Corinthian pottery

The presently accepted ceramic chronology places the earliest episodes of Greek colonisation in Libya some three to four decades earlier than the traditional historical dates. A similar offset between the archaeological and historical chronologies can be seen at Naukratis and other Archaic Greek sites. A review of ‘fixed points’ for Archaic dating shows that the balance of evidence now strongly favours a reduction of late seventh to early sixth century BC Greek ceramic chronology by three to four decades. Such a reduction would bring harmony between the archaeological and historical pictures for the founding of the Cyrenaican colonies, restoring confidence in the account given by Herodotus.

SOMMARIO

D. Mustilli, La necropoli tirrenica di Efestia (tav. I-XIX)

Introduzione

Le esplorazioni sull'isola di Lemno

Parte I

La necropoli tirrenica di Efestia

Descrizione delle tombe

Parte II

Cap. I Ceramica di argilla non depurata

Cap. II I vasi di argilla depurata di color rosso

Cap. III Le forme e gli ornati dei vasi di argilla grigia

Cap. IV La tecnica della ceramica monocroma di Lemno e le relazioni con quelle simili greche

Cap. V La ceramica di Lemno ed i rapporti con quella delle altre regioni greche

Cap. VI I vasi della necropoli di Efestia e la cronologia del geometrico greco

Cap. VII I vasi protocorinzi, corinzi ed i limiti cronologici della necropoli di Efestia

Cap. VIII Oggetti varii di terracotta

Cap. IX Le fibule e gli altri oggetti di bronzo

Cap. X Le armi

Cap. XI Gli oggetti d'oro

Cap. XII Oggetti di gesso e di pastiglia bianca

Cap. XIII Oggetti varii

Cap. XIV Il rito funerario e i caratteri generali della necropoli

Cap. XV La necropoli di Efestia: introduzione e diffusione del rito incineratorio in Grecia e in Asia Minore

Riepilogo e conclusioni

G. Caputo, La stele di Efestia

M. Segre, Iscrizioni greche di Lemno

R. Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene: Atti della Scuola (1932-1933)

Elenco delle tavole - delle figure nel testo
Indice delle materie

Tavole

Famous as the homeland of Odysseus, Ithaca has been a preferred research area for archaeologists. However, the archaeology of Ithaca has been severely biased by its Homeric focus. As a result, Late Archaic and Classical Ithaca remains poorly understood. This biased research agenda combined with the lack of visible remains of monumental public architecture have created the impression that Classical Ithaca was an isolated backwater. This thesis aims to partially redress the balance. At Polis valley, northern Ithaca, relatively rich deposits of Late Archaic and Classical occupation have come to light. Six assemblages of fine ware pottery, Ithacan and imported, provide important insights on the hitherto unknown local pottery production and development, its relations to the Western Greek pottery tradition as well as the influences from the well-known pottery production centres of Athens and Corinth. The contexts of behaviour in which the pottery participated likely represent activities of communal feasting in the open and during daylight, followed by an arranged exposure of the leftovers on the surface. The social significance of the pottery is then investigated and it is argued that the local elite largely regulated pottery production and imports of foreign ceramics as strategies for maintaining the established social hierarchy. Furthermore, the depositional practices of the pottery may reveal a complex negotiation of social behaviours and concepts, such as insularity, acculturation, identity and connectivity. The final conclusion is that the local widely-connected seafaring elite deliberately cultivated a culture of austerity and traditionalism in order to maintain its power over the community, and the manipulation of fine ware pottery played a major role in the success of this strategy.

This paper focuses on a group of potsherds coming from the excavations conducted by the University of Florence in the area known as ‘S. Marco nord-est’, in the archaeological park of Monasterace Marina. All these finds can be dated within the second half of the VIII BC and referred to productions and morphologies chronologically connected with two different and very significant historical periods: the frequentation of the inner land  of the Ionian coast in the years that immediately precede Greek colonization, that is to say from 750 to 730 BC, and the period of the foundation of the
new apoikia, during the last two decades of the VIII century BC. The analogies between these artifacts and the series of similar finds known from the Tarantine gulf allow us to propose some important considerations on the role of the Capo Cocinto and of the area of the future Caulonia in the precolonial period; on the other side, the presence of a conspicuous group of Thapsos potsherds testifies that the foundation of the city has to be posed in the last
quarter of the VIII century BC, in parallel with those of the other Achaean poleis of the gulf of Taranto.

Nel contributo si presentano i risultati di uno studio condotto su un nucleo di frammenti databili nel corso della seconda metà dell’VIII secolo a.C. provenienti dalle ricerche archeologiche condotte dall’Università degli Studi di Firenze in località S. Marco nord-est, all’interno dell’attuale parco
archeologico di Monasterace Marina (RC). Per i reperti in questione è stato possibile riconoscere l’appartenenza a produzioni e morfologie ricollegabili a due diversi, importanti periodi: il gruppo più antico risale infatti alla fase delle frequentazioni della costa ionica e del suo entroterra negli anni precedenti la fondazione delle colonie, ossia al periodo compreso tra il 750 e il 730 a.C. circa; un altro insieme invece alla fase della ktisis della città da collocarsi negli ultimi decenni dell’VIII secolo a.C. Ne scaturiscono quindi alcune riflessioni da una parte sul ruolo svolto dal Capo Cocinto e dall’area della futura Caulonia nel quadro delle frequentazioni precoloniali della costa ionica, dall’altra sulla cronologia di fondazione del centro che la presenza
di ceramiche nello stile di Thapsos permette di considerare affine a quella degli altri insediamenti achei del golfo di Taranto.

The article deals with Corinthian; Attic Black and Red Figure pottery finds from the excavations conducted by E. Akurgal and L. Budde in the ancient city of Sinope between 1951 and 1953. The study also assesses relevant pottery finds which were found in successive periods found in Sinope and their evaluations in statistical analysis. Assessment of the pottery finds has indicated that the earliest Corinthian products in Sinope are represented by an oinochoe from LPC period. Having relatively parallel pottery densities with the other cities on the Black Sea area, the amount of Attic red-figured ceramics in Sinope appear to increase after the arrival of the Athenian citizens, who settled in Sinope, after the new colonization policies promoted during the reign of Pericles in the last quarter of the 5 th century BCE.

Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 License 193 CLAUDIA LAMBRUGO Giochi sonori e trottole ronzanti da Corinto. Su due oggetti ludici inediti di Ginevra Abstract-La presente nota pubblica due manufatti fittili inediti, conservati presso la sezione archeologica del Musée d'Art et d'Histoire della città di Ginevra. Si tratta nel primo caso certamente di un sonaglio in terracotta a forma di palla; nel secondo di un oggetto troncoconico con foro passante, il cui accurato decoro consente un inquadramento nella produzione artigianale di Corinto tra Protocorinzio Tardo e Corinzio Antico e che l'Autore propone di interpretare come trottola. I due oggetti ludici sono accomunati da suggestivi effetti visivi e sonori. Parole chiaveludus, giocattolo, trottola, sonaglio, ceramica corinzia, Corinto Title-Acoustic toys and buzzing tops from Corinth. On two unpublished ludic objects at Geneva Abstract-The paper deals with two unpublished ludic objects, made of clay, on display at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of Geneva (CH). Clearly, the first item is a ball-shaped rattle. More challenging is the interpretation of the second one, whose elegant decoration let it be compared to Corinthian pottery between Late Protocorinthian Period and Early Corinthian. The Author proposes it should be interpreted as a spinning top. Both ludic artefacts have evocative visual and acoustic effects.

(2018) Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores Acta (RCRFActa), Volume 45, pp. 675-684.

Corinth’s position along the empire-wide distribution networks of the Late Roman world allowed it to receive a variety of ceramics imported from long-distance centres, but the city was also supplied by numerous regional (Attic, Boiotian, and southern Argolid) and local sources. Extensive typological and fabric analyses of the ceramic material recovered from the excavations of the Panayia Field in Corinth have provided the opportunity to identify and characterize all of the major local and regional wares supplying the site. While the production and distribution patterns of each naturally evolved and shifted over time, changes at local and regional levels had the potential to affect Corinth’s interaction with long distance networks. Likewise, changes in empire-wide patterns could also affect the city’s interactions with neighboring regions. The material from the Panayia Field illustrates that the impact of local and regional centres of ceramic production was not geographically limited, but could in fact interact with, influence, and be affected by long distance networks and trends.

The excavations directed by professor Vincenzo Tusa at Selinus, on the south-western edge of the so called Acropolis, brought to light, in 1967, a small sacred area of the Punic phase. Among the findings, dating between the second half of the 4th century BC and the first half of the 3rd century BC, a marble lamp, a Corinthian pyxis and a terracotta can be dated to the Archaic period. Beyond the analysis of the three findings and their dating on the basis of the parallels, a focus on the numerous marble lamps retrieved at Selinus is performed, revealing that the Greek colony is, with Miletus, the place with the highest number of marble lamps in all the Mediterranean. This aspect stress the richness of Selinus already in the few decades since its foundation and the connections between the settlement, the Ionic area and the Cyclades. Finally the article discusses the possible reasons for the presence of archaic holy objects in the Hellenistic sacred area.

Mario Cesarano, «Nola polis degli Ausoni» nella Periegesi di Ecateo alla luce della documentazione dalle necropoli [143-168]
When Hekataios of Miletos speaks of Nola, a town of Campania near Naples, uses an apparent contradiction in terms: while he defines Nola as a polis belonging to the ‘Ausones’, some ancient writers considered the Ausones an indigenous people without poleis. We can assume that in the VI century BC Nola reached such a high level of ‘urban’ organization so as to share a cultural Mediterranean koine. The Greeks were the main intermediaries of this common culture, but not the only ones: through the grave goods some burials document the development of a Nolan community between VIII and VI century BC and the contacts between indigenous people, Greeks inhabiting the gulf of Cuma and some Etruscan groups settled in Campania. The result of this analysis allows us to put up for discussion the old concepts of hellenization and colonization, and to reflect carefully as to new notions of hibridity and creolization.
Nola – Ausones – Corinthian pottery – symposium – krater

Corinth showed little interest in colonizing the northern Aegean region, and yet, during the Archaic period, substantial ceramic finds from Corinthian workshops have been brought to light in many Macedonian sites. These pottery imports date from the last quarter of the 8 th century BC onwards, giving accurate, albeit limited, information on the still not well-known exchange pottery network in this area during that time. Protocorinthian painted vases belong to the most 'sophisticated' groups of Εarly Archaic fine pottery. They were appreciated as such by non-Corinthian users, since they bore particular symbolism and, usually, served a special function. Corinthian decorated vases circulated in much larger quantities than any previous Greek ceramic ware, increasing, thus, their consumption potential in the foreign markets. The aim of this paper is to explore frequency, variability (shapes, decoration, usage), and distribution patterns (settlements, cemeteries, sanctuaries) of various groups of Corinthian pottery (transport amphorae, cooking ware, painted vases) within a certain chronological and geographical frame. Secondly, it will focus on the materiality of this imported commodity and its variable functions in domestic, ritual and funerary contexts in Archaic Macedonia and attempt to analyze the relations to their place of origin.

Late Archaic pottery from Sikyon: Vases from graves

In the 1970s a section of the cemetery of ancient Sikyon was excavated. Its use was continuous from the end of the 7th to the 1st century BC. The tombs of the archaic period were located in a small part of the excavated area, but for first time we are able to study pottery of this period, coming from Sikyon. The influence of Corinth is remarkable, both in the typology of the vases and in the decorative motifs. At the same time, the import of Athenian black-figure pottery is also noted. Although it is not possible to  express clearly the view that certain vases are likely to be Sikyonian ceramic workshop products, one more link in the chain concerning the presence of archaic ceramics from the wider region of the Corinthian Gulf can be added.

In this present research project I propose to study the Archaic pottery finds deposited in the site museum of Corinth in order to create an analytical dataset for the study of technological aspects of pottery production during this period, as well as to determine the repercussions of this manufacture in the social fabric of Corinth. This work is the first necessary step towards the completion of a more extensive study of manufacture and society in the Corinthia during the Archaic period. However, the importance of Corinth as a centre of production and the long history of excavations of the ASCSA at the site makes it necessary to approach this site first, before trying to expand the work to other sites in the region. The results will be then used as the framework of my Ph.D research. In this wider work I intend to use the technological choices of the producers as a mode of inquiry in order to define the transmission of skills inside the workshop not only as a functional but also as a social element. Although pottery production started and still exists in some cultures as a part-time household activity, the development of specialised workshops indicates not only a full time commitment, but also a deep involvement in many aspects of the society's economy.

The master thesis presents the fine ware pottery of the Classical and Hellenistic periods from the Kokkina Kivouria cemetery at Kenchreai, the eastern port of Corinth. The cemetery is located 450 m northwest of the Roman harbour and was excavated in 1976. The study examines and analyses the material on three basic levels: typology, fabrics and decoration, and imports. The pottery spans from the first quarter of the 5th century to 100 BC, with the most homogeneous group dating from 360 to 250 BC. Corinthian production accounts for 78.6% of the pottery presented in the study, the rest being Attic and other imports.

Using deposits recently excavated from the Panayia Field, this volume substantially revises the absolute chronology of Corinthian Hellenistic pottery as established by G. Roger Edwards in Corinth VII.3 (1975). This new research, based on quantitative analysis of over 50 deposits, demonstrates that the date range for most fine-ware shapes should be lowered by 50-100 years. Contrary to previous assumptions, it is now possible to argue that local ceramic production continued in Corinth during the interim period between the destruction of the city in 146 B.C. and when it was refounded as a Roman colony in 44 B.C. This volume includes detailed shape studies and a comprehensive catalogue. With its presentation of this revised "Panayia Field chronology," Corinth VII.7 is a long-awaited and much-needed addition to the Corinth series.

Dans le palais madrilène de la bibliothèque et des musées nationaux d’Espagne, à côté de la place Christophe Colomb, les vitrines des salles d’art grec du Museo Arqueológico Nacional présentent un rare vase corinthien au décor humain, animalier et fantastique, attribué au cercle du Peintre de Politis. Si l’olpé et son iconographie peuvent être analysées dans leurs contextes de création – les ateliers corinthiens du premier quart du VIe siècle av. J.-C. – et de réception – la société vulcienne –, elle a aussi connu une histoire moderne rocambolesque qui mérite l’attention. Avant de rentrer dans la collection de l’archéologue majorquin Bartolomé Ferrá y Perelló, le vase fut repêché par un navire marchand dans une caisse flottant dans la mer Méditerranée au large des Baléares. Les sources documentaires nous apprennent aussi qu’elle provient des fouilles de grande ampleur menées dans les nécropoles du site étrusque de Vulci au cours du deuxième quart du XIXe siècle, faisant peut-être partie du riche mobilier de la Tombe d’Isis découverte par Alexandrine et Lucien Bonaparte en 1839. Dans tous les cas, la présence de l’olpé en contexte vulcien invite à réévaluer la question des importations corinthiennes et la réception de leur répertoire au sein des pratiques funéraires étrusques du début de l’époque archaïque.

Studi: II. Carmelo MALACRINO, Su un appunto “dimenticato” di Paolo Orsi. Il sarcofago marmoreo di S. Eufemia Vetere; Maria Luisa MARCHI, Giovanni FORTE, Luceria. Lettura storico-topografica della città e del suo territorio; Madeleine MERTENS HORN, Una monumentale testa di Sfinge arcaica da Taranto; Sophie MONTEL, Airton POLLINI, Réinventer l’histoire: réécritures du passé et honneurs aux héros dans le monde grec à l’époque classique; Kees NEEFT, Florals in the Workshop of the Laurion Painter; Maria Cecilia PARRA, Una nota per l’agora di Locri Epizefiri; Nicoletta POLI, Il culto attestato in località Pizzone a Taranto; Ted ROBINSON, Spurs in Ancient South Italy; Daria RUSSO, Rappresentare gruppi civici ad Atene: presenze e assenze sul fregio del Partenone; Umberto SPIGO, I pinakes di Francavilla di Sicilia: alcuni addenda; Paolo STORCHI, Enzo Lippolis e il territorio reggiano. Una stagione di grandi scoperte; Chiara TARDITI, Vasi di bronzo in area apula: le importazioni ateniesi; Indice dei sommari delle annate 2019 e 2020.

The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTh) in collaboration with the “Association of Ceramic Artists of Northern Greece” organized a fiveday long Experimental Pottery Workshop in 2012 for undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology students.

The Workshop was a sequel to an older event that dealt with Neolithic pottery (2010). Its aim was to provide a better understanding of the shapes, the decoration and the uses of 7th and 6th c. BC vases, at a time when the Macedonian kingdom was established and expanded. It was also an opportunity to investigate disciplinary issues on ancient ceramics within an experimental framework.

The approach was experiential and combined archaeological knowledge with the know-how of modern northern Greek ceramists.
Four specific pottery shapes were chosen, two of which have a long tradition in Macedonia (jug with cut-away neck and kantharoid kotyle) and two were imported in Macedonia from Corinth and Attica in the
archaic era, becoming very popular in local ceramic workshops (column krater and exaleiptron). Miniature vessels of various shapes, very often found in burials and sanctuaries, comprised a separate, fifth group.
The 28 participants were divided into groups and each group worked on the potter’s wheel under the supervision of two ceramists. A large number of authentic ancient vases of respective categories were on display and accessible to all in order to examine their construction
details and create copies as close to the original as possible, by imitating the techniques of ancient craftsmen, both in terms of shape and of decoration (either polished or painted).

In the end, the finished products of the Workshop were examined. The changes/alterations on the vases that occurred during firing were documented and discussed, and the participants carried out experimental checks on the produced vessels. Specially designed questionnaires were filled out, which offered insightful comments
on the continuation and improvement of similar endeavours, aiming towards a non-typical form of acquaintance for young archaeologists with the most common and numerous excavation find, ancient pottery.

We hope to carry on the experiments in the Chemistry Lab of the A.M.Th. where we kept specimens of the clays we used. Based on these, we will attempt to investigate the chemical composition of the raw materials
and the changes that occur during firing. XRF (XRay Fluorescence) and AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) will be used for the pottery analysis in order to check the methodology often employed in archaeometric analyses of ancient pottery and address issues of
technology and/or provenance.

Excavations of the ancient Pantikapaion have been going on since the first half of the 19th century. For the past 70 years the Bosporan (Pantikapaion) Expedition of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts has been excavating the site on a regular basis. During the 2009–2014 field seasons, a well-preserved section of the city’s earliest level dating from the late 7th — first half of the 6th century BC has been uncovered for
the first time. This article provides an overview of the Proto-Corinthian kotylai with hound-hunt scenes.