The main goal of the project is to acquaint students with the basic methods of archaeological records of Roman pottery. During the course participants will work with authentic Roman shards and will learn: the analytical techniques; how to render a pottery material into a systematic classification; how to make a technical drawing; how to use the graphic software and prepare materials for publication; how to interpret the archaeological data.

2. PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

3. Terra Sigillata / SAMIA VASA

4. SAMIA VASA
• samia vasa (Latin) - Pliny the Elder’s Historia
Naturalis (XXXV 12 (46), 160) provides us with
evidence of the wars which were considered
fashionable around the middle of the first
century A.D.
• verb samiare (Latin) – “to polish”
• The wares made in the Gaulish factories are
often referred to by English-speaking
archaeologists as samian ware.

5. TERRA SIGILLATA
• terra sigillata – astringent clay from
Lemnos or Samos, formerly used as a
medicine.
• sigillum - embossed figure, relief.
• terra sigillata – clay bearing little images.

6. Eastern Sigillata A
Arratine
Southern Gaulish
Eastern Sigillata B (early period)
Eastern
Sigillata B
(late period)
Eastern Sigillata C (Çandarli )
African Red Slip
Ware – ARS A

7. Eastern Sigillata
EASTERN SIGILLATA - late hellenistic to early
Roman red-slipped tableware

8. First production of Red Gloss ware
Eastern Sigillata A (ESA) – Northern Syria, Antioch, Samaria.
Eastern Sigillata B (ESB) - western Asia Minor (near Tralles)
Eastern Sigillata C (ESC) - Pergamon , Çandarli
Eastern Sigillata A (ESA) – about 150 BC – 100 AD.
Eastern Sigillata B (ESB) – 10 BC – 150 AD
Eastern Sigillata C (ESC) – 150 BC – 100 AD

9. Terra Sigillata Italica

10. Main production centers in Italy
Arezzo
Terra Sigillata Arretina

11. Plain Terra Sigillata Italica

12. Relief Terra Sigillata Italica
A decorated Arretine vase found at Neuss, Germany
Source: Wikipedia

13. Relief Terra Sigillata Italica is made in moulds
Mould for an Arretine , manufactured in the workshop of P. Cornelius
Source: Wikipedia

14. The Arretine potters regularly stamped their
names on their products in self-advertisement
– a practice previously only
sporadically employed.

15. These are usually quadrangular in form, though other
shapes are found, and are impressed in the midst of the
design on the ornamented vases, or on plain wares on the
bottom of the interior.

16. The number of potters’ names is very large

17. SOUTH GAULISH TERRA SIGILLATA
South Gaulish, late 1st century AD
Source: Wikipedia

18. Main Production centers in Gaul
East Gaulish
Central Gaulish
South Gaulish

19. La Graufesenque
The main production center in Sout Gaulia is studied in La
Graufesenque (nr Millau, Aveyron/FR)

20. New varieties of relief ware

21. Appliqué decoration

22. Marbled decoration (Gloss which imitate marble)

23. EARLY ROMAN THIN-WALLED WARES

24. EARLY ROMAN THIN-WALLED WARES
• Extreme thinness of the walls
• Produced in Italy starting from the late
Republican period.
• Widely exported into the first century AD.

25. “Roweling” decoration

26. Decorations à la barbotine

27. Pine cone flakes decoration

28. Sandblasting

29. Bladk slipp

30. "Human face" vessels

31. AFRICAN RED
SLIP WARE
(ARS)
Produced in
North African
Regions

32. Sigillata Africana A – ARS A
80s of the 1st c. AD - first quarter of the 3rd c. AD
Sigillata Africana A/D- ARS A/D
Antonine-Severan age
Sigillata Africana C – ARS C
3rd -5th c. AD
Sigillata Africana D- ARS D
4th-7th c. AD

33. Provincial Roman Pottery
Province of Moesia
MOESIA SUPERIOR
Upper Moesia
(Serbia, Bulgaria)
MOESIA INFFERIOR
Lower Moesia
(Bulgaria)

34. Imitation of Relief Terra Sigillata

35. Imitations covered with black slip

36. Imitation of
terra sigillata
plates

37. Imitation of terra sigillata with decoration “à la barbotine”

38. Imitations of Thin walled pottery

39. Imitation of potters’ stamps

40. • No potters’ names.
• Mainly imitations of
"planta pedis".
• Decorative functions.

41. Imitations of terra
sigillata with
Appliqué
decoration

42. "Sandy" wares made in different colors

43. Lead-glazed Ware
Jug with spots of glaze. In
the process of production
the jug is been in touch
with glazed wares.

44. Lead-glazed jug with zoomorphic form

45. Coarse ware

46. SHAPES / TYPOLOGICAL SCHEMES

47. POCULA - Cups

48. CATINI, CATILLI, MAGIDES, LANCES - Dishes

49. ACETABULA, PAROPSIDES - Bowls

50. OLLAE - Jars

51. URCEUS, URCEOLUS - Pitchers

52. OPERCULUM, OPERCULA - Lids

53. Hans Dragendorff.
Terra sigillata. Ein Beitrag zur Gescl1icl1te der griechiscl1en
und romiscl1en Keramik. Bonn, 1890.

54. Elisabeth Ettlinger.
Conspectus Formarum Terrae Sigillatae Italico Modo Confectae
Materialien zur römisch-germanischen Keramik 10. Frankfurt
am Main, 1990.

55. Sigfried Loeschke.
Sigillata-Töpferein in Tschandarli. Athenische Mitteilungen
37, 1912.

56. John Hayes.
Late Roman Pottery. Rome, 1972

57. Stratigraphic position
(in years)
Quantity according to
stratigraphic layers
Main types in
different periods
ANALISIS OF
POTTERY

58. Methodology
Carefully revealing
pottery shards.
Documenting the context.

59. Methodology
Documenting the context.
2
1
3
4

60. Methodology
Cleaning and sorting pottery.

61. Cleaning
and sorting
pottery.

62. Analytical techniques
Marking and describing the shards.

63. Marking and describing the shards.

64. Typology
(Dating and Classification)
Technical drawing. Scientific illustration.

65. Typology

66. June 27 – July 17
2015
Plovdiv
BULGARIA
www.rsfat.archbg.net