Reference

Abstract

The examination of Greek Black Glaze pottery at MUCD began with two provenance studies of the southern Greek mainland, (BUR86, TOM88) and one project investigating the origin of a shipwreck.(FOY90) The results from these studies formed the basis of the present study, the aim of which was to find scientific evidence for Black Glaze production sites in southern mainland Greece.

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), was performed on samples from 802 objects from the Geometric to Hellenistic periods found in Euboea, Boeotia, Attica and in the Peloponnese. The re-irradiation of sherds from the three earlier studies produced results in good agreement with the original analysis, hence the results from the earlier studies were incorporated into the present analysis.

Statistical analysis identified fourteen distinct fabrics. Six of these could be attributed to a particular site; Athens, Corinth, Elis, Argos, Sparta and Euboea. The latter group consisted of sherds from Chalkis and Eretria, suggesting a "Central Euboean" source. The Corinthian group contained a selection of Corinthian Handmade ware sherds, suggesting that the Corinthians used a single source for over 600 years.

Of the remaining eight compositional groups, one was identified as a Boeotian source, and another was very similar to Spartan material. The final five fabrics were all Argive in origin; Argive Geometric, three Argive Handmade ware groups and a group containing sherds from Tiryns and Asine. The Argive Geometric group and one of the Argive Handmade ware groups were thought to originate from Argos, however these compositions were different to the Argos sit group, suggesting three different sources were used by Argive potters between 800 and 300BC.