A Companion to Ancient Thrace by Valeva Julia; Nankov Emil; Graninger Denver

Author:Valeva, Julia; Nankov, Emil; Graninger, Denver
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
Published: 2015-02-26T17:10:00+00:00

Imported and local wheel-made pottery

From the eighth to sixth century, some regions of southern Thrace yield archaeological assemblages with evidence of wheel-made pottery. Some of this material suggests the existence of long-distance trade, like the seventh-century east Greek bird bowl sherds from Koprivlen (Bozkova 2002а, fig. 47.1) and from sites in the Yambol district on the Tundzha river (Bakardzhiev 2010, figs. 3.1–3.2). Another pottery group consists of vessels decorated in sub-Protogeometric or Geometric style and produced in north Aegean workshops or locally. According to current scholarship (Karadzhinov 2010, 158, 168), such imports begin to arrive in the Thracian hinterland, north of the Aegean coast, in the eighth century, before the end of the Geometric period. Two large regions of inland Thrace, perhaps as a consequence of their more advanced economic development and location, were exposed to Greek styles and developed their own imitative production.

The first of these regions is framed by the middle and lower reaches of the Struma and Mesta rivers; it is culturally and economically bound to the Thermaic Gulf centers and to Thasos and the Thasian peraia (see Chapter 19). Within this region, eighth- and seventh-century local vessels with north Aegean-inspired geometric decoration have been found at Koprivlen near Gotse Delchev and at Mikrevo near Sandanski. The finds emulate a northern Aegean pottery style, known variously as “silvered ware,” “local subgeometric ware,” “Olynthus style pottery,” or “Chalcidian style 1 ware” (on this ware cf. Gimatzidis 2010, 226–228; Bozkova 2002а, 133–145); they show technological, typological, and decorative correspondences with pottery from the Thermaic gulf and Chalcidice peninsula, and find particularly close comparanda in assemblages from Thasos, Argilos, Olynthus, and Sindos (Gimatzidis 2010, 226–252, figs. 64–73). This pottery style is characterized by a comparatively rich repertoire of both closed (e.g., pithoi and pithos-like amphorae, neck-handled amphorae, jugs, and stamnoi) and open forms (e.g., cups and deep bowls). The decoration, which is the unifying element for this ceramic group, is painted in a specific color range with various shades of reddish-violet and reddish-brown color; it consists of geometric motifs either restricted to particular sections or quite often covering the entire surface. Applied carelessly, the ornament is most commonly organized in bands framed by horizontal lines. The basic motifs include: horizontal lines of different width that are used as an independent motif or as margins; intersecting horizontal and vertical lines; concentric circles; bands of different width, comprised of wavy lines of assorted thickness and amplitude; net-like ornament; groups of small bows; and grouped dots. Despite the remarkable similarity with the north Aegean finds, the Koprivlen and Mikrevo assemblages demonstrate some distinct forms suggestive of regional preferences and local production. This hypothesis is also supported by the discovery at Koprivlen of a stone pottery kiln that preserves sherds of wheel-made late Archaic red-slipped amphorae (Bozkova and Delev 2011, 22–23, figs. 12–13); the find confirms local production of fine wheel-made pottery prior to the end of the Archaic period.

The second cultural zone with finds of wheel-made pottery with geometric motifs is located in the middle Maritsa river valley, north of the modern Bulgaria/Turkey/Greece border.

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