Coarse Ware Research Articles

Analysing Roman pottery workshops in the Civitas Viromanduorum (France, Picardy)

Pottery kilns in the Vermandois territory were discovered in the north of the Roman province Gallia Belgica (covering present-day Picardy in northern France) during various excavation campaigns, conducted from the end of the 19th century until 2020. Archaeologists from the French Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP) excavated 28 pottery kilns from the Roman period, dated between the Tiberian period (14–37 AD) and the beginning of the 4th century AD. These were located in three main areas: Muille-Villette, Montescourt-Lizerolles, Vermand, and Saint-Quentin. Several others were excavated overlying earlier kilns and craft production at Beuvraignes and near Noyon. The pottery waste included fine ware (terra nigra, micaceous tableware), coarse ware (dishes, jars, pots, dolia, flagons, bottles) amphorae and pipes. During the archaeological operations, we systematically questioned our excavation methods according to the preservation of the remains and aimed for an exhaustive study of the ceramics. Building upon the excavation data, this study examined the pottery waste from the workshops at Muille-Villette, Montescourt-Lizerolles, and Saint-Quentin compositionally, adopting archaeometric analysis (OM and WD-XRF) to reconstruct the production technology, and using archaeomagnetic analysis to date the kiln structures. The results offer a first insight into the pottery craft in the Vermandois area, including specific features and technological traditions of the potters, as well as the specialisation of ceramic production and distribution.

Coarse ware jugs in funerary context: technical and functional observations on the pottery from the cemeteries at Alburnus Maior

This study analyses a specific category of Roman ceramic vessels identified in the funerary inventories from Alburnus Maior: 26 coarse ware jugs present in the graves from the cemeteries at Tăul Corna, Tăul Găuri – Hop, Tăul Secuilor/Pârâul Porcului and in the area of the circular funerary monument. They all share specific morphological and technological characteristics, and at least a part of them are imitations in ceramic of bronze vessels. From a functional point of view they can be framed in the category of cooking ware and were produced from coarse fabrics. The vessels were produced locally, during the 4th – 6th/7th? decades of the 2nd century AD and all of them were used for boiling water. Their presence in the graves might be regarded as an identity marker of a group who used them in everyday life and, as part of the funerary ritual, could show a predilection for consuming hot drinks during the funerary banquet.

The Maroneia cave in Aegean Thrace. Byzantine period transport amphoras and coarse ware

In western Aegean Thrace, on Mt. Ismaros, the Maroneia cave is located. Its southeastern part was in use from the Late Neolithic period onward, until the verge of the Middle and Late Byzantine periods. The cave lies at a short distance from the homonymous, prosperous, coastal, fortified city. Albeit its southern entrance is well-hidden, the plateau in front of it provides the opportunity for wide observation of the surrounding area. Artifacts deposited in the interior attest that the citizens of Maroneia were hosted here occasionally. The present paper presents the coarse ware, attempting to shed light on: a. the commercial and cultural connections of Maroneia and Aegean Thrace in general with Balkan and Mediterranean sites and b. the various uses of the cave through time; transport amphoras and pithoi reflect its use as a storage area for agricultural and dairy commodities, whereas table- and kitchenware reveals its use as a shelter during the tumultuous times of Aegean Thrace. Invasions of several tribes of the north, e.g., the Goths, Huns, Avars, Normans, Catalans, etc.; the rivalry between the Latin kings; the civil wars of the late Byzantine emperors; and seaward piracy on the coastal region of the Thracian Sea led the Maroneitans to abandon their city occasionally and seek refuge in the nearby cave.

Archaeologies of gender, kinship, and mobility in Southeast Brazil: genealogies of Tupiniquim women and the itinerancy of ceramic practices

The Brazilian colonial context led the Tupiniquim, an Indigenous group, and the Portuguese, a colonizing group, from the São Vicente area to connect with two places in Rio de Janeiro. In this scenario emerges the genealogy of two Tupiniquim women of the 16th century from São Vicente, which allowed us to trace six generations of women who formed kinship relationships with Portuguese men. They moved to Rio de Janeiro to create the Cara de Cão fortification and Camorim sugar plantation. They were members of the communities that appropriated and transformed Portuguese coarse ware ceramics into what is now termed Paulistaware. This article shows a new understanding of the social role of Indigenous women and the entry of European men into symmetrical gender relations based on the logic of Tupiniquim social collaboration. Tupiniquim women initially produced Paulistaware before 1550. After 1600 these ceramics were also made and consumed by people from the African diaspora and others from outside, adding decorative elements found in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The intensive analysis of archival data breaks the traditional model of homogenization and Europeanization of historical processes and events, highlighting the itinerancy of practices and mobility of people.

The Artaxiad capital of ceramic: Exploring the changing local pottery production and exchange at Artaxata (Armenia) from the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE

This paper offers an insight into the characteristics of local pottery production and exchange at Artaxata, modern Armenia, from the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, drawing from stratigraphic, typological and technological evidence. The pottery assemblage under study derives from the Armenian-German Artaxata Project, a collaboration between the Armenian Academy of Sciences and University of Münster since 2018. The excavation of various structures of Hill XIII and its adjacent plain, with a particular focus on Complexes A and B, reveals a change in the ceramic repertoire. A large proportion of fine ware, notably red-slipped ware of the Eastern Sigillata A (ESA) style and other tableware types, was recovered in the early phase (2nd to 1st century BCE). While these fine ware types continue to be found in the later phase (1st century BCE to 1st century CE), a greater quantity of coarse ware of utilitarian purpose such as storage jars and cooking vessels also appears. A few turquoise glazed vessels that are similar to the Parthian or Mesopotamian style were also recovered, but it is challenging to establish their date as they were mostly found in the topsoil. Such patterning can be explained by the shift in the function of Complexes A and B from serving as public buildings, possibly a sanctuary, during the early phase to domestic houses in the later phase.Despite these changes in the ceramic consumption patterns, this diverse range of ware types was mostly produced locally at Artaxata, based on the results of our technological study of 53 samples using thin-section petrography and scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). Although they were made locally, different types of fine, coarse and turquoise glazed ware were made in different workshops, each workshop having their own recipes and technologies. In particular, the ESA-styled red-slipped ware was exclusively made in a single workshop over an extended period of time, suggesting a high level of specialisation existed in local pottery production. Such characterisation reflects the status of Artaxata as the capital of the Artaxiad Kingdom, highlighting its ability to control of the production of certain products, especially the ones that are considered to be of high quality and cosmopolitan.

Differently Calenian: A multi-analytical approach for the characterization of coarse ware from Cales (South Italy)

A selection of 46 ceramic fragments of common cookware, internal red slip ware, thin-walled pottery imitation, dolium and production indicators recovered at the archaeological site of Cales (South Italy), all characterized by a coarse-grained structure, were subjected to a program of multi-analytical investigations (PLM, FESEM/EDS, XRPD, TG-DSC, XRF). Among the materials under study, the production indicators, represented by wastes of common cookware and supports, attests a local production.Thin-section analysis shows that almost all samples have an optical active matrix except for the production indicators. The inclusions consist of feldspar, quartz, clinopyroxene, mica, lithic fragments of volcanic nature (fragments of trachyte) and juveniles (pumices and glass shards). The XRPD confirms the thin section observation and reveals the presence of neoformed Ca-silicates in the supports and dolium samples.Most of the samples show a Ca-poor composition and an extreme compositional homogeneity, which is in line with the chemical composition of the production indicators. The supports and dolium samples, on the contrary, show a Ca-rich composition.The geochemical comparisons with some Ca-rich and Ca-poor Campanian clay materials show a good affinity with alluvial clay sediments of the Volturnum river plain.

Pottery traditions in Kydonia: Preliminary results from the petrographic analysis of three pottery assemblages in Chania

Chania, or Minoan Kydonia according to the Linear B tablets, has been an important Minoan settlement throughout the Bronze Age. Systematic and rescue excavations on the hill of Kastelli since the 1970 s has revealed the presence of a major palatial centre of the Late Minoan III (LM IIIA1-B1) period that kept thriving even after the collapse of the Minoan palatial system. This paper deals with the combined analysis of three assemblages from Chania covering all phases of the Postpalatial period (LM IIIA1 to LM IIIB2). The petrographic analysis of an array of coarse and fine wares allowed the in-depth investigation of pottery production throughout the LM III period and the establishment of the main pottery recipes. Issues of provenance and technology of manufacture are investigated with emphasis on the use of different types of raw materials for the production of coarse wares used for domestic purposes as well as semi-fine and fine wares used for transportation and consumption of staples and liquids. With an approach incorporating pottery from different contexts and different chronological horizons of the LM III period this paper examines continuity and discontinuity in the use of fabrics and clay recipes in time and at a micro-regional level. Last but not least, the technological characteristics of the renowned ‘Kydonian workshop’ are examined.

Black coal cinder ceramics: an unusual technological choice in Sichuan Province, China

In Sichuan Province, China, many workshops on the historic pottery street of Yingjing and one small one in Gaoxian produce black pottery by adding ground coal cinders to their clay. This unique raw material is fired with a kiln design and process that are also unique. Coarse-grained cooking products are most common, but fine-grained teawares and other new product lines recently emerged in Yingjing to meet new market niches. High-temperature phases such as mullite, cristobalite, and glass seen in thin sections primarily reflect those also seen in the coal cinders. The volume of closed and open pores and the structure of pore systems differ for coarse versus fine wares and are well suited for intended product functions. Variation in pore systems for Yingjing coarse wares indicates subtle differences in raw materials, materials preparation, and firing temperatures between workshops and within each workshop’s numerous production runs and products compared with the sole Gaoxian small workshop with very limited products.

THE TRACES OF THE EARLY IRON AGE AT AMOS

In this study, the evidence of the Early Iron Age obtained by the recent excavations carried out at Amos will be
 discussed. Amos located on the northeastern coast of Karia Chersonesos (Bozburun Peninsula), on the Asarcık Hill.
 Amos firstly appeared in the historical records by the 5th century BC. Amos, as a member of the Delian League, was
 recorded on the Athenian Tribute Lists of 428 BC. Following the establishment of the Rhodes state in 408 BC, the
 city became part of the Rhodian Peraea (Incorporated Peraea) and continued this situation until the 2nd century AD.
 Amos, also led a koinon, was abandoned by the 3rd century BC. The only research in the city was carried out by G.
 E. Bean in 1948. In addition to the survey that have been going on since 2019, the excavations began in 2020 yielded
 the earliest evidence of Amos. Up to the present, the earliest archaeological finds of Amos were from the 6th century
 BC. In the excavations carried out in the temple on the acropolis in 2021, some traces of the Early Iron Age were
 found. The remains of an apsidal building dated to the 10th century BC were found below the temple. Furthermore,
 outside the edifice a pyre (cremation area) associated with the building was found. After the secondary cremation,
 the intramural burial was placed under the floor of the structure. The first one of the two burials was placed in a belly
 amphora, the other into a necked amphora. Among the two urns, the necked amphora is decorated with concentric
 circles, while the belly amphora is a coarse ware. A bow fibula was found along with these amphorae as well.
 According to the widely view regarding the burial customs of the period, belly amphorae were preferred for women
 and necked amphorae for men. The apsidal building where a couple as an intramural burial in, must have belonged
 to a chief owing to a similar one in Lefkandi. It is possible to date the evidence at Amos from the Early Iron Age to
 the 10th century BC.

The production of western Greek amphorae in Agrigento (Southern Sicily): An archaeometric and archaeological characterisation of the late 6th-4th centuries BCE series

This paper aims at an interdisciplinary, archaeological and archaeometric characterisation of the western Greek amphorae series produced in late Archaic and Classical-period Agrigento (southern Sicily). The research is based on a macroscopic examination, according to the standardised methods of Fabrics of the Central Mediterranean (FACEM), combined with petrographic analyses of 21 amphorae samples of presumed local fabric found in Agrigento itself. These were found in the artisanal area outside Porta V, in the excavations South of the temple of Zeus, and in several Sicilian consumption sites. Furthermore, a selection of 12 coarse ware samples and three tiles, all of supposed local manufacture and unearthed in Agrigento, has been investigated. For comparison, 12 raw clays sampled in the gullies between the Tempio di Giunone and the Tempio della Concordia have been included in this study and are complimented by chemical analyses (ICP-MS and ICP/OES) undertaken on a group of 19 ceramic samples and seven raw materials. As a result, our study confirms the local manufacture of the entire selection of 36 ceramic samples and the more than acceptable petrographic and chemical homogeneity of the ceramic pastes produced with locally sourced clays. The identification of a production of western Greek wine (?) amphorae in Agrigento dating from the late 6th-4th century BCE breaks ground for a better understanding of the colony’s economic development during the late Archaic and Classical periods. The city has to be regarded, in fact, as one of the major global players within the wider frame of Sicilian commercial interaction, especially during the 5th century BCE.

The significance of Roman provincial storage vessels (Krausengefäße type) from the 2nd century in Jevíčko in the context of the North Danubian Barbaricum

The paper examines the identification, distribution, chronology and interpretation of Roman-Provincial rimmed storage vessels, which were among the Roman imports to the area north of the Danube in the 2nd century and the first half of the 3rd century. The spread of Roman coarse ware storage vessels occurred in the second half of the 2nd century. These are mainly found in Elbe-Germanic settlements (usually in sunken huts) in southern Moravia and south-western Slovakia. Some were quite voluminous (e.g. the storage vessels from Jevíčko and Křepice were up to 50 litres) and probably contained a variety of plant or animal foodstuff (e.g. seafood, exotic fruits, and various fermented or chilled foodstuffs).

Some Thoughts on a Table Amphora Type (AF1) in Arycanda

Recent archaeological excavations carried out between 2004-2013 in the eastern Lycian city of Arycanda in S.W. Turkey, have exposed a late antique quarter that includes several well-dated deposits in several buildings such as Bathhouse, a Peristyle House and related spaces. These ceramic deposits yielded significant fine red slipped and coarse wares from the late antique period. A table amphora form named AF1 from Arycanda has morphologically unique specifications according to its clay specifications. The ceramic data from the deposits at Arycanda have been shown that AF1 was in heavy use in the Vth century A.D. According to technical observations on the fired clays of the Arycanda examples indicated here, eastern Lycian workshops might have produced these vessels. Analogical comparisons of morphologies and clays suggest that this form spread out to other parts of Lycia and the surrounding regions in Late Antiquity. Similar examples from Paphos indicate that AF1 was also possibly exported to Western Cyprus. This paper aims to present and discuss some thoughts on morphological specifications, chronology, possible production sites, and distributions of AF1

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.

Uniform in diversity: Typological and technological analysis of Bronze Age fine ware from Kakucs-Turján

The ceramic variability of fine ware pottery in Early and Middle Bronze Age Carpathian Basin (2600/2500–1500/1450 BCE) has been used as an argument for the existence of distinct, large-scale communities. The recent technological studies of coarse ware ceramics have shown that different stylistic groups are characterized by uniform technological traits, suggesting that current narratives result from an a priori classification of material culture. To verify whether fine ware ceramics were characterized by similar traits, a sample of 33 vessels from a multi-layered, fortified settlement of Kakucs-Turján (Hungary) was analyzed in terms of vessel forms and underlying production processes. The analyses compared the classical local and non-local provenance objects to determine whether the impressionistic categorization of vessels is supported by discrete parameters. The results indicate that similarly to coarse ware, Early and Middle Bronze Age ceramics in the Carpathian Basin was characterized by uniform production processes suggesting the impact of multi-directional and persisting interaction across the Carpathian Basin.

Nabataean and Roman coarse ware cooking pottery from Aila (Aqaba, Jordan)

The Roman Aqaba Project seeks to reconstruct diachronically the economic history of the ancient port of Aila on the Red Sea (now modern Aqaba in southern Jordan). Excavations of Aila between 1994 and 2003 yielded an enormous quantity of stratified ceramic evidence. This paper focuses on coarse ware cooking vessels recovered from Aila dating to the 1st to early 5th centuries. Although the potters of Aila were influenced by the ceramic traditions of the Nabataean capital at Petra, they also developed an independent ceramic tradition. Further, the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE, including Aila, seems to have had little impact on the local ceramic industry, which continued with little change until the mid-3rd century, which seems to mark an important transition characterized by the disappearance of many long established types and the appearance of new types, including cooking vessels. Although most of these were produced locally, a significant minority was imported to Aila, mostly from the Petra region about 100 km away. This paper presents a typology of these cooking vessels and offers some explanation for the differing quantities of various types of imported cooking vessels over these centuries, with implications for the regional economy in this period.

Contextualising Artisanal Interplay and Technological Changes on Iron Age Naxos (Cyclades). Some Preliminary Observations

Iron Age Naxos in the Cyclades offers a nuanced insight into potting traditions of fine and coarse wares. Geometric Naxian coarse-ware pots belong to a hand-building tradition that was practised alongside Naxian wheel-made fine wares. Although hand-built, certain Naxian coarse vessels, i.e., storage amphorae and cooking jugs, from the second half of the 8th century BC onwards, show the use of rotational devices in roughouts and shaping to varying degrees, as preserved in the Tsikalario cemetery in inland Naxos. This thematic review, which serves as an introduction to on-going research, sets out the goals and approaches of a technological study which is also investigating the use of rotational devices on Iron Age Naxian vessels alongside other co-existing (hand-made) potting traditions. It is argued that such technological phenomena/changes observed are part of a wider picture that includes interactions and cross-fertilisation between ceramic artisans in the Iron Age settlements of the island.

Local Potter’s reactions. Three case studies from southern Italy and Sicily

This paper presents the results of three NAA sample series from Ascoli Satriano (Apulia), Ripacandida (Basilicata) and Monte Iato (western Sicily). Based on the identification of the chemical patterns of each site, the study aimed to outline the range of local pottery production, as seen against the backdrop of cultural contacts in the course of the so-called Greek colonization. For this purpose, colonial and imported Greek vessels, supplemented by kitchen and coarse wares, were sampled alongside traditional indigenous pottery. The chronological framework covered the 8th/7th to the 4th c. BCE. The results revealed that a highly diverse pottery production existed from early on in areas of intensive cultural contacts and wide-ranging networks, as at Monte Iato. More remote areas, on the other hand, tended to remain integrated into networks of lesser scope; in these areas, local production was primarily limited to traditional wares and external stimuli were taken up rather late, if at all. In this context, the results are understood as reflecting potters’ reactions to local demand defined by social differentiation.

A pilot study on coarse ware ceramic fabrics from the Ayios Vasileios Survey Project (Greece)

In this article, we present the results of our pilot study on coarse ware ceramic fabrics from the Ayios Vasileios Survey Project (Laconia, Greece). The aim of this pilot was to explore the potential of optical fabric analysis on coarse wares on the basis of (mineral) inclusions detectable by eye or under modest magnification. We aimed to answer the following question: can we discern Bronze Age coarse wares from Byzantine/Early Modern coarse wares by means of this technique? We studied 177 ceramic fragments by eye and by means of a stereo microscope. This resulted in the description of 51 different provisional fabrics. Only a few of these fabrics could be assigned to a specific time period with certainty, based on a consistent dating of the sherds by the ceramic specialists, who looked at shape, decoration and fabric. Most of the fabrics seem to consist of sherds stemming from various time periods. A comparison between our provisional fabric groups and those published by other researchers in Laconia shows that possible connections or matches between fabrics made by us should be considered either as tentative or as unreliable beyond the level of argued assumptions. To arrive at more reliable ceramic fabric connections, or the identification of similar fabrics, it will be necessary to publish not only textual descriptions and images of thin sections—as seems to be the common approach—but also series of high-resolution pictures of sherds and their fresh sections, as has been done in this article, together with more detailed descriptions of these sherds.

Paleoproteomic profiling of organic residues on prehistoric pottery from Malta

Mass spectrometry-based approaches have been successfully applied for identifying ancient proteins in bones and other tissues. On the contrary, there are relatively few examples of the successful recovery and identification of archeological protein residues from ceramic artifacts; this is because ceramics contain much lower levels of proteins which are extensively degraded by diagenetic effects. In this paper, we report the results of the characterization of proteins extracted from pottery of the Maltese site of Baħrija, the guide-site for the Baħrija period (half of 9th–second half of eighth century BCE), recently identified as the final part of the Borġ in-Nadur culture. Proteomic data here reported confirm that one of the major issue of these kind of studies is represented by contamination of animal and human agents that may complicate endogenous protein identification and authentication. The samples tested included a small group of ceramic forms, namely three tableware and six coarse ware thought to have been used in food preparation and/or storage. In this context, the limited availability of paleobotanical and archeozoological analyses may be compensated by the outcomes of the first proteomics profiling which, even if obtained on a limited selection of vessels, revealed the centrality of wheat in the diet of the ancient community of Baħrija. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier < PXD022848 > .

Late Roman coarse wares from the Roman villa of Torre Llauder (Barcelona, Spain): Archaeometric characterisation

Torre Llauder is a Roman villa located next to the city of Iluro (Mataró, Barcelona), which transformed into a small village during Late Antiquity. To investigate the provenance and technology of Late Roman coarse wares, and particularly cooking wares, used in this site between the 6th and the 7th centuries AD, 47 samples were selected including cooking pots and casseroles, and samples of common wares, and storage vessels. Archaeometric study of these ceramics was performed through X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) for the chemical characterisation, X-ray diffraction (XRPD) for the identification of the main crystalline phases, and optical microscopy by thin section analysis for the petrographic characterisation. The results show that the cooking wares share strong similarities both in chemical composition, and petrographic features. A large petrographic fabric group characterised by granitic inclusions can be further divided into four fabrics on textural grounds. The comparison of the pottery composition with the geology of the area supports the hypothesis of a regional origin for most of the fabrics defined. The clays used for most cooking and common wares were probably derived from a common granitic area in the Maresme region, and likely from a granodioritic batholith. Some samples may have been produced in neighboring areas.