Byzantine Glazed Ware From Sestos-Akbaş in the Thracian Chersonesos

Abstract

The castle of Sestos-Akbaş is located on the Hellespont coast of the Yalova Val-ley within the Thracian Chersonesos. The location of the castle creates natural defense. The ancient city of Sestos is localized in the place where the castle in Akbaş is located Ak-baş Port in the southeast of the castle is an important commercial and military port. The Byzantine glazed pottery items constituting the subject of this study are the sherds which were detected in this area. The finds include sherds with white and red paste. The group with white paste is small in number. Vessels decorated in incised technique are considerable among the glazed pottery items with red paste. Specimens of the Aegean and Zeuxippus ware were detected among the vessels with an incised decoration. By evaluating the distri-butional areas of the Zeuxippus ware, they are considered important indications of the trade among the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea in the late Byzan-tine period. Constituting the most considerable assemblage in the Byzantine settlement areas on the coast of the Hellespont, these pottery items indicate the important position of the Hellespont in the trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Tripod trac-es which indicate production are frequently detected in these pottery items. Tripod traces were also determined at the center on the interior of the vessel in the sherds that we found in the region which was the port of the ancient city of Sestos and that constitute the subject of this study. Besides these sherds, which indicate defective production, semi-finished sherds left unglazed after they had been biscuit fired and slipped or after a composition had been incised on the slip are also available among the finds. Defective and semi-finished sherds are essential in that they indicate a production site of these vessels probably in the Hellespont.