Local Pottery in the Lower Bug Region at the Early Stages of Urbanization
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the development of pottery in the Lower Bug region and its role in urbanization processes on the basis of historiographical, archaeological and paleogeographical data at the 6th century BCE.
Scientific novelty. For the first time the ceramic production are comprehensively considered into account the raw material base of the pottery of the ancient settlement on the example of Borysthenes. The relationship between social and natural factors in the development of pottery has been established. The role of this craft in the context of urbanization processes in the North-Western Black Sea region is determined. The early production of ceramics in Lower Bug is considered, covering different categories of sources. A method of studying the local pottery making in the ancient centres of the region is proposed.
Methodology. The study was based on a comprehensive analysis of historiographical and archaeological data and paleogeographical methods. The field stage of the research included the survey of sites with unsoddy deposits of various geological periods as potential pottery raw materials. A stratigraphic dissection of deposits, their macromorphological description and samples were taken from each sites for further laboratory research. The laboratory research included a micromorphological analysis of ceramic products to compare its characteristics with potential raw materials, as well as a granulometric analysis of the selected samples to determine their physicochemical properties.
Conclusions. Pottery as an independent type of craft was distinguished in Hellenic culture quite early and came to the centres of the Northern Black Sea region as an already formed occupation. Spatially, workshops were situated at the large cities, where the manufactured products not only satisfied local demand, but also served as goods for sale. As archaeological materials showed, the earliest evidence of local pottery production was discovered on Berezan island and date from the middle of the 6th century BCE. The active development of the settlement, i.e. the intensification of the urbanization of the space, belongs around the same period. Therefore, the development of crafts, in particular pottery, is a component of this multifaceted process.
Paleopedological studies, micromorphological and granulometric analyzes of potential pottery raw materials with the micromorphological features of ceramics allow us to talk about local production. It was found that craftsmen could use local raw materials to create the moulding mass, which was obviously multi-component. The materials mainly of the first half of the 6th century BCE from site “T” of Berezan settlement confirmed the assumption about the predominance of grey ceramics (“greyware”) in the local pottery making at that time. Probably, the tradition of its production existed for a long time.
References
Bondarenko, D. & Chistov D. (2021). «Kvartal goncharov» (uchastok ‘GSh’) v sisteme zastroiki i v ekonomike arkhaicheskogo Borisfena [“Potters’ Quarter” (sector “ГШ”) and its Place in the City Grid and in Economy of the Archaic Borysthenes]. Stratum plus, 3, 235-259. DOI: 10.55086/sp213235259 [in Russian].
Borisova, V. (1958). Goncharnye masterskie Khersonesa (po materialam raskopok 1955-1957 gg.) [Pottery workshops of Chersonesos (based on excavations in 1955–1957)]. Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 4, 144-153 [in Russian].
Buiskikh, A. (2019). Arkhaicheskaia raspisnaia keramika iz Borisfena (raskopki 1960-1980 gg.) [Archaic painted pottery from Borysthenes (excavations of 1960-1980)]. Kiev: IA NAN Ukrainy [in Russian].
Buiskykh, A. (2019). Vyrobnycha maisternia na Pivdennomu temenosi Olvii [Workshop on the Southern Temenos of Olbia]. In: Chabai, V. (Ed.). I Vseukrainskyi arkheolohichnyi z’izd. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy, 327-333 [in Ukrainian].
Buiskykh, S. (2012). Olviia ta Berezan v konteksti zasnuvannia ioniiskoho kolonialnoho polisa v Nyzhnomu Pobuzhzhi [Olbia and Berezan in the context of the founding of the Ionian colonial polis in Lower Bug region]. Muzeinyi visnyk, 12, 53-63 [in Ukrainian].
Chistov, D. & Krutilov, V. (2014). The archaic town on the Berezan island: new studies on the chronology and urban planning of the Berezan settlement. In: Povalahev, V. (Hrsg.). Phanagoreia und darüber hinaus… Festschrift für Vladimir Kuznetsov. Göttingen: Cuvillier Verlag, 209-229 [in English].
Crielaard, J. (2009). Cities. In: Raaflaub, K. & Wees, H. (Eds.). A Companion to Archaic Greece. Malden, Massachusetts, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 349-372 [in English].
Domanskii, Ya. & Marchenko, K. (2004). Bazovaia funktsiia rannego Borisfena [Basic function of Early Borysthenes]. In: Kryzhitskii, S. (Ed.). Borysthenika-2004. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii k 100-letiiu nachala issledovanii ostrova Berezan E.R. fon Shternom. Mykolaiv: Vydavnytstvo Natsionalnoho Universytetu korablebuduvannia, 23-28 [in Russian].
Ievlev, M. (2014). Ocherki antichnoi paleoekologii Nizhnego Pobuzhia i Nizhnego Podneprovia [Essays on the ancient paleoecology of the Lower Bug and Lower Dnieper]. Kyiv: Vydavets Oleh Fyliuk [in Russian].
Knipovich, T. (1940). Keramika mestnogo proizvodstva iz raskopa “I” [Ceramics of local production from section “И”]. In: Yachmenev, N. (Ed.). Olviia. Vol. I. Kiev: AN USSR, 129-170 [in Russian].
Kotenko, V. & Sheiko, I. (2021). Syrovynna baza yak faktor rozvytku honcharstva antychnykh tsentriv Pivnichno-Zakhidnoho Prychornomor’ia (Olviia ta Berezan). [Raw Material Base as a Factor in the Development of Pottery of the Ancient Centres of the North-Western Black Sea Region (Olbia and Berezan)]. Zvit pro naukovo-doslidnu robotu za dohovorom vid 05.05.2021 r. №13/03-2021 (№ derzh. reiestratsii 0121U112024). Kyiv, 2021 [in Ukrainian].
Kotenko, V., Sheiko, I., Kozlenko, R. & Kushnir, A. (2021). Studying of antique pottery of Olbia and Borysthenes (historiographical aspect). Arkheolohiia, 4, 120-130. DOI: 10.15407/arheologia2021.04.122 [in English].
Kruglikova, I. (1884). Antichnaia arkheologiia [An ancient archeology]. Moskva: Vysshaia shkola [in Russian].
Krutilov, V. & Bondarenko, D. (2015). Keramicheskie obzhigatelnye pechi Borisfena serediny VI v. do n.e. (po materialam raskopok 2011-2013 gg.) [Ceramic kilns from Borysthenes of the middle of VI c. BC (based on excavations of 2011-2013)]. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriia Ukrainy, 1 (14), 205-216 [in Ukrainian].
Krutilov, V., Mommsen, H. & Fornasier, J. (2021). Ein Ofenkomplex des 6. Jhs. v. Chr. aus Borysthenes. Neue Perspektiven zur Herkunftsbestimmung griechischer Keramik im nordwestlichen Schwarzmeerraum. In: Fornasier, J. & Bujskich, A. (Hrsg.). An den Ufern des Bug. Bonn: Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 253-276 [in German].
Krutilov, V. & Smyrnov, O. (2019). Rozkopky sakralnoho kompleksu na Berezani [Excavations of the sacred complex on Berezan]. Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia v Ukraini 2017 r. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy, 164-165 [in Ukrainian].
Matviishyna, Zh., Doroshkevych, S. & Kushnir, A. (2021). Assessment of Influence of Paleogeographical Conditions on the Formation of Mineral Raw Materials for the Manufacture of Ceramic Products (on the Example of Opishnyanske Deposit of Clay Rocks). Ukrainian geographical journal, 1, 15-24. DOI: 10.15407/ugz2021.01.015 [in English].
Miše, M., Quinn, P., Charlton, M., Serneels, V. & Montanari, A. (2020). Production and circulation of Late Hellenistic fine table ware in Central Dalmatia, Croatia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33, 1-18 [in English].
Odrin, O. (2014). Ekolohiia hospodarstva antychnykh derzhav Pivnichnoho Prychornomor’ia [Ecology of the economy of the ancient states of the Northern Black Sea region]. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Ownby, M., Giomi, E. & Williams, G. (2017). Glazed ware from here and there: Petrographic analysis of the technological transfer of glazing knowledge. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 16, 616-626 [in English].
Quinn, P. & Burton, M. (2010). Ceramic Petrography and the Reconstruction of Hunter-Gatherer Craft Technology in Late Prehistoric Southern California. In: Quinn, P. (Ed.). Interpreting Silent Artefacts: Petrographic Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics. Oxford: Archaeopress, 267-295 [in English].
Shelov, D. (1984). Remeslennoe proizvodstvo [Crafts industry]. In: Rybakov, B. (Ed.). Arkheologiia SSSR. Antichnye gosudarstva Severnogo Prichernomoria. Moskva: Nauka, 162-173 [in Russian].
Shilik, K. (1975). K paleografii Olvii [To the paleography of Olbia]. In: Kryzhitskii, S. (Ed.). Olviia. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 51-91 [in Russian].
Slavin, L. (1940). Otchet o raskopkakh Olvii v 1935 i 1936 gg. [Report on the excavations of Olbia in 1935 and 1936]. In: Yachmenev, N. (Ed.). Olviia. Vol. I. Kiev: AN USSR, 9-82 [in Russian].
Slavin, L. (1952). Naslidky arkheolohichnykh doslidzhen olviiskoi ekspedytsii v 1947 i 1948 rr. [Consequences of archaeological research of the Olbian expedition in 1947 and 1948]. In: Efymenko, P. (Ed.). Arkheolohichni pam’iatky URSR. Vol. 4. Kyiv: AN URSR, 48-58 [in Ukrainian].
Smyrnov, O., Bondarenko, D. & Vasylchuk, O. (2022). Roboty na o. Berezan (dilianka «T») [Works on Berezan island (section “T”)]. Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia v Ukraini 2020 r. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy, 180-183 [in Ukrainian].
Ting, C. & Taxel, I. (2020). Indigeneity and innovation of early Islamic glaze technology: the case of the Coptic Glazed Ware. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 12:27 (1). DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-01007-y [in English].
Treister, M. (1996). The Role of Metals in Ancient Greek History. Series: Mnemosyne: Bibliotheca Classica Batava, Supplementum, 156. Leiden, New York & Köln: E.J. Brill [in English].
Vetshtein, R. (1958). Keramichni vypaliuvalni pechi Olvii pershykh stolit nashoi ery [Ceramic kilns of Olbia of the first centuries CE]. In: Bibikov, S. (Ed.). Arkheolohichni pam’iatky URSR. Vol. 7 (Olviia. Vol. II). Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo Akademii Nauk URSR, 61-76 [in Ukrainian].
Vinogradov, Yu. (1989). Politicheskaia istoriia Olviiskogo polisa VII-I vv. do n.e. Istoriko-epigraficheskoe issledovanie [Political history of the Olbian polis of the 7th – 1st centuries BCE. Historical and epigraphic research]. Moskva: Nauka [in Russian].
Vlachou, V. (2015). From Pots to Workshops: The Hirschfeld Painter and the Late Geometric I Context of Attic Pottery Production. In: Vlachou, V. (Ed.). Études d’archéologie, 8. Pots, Workshops and Early Iron Age Society Function and Role of Ceramics in Early Greece. Proceedings of the International Symposium held at the Université libre de Bruxelles 14-16 November, 2013. Bruxelles: CReA-Patrimoine, 49-74 [in English].
Wąsowicz, A. (1975). Olbia Pontique et son territoire. L’amenagement de l’espace. Series: Annales litteraires de l’Universite de Besancon, 168 (Centre de recherches d’histoire ancienne, vol. 13). Paris: Les Belles Lettres [in French].
Ziomecki, Ju. (1965). Pracownie ceramiczne w starożytnej Grecji. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowny im. Ossolińskich [in Polish].
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
