engleski

Tableware of the Living or Pots for the Dead? Some considerations on the 2nd and 1st c. BCE Grey Ware from the Tombs of Issa

In the advanced 2nd c. BCE Issean potters began to produce grey ware following global trends that appeared in manufacturing of different clay ware during the Hellenistic era. Several shapes of this type of pottery quickly emerged in funeral assemblages, which is documented in material remains of the later 2nd and 1st c. BCE tombs discovered from the two Issean necropolis – Martvilo and Vlaška njiva. Morphological features of analysed grey ware coupled with the results of mineralogical and geochemical investigation support the probability of its local production. Archaeometric evidences further showed that the grey ware from Issean tombs is consisted of the peculiar type of Ca-rich illitic matrix containing the natural inclusions of quartz and feldspar. Whole-rock geochemistry pointed out a uniform composition of main elements in analysed ware thus corroborating its local manufacture, subject to the further inquiry. This contribution presents a range of grey ware shapes recovered from Issean tombs or otherwise used in the mortuary practices of Issa, and it reports on their typological and morphological traits, and, at the same time, sheds light on the Issean Late Hellenistic grey ware production. Finally, our data permitted one to raise an additional question – was all grey ware furnishing the Issean tombs previously used on a daily basis or some of these examples were exclusively produced for funeral practices?

Adriatic Issa, 2nd and 1st c. BCE Tombs, Burial ritual and Grave Goods, Pottery, Hellenistic Grey Ware, mineralogical and geochemical analyses

nije evidentirano