Ceramic production on the Middle Danube frontier: Belgrade in the 14th and 15th centuries

•The first systematic study of Late Medieval ceramic production in the Middle Danube.•Reports the results of scientific analyses of 112 samples from Belgrade.•Two technological traditions local to Belgrade are defined.•Military frontier influenced the craft organisation in Belgrade. This paper discusses a micro-scale study of the technology, provenance and organisation of ceramic production in Belgrade during the 14th-15th centuries (the Late Medieval period). The study is situated in the context of the Middle Danube frontier and examines the impact of long-term military pressure on local craftsmanship in Belgrade. The production is reconstructed by methods of petrographic and chemical analyses of ceramics consumed in two households of Belgrade’s intra and extra muros settlements. The results indicate that two distinct technological traditions flourished in Belgrade during the 14th and 15th century respectively, each attached to a different community of practice. The production was diversified in the 15th century in a way that suggests that the distribution networks of local workshops were aimed at different social groups. It is suggested that this mode of craft organisation developed as a consequence of social divisions and military events on the frontier.