The lobed vessel from Piatra Șoimului

Narration text

This vessel comes from Piatra Șoimului, just a few kilometres from Piatra-Neamț, and belongs to the transitional Cucuteni A-⁠B phase. Notice the shape first: the rim is not a simple circle but is modelled into lobes, like petals or waves. Then the decoration: geometric bands, meanders and parallel lines covering almost the whole surface.

In phase A, Cucuteni potters painted in three colours: white, red and black. In phase A-⁠B the styles blend, and craftsmen experiment with new combinations and proportions. The pottery of this civilisation is considered among the finest in prehistoric Europe.

Potters fired their vessels in kilns at high temperatures, or the colours would never have survived so well. See how precisely the lines are drawn on a curved surface, with no measuring tools at all. It is evidence that specialised craftsmen worked here, passing their knowledge from one generation to the next.