Universität Tübingen
Pottery of Troy VIIb. Chronology, classification, context and implications of Trojan ceramic assemblages in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age transition
Abstract
This thesis is based solely on the study of ceramic material retrieved during the 1988-2008 excavations at Troy. Material from earlier excavations has been used only for analogies. Blegen’s basic division of Troy VIIb into two phases – VIIb1 and VIIb2 – has been confirmed. Blegen underestimated the importance of painted Protogeometric sherds found at Troy, but he was right when stressing the fact that they never occur in stratified deposits of the Troy VIIb2 settlement. The pottery typology of Blegen is as yet unsurpassed, and only “cosmetic” changes and additions were necessary. Blegen’s classification of wares is also, in most cases, still helpful and valid. Changes were necessary only in relation to the handmade wares, which are defined as two basic ware groups in this report – the Handmade Coarse Ware (Blegen’s ‘Coarse Ware’ was not specific enough) and Handmade Lustrous Ware (Blegen’s ‘Knobbed Ware’, in fact only rarely decorated with knobs). The most substantial part of this report is devoted to the pottery in its context. The core of the analysis has been an independent review of the entire transitional Late Bronze Age and Early Iron stratigraphy. As a result, the attribution of contexts to phases is based on the combination of stratigraphic and ceramic evidence. The analysis of contexts suggests that the settlement pattern changed dramatically at the beginning of the Troy VIIb1 period. The settlement area seems to be significantly reduced in scale, and limited exclusively to the citadel. The Troy VIIb1 pottery gives evidence for both continuity and change. The traditionally most popular wares, the Anatolian Grey Ware and the Tan Ware, are still in use, yet the preferences between them change completely. A new class of coarse pottery, Handmade Coarse Ware, is introduced to the site. Perhaps the changes should be explained with a migration from Thrace, but this theory cannot be verified on the basis of pottery alone. The settlement pattern changes again at the beginning of the Troy VIIb2 period. The site becomes densely populated. Another new class of handmade pottery, Handmade Lustrous Ware, appears. This new ware can be defined as a fine table ware. This pottery clearly represents a different tradition from the Trojan wheelmade wares, but, on the other hand, it is related with the Handmade Coarse Ware. Both Handmade Lustrous Ware and the Handmade Coarse Ware are part of the same pottery tradition. They are complementary to each other in terms of shapes and together they form a complete typological assemblage. The obvious parallels to the Knobbed Ware found in the Balkans and the fair quantities of this pottery class at Troy leave no doubt about the presence of a population group from the north during the Troy VIIb2 phase. As far as can be judged from the distribution pattern of various classes of pottery at Troy, the two population groups were not segregated. It seems that acculturation processes between both groups took place. It is not clear how the Troy VIIb2 settlement came to its end. Some houses were destroyed by fire with their original contents, while other houses were probably simply abandoned. At the time when painted Early Protogeometric amphoras begin to be imported to the site, the Troy VIIb2 houses were already in ruins. The surviving remains of the new phase are so meager that the population density must have dropped dramatically. Whether or not the new settlement can be connected with the ‘Aeolian colonization’ cannot be currently decided unequivocally. In any case, a certain continuity in pottery terms is documented.
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author
-
- Hnila, Pavol
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Identifier
- hdl:10900/46997