Cooking Pottery

A 12th-13th-century A.D. ceramic assemblage from Alexander’s Hill at Sagalassos in southwestern Turkey provides new evidence for the typo-chronological study of Byzantine pottery. A functional analysis of the assemblage, along with textual and iconographic evidence, archaeozoological and palynological analyses, and chemical analysis of cooking-pot residues, contributes to the reconstruction of diet and cooking practices in Anatolia. While baked fish, vegetables, pulses, and bread are usually regarded as the staples of Byzantine peasant cuisine, diners at Sagalassos were enjoying beef stews before the Fourth Crusade, when the technique of stewing meat was allegedly introduced to the eastern Mediterranean from the West.

PANTELLERIAN WARE AND ITS CIRCULATION IN LATE ROMAN TIME
This research concerning the cooking pottery production in late roman time in the Island of Pantelleria, located in the Sicily Channel. This coarse ware consisted in pans, pots, casseroles and lids and large jars, useful to cook food and other raw materials as bitumen and pitch. This high refractoriness is given to the ceramic mixture by the vulcanic minerals peculiars form the clay of the island. The archaeological excavations conducted until now, discovered the ruins of a large settlement in the Scauri Bay placed in the S-W coast of the island, datable from the second half of the IV to the end of the V century. The village based its economical activity on the cooking pottery production and its export, as evidenced by the shipwreck in the harbor of Scauri. The pottery materials found in the site and in the shipwreck, come from reliable contexts and it has been helpful to a thorough tipological and chronological study of this local ware production. The analysis of the attestations in the Central and Western Mediterranean, through the bibliography and some unpublished datas from Sicily, led to create some circulation maps across the centuries. This has allowed me to make some considerations and conclusions. It has been possible to realize a diachronic study, to distinguish forms and types from the III cent. B.C. to the V cent. A.D.. The pottery had a wide circulation in the Mediterranean, mostly from the second half of the IV to the beginning of the VI century

The first book in new series Paphos Agora Project is published! The volume presents the first results of the five years of research 2011-2015 in Paphos, UNESCO World Heritage site.
The book is available under the e-mail: [email protected]

The study of aspects related to site location, land use, production and consumption or non-elite material culture was generally neglected by Medieval Archaeology in Greece until a couple of decades ago, at a time when priority was given to monumental art and architecture. The number of studies, however, that have been published and the number of theses that have been completed over the past ten to fifteen years on the archaeology of the period after the end of Late Antiquity is immense. The aim of this contribution is to provide a survey of recent developments on the archaeology of the Late Byzantine - Frankish period in Greece, focusing on those advances and results that have provided significant insights into the evolution of Late Medieval society and culture. More specifically, this paper examines issues related to:
(a) Landscapes, settlement archaeology and economic activity,
(b) Fortifications and power,
(c) Domestic architecture and the use of space,
(d) Artefacts, consumption and meaning,
(e) Religious art and architecture, and identity.

Zusammenfassung:

Die römische Stadt auf dem Magdalensberg, von 1948 bis 2011 alljährlich in systematischen Grabungen untersucht, erbrachte beträchtliche Mengen an Funden, die Aufschlüsse über Nahrung und Ernährungsgewohnheiten geben: Tierknochen, marine und terrestrische Mollusken, botanische Reste, Koch- und Tafelgeschirr oder Amphoren für den Wein- und Lebensmittelimport aus dem gesamten Mittelmeerraum. Viele Graffiti und tituli picti auf Amphoren und Krügen erteilen Auskünfte über Menge oder Gewicht, spezifizieren den Inhalt oder nennen ein genaues Datum. Unter den Baubefunden sind einige Küchenensembles bekannt, die durch Funde an Küchengeräten ergänzt werden. Dieser reiche Quellenbestand gibt wertvolle Einblicke in das vorhandene Nahrungsmittelangebot der Stadt, in ihre Tafelkultur sowie die lokalen Kochgewohnheiten.


Summary:

Excavations in the Roman town on the Magdalensberg, which continued annually from 1948 to 2011, yielded enormous data as regards diet and dietary evidence: animal bones, marine and non-marine molluscs, plant residues, cooking pots and fine tableware; amphorae and jugs give proof of imported wine and foodstuffs from the whole Mediterranean. Furthermore, several graffiti and tituli picti on amphorae and jugs mention the weight or the quantity of their contents, but also a precise date. Besides kitchen-utensils, kitchens and their facilities were recorded as well among the archaeological structures. Therefore, this rich archaeological source permits to gain insight concerning the town’s supplies with foodstuffs, the dining culture or local cooking habits.

Intensive archaeobotanical research in northern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean regions over the last two decades has demonstrated an extensive spectrum of domestic and wild plants consumed by Neolithic communities. However, macrobotanical remains are seldom associated with the artefact in which they were cooked, and therefore we know the list of ingredients but not what ingredients were cooked together or how were they cooked. By focusing on remains recovered from cooking vessels, this paper explores the culinary practices of the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement at Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece) through combined starch grain and phytolith analyses from charred food crusts adhering to the inner walls of 17 late Middle and early Late Neolithic vessels (ca. 5600-5000 cal. BC). The results show that the food represented by burnt remains included domestic wheat(s) and lentils, as well as weedy Setaria sp. and other wild plants. The presence of Setaria weeds suggests high soil fertility and disturbed growing conditions. These results further indicate that the inhabitants of different areas of the settlement had differential access to food resources (more vs. less valued food), which might be related to a) different types of meals being prepared in separated areas of the site, or b) different preferences or economic status of its inhabitants expressed through culinary practices. Further research at Stavroupoli and other contemporary sites will help to unravel the role of food in shaping social identity and human-environment interactions in the Neolithic northern Aegean.

Studies on ritual meals represent one of the most important topics related to ancient Greek religion. The study of cooking and plain pottery from the Greek sanctuary of Apollo at Soros, investigated by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Thessaly, in collaboration with the 13th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, has constituted an important opportunity to apply an in-depth analysis on this topic. Morphological and functional study of these vessels has, in fact, offered significant information about the role of cooking and plain pottery within this sacred area. In the light of this preliminary overview of shapes and profiles attested within this sacred area, it is now possible to present some considerations related to the ritual activities involving the participation of a small community and a specific age bracket. This study constitutes an important topic for further studies not only in relation to other Thessalian peri-urban sacred places, but also for other ancient Greek sanctuaries.

This paper presents the fi rst preliminary study of cooking wares from the early Roman phase of destruction of the 'Hellenistic' House at the Nea Paphos site of Maloutena. The collection of fi fteen cooking vessels was discovered in situ in room 22, between and in front of the stone blocks – most probably table supports; another two were found in room 23. The assemblage contains mostly deep, globular pots from Cyprus, but also Italian lids and an orlo bifi do pan, as well as two Aegean cooking vessels (one globular pot and one baking dish). The large quantity of cooking pottery allow us to consider a kitchen function for rooms 22 and 23.

The subject of the research (with a volume of 434 pages)was cooking pottery from excavations conducted at the Agora in Nea Paphos, Cyprus in the years 2011-2016. Almost unpublished material in the form of several thousand fragments was analysed, from which 369 representative illustrated on 65 tables and 24 colourful plates were presented. The purpose was to demonstrate the social, cultural and economic changes that occurred in Nea Paphos during the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods in the context of a complex analysis of production and consumption of this category of pottery. Detailed research has shed light on the specialisation of production, determination of the place of obtaining raw materials and clarification of the scale of production - local and regional. The next stage was the interpretation of economic phenomena related to the technology of cooking pottery production: a) separation of locally produced cooking pottery from other alleged production centres on the island and imported pottery; b) characteristics of production in Nea Paphos; c) clarification of the detailed chronology of pottery, especially local production; d) determination of production and distribution processes, which were part of wider economic processes.

This chapter deals with the first preliminary study of kitchen and cooking pottery from the Paphos Agora. It is based on ceramic material found during five seasons of the excavations, between the years 2011 and 2015. The analysed pottery was recovered in Trench I– Trench III. The study considers kitchen and cooking pottery dated from the Early Hellenistic period to the Late Roman period.

https://www.iagellonica.com.pl/produkt/paphos-agora-project-vol-i-interdisciplinary-research-of-the-jagiellonian-university-in-nea-paphos-unesco-world-heritage-site-2011-2015-first-results

A synthesis of Late Medieval cooking wares (late 12th - 14th century) documented during the archive study of ceramics unearthed in the stratigraphic excavations carried out in 2001-2002 at the Castello di Lomabardia of Enna.

Una sintesi delle ceramiche da cucina tardomedievali (tardo XII-XIV secolo) documentate durante il riesame delle evidenze materiali provenienti dagli scavi stratigrafici effettuati nel 2001-2002 presso il Castello di Lombardia di Enna.

Il volume di studi in onore di Sebastiana Lagona raccoglie una serie di scritti di colleghi e allievi che hanno avuto l'onore di collaborare con la Studiosa nelle numerose iniziative di ricerca in Italia e soprattutto in Turchia, cui la nostra ha indirizzato l'instancabile impegno di archeologa e di organizzatrice di attività scientifiche e di alta divulgazione. La sua lunga e proficua carriera didattica e scientifica si è svolta sia nell 'ambito della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Ateneo catanese -dove è stata assistente ordinario di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte greca e romana, poi professore ordinario di Topografia Antica, di Archeologia Classica e dal 1998 (fino al 2003) direttore dell'Istituto di Archeologia -sia presso l'Università della Calabria di Cosenza, per un breve ma proficuo lasso di tempo, dove ha ricoperto per un triennio (1976-1979) la carica di Preside della Facoltà di Lettere. Alle notevoli responsabilità accademiche, Sebastiana Lagona ha saputo far fronte con competenza, considerevoli doti organizzative e uno spirito di dedizione fuori dal comune. La Studiosa, oggi Professore Emerito dell'Università di Catania, ha al suo attivo la fondazione di due centri di ricerca, Nello svolgere le attività scientifiche e istituzionali, la professoressa Lagona ha dato vita a numerose iniziative di ricerche e di scavi archeologici in Sicilia, in Calabria e in Turchia, unitamente all'organizzazione di Convegni e alla pubblicazione dei relativi Atti, dimostrando grandi capacità organizzative. La vastità dei suoi interessi è documentata dalle numerose pubblicazioni scientifiche su materiali fittili, su problemi topografici dell'area magnogreca e dell'Asia Minore, sulla statuaria (tra cui si segnala il lavoro su Pitagora di Reggio), sull'acquedotto e sul porto romano di Catania, sulla collezione Santapaola di Lentini, sullo scavo della necropoli di "Cava sant'Aloe" presso Lentini e, non ultimi, dai numerosi studi su Kyme eolica. Le grandi doti organizzative, non disgiunte dalla notevole carica di simpatia umana, hanno consentito alla professoressa Lagona di muoversi con naturalezza in una realtà complessa, quale quella della moderna Turchia, e di dare vita a una delle iniziative più prestigiose che hanno coinvolto l'Università degli Studi di Catania all'estero, vale a dire la costruzione, sulla base di un protocollo d'intesa stipulato nel 1992 tra l'Università (Rettore il prof. E. Rizzarelli) e il comune turco di Aliağa (con fondi dell'Ateneo catanese su un terreno donato dal comune di Aliağa), di un edificio polifunzionale destinato ad accogliere gli alloggi della Missione Archeologica Italiana di Kyme eolica -fondata dalla Lagona nel 1982 -nonché i laboratori di restauro e i depositi dei materiali rinvenuti negli scavi. L'iniziativa ha suscitato l'unanime riconoscimento e la gratitudine incondizionata delle autorità turche ed italiane, manifestati alla professoressa in più occasioni: da parte turca nel 1995, con l'intitolazione a suo nome del lungomare della città di Aliağa e nel 2009 con il conferimento del Premio per la cultura del Ministero turco della cultura. Da parte delle autorità italiane ricordiamo il conferimento nel 1994 del titolo di Commendatore della Repubblica e nel 2007 l'assegnazione della Targa alla carriera da parte dell'Ambasciata Italiana di Ankara. Nel dare un titolo al volume di saggi che qui si presenta, si è voluto richiamare il nome di una celebre donna di Kyme eolica, Archippe, onorata pubblicamente dai concittadini per i benefici che aveva arrecato alla città, alla cui conoscenza il nome di Sebastiana Lagona è e rimarrà inscindibilmente legato.

The Hellenistic and Roman pottery from the Agora, discovered during the excavations of the Jagiellonian University, provides us with new information about ceramic production and its distribution. Systematic analyses of cooking pottery were carried out by the present author in the framework of Paphos Agora Project directed by Professor Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka. Since cooking is a central task in human life, it is connected to broader spectra of social, cultural, religious and economic processes. The aim of the poster is to present the preliminary analyses of a kitchen and cooking pottery from the Agora in terms of changes in cooking techniques. The differences in shapes of the locally produced cooking pottery dated to the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods allow to determine the changes of food preparation methods and a better understanding of ancient cuisine.

Nea Paphos was the capital of the island of Cyprus under firstly the Ptolemies and then under the Romans. In this paper, we intend examing -briefly-an assemblage of Roman pottery coming from the Italian excavations in Paphos, Garrison's Camp. Among cooking pottery, attention has focused in particular on the frying pans, a shape very popular in western Cyprus, with a very long lifespan (from Hellenistic to Late Roman period). So, we present the analysis of two different groups of frying pans, looking the fabric, the decoration and the chronological range. In addition, based on the surviving evidence, we propose a pattern of distribution of this shape in Cyprus and in other mediterranean sites, especially in the Levant; its circulation does not seem random and it can be clearly recognized looking the lack of evidence for frying pans from Eastern Cyprus. Finally, reading Latin (Apicius) and Greek sources (Athenaeus), we discuss a possible and interesting connection between decoration of frying pans and roman culinary tradition.

It has become increasingly apparent over the last decades that cooking pottery played a considerable role as a trade commodity in ancient times, yet relatively little research has yet been done on this topic for its own sake. By taking a closer look at the cooking pottery found in Priene, a small city in southern Ionia re-founded in the middle of the 4 century BCE, we want to trace some of the broader developments within the cooking wares that were used over a period of roughly 300 years. The aim is not only to outline the general shapes that were in use over this period of time, but also to register if and how these shapes correlate with the different fabrics observed in Priene so far. The typological studies that form the backbone of this article are comprised of two important chronological horizons: the bulk of some of the earliest closed deposits so far found in the city spanning c. 350 to 250 BCE (L. Heinze) and a vast deposit found in the terrace filling under the eastern end ...

The settlement of ancient Lete was inhabited almost continuously, from the end of Early Neolithic period to the Late Antiquity. In this paper we attempt to reconstruct the settlement evolution during the Neolithic period.
Part of two ditches mark the habitation area of the flat and extended settlement during Liti I (Middle Neolithic period). The ditches were constructed in two different techniques, by chains of pits or in a continuous V-shaped profile. Their depositions included large quantities of pottery and other finds and among them a large group of feet belonging to clay tables, which were related to cooking activities. Two separate settlement areas were investigated; the first was situated to the NW of the modern Liti and the second in a distance of 850 m, near its center.
The two areas display differences in pottery groups that are related mostly to the decoration of pot surface, while the shapes and the typology are similar. Both groups are dated during the same period (Middle Neolithic) and the differences might be related either to the slight chronological variations, or possible alternative choices, related to the social identity and use of each era.
The Neolithic depositions of property no. 7 were interrupted by series of ditches related to viniculture. The ditches were situated in rows of two, oriented in NW-SE direction, in a distance of 1,90 m between them. They measure 2,20X0,35 m and are 0,40 m deep. This is a common system of viniculture in the Greek world. The ditches date after the 4th century BC. Vine was produced for local consumption, not for trade or exports.

This paper aims at examining the so-called Impasto Ware, discovered in the Area D of Motya, in
order to identify and share information about the features of this class. Analyses of the vases section,
of the shapes and diameters, and their technological features clarify the function (food preparation and
cooking) and the production (primarly domestic and household) of IW. Some ethnographic parallels
allow to define why the pottery-making process of IW was being preserved in a long period in the
community of Motya.

Poster presented at 6th International Conference on LATE ROMAN COARSE WARE, COOKING WARE and AMPHORAE in the MEDITERRANEAN: Archaeology and Archaeometry, Agrigento/Sicily, 24th–28th May 2017

Akrai/Acrae is an ancient city in the Province of Siracusa located south-west of Palazzolo Acreide. Excavations at the site were resumed after four decades by a mission of the University of Warsaw in cooperation with conservatory authorities from Syracuse (Chowaniec 2015a: 31). The work was conducted i.a. in a house erected in the late Hellenistic period, that had been rebuilt in the early Imperial period and adapted in the late Roman period for commercial and production activities (Chowaniec 2015b: 58, Fig. 12 – trench I).

Pottery
The rich pottery assemblage from this area comprises Roman kitchen and cooking vessels, with a fair share of imported vessels that fall into three production groups: African Cooking Ware, Pantellerian Ware and Aegean Cooking Ware. Moreover, two production regions in eastern Sicily have also been indicated for the kitchen and cooking vessels.