Керамика със златиста и с червена ангоба от средновековното селище при с. Златна ливада, община Чирпан

Abstract

The paper presents mica-dusted and red-slipped pottery yielded during the excavation of a settlement dated back to the Middle Byzantine period situated near the village of Zlatna Livada, Chirpan region. Problems relat­ing to the chronology and the origin of both types of pottery are discussed. Three groups in the mica-dusted have been defined. The first group (A) comprises finely coated turned jars, jugs and pitchers. They do not differ in shape from the plain pottery that has been found alongside it. Both types are dated back to the first phase of the functioning of the settlement (8th – 10th century). Mica-dusted thrown ceramic vessels belonging to groups B and C were introduced during the beginning of the second phase of the settlement’s functioning (11th century). Group B vessels were made of fine clay and coated with fine slip. The clay used to make the ves­sels form Group C and their shapes are similar to the contemporary plain pottery. Red-slipped ware, conical two-handled lids with wide flat rim and the decoration with burnished lines were introduced together with groups B and C ware in the second phase. All pottery mentioned above was used in the third and last phase of the settlement’s functioning until the early 13th century. The novelty of the third phase is the introduction of the sgraffito ware in the 12th century. The archaeological evidence supports the hypothesis that the distribution of red-slipped ware and the mica-dusted ware from group B followed the arrival of Armenians on the territories around the present-day town of Plovdiv in the late 10th century. The similarities with artifacts from Western Asia Minor raise the question whether the Armenians were deported from this particular territory.

Keywords

• Early Middle Ages
• Byzantine period
• Settlement
• Ceramics