Pottery bowls from Miletos
Project leader: Alexandra
Villing
Department: Greece and Rome
Project
start: 1995
End date: 2008/9
External
partners:
German Excavations at Miletos (Director:
Prof. Dr. Volkmar von Graeve, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/milet/
Project funded by:
The Leverhulme Trust
Description:
Miletos was one of the most powerful and influential cities of
ancient Greece in the Archaic period, birthplace of the Ionian
school of philosophy and founder of some 80 colonies. The German
excavations at the site have recently discovered much new evidence
for its period of greatest flowering, by excavating parts of the
Archaic settlement, city wall and sanctuaries, thus shedding light
especially on the arts, cults, trade connections and daily life of
its inhabitants. The large amounts of pottery that have been found
play an important role in this process.
Bowls, a fundamental shape in pottery of all
ages, are a major feature also at Miletos. Several thousand
examples have been found in the Archaic houses and in the
sanctuaries. Often plain with little decoration, the majority were
objects of daily use rather than prestige goods, and their
production was largely governed by practical considerations. The
rich repertoire of shapes found in Miletos is nevertheless
remarkable: the many types identified include large, well-potted
bowls for storage, bowls for mixing and processing foods
(lekanai), small bowls for eating from, and shallow heavy
bowls for grinding foods (mortaria). Most were locally
produced, but some were also imported, from Corinth and especially
from Cyprus. We can be sure about this because scientific clay
analysis, conducted by Dr. Michela Spataro at the British Museum’s
Department of Conservation and Scientific Research and Prof. Hans
Mommsen at Bonn University, recently confirmed that many of the
mortaria in Archaic Miletos were produced in Cyprus.
These findings indicate that Cyprus and Ionia
were more closely linked in the Archaic period than previously
thought. They also contradict the common belief that plain
household pottery was not usually traded, and show that the quality
of certain wares was appreciated even in the mundane world of food
preparation at home.
Objectives:
The study of the
bowls of Miletos aims to chart the development of the shapes, to
understand their usage, to examine their relation with similar
shapes elsewhere and to investigate their trade, by identifying
imports in Miletos and exported Milesian bowls elsewhere. Looking
at bowls in the wider context of food storage, preparation and
serving in the house as well in sanctuaries, ancient Milesian food
customs and dining will be brought into sharper profile. In
addition, comparative studies and in particular the scientific
analysis of bowls from Miletos and other sites, conducted mainly at
the British Museum, shed new light on the phenomenon of trade of
‘coarse wares’ in the Archaic and Classical Mediterranean.
More information:
Homepage of the Miletos excavations (in German): www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/milet/
News:
Following six months of research in the second half of 2008,
made possible by the award of a Leverhulme Research Fellowship,
this study of the Milesian pottery bowls is now complete.
In addition to imports, different morphological and
technological traditions have become evident in the local potters’
work, including Athenian influence, local Milesian traditions, and
Anatolian connections, both contemporary and going back to the
Bronze Age. Miletos has emerged as a participant in a complex set
of Levantine, Anatolian and Greek cultural, technological and
culinary networks that involved not just elites but wide sections
of the population.
Publications:
M. Spataro and A. Villing, “Scientific
Investigation of Pottery Grinding Bowls in the Archaic and
Classical Eastern Mediterranean”, British Museum Technical
Research Bulletin 3 (forthcoming November 2009)
A. Villing, ‘Funde aus Milet I. Zwei
archaische Schüsselformen’, Archäologischer Anzeiger
(1999), pp. 189-202
Images (from top):
- The German excavations at Miletos:
processing finds from the new excavations.
- Fragment of an exceptional bowl from
Miletos decorated in the Fikellura style, ca. 530 BC.
- A local pottery mortarium from
Miletos, 6th century BC; the worn inside shows that it
has been used for grinding foods with a pestle.