropel and bone flour were mixed in the clay body. Radiocarbon dates that can be obtained for clay, absence of chemical elements that would demonstrate presence of unreduced organic matter, presence of illite clay imply that the firing temperature fell within ~ 400–800 °С.