ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on First Balkan Neolithic (FBN) pottery from just one site, where he believe that it is roughly representative of FBN sites' assemblages across the Balkan area. The Boldul site, its pottery representing the beginning of ceramic production in the Lower Danube Plain in Romania, is one of at least twenty sites in the area that are spread along the Danube's northern and southern tributaries and datable to the FBN period. The most important element of the Boldul pottery is its diversity in primary building techniques, which include slab construction, coil building, pinching and moulding; as a secondary method, the paddle-and-anvil technique was used. Mould-made large dishes are an original element in FBN assemblages and occur in all early pottery sites in the Balkan region, testifying to a widespread, shared technology. First pottery-bearing sites in the Balkans appearing around 6000 cal BC yielded remarkably coherent ceramic assemblages across the area.
