Black-glazed Pottery Research Articles

Attic Black-Glazed Plates from Olbia Pontica

Abstract Attic black-glazed ware is undoubtedly a common material in the Northern Black Sea region. The majority of such finds can provide information for a profound understanding of ancient materials. Together with pottery decoration, the morphology of forms not only allows to determine the most correct dating for the particular ware, but also to identify dates for closed archaeological complexes and larger objects. For instance, specific types of pottery decoration, such as particular motifs or styles, can contribute to the dating process. This article presents the analysis of a specific group of glossed pottery – plates – covering roughly the time from the late Archaic to the Hellenistic period. Multiform plates and bowls were one of the most popular types of the black-glazed pottery.

Minero‐petrographic characterization of fine ware from Cales (South Italy)

Abstract79 samples of black glazed pottery, Terra sigillata, fine common ware, and production indicators were recovered in the archaeological site of Cales and investigated via a multi‐analytical program (polarized light microscopy, thermal analyses, XRPD, XRF, FESEM, FESEM‐EDS). Among the materials, finds of important production indicators, represented by welded pieces of black glazed pottery and spacers, attest a local production.Polarized light microscopy shows that the inclusions consist of feldspar, quartz, mica, calcite, and lithic fragments of both volcanic and sedimentary nature. Additional information about the mineralogical assemblage comes from the XRPD that revealed the presence of neoformed Ca‐silicates, indicating equivalent firing temperatures ranging from 750 to 1050°C.All the samples show a Ca‐rich character and an extreme compositional homogeneity, including the production indicators. The comparison with some Ca‐rich Campanian clay raw materials shows a greater affinity with the Mio‐Pliocene marine clay sediments of the Apennine sector, which include local clays. This allowed us to formulate the first hypotheses about clay sources used to produce fine pottery during the third century BCE to the early imperial period in Cales.

The Problem of Greek Influence on Egyptian Pottery during 1st Millennium BCE

The paper is devoted to the issue of Greek impact on ancient Egyptian pottery during the Late period (7th–4th c. BCE). According to evidence of various historical sources at that period a lot of Greeks lived in many Egyptian cities. They maintained a customary way of life. Moreover a lot of Greek pottery (amphorae, various black glazed pottery, and etc.) was imported to Egypt due to extensive trade with various Greek colonies. Cultural and political contacts were maintained as well. As a result of this active interaction with Greek civilization there was cross-cultural exchange between Egyptians and Greeks. Potters could try to meet the needs of Greeks, adapting new shapes of vessels which were unusual for Egyptians. Egyptians could also be interested in the vessels which imitated Greek shapes.

Коллекция амфор Краснодарского государственного историко-археологического музея-заповедника им. Е.Д. Фелицына: общий обзор

The Krasnodar Museum presents one of the largest amphora collections in the world. Materials from the Maeotian necropolises of the Region near the farms of Prikubanskiy, Lenin, the village of Starokorsunskaya, etc. are stored here. Almost half of the collection consists of vessels from the excavations of the Prikubansky necropolis – 324 amphorae and 101 complexes. Based on the analysis of imports (amphorae and black-glazed pottery) from the burials of this necropolis, we can talk about almost a twofold reduction in the supply of products to the settlement after the middle of the 4th century BC, with a tendency to further decline by the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The materials of the the Prikubanskiynecropolis are characterized by the absence of amphorae of Chios and Peparethos. The containers of these large production centers are represented by a minimum number in the second part of the Krasnodar collection, which includes 349 vessels originating from excavations at least 30 other archaeological sites of the Kuban Region. The existing individual Chios amphorae originate mainly from excavations on the Taman Peninsula. The article discusses several fragmented Chios amphorae with englyphic stamps “A”. At the same time, the Krasnodar collection contains a large number of amphorae of Hellenistic time (in particular Rhodes and the so-called “Prikubanskiy” series), which in other museums are represented by single copies. At the same time, stamped Rhodian vessels from Kuban Region give new, previously unknown combinations of names of eponyms and fabricants.

Scanning electron diffraction microstructural studies to differentiate between ancient black glazed pottery and its contemporary replica

Scanning electron diffraction microstructural studies to differentiate between ancient black glazed pottery and its contemporary replica

Уточненная хронология книдских амфор IV — начала III в. до н. э. по материалам керамических комплексов Кубани

As a result of work in the Kuban region in recent years, about twenty Maeotian burial complexes have been explored, where Knidian amphorae together with containers from other centers or black-glazed pottery have been discovered. The analysis of these complexes has made it possible to define the dating of certain types and variants of the Knidian containers more exactly. It is clear that vessels of the “Elizavetovskiy” and “Cherednikovyi” variants of type I “with mushroom rims” were produced simultaneously in the second — the early third quarter of the 4 th cent. BC. In the middle of the century, change in morphology towards vessels height and diameter increasing occurred, and the containers were developed within the “Gelendzhik” and “Chersonesos” variants of this type in the third quarter of the century. Alongside, a container of the next type II appeared (with “roller-shaped” rims), which coexisted with amphorae with “mushroom” rims for some time.

Punic black-glazed pottery from Sardinia: an imitation class between Punic and Roman periods

Punic black-glazed pottery from Sardinia: an imitation class between Punic and Roman periods

Black-glazed pottery of Olbian suburban estates (excavations of 2003-2017 years)

Black-glazed pottery takes a prominent place among many categories of archaeological material from Olbian suburban estates and settlements.
 Utensils from the estates Shiroka Balka (Broad Hollow) 6 (οικος) and Shiroka Balka (Broad Hollow) 7 (χωριον) are presented in various forms and types: for drinking wine (kantharos, kylix, cup-skyphos), dining (bowls, saltcellar bowls, saucers, plates), cosmetic (askos, lekanis) and lamps date back to the end of the VIth – IVth centuries B.C. We would like to note that the complex of black-glazed ceramics from the chorion in composition and duration of existence is slightly different from the findings of homestead (οικος).
 Of particular interest is a complex of black-glazed pottery excavated on the homestead (οικος), which is represented by whole forms, mainly from the family burial site (35 copies). The earliest utensils – kylix by analogy with the materials of Athenian Agora are represented by utensils of the late VIth – Vth centuries B.C.
 Among the black-glazed utensils, which were excavated on the suburban estates, the Attic ones, typical for ancient cities and settlements not only of ancient Greece, but also of the whole Black Sea coast, prevail.
 The analysis of the Attic black-glazed pottery complex gave an opportunity to clarify the chronology of the existence of not only the Shiroka Balka (Broad Hollow) 6 / homestead (οικος) and Shiroka Balka (Broad Hollow) 7 chorionic villus sampling (χωριον) estates, but also of the whole pottery complex, in particular which was previously impossible to date in more detail.

Attic Black-Glazed Bowls and Salt Cellars from Olbia

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.

MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH PONTIC GREEK IMPORTS IN THE NOMADIC BURIALS OF THE LOWER VOLGA REGION AND FOOTHILLS OF SOUTH URALS OF THE 4th — FIRST THIRD OF THE 3rd CENTURY BC

In the Archaic period, Mediterranean and Greek North Pontic imports, rather well represented in Early Scythian burials on the Lower Don, are practically unknown in the burials of the nomads in the Lower Volga and South Urals regions.
 The analysis of archaeological sources shows that in the second half of the 4th century BC imported beads and pendants made of glass, frit and amber reach the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals, and a little later, at the turn of the 4th and in the first third of the 3rd century BC — in addition, Greek pottery and possibly vessels made of precious metals, alabaster and onyx. Olbian bronze «borystheni» of the late 4th—3rd centuries BC also were found into the Lower Volga region.
 If for the 5th and most part of the 4th century BC. imports that entered the South Urals were mainly represented by products of the Achaemenid circle, then after the fall of the Achaemenid state and the resulting geopolitical changes in the Lower Volga region and the South Urals imports began to be distributed from (via) the North Pontic region. It is worth noting that in the burials on the Manych river and in the Lower Volga region, finds of transport amphorae were combined with similar black-glazed echinus bowls, and the find of another such bowl in the South Urals suggests that they enjoyed particular popularity among the nomads, even if they did not penetrate Sarmatia within the same batch.
 The above discussed observations rather convincingly support the hypothesis put forward by D. B. Shelov and I. B. Brashinskii. There are grounds reason to suggest that beads and pendants, as well as amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins could have reached the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals precisely via the Elizavetovskoe settlement at the mouth of the Don: probably, beads and pendants — even through the Scythian settlement, on which various industrial complexes and shops existed, allegedly destroyed in the 340s BC, whereas amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins — already through the so-called Bosporan colony, founded on the site of a settlement in the last quarter of the 4th century BC, which existed until the mid-70s of the 3rd century BC.

Chronology of Swords with a Crescent-Shaped Top from Maeotian Burial Grounds

Introduction. Swords with a crescent-shaped top in Maeotian burials are meet less often than swords of the Sindic-Maeotian type from the 4th – early 3rd centuries BC. Methods and materials. The authors use the traditional typological method. The material comes from Maeotian sites. Analysis. There are three forms of crescent-shaped tops: classical crescent-shaped, V-shaped and half-ring top. In the sites of the right bank of the Kuban 10 swords without a cross-guard and 1 with a cross-guard, in the Trans-Kuban – 8 swords without a crossguard and 2 swords with a cross-guard are known. The presence or absence of a cross-guard does not affect type chronology. The assemblages from burial grounds of IV Novolabinsk and Elisavetinskaya No. 1 hillforts date from the second quarter to the middle of the 3rd century BC. The dating is based on the type of the bronze mirror and Panticapaeum coins. Most narrowly dated burials come from burial grounds of Starokorsunskaya No. 2 and Lenin No. 3 hillforts located on the right bank of the Kuban river. The burials dating to within one quarter of the 2nd century BC typically contained amphorae and black-glazed pottery, as well as certain types of Maeotian grey-clay vessels. Results. The chronological analysis indicates the appearance of swords with a crescent-shaped top of the Prokhorov type among Maeotian tribes under the influence of the Sarmatians. The earliest assemblages date from the second quarter to the middle of the 3rd century BC. The chronology of more than a half of the burials does not go beyond the 2nd century BC. The upper limit of the existence of swords with a crescent-shaped top can be determined within the early 1st century BC.

Attic Black-Glazed Pottery from the Collection of the Archaeological Museum of the IA NASU

Amount of Attic tableware and ceremonial ware finds in the Northern Black Sea region is large, and that is why they are so important since they provide information for detailed chronology of ancient material. The collection of finds from Olbia, which is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of the IA NASU is quite numerous. The investigated part of the material includes Attic black-glazed pottery, which was found in Olbia in different years at various sites of excavations, from 1962 to 2000. The vast majority of the studied collection consists of vessels for drinking wine — eleven vessels of sixteen studied, dating by the Athenian Agora from 500 to 325 BC. Pottery for wine are represented by cups and kantharoi in various types. These are the cup — «bolsal» — two examples; cup-kantharos — two examples; one Hellenistic kantharos with an applique ornament and one kantharos — microform; cup-skyphos; stemmed dish; cup «delicate class» and a stemmed cup («vicup»). «Opened» types of pottery include a bowl with an outturned rim 350—325 BC and a fish plate 350—325 BC, a saltcellar from the same time of production. Rare finds of «closed» pottery forms are oinohoe with a relief ornament of V century BC. All the forms above have direct analogies in the material from the Athenian Agora and finds of Attic black-glazed ware from other cities of the Northern Black Sea. These forms belong to the ceremonial tableware and demonstrate an active trade relation of Olbia with the Attic region during the Classical and Hellenistic time. The abundance of analogies from the ancient sites of the Black Sea region, including the cities of the Bosporus, as well as Chersonesos, Tyras, Histria, Apollonia, necropolises and settlements of their rural districts, proves that the import of Attic ceramics to Olbia was a part of a large trade expansion from Attica to the cities of Pont Euxine in V—IV centuries BC. Trade relation were systematic, developing consistently, covering more and more ancient cities of the Black Sea region and beyond. Olbia was a strategic point on the main trade route to other cities and settlements along the western coast, across Olbia. For this reason, almost all categories of this type of tableware are among the finds of the settlement and necropolises of the city. Olbia’s collection of materials is a benchmark for other Northern Black Sea cities, which is why it needs thorough analysis and careful attention.

Painted and Black-Glazed Pottery in the Hellenistic Necropolis of Tauriс Chersonesos (Materials from the 1963 Excavation Season)

Painted and Black-Glazed Pottery in the Hellenistic Necropolis of Tauriс Chersonesos (Materials from the 1963 Excavation Season)

Forni da ceramica e cotture sperimentali in ossidazione, riduzione totale e parziale

The paper presents methodologies and results of experimental archaeology applied to the production of ancient pottery in high reduction environment. Manufacture of bucchero and black glazed pottery are tackled with different approaches of experimentation.

К вопросу о продолжительности использования чернолаковой посуды (по материалам Пантикапея и Танаиса)

Despite of the existence of closed complexes, which include earlier Black-Glazed pottery, it is considered that with rare exceptions, the time of existence of Black-Glazed products is limited to a short period. If the interval between the production of such vassals and their delivery to the consumer really cannot be significant, the duration of the use of vessels depends on several factors. An analysis of the ceramic complexes from Panticapaeum and Tanais, containing a certain percentage of Black-Glazed dishes with traces of long-term use and repair, allows us to conclude that the time of its existence largely depended on the distance of the settlement from the distribution centers of ceramic products and its status. The percentage of products that were repaired and used longer than usual is noticeably higher in Tanais, located at a considerable distance from the capital of the Bosporian kingdom. In Panticapaeum this percentage is so insignificant that it is comparable with the data for Athens, one of the main centers for the production of black pottery ceramics. Unlike Olbia, where the relationship between periods of prosperity and the economic crisis of the polis and changes in the volume of repaired vessels was revealed, for Panticapaeum and Tanais, this dependence is not traced.

Automated SEM‐EDS pottery classification based on minero‐chemical quantitative parameters: An application on ancient Greek pottery from Adrano (NE Sicily, Italy)

A new SEM‐EDS procedure for ancient ceramic classification, based on the automated acquisition and the semiautomated processing of multi‐elemental X‐ray maps, is described. Based on the detection of each aplastic inclusion, the procedure allows to simultaneously obtain a quantitative evaluation of both the inclusion mineral–chemical composition and the ceramic matrix chemical composition. The two data sets can individually or jointly be subjected to statistical methods. The proposed protocol was applied on a set of 22 samples of black glaze pottery from Adrano (north‐eastern Sicily), Hellenistic age (4th to 2nd centuries B.C.). Two main groups emerged from the application of the procedure, mainly distinguished for their quartz–feldspars versus calcium–aluminosilicate relative abundance as the inclusion mineral–chemical composition is concerned and for their matrix SiO2 versus CaO. The classification based on the inclusion mineral–chemical data obtained with the proposed method mirrors the results from the traditional OM observation, but when the two data sets are simultaneously considered, a subtler differentiation is observed with the separation of one of the groups in two subgroups, allowing to refine the partition.

Зовнішній штампований орнамент на аттичній чорнолаковій кераміці з Ольвії

Штампований і врізний орнамент належить до найбільш поширених методів орнаментації чорнолакової кераміки. Ці методи орнаментації використовували з середини V ст. до н.е. до елліністичного періоду, техніка поширилася від Афін до Італії. Штампами могли прикрашати посуд як всередині, так і ззовні. Зовнішні штампи зустрічаються набагато рідше, ніж внутрішні.
 Аналіз чорнолакового посуду з Ольвії показав, що лише декілька відсотків штампованого посуду мають штампи по зовнішній стороні. Проте матеріал репрезентує всі зміни у морфології й орнаментації, що характерні класичних екземплярів. Це ще раз доводить тісні та системні торгівельні зв’язки Ольвійського полісу з Афінами та її округою у класичний період.

The archaeometric, formal and stylistic analysis of a black-glazed fish-plate from the National Museum in Poznań

This paper presents the results of the XRF, formal and stylistic analyses of a black-glaze fish-plate from the National Mu-seum in Poznan. A non-invasive portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) has been used to determine the chemical composition of the plate. Analysis of the shape and decoration provided data on the chronology, typology and provenance of the vessel. The obtained results were used to determine the possible region of the fish-plate’s production. The form of the fish-plate represents features characteristic for the early stage of Italian black-glaze production, which is combination of Athenian traditions with new solutions in terms of proportion and shape. The analysis of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry data and comparative studies with already known results of the Italian black glaze pottery chemical analyses allowed the fish-plate to be identified as an example of the Campania A group from ancient Naples workshops, dated to the second half of the 4th century BC.

Попередній аналіз аттичної чорнолакової кераміки з експозиції Археологічного музею ІА НАН України

Попередній аналіз аттичної чорнолакової кераміки з експозиції Археологічного музею ІА НАН України

Керамический комплекс подвала СК 2 на поселении Заветное 5 в юго-восточном Крыму

The article presents an overview of the complex of pottery originating from the basement (CK2) from the settlement Zavetnoe 5 at the Eastern Crimea (fig. 1–2). The chronological boundaries of a series of transport amphorae fit within the interval from the 70s to the 2nd quarter of the 3rd cent. BC. (fig. 3–7). By the same period are dated groups of table uncovered (fig. 9–11), kitchen (fig. 12) and hand-made pottery (fig. 13). There are no specimens of the III cent. BC among the black glaze vessels from the complex (fig. 8). Such vessels were used in everyday life longer than other groups of pottery. The «delay» of the black-glaze pottery in this case, is not less than a quarter of a century. The exception in this case is only the lamps whose dating coincides with the group of transport amphorae (fig. 14). The obtained data are consistent with the stratigraphy of the complex, indicating that the filling of the basement, connected with the construction of one of the premises of the Hellenistic manor, was made in the 1st half of the 3rd cent. BC.