From Hellenistic slipped tableware to Roman Imperial Sagalassos Red Slip Ware: A petrographic and geochemical study

Abstract

This paper offers new insights from the petrographic and geochemical characterisation of 92 pottery samples from the archaeological site of Sagalassos in SW Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). The sampled table wares form part of the Hellenistic to Roman Imperial local pottery production lines. The aim of this study is to reconstruct in more detail the tableware production at the site and examine Sagalassos Red Slip Ware (SRSW) in comparison with the pre-existing Hellenistic tradition in slipped pottery. The results suggest that Hellenistic Colour Coated Ware (CCW) and Gray Ware with Black Slip (GWBS) were locally produced at the site using the same raw materials as the ones used for the subsequent mass-produced Sagalassos Red Slip Ware (SRSW), namely clays from the nearby NW parts of the valley of Çanaklı. SRSW appears thus as a continuation of the Hellenistic tradition in slipped pottery at Sagalassos, at least as far as some choices for clay raw materials are concerned. At the same time, this study provides for the first time evidence of regional production of a type of eastern sigillata that appears macroscopically similar to SRSW, while the number of identified imported wares to the polis of Sagalassos contributes new evidence to the discussion on the production of GWBS in the wider region of Anatolia and the origin of Eastern Sigillata A (ESA). Using the site of Sagalassos as a case-study, this research aims to demonstrate the importance of the analytical examination of pottery in a longue durée perspective in order to reconstruct ceramic traditions and better understand the local and regional sociocultural mechanisms behind them.