Azərbaycan Respublikası Təhsil Nazirliyi West Caspian University

The art of pottery of the Bronze Age of Nakhchivan

The history of pottery is ancient in Nakhchivan, as in all regions of Azerbaijan. The history of this field of crafts dates back to the Neolithic period (VII millennium BC) and continues to develop in a more advanced form today. Socio-economic changes in society during the Bronze Age, as in all areas, affected the development of pottery. The methods of cooking ceramics were improved, and pottery products of various shapes were created.

Pottery gradually went beyond the art of home and became a specialized industry in accordance with the requirements of the time. Bronze Age ceramics differ from Neolithic and Eneolithic pottery products in shape, type, ornaments, manufacturing technology and quality. During this period, the use of pottery had a significant impact on the development of pottery, causing it to enter a new stage of development. The dishes were symmetrically shaped, well-cooked and covered with angob. The potters, who knew the new secrets of technological processes such as cooking, polishing, polishing, and decorating pottery, created unique works of art for that period. In addition to thick-walled dishes, thin-walled, well-polished dishes were also made. Pottery consists of clay hearths, barbecues, animal and wheel figures, and the vast majority of clay vessels. Each of them has its own characteristics.

The hearths were obtained from the monuments of the Early Bronze Age of Nakhchivan region (Ovchulartepe, Makhta, I Kultepe, etc.) in whole and in fragments. They are made of clay with a mixture of coarse or fine sand in the form of horseshoes and rectangles. A group of them is simple. Some had a hemispherical handle or protrusion on the back. Barbecues were made in a round shape. Different opinions have been put forward about their purpose. Comparing the archeological materials obtained, it is clear that these hearths, obtained from the archeological monuments of the Early Bronze Age of Nakhchivan, consist of permanent and temporary hearths. The fact that the kilns included in each group had some different features was due to the fact that all of them were not the product of the same craftsman's workshop, but were made by different potters in different ways.

Clay pots are the majority of Nakhchivan Bronze Age pottery. The main reason for this is that clay pots were widely used in people's life and economic life at that time. Clay pots can be divided into two groups: household and household utensils. Household utensils are made with a slightly thicker wall than household utensils. Several technical processes were carried out during the preparation of the dishes. During the research, it became clear that, as well as all pottery products, high-quality, suitable for production raw materials were selected in the manufacture of pottery. This is because the dishes made of high quality clay were more useful and longer lasting. Special attention was paid to the symmetry of clay pots. After forming the dish into a certain shape, special methods were used to prevent it from cracking during the cooking process. The pot was first left in the shade for a few days and then dried in the sun. Then the process of cooking the dish was carried out. The different colors of the pots during the baking process depended on the iron compounds in the clay from which they were made. Thus, iron compounds are transformed into different colors under the influence of flame, and the dishes become gray, pink, black, and so on. caused to be colored. Dyes and minerals in the clay played an important role in painting the surface of the dishes.

After the process of making and cooking the dishes, they are decorated with certain ornaments. The patterns of the dishes are geometric, floral, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. Geometric ornaments are simple and complex. Among the simple geometric ornaments, wavy, straight and broken lines are more common. Intricate geometric ornaments consist of a combination of circles, rhombuses, rectangles and triangles. Embossing, scratching, scratching, etc. are used to decorate the surface of the dishes. The characteristic features of each period are also reflected in pottery. During the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, clay pots were made of clay mixed with straw, light pink, red and sometimes gray. Starting from the Bronze Age, large or small grains of sand were added to the clay from which the vessels were made, and their quality was further improved. Although the patterns and forms of the Eneolithic period have been preserved in the Early Bronze Age, new pattern motifs have also been used.