Sidi Khrebish 1971–2: The Pottery

Extract

The pottery so far examined is of great interest, and a full publication of the many sealed groups will undoubtedly form a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Hellenistic and Roman wares of the whole Mediterranean basin. Though little material classifiable as fine wares has yet been recovered belonging to the fourth century A.D. and later, in all other periods the most marked characteristic of the fine wares is their tremendous variety, and the fact that both eastern and western products are represented in comparable quantities. In the Hellenistic period, both Italian and Greek black-glazed wares are found, the latter slightly predominating, as well as a flourishing local industry producing similar shapes in a rather coarser fabric; Megarian bowls are present in limited quantity, principally in an orange micaceous fabric with a glossy slip of varying colour, but at least four other fabrics have been identified, one of them Athenian. The Eastern Sigillata wares A and B both occur in equal quantity, and Çandarli ware is also found; Arretine and its related Italian wares were imported in great quantities, and a certain amount of south and central Gaulish samian regularly occurs, but it is never common. Another red-gloss ware that is notable for its regular presence on this site and for the variety of its forms is that tentatively identified by Dr J. W. Hayes as Cypriot Sigillata: the type series for this ware at Sidi Khrebish will extend considerably that published by Hayes (Report of the Dept. of Antiquities of Cyprus, 1967), and will add many forms that are common to the repertoire of the early Roman Sigillata wares as a whole.