Rethinking Swifterbant S3 ceramic variability: Searching for the transition to the Funnel Beaker culture before 4000 calBC

This contribution focuses on the ceramics from the type site of the Swifterbant culture, Swifterbant S3 (4300-4000 cal. BC). The analysis focuses on the correlation between temper, wall-thickness and quality of the pottery. It is concluded that there is a subgroup A (thick-walled, plant-tempered and of low quality), a subgroup B (thin-walled, grit-tempered and of high quality) and pots with intermediate characteristics. During the S3 lifespan subgroup B becomes of increasing importance at the cost of the intermediate pots. Subgroup A and B are related to different functions, where the subgroup B pots are used for meals including emmer wheat. The demise in intermediate group pottery is therefore evidence of not only an impetus to produce the ideal types, subgroups A and B, but also increased stereotyping in terms of function. It is concluded that the S3 ceramics are evidence of a process of a change in material culture ánd subsistence base. At the end of the occupation of S3, this process in material change had not yet reached a new equilibrium in which all ceramic variables were re-aligned to create a new format.