Pottery-forming practices in the Early Bronze Age Únětice culture of eastern Bohemia: CT-based analysis of technological variability at the microregional scale

This study investigates pottery-forming practices in the Early Bronze Age Únětice culture of eastern Bohemia, focusing on technological variability at the microregional scale. The analysed assemblage comprises vessels and vessel fragments from four sites in the Hradec Králové region, including cemetery and settlement contexts and both earlier and later phases of Únětice occupation. The research focused on comparing technological procedures across two chronological phases of settlement in the region, as well as on differences in the approaches to forming vessel parts and types. The study combines non-destructive computed tomography, section-based structural evaluation and 3D quantitative analysis of pore orientation. Non-planar parallel sections following vessel-wall curvature are assessed together with radial sections, allowing structural patterns to be related to constructional segment placement and transformation. The results show that coil building overwhelmingly dominates the assemblage, while slab building is rare and mainly associated with jars. Variability within the dominant coil-based tradition is expressed mainly in the degree of segment transformation. The strongest patterning relates to vessel parts rather than vessel types: necks show the clearest technological differentiation, mid-bodies more often preserve horizontally organised structures, and lower bodies frequently show stronger transformation and continuity with the base. The study demonstrates the importance of treating individual vessel parts as analytically meaningful units and highlights the potential of detailed investigation of variants within basic pottery-forming techniques.