Attic Black-Glazed Bowls and Salt Cellars from Olbia

Abstract

Attic black-glazed pottery takes a special place among the many artifacts found during archaeological excavations. Its chronology, done based on mass finds at reference sites, especially in Athens, is a reliable basis for dating such ceramics in all state formations of the Northern Black Sea region, which gives it the importance of a chronoindicator. The dating of certain types of tableware, in particular bowls and salt cellars, together with studies of the stratigraphy of the sites, makes it possible to analyze the composition of Attic black-glazed pottery and to ascertain its quantitative indicators for a certain period. This, in turn, contributes to the study of a much wider range of issues related to the development of trade and economic relations of a particular center and the region as a whole with the ancient Mediterranean.
 Bowls of various shapes and sizes belong to the category of mass ceramic material not only from Olbia and Berezan but also from all, without exception, ancient cities and settlements. They, including the black-glazed items, were popular during all periods. It is interesting that despite a large amount of similar tableware of local production and the production of neighboring centers, the number of black-glazed imported produced items in Olbia did not decrease. Peaks of the popularity of some types of shapes are traced, however, in all studied periods black-glazed bowls of Attic production are present almost in equal quantity. That is why this issue is relevant for the study of all sites of the Early Iron Age, because Attic ceremonial tableware is found on the whole territory of Ukraine, not only at ancient sites.
 Detailed dating of bowls can favor in setting the dates of entire complexes and sites. In the course of the study, a selection of 402 bowls and salt shakers of various types from Olbia (acropolis and necropolis of the city) was made. According to the results of its quantitative and qualitative analysis, we can trace the dynamics of the delivery of different types of tableware to Olbia market from Attica in the period from 500 to 310 BCE. Such an analysis allows revealing the chronological context of the development of certain types of bowls and salt cellars as well as certain trends in the incoming delivery of their different types from Attica to Olbia.