Prehistoric pottery styles of the Jutland Peninsula and their effect on human attention

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines how long-term transformations in pottery styles from the Jutland Peninsula (Denmark) may relate to patterns of visual attention between 4600 and 1 BCE. Free-viewing eye-tracking experiments were designed to record participants’ engagement with different prehistoric ceramic vessels from different chronological periods. Comparison with eye-tracking data from central Germany suggests that the prehistoric pottery styles from both regions are associated with broadly comparable attentional trajectories when examined through absolute chronology. These similarities are more consistent with periods characterised by supra-regional networks of interaction, exchange, and stylistic transmission linking both regions through time rather than to parallel archaeological periodisations. Periods characterised by more elaborate decorative traditions tend to show higher attentional engagement, whereas later phases marked by reduced decorative investment co-occur with an increasing prominence of other material categories, particularly metal artefacts, within broader systems of symbolic and social expression. More broadly, the study illustrates how eye-tracking approaches can be used to explore relationships between perceptual engagement, stylistic variation, and long-term material transformations in prehistoric societies.