Understanding changes in the supply pattern of Roman cooking pottery from Morphou Bay to Nea Paphos: evidence from the Paphos Agora Project

Abstract

The thin-walled cooking pottery of the early to late Roman period originating from the area of Morphou Bay in the northern part of Cyprus, excavated by the Paphos Agora Project of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, is studied in this paper in order to shed new light on the nature of the supply patterns of this extraordinary class of pottery. The collected data—on the macroscopic characteristic of the ware and shape—and a chronological analysis as well as quantitative study of the assemblage have indicated a continuous presence of this group in Nea Paphos, reflecting perhaps some sort of special social requirements combined with an economic background.

Keywords

• Nea Paphos
• cooking pottery
• Morphou Bay
• early/late Roman period
• macroscopic fabric analysis
• typological studies