Archaic Greek Pottery of Aeolian Inspiration Made in Huelva, Spain

Abstract

Greeks settled in the ancient emporium of Huelva manufactured Archaic gray pottery inspired by Aeolian prototypes.Results of Neutron Activation Analysis showed that seven out of 11 specimens analyzed had a chemical composition similar to the loamy clay from local deposits traditionally used in pottery. This gray pottery must have found a good acceptance not only among the resident Greeks, but also among the non-Greek population long before familiarized with the so called “orientalizing gray pottery”, whose coloration and production by reduction firing are similar to the Aeolian one. In the same settlement, two other groups of Archaic Greek pottery manufactured in situ had already been identified: one of them characterized by a yellowish-green paste and the other one, conventionally named “Group H”, decorated with red slips comparable to the Phoenician ceramics.