First Observations on the Glazed Pottery of the Late Medieval Period From the Excavation Internal Wall of Upper City at Amorium
Lale Doğer, Muhsine Eda ArmağanThe subject of the study consists of glazed pottery discovered from 2017-2018 excavations in Amorium, located in East Phrygia. The finds which also include non-glazed pottery were discovered from trenches and drillings and a few from the surface within the Interior Wall (IW) area of the upper city.Finds are generally small fragments derived from close levels in trenches. Therefore, the study method was to define the item groups via total finds, instead of a separate inventory for each find. Nevertheless, the elevation levels of the finds shown by the tables are close to allowable scale although the trench locations were different. Food serving items of daily life and fragments of kitchen related storage bowls with or without lids were made of red fabric. Finds were classified as Monochrome Glazed Pottery, Monochrome Sgraffito Pottery, Slip Painted Pottery, Green and Purple Flecked Pottery which is a subgroup of Polychrome Sgraffito pottery with reference to their preserved parts. Most of the finds belonged to monochrome green glazed pottery and the turquoise coloured were the least. There were some congregating fragments which belonged to Miletus Type pottery. The pottery groups examined in our study were consistent in terms of their forms. They were also analogous with Amorium upper city, Karacahisar Castle and the nearby Aphrodisias and Ephesos finds. While the technique and compositions of decorated finds represented a common taste with the finds of the above-mentioned areas, they differed in details. Finds from the Begliks Period dated from the middle 14th - early 15th centuries. For the Miletus Type bowl found in Amorium, like its counterparts, dated probably from the middle 14th - 15th centuries. Though more detailed analyses are necessary regarding the place of production for pottery finds, Amorium and the nearby area was potentially the place of production according to both raw material and tradition.
Amorium, Yukarı Şehir İç Sur Alanı Kazısından Geç Ortaçağ Sırlı Seramikleri Üzerine İlk Gözlemler
Lale Doğer, Muhsine Eda ArmağanÇalışmanın konusunu, Doğu Frigya’da yer alan Amorium’un 2017-2018 yılı kazılarında ele geçen sırlı seramikler oluşturmaktadır. Aralarında sırsız seramiklerin de yer aldığı buluntular, Yukarı Şehir İç Sur (İS) alanındaki açma ve sondajlardan, az sayıda da yüzeyden ele geçmişlerdir. Genelde çok küçük parçalar hâlindeki buluntular, açmalardan birbirlerine yakın seviyelerden çıkarılmıştır. Bu nedenle çalışma metodu olarak her bir açmanın ayrı ayrı buluntu dökümü yerine toplam üzerinden mal gruplarının tanınması tercih edilmiştir. Ancak hazırlanan tablolardaki buluntuların açma yerleri farklı olsa da kot seviyeleri kabul edilebilir değerde birbirine yakındır. Günlük yaşamda kullanılan yemek servis kapları, mutfakla ilişkili açık ve kapalı saklama kaplarına ait parçalar kırmızı hamurludur. Korunmuş kısımlarından hareketle buluntular “Tek Renk Sırlı Bezemesiz Seramikler”, “Tek Renk Sırlı Sgraffito Seramikler”, “Astar Bezemeli Seramikler”, “Çok Renkli Sgraffito” seramiklerin alt grubu Yeşil ve Erguvan Lekeli Kaplar olarak gruplandırılmışlardır. Buluntu yoğunluğu tek renk şeffaf yeşil sırlı kaplara ait olup en azını turkuaz renkliler oluşturmaktadır. “Milet Tipi” olarak tanınan seramiklere ait birleşen birkaç parça mevcuttur. Bu çalışmada ele alınan buluntularda beliren seramik gruplarının hamur yapısı olarak benzer olanlarının form bakımından da kendi içinde tutarlı olduğu izlenmektedir. Form olarak Amorium Yukarı Şehir, Karacahisar Kalesi ve civarı, Aphrodisias, Ephesos buluntuları ile de yakınlık gözlenmektedir. Bezemeli buluntularda teknik, kompozisyonlar yukarıda adı geçen yerlerdeki buluntularla ortak bir beğeniyi işaret ederken ayrıntıda çeşitlenmektedir ve böylece buluntular 14. yüzyılın ortası-15. yüzyıl başına tarihlendirilebilir. Amorium buluntusu Milet Tipi kâse için de benzerleri gibi şimdilik 14. yüzyıl ortası-15. yüzyıl önerilebilir. Ele geçen seramiklerin üretim yerleri konusunda daha ayrıntılı analizler gerekmekle birlikte, Amorium ve yakın coğrafyasının hem hammadde hem de gelenek olarak üretici olma potansiyeli yüksektir.
The subject of the study consisted of glazed pottery discovered from 2017-2018 excavations in Amorium, located in East Phrygia (modern Hisarköy, near Emirdağ, Afyonkarahisar). The finds which were discovered from trenches and drillings and a few from the surface within the Interior Wall (IW) area of the upper city were fragmented and incomplete. The potteries were studied by the method of discrimination of the item groups via total finds rather than similarity of the findspot levels and presentation of each trench and drilling. Thus, the spot areas of finds in table (T.1-16) differ though their grade levels are admissibly close.
Red fabric glazed potteries belonged to food serving items of everyday life and kitchen related storage bowls with and without lids. Most of the fragments belonged to low circular based big sized shallow bowls/dishes, medium sized bowls and big sized plates. Some were probably lidded.
Finds were classified as Monochrome Glazed Pottery, Monochrome Glazed Sgraffito Pottery, Slip-Painted Pottery, and Green and Purple Flecked Ware which was a subgroup of Polychrome Sgraffito Pottery. There were some congregating fragments which belonged to Miletus Type pottery.
Examinations of pottery finds, which were discovered according to trench numbers and levels, provided the interrelated groups at the same level of each trench. In this regard, within the scope of polychrome sgraffito, Green and Purple Flecked finds held a more instructive qualification. The predominant finds group was monochrome transparent green glazed bowls and turquoise was the least.
Finds of the same sort described as Green and Purple Flecked, Green and Purple Flecked Fette Ware, Purple-Brown Flecked Ware were discovered notably from the Amorium Upper City excavation and from excavation on the Eskişehir Karacahisar Castle located in Middle Asia Minor, from the settlements of Kotyaion, Midaion, Kanlıtaş Tumulus (Kuzfındık Village at the border of Eskişehir/İnönü-Kütahya), and Kilistra (Konya/Gökyurt) -declared without publication, from Western Asia Minor İzmir Kadifekale excavation by unpublished samples, excavations of Ayasuluk Hill in Ephesos, excavations of Artemision, Pergamon, Sardes, Aphrodisias, Hierapolis and Miletos and reached to Ilion/Troas.
Besides monochrome potteries finds of polychrome sgraffito technique were discovered from Balat Ilyas Bey Social Complex examinations contemporaneously and from Ephesos Türbe excavations, and the Manisa Gülgün Hatun Bathhouse as local production. Also, from the same findspot, two finds decorated with monochrome green internally and with monochrome purpur and light green externally were significant in terms of association of both types. Yet, they represented a different ecole in the sense of at least colour scale and the decoration repertoire of Amorium finds. Craftsmanship was more elaborate, and the floral character was more significant as naturalistic. The use of decorations and craftsmanship of polychrome sgraffito finds from Ephesos and the Ayasuluk Hill St. Jean Church Atrium excavation which were described as 14th – 15th century local production were also observed as divergent. A number of polychrome sgraffito fragments were also discovered from İzmir, Kemalpaşa Nif (Olympos) Başpınar Church and Nif Lascarids Palace salvage excavations. They were similar to two potteries from Amorium in terms of edge form and decoration. But the data regarding their production and distribution was insufficient. The tones and use of colours and decoration compositions of finds from İznik (Nicaea) which was a pottery production spot in Post-Byzantine, Early Ottoman period, were different than the Amorium examples.
Elemental fabric analysis of Pergamon finds proved that the monochrome glazed and flecked potteries belonged to the same production group. Similarities were detected between the Green and Purple Flecked wares discovered from Eskişehir, Karacahisar Castle and other pottery groups including the Green Glazed Sgrafitto. Undecorated monochrome green glazed fragments, which were at the same fabric pattern with finds described as Green and Purple Flecked Fette Ware in literature, were examined under the title of ‘Fette Ware’. The samples discovered from Pergamon and Sardis were detected by analyses as members of the same production group. It was reported, among Karacahisar Castle finds, that monochrome bowls glazed with green tones and polychrome sgraffito finds indicated a fabric pattern which was defined as fette ware.
Most of the forms of polychrome sgraffito dishes and big sized plates among Amorium finds were similar to dark and light green monochrome glazed potteries which represented quality. The form, decoration composition, and motifs observed were typical examples of both types in the many other centres mentioned above. Other monochrome glazed Amorium finds which lacked the possibility of being analogue, because of quantitative rarity or lacking typical specifications, may be contemporary to other finds concerning their condition on findspot levels.
More data was needed regarding the rare turquoise-glazed fragments currently discovered from Amorium. For such finds, two different production (Ephesos ve Pergamon) spots; where the exact location was not accurately defined in West Asia Minor, were detected. It was detected by the analyses that they were of Byzantine tradition by the clay character of the slip; but the opaque glaze made with the addition of copper oxide lead-alkaline alloy was an innovation.
Among Amorium examples, a floral decorated bowl which was formed by an underglaze painting technique and brushstroke is reminiscent of Miletus Type potteries by its form and decoration, although the decorative use of the light blue tone was extraordinary when compared to cobalt. As well as the Miletus Type pottery fragments of the Amorium Upper City excavations which were dated to the middle 14th century were published, their decor colours were defined as cobalt blue. Yet, the green glaze of the external surface of some fragments indicated a similarity with the bowl represented here. It was detected that the rare Upper City finds were not of the İznik production Miletus Type. As well as it seems possible that this type of production in Miletus, Akçaabat nearby Ezine, Pergamon, Aphrodisias, Kütahya was known as geographically related to Kütahya; more finds were needed. Forms of slip-painted fragments from Amorium were also alike with monochrome and polychrome glazed sgraffito pots.
When suggestions from other centres were taken into consideration, it seems possible to date the study area to middle 14th century - early 15th century. For counterparts of the Amorium find Miletus Type bowl, middle 14th – 15th century suggestions can be pursued; more data is necessary for a more precise dating. The contribution of other finds of the excavation may suggest a narrower chronology.
