African Red Slip Research Articles

Archaeometric investigations of the Late Roman Period red slip ware from Caesarea Germanicia (Kahramanmaraş, Southeastern Anatolia)

AbstractIn the present study, red slip wares excavated from the ancient city of Germanicia (modern Kahramanmaraş, Southeastern Anatolia) were subjected to an archaeometric analysis. A multi‐analytical approach was employed, including stereomicroscopy, optical microscopy, XRPD, SEM‐EDS, and XRF to explore the mineralogical and chemical compositions of the samples. Based on both archaeological and archaeometric criteria, the samples were classified into three main categories: African, Phocaean, and Sagalassos red slip wares. The African red slip wares were characterized by an abundance of coarse quartz inclusion, accompanied by lesser quantities of plagioclase and mica. The Phocaean red slip wares primarily consisted of quartz, feldspar, and mica. In contrast, the Sagalassos red slip wares featured a groundmass rich in quartz, mica/biotite, hematite, and opaque minerals. Thermoanalytical data indicated that all samples were fired at temperatures between 800 and 900°C. The results suggest that red slip wares found at Germanicia were not manufactured using local available clay sources but rather originated from different regions. This evidence further provides that Germanicia was actively involved in trade networks and interacted with various ancient urban centers, such as Africa, Phocaean, and Sagalassos, during the Late Roman Period, between the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

Fine wares from the Late Roman ‘Principia’at Capidava (ii)

The Late Roman principia from Capidava was built at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century, most likely during the general reconstruction (phase II) of the fort, as a result of the bellum Scythicum. The building was fully excavated in successive campaigns between 2013-2019. This paper is a follow-up to an initial article, published in 2017, dealing with the fine pottery finds discovered during the 2013-2014 campaigns. In what follows, we will focus on the same category of finds, resulting from the systematic excavation during the 2016 campaign. The 66 items in our catalogue belong to six different classes: African Red Slip Ware, Late Roman C / Phocean Ware, Pontic Sigillata Ware, Early Pontic Red Slip Ware, Pontic Red Slip Ware and Late Roman Light Colored Ware. Within each class our objects have been divided into several types and sub-types according to the extensive existing bibliography. The high degree of fragmentation of the vessels is also the result of the overlap of the living in the building with the semi-deep dwellings built in the final so-called Middle Byzantine period (9th – 11th centuries).

Gods, Goddesses, and Mortals for the 21st Century: The Reinstallation of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection of Ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art

Gods, Goddesses, and Mortals for the 21st Century: The Reinstallation of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection of Ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art

African Red Slip Ware - Additional Iconography Catalogue

African Red Slip Ware - Additional Iconography Catalogue

Sidi Zahruni, una alfarería en el ager de Neapolis (Túnez): aglomeración o vicus circa villam ?

Sidi Zahruni, in the Neapolis ager (Tunisia), was known as a pottery workshop with an important production of late antique amphorae as well as a minor production of coarse ware and African Red Slip ware. An intra site survey, undertaken in 2012, allowed us to document a major extension of the site, evidence of a rich residential part and a monumental building. Evaluation of the data in contrast to others in the context of Tunisia has led us to think that it could be an agglomeration or a villa contemporary with the pottery. Therefore, it may be opportune to think of a vicus circa villam – classification from a well-known Aegennius Urbicus quotation.

African Red Slip Ware - Additional Iconography Catalogue

African Red Slip Ware - Additional Iconography Catalogue

Test of the Nabataean Painted Fine Ware typology in Aila’s Area K

Although Nabataean Painted Fine Ware (NPFW) has been examined in light of Stephan Schmid’s chronological typology since the late 1990s, few stratified contexts with NPFW from outside Petra have been published, and none derived from contexts occupied continuously from the Nabataean through Byzantine periods. Questions remain about the dating of later dekorphases (3–4) due to a lack of contexts. This paucity is remedied, however, by Area K at Roman Aqaba/Aila, Jordan. Area K was a domestic complex, just inside the later Byzantine city wall, excavated from 1994 through 2002. Using associated numismatic evidence and imported fine wares (primarily Eastern Sigillata A and African Red Slip), this paper argues that NPFW Dekorphase 3b appeared at Aila in the second half of the 1st century CE, and Dekorphase 3c appeared shortly afterwards, around the time of the Roman annexation in the beginning of the 2nd century.

Petrographic Characterization of Late Roman African Pottery from J.W. Salomonson’s Surveys: 3. The Workshops of Henchir el Biar and Bordj el Djerbi

This paper focuses on the petrographic characterization of African Red Slip Ware from the North Tunisian workshops of Henchir el Biar and Bordj el Djerbi surveyed by J.W. Salomonson in 1968. Binocular observation and thin section analysis have been combined to identify the micro-and macroscopic provenance markers of both workshops that lie within a short distance in the Mejerda Valley. The results of this research, in agreement with previous chemical studies, demonstrated that not only is it possible to petrographically distinguish the workshops of Bordj el Djerbi and Henchir el Biar from each other, but in most cases also from the neighboring workshop of El Mahrine, which generally shows finer fabrics. These data are particularly interesting as the three workshops form a homogeneous group in terms of typology and macroscopic characteristics. Moreover, the apparent petrographic and technological similarities between a few samples and some other not yet located ARS productions open the discussion of the possible presence of other workshops in the same area of the Mejerda Valley.

Henchir el Biar re-collected : new evidence from J.W. Salomonson’s survey in 1968

Within the framework of the study of J.W. Salomonson’s survey collection of late Roman African Red Slip Ware, new evidence from the North Tunisian workshop of Henchir el Biar prospected by Salomonson in 1968 is presented here. Typo-chronological evaluations and standardized fabric description have been combined and cross-referenced with already studied finds to establish a coherent classification of Henchir el Biar’s late Roman tableware production. The long-lasting assumption of an end of production in the mid-6th century AD is thereby revised.

ALABANDA PAYANDALI SARNIÇ AFRİKA KIRMIZI ASTARLI SERAMİKLERİ

Aydin Province, Cine District’s located about 7 km. the ancient city of Alabanda (Araphisar) to the west is it is a Carian city located at west of the Marsyas River. In the hilly area of the northeastern part of the city center, a two-chambered cistern was identified within the scope of archaeological excavations conducted in 2012 and 2013.The Terra Sigillata examined as the characteristic ceramics of the Roman Period dated to the perennial Roman and Early Byzantine Period in the cistern have not been cleaned from the red slipped ceramics (Africa, Phokaia, Cyprus, Egyptian Red Slipped) in the derivatives in the eastern centers. This group was evaluated for the first time by grouping 45 African red slip ceramics, 21 bowls, 21 bowls and 3 plate profiles, in 17 forms and analogically comparing them with parallel samples in other centers. In the classification here, similar examples from Anatolian origin and outside Anatolia were identified. Parallel examples are closely similar to Myndos, Nysa, Perge, Laodikeia, Tripolis, Hadrianopolis, Hac Dagi, Sarachane, Gozlukule, Kelenderis, Tarsus, Antiokheia, Anemurium, Alexandria, Kartaca and Athens Agora ceramics and Alabanda Palaces Cistern ceramics. As a result of it was defined that the red-lined ceramic groups of African origin in in the city of Alabanda were used extensively in the II nd and VII th centuries AD.

Petrographic characterisation of Late Roman African Pottery from J.W. Salomonson’s surveys : the workshop of Sidi Khalifa

In the frame of the study of J.W. Salomonson’s survey collection of African pottery, the petrographic characterisation of selected African Red Slip Ware C/D and Cooking Ware samples from the North Tunisian production site of Sidi Khalifa is presented. Thin section analysis and binocular observations have been combined to verify the effectiveness of the latter method, to establish a coherent technological and compositional classification as well as to identify the micro- and macroscopic markers of Sidi Khalifa’s production and to cross-reference them with already studied samples from consumption sites in Sicily.

Late Roman Potter

The Roman theatre in Nicaea is the most famous and well preserved monument from the Roman Imperial Period which was built under the supervision of the Bithynia governor, Plinius, during the rule of Trajan.1 The examined Late Roman pottery was found in a rubbish dump which covered the theatre. Following the stratigraphy and dating of the dump it is estimated to be from between 368 A.D. and 557 A.D. There is a renovation of the colonnaded gallery probably after the earthquake of 368 A.D. which is mentioned in the records.2 Many coins of the fourth century A.D. which were found during excavations might also be related with this renovation. But further earthquakes resulted in the theatre being gradually destroyed and abandoned. It seems that the theatre was used as a rubbish dump after the late fourth century A.D. until the earthquake of 557 A.D. A great number of African Red Slip ware has been found in this fill of the theatre. The main ceramic types are plates and bowls –Hayes Forms 53, 61 and 67– which have recently been classified as Africana D by S. Tortorella. A small group of Phocean Red Slip Ware “Late Roman C”, mainly bowls, dated to early in the 4th century until its disappearance in the third quarter of the sixth century A.D. have also been attested in the theatre of Nicaea. There is some “Eastern Sigillata C”, mainly in Hayes 3, also discovered in this dump. We have discovered some Light Colored Ware fragments in the Nicaea theatre which appear to be quite similar to the ones found in Parion. Recently E. Ergürer has published a group of Light Colored Ware dated between the fifth early sixth centuries A.D. from Parion.3 The production center of this ware is not securely determined so far but it is interesting to note that this ware is quite common both in Bithynia, Propontis and the Troad. As a result the aforementioned wares, which are treated for the first time in Nicaea, were found in the same rubbish dump over the theatre and are dated between the late fourth century and third quarter of the sixth century A.D.

Late North-African sigillata lamps: curatorship of museum collections and archaeological research

The Late African North African lamps of Terra Sigillata (African Red Slip Ware-ARS) are a category of objects which, alongside tableware, have acquired particular importance, not only for the volume of their production, but for their economic and commercial, iconographic and historical-religious implications. This article aims to present the development of fundamental research for the knowledge about the production and circulation of the ARS and in particular the lamps, taking as examples rich dialogues between the curatorial studies of museological collections and archaeological research that point the limits of the classical models of study of African ceramics and perform accurate reviews of dates, origins and contents of vessels, especially with archaeometric methods.

Sigillata africana con tema bíblico encontrada en la provincia de Salamanca

Se presentan aquí varios fragmentos de un único recipiente de sigillata africana con decoración aplicada a molde, encontrados en un yacimiento situado en el término municipal de Huerta (Salamanca). La temática decorativa es de carácter religioso, correspondiendo a dos episodios bíblicos concretos: El sacrificio de Isaac y los tres hebreos salvados del horno.

Late Roman African Red Slip Ware from the Acropolis Centre-South Sector (Histria)

În acest studiu este prezentată vesela de masă nord‐ africană descoperită în primii patru ani (între 2013 și 2016) de cercetări arheologice în Sectorul Acropolă Centru‐ Sud, la Histria. Nu la fel de numeroasă ca ceramica orientală, vesela de masă nord‐ africană este atestată în acest sector prin 38 fragmente încadrate în 7 forme și 11 tipuri ceramice. Din punct de vedere cronologic, materialul aparține perioadei romane‐ târzii, fiind datat între secolele IV– VII p. Chr.

I Vandali: isolazionismo integralista o logica imprenditoriale? Riflessioni sul Mediterraneo di V-VI secolo

The paper aims to focus some of the main features of the economic management of the Vandal Kingdom, from Africa to Sardinia. By beginning from the awareness of the modern historians to reconsider the Vandals peculiarities, and the interpretation of the ancient sources not damaged by a compromised historical perspective, the paper tries to enlight the business implications of the political economy pursued by the Vandals, from their aggressive maritime policy to the role of coinage and products like the African Red Slip Wares and the amphorae in their trade system.

Fine wares from the late roman ‘Principia’ at Capidava (I)

The article discusses the first batch of wares from the category of imported, fine dinner wares (vasa escaria), coming from 2013-2015 archaeological excavations from Capidava. The archaeological objective we are referring to is a large building (about 23×16 m ) with a southern-oriented apse, that was known in the older publications as the Capidava late Roman Principia. The wares we are presenting (Çandarli, Phocean Ware/Late Roman C, respectively African Red Slip Wares) were discovered in the building’s northern corner, in the late-Roman (4th-5th centuries A.D.) and early-Byzantine (6th century A.D.) age. The batch includes shards from 31 vessels (bowls and plateaus) used for eating. Catalogue item no. 7 stand out, belonging to the ARS Hayes 103A type. Its morphological details and especially those of the rim indicate an early shape in the evolution of the respective type, but especially the connection with the ARS Hayes 84 and 86, previously postulated by J.W. Hayes. The vessel is a unicum most likely produced at the beginning of the 6th century A.D, with no known analogies in the specialised literature. This contribution aims to be the first one in a preliminary series focused on the respective archaeological objective, in preparation of a monograph with all the artefact categories following the complete archaeological research of the apse building.

Distinguishing Between Rouletting and Chattering on Ancient Mediterranean Pottery

Although the various techniques used in ceramic production are obvious to those who work with clay professionally, they are not always recognized by archaeologists. A surface decoration commonly found on Greek and Roman fine wares, including Attic and Campanian Black Gloss, Thin-Walled Ware, Eastern Sigillata, Italian Sigillata, African Red Slip Ware, and Vesuvian Sigillata, is usually called rouletting, but I argue that in most cases the pattern is achieved by another technique known as chattering. Although some archaeologists are aware of the difference between the two procedures, there is ongoing confusion in the identification and use of these terms. This note discusses both decorative methods in an attempt to identify the diagnostic features that may help archaeologists differentiate between the two.

Provenance and reference groups of African Red Slip ware based on statistical analysis of chemical data and REE

African Red Slip (ARS) ware (sigillata africana) from three archaeological sites in northern (Oudhna, Sidi Khalifa) and central Tunisia (Henchir el Guellel) was studied by X-ray fluorescence and statistical treatment of chemical data in order to define homogeneous reference groups. The specimens from Henchir el Guellel are clearly different from those of the other two sites, which are compositionally more similar, due to their geographical vicinity. ARS ware from Sidi Khalifa is chemically very homogeneous, whereas that from Oudhna clusters into two distinct groups. The chemical correspondence with literature reference groups, based on both kiln wastes and sherds from archaeological surveys, defines new reference groups, statistically more numerous and representative. Comparisons of chemical data by neutron activation analysis on selected potsherds and clays from the surroundings of each site also identified the probable base-clays used to produce the ARS ware of Oudhna, Sidi Khalifa, and to advance some hypothesis on that used in Henchir el Guellel, thereby overcoming difficulties in assessing chemical contents of elements due to levigation processes.

Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa. By LESLIE DOSSEY.

This book discusses the changing role of peasants in the North African countryside in Late Antiquity and its social implications. The author addresses a variety of aspects, adopting a truly interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological and textual evidence. This is a beautifully written book, convincing in both its structure and form. The book is presented in three different sections. The first part (the most archaeological) focuses on the reconsideration of data from the numerous archaeological surveys carried out in the North African territory. The analysis focuses principally on reconsidering African red slip (ARS) pottery evidence. The point stressed by the author is the increasingly wide distribution of fine wares. This is not seen as the result of a more intense occupation of the landscape, but rather as a substantial change in the consumption pattern of its inhabitants. The development of production and the increase in the number of ARS-producing pottery kilns is interpreted as being responsible for a change in regional consumption; the pottery type is seen to become a more commonly used table vessel, even by peasants. (For a detailed discussion on ARS production and its end see M. Bonifay, Études sur la céramique romaine tardive d’Afrique [BAR International series, 1301; Oxford, 2004].) In fact, in regions like Byzacena, for instance, production becomes more regionally focused and some kilns mainly manufactured products for the regional market (see A. Leone and D. J. Mattingly, ‘Vandal, Byzantine and Arab Rural Landscapes in North Africa’, in N. Christie [ed.], Landscapes of Change: Rural Evolutions in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages [Aldershot, 2004], p. 146). The hypothesis here proposed depicts a different rural landscape that requires a reconsideration of our understanding and interpretation in social terms.