Abstract Ceramics, as the first fully artificial material created by humans, serve as a sensitive indicator of technological and socio-cultural processes in prehistory. Analysis of the operational sequence ( chaîne opératoire ) reveals the level of technical knowledge and internal organization of past communities, while technological and stylistic variability in pottery reflects both social boundaries and mechanisms of knowledge transmission and cultural identity. In the Upper Vistula River basin, the earliest ceramic vessels, associated with the Linear Pottery Culture (hereafter LBK), are dated to approximately 5350 BC. Ceramic material from 21 sites (389 samples) was subjected to comprehensive petrographic analysis, resulting in the identification of seven main ceramic fabric types and the reconstruction of their chronological and stylistic development. A significant technological shift occurred in Phase II of the LBK with the introduction of grog-tempered fabrics. Their intensified use in Phase III reflects a change in technological preferences. These changes correlate with the intensified exchange of valuable goods – such as obsidian, flint, ornaments, and pottery – with communities belonging to the Eastern Linear Circle, with whom the LBK population maintained contacts. This suggests dynamic, supra-regional processes of knowledge and raw material exchange, which contributed to the technological transformation of LBK pottery at the end of the 6 th millennium BC.
Rauba-Bukowska et al. (Mon,) studied this question.