Medieval and Post-Medieval Pottery

The Kyklades or Cycladic Islands have always been popular amongst archaeologists working on the Aegean Bronze Age and the 'glorious' Classical Greek past. In contrast, not much light has been shed upon aspects of post-Roman life on the islands. Research into the post-medieval period has been a subject mainly for historians and folklorists. This paper attempts to explore aspects of the lifestyle of the peoples who inhabited this island group throughout the more recent, yet most neglected centuries of Greek history, using archaeological, textual and other sources and methods. My aim is to reconstruct everyday rural life in Greece, by focusing on the domestic sphere and addressing questions concerning society and the domestic material culture of a littoral area that has remained traditional until very recently.
This paper examines some .first results of the CYRE.P. (Cyclades Research Project) and introduces examples concerning the domestic material culture of the late medieval and post-medieval periods (early 13th-late 19th centuries) in the Aegean Islands of the Cyclades, with particular reference to housing, furniture and internal.fittings, costumes and embroideries.

A successful campaign led by the Grand Vizier Gedik Ahmed Pasha to the Crimea in 1475 brought new territories to the Ottoman Empire — the Southern Taurica and the eastern edge of the Kerch Peninsula, which previously belonged to the Genoese and the local principality of Theodoro. This event, as well as new political and economic realities, had a significant
impact on the material culture of the local population. Substantial changes also occurred in the ceramic assemblage. According to the written sources of the first half of the 16th century, pottery manufacturing in Taurica, particularly in the Ottoman province Kefe (former Genoese Caffa), also persisted. However, archaeological data tell about disappearance of
glazed pottery, inherent for the previous epoch. In the Ottoman period, the new forms and decorations of vessels, more common for the central regions of the Porte, prevailed among ceramic utensils used by the local inhabitants. At the same time, import from other lands of the Empire became a significant part of the Crimean ceramic assemblage too, especially in the early years of the Ottoman rule. Among them, there are ordinary courseware and glazed tableware, which came in significant amounts. For the first time, changes in ceramic assemblages, which occurred after the catastrophe of 1475, are analyzed on the basis of the materials from well-dated archaeological contexts of the end of the 15th — beginning of the 17th centuries, from various archaeological sites of the Crimea.

This article offers a basic model and background methodological approaches to the establishment and development of Ottoman Archaeology in rural Greece, by presenting two surveyed ciftlik-estates in the region of Tanagra and their associated material culture (housing and surface ceramics). The site of Guinosati (6,5 kilometres southeast of Tanagra) and a group of four linked long-houses (here referred to as Bardzi) on the acropolis hill of the ancient Tariagra city-site comprise our present case-study of Ottoman villages dated between the 15th and 18th centuries.

This ASLU volume examines the built environment and aspects of domestic material culture of the Late Byzantine/Frankish, Ottoman and Early Modern Cyclades in the Aegean (13th – 20th centuries). On the basis of primary archaeological data gathered by the Cyclades Research Project, this monograph’s aims are the reconstruction of everyday domestic life in towns and villages, the identification of socio-cultural identities that shaped or were reflected on pre-Modern material remains, and the history of island landscapes through the study of certain aspects of material culture. Aspects of ‘material culture’ analysed in this study include settlement layout (fortified settlements and undefended nucleated villages), domestic buildings (housing of urban character, peasant housing and farmsteads), ceramics (locally produced and imported glazed tableware), internal fittings (built structures and mobile fittings) and island-costumes (male and female dress codes).

This paper forms a contribution to the archaeological study of the Post-Roman periods in Greece within the framework of the Cyclades Research Project (CY.RE.P.), by examining aspects of the built environment and the domestic material culture of the Venetian- and Ottoman-dominated Cyclades (c. AD 13th - 19th). Moreover, this paper aims to provide a study model for the reconstruction of everyday domestic life in towns and villages, and the identification of sociocultural identities that shaped, or were reflected in, Pre-Modern material remains through the study of certain aspects of material culture. The term ‘material culture’ here refers to island settlement layout (fortified settlements-kastra and undefended nucleated villages), domestic buildings (housing of urban character and peasant housing), ceramics (locally produced and imported glazed tableware versus coarse-wares), internal fittings/furniture (built-fixed structures and mobile fittings) and island-costumes (male and female dress
codes).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss recent archaeological evidence about settlement and village-life throughout the Greek Middle Ages, during the Early and Middle Byzantine (late 7th – early 13th), Late Byzantine or Frankish (early 13th – middle 15th) and early Ottoman eras (late 15th – 17th) in the Aegean. The paper draws on the ‘Ancient Cities of Boeotia Intensive Survey Project’ carried out in the region of Tanagra in Boeotia, central Greece, by Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in the Netherlands, and with which the author has been involved since 2000. The ongoing ‘Ancient Cities of Boeotia Project’, which began its systematic Survey Programme at the site of the ancient city of Tanagra and its surrounding territory in 2000 (led by Prof. J.L. Bintliff, Leiden University), aims at the detailed examination of past human activity at the ancient city and its immediate countryside. Surface survey in the immediate territory of Tanagra has revealed the remains of a number of deserted villages dated to the Byzantine, Frankish and early Ottoman periods, granting the project the potential to further investigate and interpret the material culture of this period in the area, in an attempt to provide a complete and more detailed picture of regional settlement history and rural/domestic life.

During this monitoring exercise features and deposits of archaeological significance were identified prompting an intensive phase of excavation and recording over an area of c.
160m2. A stone-lined rectangular pit, possibly a former ice-house, measuring 2.8m long, by 2.27m wide and over 1.6m deep, was exposed in plan. The fills of the pit yielded an important assemblage of pottery and clay tobacco pipe, dated to the early 18th century. Associated with this structure was a smaller rectangular structure c. 1.4m square by 1.4m deep formed of dry-stone masonry that exhibited the remains of what appeared to be a corbelled roof of pennant sandstone slabs. In the floor of this structure a circular pit was revealed, interpreted as a well shaft, the upper fill of which yielded a complete glass onion bottle, made no later than AD 1710, together with a complete slipware chamber pot, also dated to the 18th century. These two masonry features have been backfilled and will now be preserved in-situ.

To the north of these features an area of medieval activity was defined by a series of intercutting and re-cut boundary ditches aligned both north-south and east-west. Within this area the surviving medieval soil cut features, though heavily truncated, appeared to represent the remains of two or more timber structures. This activity appears to have been domestic in nature, though no hearths were identified. At least one of the structures had several parallel east-west aligned bays, possibly indicating stalls for animals.

Medieval pottery from the excavation indicated there had been activity on or near the site since the mid 12th century AD, though the structural remains are more likely to date from the late 15th or early 16th centuries.

This article describes a 15th-century Valencian Lustreware basil pot, excavated during archaeological works for the Crossrail project at Moorgate, London. The vessel is placed into its wider context by being considered against other known examples in late medieval and early modern Europe and the representation of basil as a herb is also considered.

In north-western Europe it has long been realised that potsherds should not be used exclusively as a dating tool but also as a means for examining aspects of socio-economic organisation, trade and exchange, dining and drinking habits. In contrast to methodological advances in Europe, medieval and post-medieval archaeology in Greece is still in its dawn. Remains of the post-Roman periods have just begun to be decently excavated and scientifically recorded. On the basis of older and recently published excavations in urban centres (Athens, Corinth and Thessaloniki) and surface surveys in the Greek countryside and other areas in the eastern Mediterranean, this paper offers an overall review of pottery forms and styles found in Greece. Case studies are also used from the late medieval and post-medieval Aegean islands of the Cyclades, examining some first results of the CY.RE.P. (Cyclades Research Project) survey research. Medieval pottery research in Greece is discussed in an attempt to examine socio-economic and cultural aspects of post-Roman ceramics in Greece in terms of trade and contacts between East and West, economic and social formation, cultural and/or symbolic meanings and domestic life.

Il caso studio presentato in questa sede esporrà le problematicità riscontrate nella ricostruzione della produzione ceramica a Pisa tra XV e XVI secolo laddove l’evoluzione degli studi e l’apertura di nuovi scavi stratigrafici nel centro urbano negli ultimi quindici anni hanno permesso l’acquisizione di nuove conoscenze e di individuare una discrasia nelle considerazioni tratte in passato. Solo attraverso l’integrazione di tutte le fonti passate e presenti (archeologiche, storiche, documentarie) è stato possibile ottenere una lettura corretta ed omogenea di vecchie e nuove informazioni, dimostrando come la smaltatura sia in uso a Pisa sino alla fine del XVI secolo e come la diversificazione delle classi ceramiche ingobbiate si sviluppi solo con gli inizi del Cinquecento.

The Baltic and North Atlantic Pottery Research Group (BNPG) is a group of archaeologists, historians, art historians and such alike with a passion for medieval and post-medieval pottery produced and traded within Northern Europe. It arose in 2016 with the aim of bringing together specialists from different regions to meet and exchange knowledge. After two successful meetings we are gathering again in Stralsund next year, 2-3 April 2020.
The attendance is open for all who have interest towards the historical pottery research.

Descrizione dell'intervento di assistenza archeologica in località Ponte a Elsa dove sono stati messi in luce i resti di una fornace per laterizi d'età romana ed una successione di piani stradali tra XIV e XX secolo. Sono stati analizzati i materiali ceramici rinvenuti nelle stratificazioni stradali comprese tra XVI e XIX secolo.

Funa castle was built on the border of the local principality Theodoro with the coastal Genoese possessions in Southern Crimea (Northern Black Sea) about  1423 (fig. 1). Throughout its history, the castle was an important strategic boundary point. After considerable reconstruction in the 50-s of the 15th century, it became the residence of Mangup Prince Alexander who was the last ruler of Gothia in 1475 (KIRILKO 2005, 6-7, 33-59, 63).
During the Turkish invasion in 1475 all of buildings of the castle were burnt down. This tragic event has left for archaeologists valuable materials for reconstruction of the role of ceramic products in economy and daily life of its inhabitants.
The main excavations of the site were carried out in 1980-86, 1990-91, 1994-95 by expeditions of Ancient & Medieval Archaeology Department and Crimean Branch of IA NUAS under the leadership of V. Myts and V. Kirilko.
The fortress area is 0,25 hectare. The fortifications and about a third of the internal constructions of the castle were discovered during the excavations. Among the studied objects there are the donjon, church, barracks, guardhouse, garrison kitchen, storehouses, cistern, houses of guards and servants, public toilet, etc. (KIRILKO 2005; MYTS 2009, 362-370). Many ceramic finds were fixed in situ in the closed deposits and in fire layer, which date back to 1459-1475 and 1475 (KIRILKO 2005, 63-73; MYTS 2009, 444, fig. 316-342 ). Most of them come from the donjon, garrison kitchen and toilet cesspool.
In general, the ceramic assemblage of castle includes more than four hundred fully or partly reconstructed vessels. There are large and average household containers, various kitchen utensils and tableware, both of the local Crimean production and import.