From Italy to the Levant: Tracing of Roman fine pottery

AMMAN — The Roman fine pottery from the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD could be classified as “Italian Sigillata” and the “Eastern Sigillata” wares.

Scholars started to write monographies about the Roman pottery in the 20^th century and one of them was a study by Kathleen Kenyon (1906-1978) in 1957 about the pottery types she discovered in the West Bank.

“The term “Eastern Sigillata D” (ESD) was added later by Rosenthal in her analysis of the group of pottery from the excavations at Tel Mevorakh,” said Lamia Khouri from Yarmouk University.

Khouri added that due to chemical analyses, in the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean, in the north Syrian coast, it was known as “Pergamene Sigillata”.

"ESB was produced in the south-western region of Asia Minor, and known previously as 'Samian Sigillata'. ESC was manufactured in the region of Pergamon, specifically in the coastal site of Pitane or Çandarli, where a workshop of this type of pottery was excavated. ESD produced most probably in Cyprus and known as ' Cypriot Eastern Sigillata D'," Khouri underlined.

She added that other common fine pottery types of the Early Roman period are the “Pontic Sigillata” and the “Sagalassos Red Slip” wares.

In the late Roman period, some types of the early Roman fine pottery were still manufactured, such as the “Sagalassos Ware”. Besides, other new types were started to be produced.

“Mediterranean fine wares are seen in quantity in the whole region around the mid-4^th century AD, the scholar said, noting that the most  distributed and common were three types: “Late Roman A” (LRA), known later as “African Red Slip”; “Late Roman B” (LRB; “Late Roman C” (LRC), known as “Phocaean Red Slip”; “Late Roman D” (LRD), known as “Cypriot Red Slip”; and “Egyptian Red Slip A, B and C Wares” (ERS),” Khouri explained.

"All of these types were imported to the region from different product centres in North Africa [Tunisia and Egypt], western Asia Minor [Turkey]and Cyprus," Khouri said, noting that important studies of the late Roman fine pottery types were made recently by a number of scholars.

“An important classification of the late Roman fine ware was given by J. Hayes as his study is considered as a reference to almost all types and forms of the late Roman fine wares,” Khouri underlined, adding that on the other hand recent studies of those types of pottery were followed especially recently and few more classes or types were added to the previous ones.

Industrial centres of the late Roman fine ware

Ancient historians like Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79 AD) listed well-known pottery centres.

The list was used to classify material found at Samos and Pergamon in the eastern Mediterranean. However, new investigations detected new production centres particularly in Asia Minor and North Africa.

"Wasters of LRC were found by J. Hayes in Phocaea in the west coast of Turkey between 350 and 650 AD, and that was the reason why the name 'Phocaean Red Slip' was proposed to this type of pottery."

"Production centres of this type of pottery are located in the western coast of Asia Minor, not only on Phocaea but also in Grynion, Ephesus, and elsewhere in the Pergamon region especially the district between Pergamon and Smyrna," Khouri underlined.

Cyprus and Asia Minor were known pottery hubs and large collections of LRD products were found in Anatolian sites such as Sagalassos, Pednelissos, Pergeviii, and Kibyra.

Gerasa was also one of south Levantine centres for pottery manufacture.

"According to the new forms of the LRD products that were discovered in Perge and Anemurium, there might be a number of production centres in the region of northern Cyprus and southern Turkey as well; the new types were influenced by the previous existing known forms," Khouri elaborated, adding that the scarcity of the Cypriot Sigillata at Perge made J. Hayes exclude Perge as a source of the LRD products.

An archaeometrical analysis was made recently to LRD samples, according to the scholar. The study was prepared by using the WD-XRF “X-ray fluorescence analysis” method to define the clay formulas and detect the quantity of the major components and the trace elements in the clay.

"The study demonstrated the existence of at least two production centres, in which similar products in terms of fabric and typology were produced, one of these centres, or at least the origin of the raw material, is western Cyprus."

"This could be also assigned as well by a study of a group of roof tiles with very similar composition to LRD type", Khouri said/

 A number of African pottery production centres have been located according to the clay components analysis that was made recently by M. Mackensen and G. Schneider, she underscored.