Cara Burun Apud Orgame - the pottery assemblage of the archaic period

У статті презентовано колекцію архаїчної кераміки з давнього сільського поселення виявленого уздовж південного берега затоки Кара-Бурун на місці, яке відоме як Agik Suhat. Дане поселення досліджується франко-румунською експедицією на чолі з А. Баралісом і В. Лунгу.

Часткові результати, отримані у ході розкопок сезону 2011 року, показали перший рівень освоєння, про що свідчить як поверхнево-житловий поверх (секція S2) і великий колодязь [розділ S4A), і починаючи з середини 6 століття до н.е. аж до рубежу століть, керамічна колекція, яка містить значну кількість фрагментів східно- грецьких транспортних амфор і сіролощених виробів, а також трохи прикрашених черепків як іонічного, так і материкового грецького походження.

Located at the still blurred borders of the territories of Histria and Orgame, the ancient rural settlement discovered along the southern shore of Cara Burun Bay at the place known as Aqik Suhat is being investigated by a French- Romanian team jointly conducted by A. Baralis and V. Lungu [1]. The partial results obtained during the excavation season 2011 revealed a first level of occupation, evidenced by both a surface-dwelling floor (section S2) and a large well (section S4a), and dating back to the mid-6th century BC down to the turn of the century, the ceramic assemblage of which includes a fair number of fragments of East Greek transport amphoras and weelmade grey ware as well as a handful of decorated sherds of both Ionian and Mainland Greek origin, which call for the following comments:

- These ceramic finds of Hellenic origin are in a majority, whereas handmade pottery of autochtonous manufacture are quite scarcely represented by not more than 15 wall fragments (i.e. ca. 0.2/0.3% of the total of pottery sherds) (fig. 1);

- The earliest datable fragments seem hardly much earlier than the mid-sixth century BC. Among them, the most representative piece consists in a handle-section of white-slipped spindle shaped amphora of Chian type, lined by a narrow fillet of black paint which suggests that we are faced with a late variant of 2^nd / 3^rd quarter of 6th century BC, whereas some more fragments of type LambrinoA2 cover the last quarter (fig. 2). A single sherd of Ionian cup of Villard B2 / Hayes VIII covers the same interval (fig. 3). Only a questionable fragment decorated with a lion head in Late Corinthian style might be a little earlier (fig. 4), but, even if Attic imitations e.g. in the manner of the Gorgon Painter are also attested, the fabric would rather point to an East Greek origin, like this North- Ionian imitation of Middle Corinthian recently identified by lab studies among the finds from Old Smyrna [2].

As for the remaining finds of Archaic date, they consist mostly in a collection of transport containers including sherds of 6th century Clazomenian type (fig. 5), as well as several specimens of Zeest's «Samian» type (fig. 6), mainly covering the second half and the turn of the 6th century, and recently reattributed to North Ionian centres [3]. More specimens of Chian type, ranging from the turn of the 6^th century (LambrinoA2) down to the eighties of the 5^th (swollen-necked type with unpainted rim) (fig. 7), match several sherds of Attic black- glazed cups of type C (fig. 8), whereas the Aeolian sphere is also represented by numerous scraps of amphoras of Lesbian grey and Zeest's «tumbler- bottomed» types, alias Clinkenbeard's «fractional red», alias «Lesbian red» (fig. 9), also mostly ascribable there to the turn of the 6th century, but neither a single one of Milesian type nor of genuine Samian type. On the other hand, a single rim fragment seems acribable to an «? la brosse» amphora, either Attic or Ionian (fig. 10).

-The assemblage of wine jars from Cara Burun reveals the following pattern of distribution (fig. 11): Chian 26,4%;

Clazomenian 30,9%; Lesbian grey 5,9%; «Zeest's «tumbler-bottomed» 20,6%; Milesian 0%; Zeest's «Samian» 13,3%; Attic «la brosse»? 1,4% [4]. When compared with those given by M. Manucu- Adamesteanu for Orgame and nearby Visina, possible emporion in the Getic hinterland [5], it seems both distant and closer to the latter, in that one notes no special predilection for Lesbian wine as observed in Visina and a higher percentage of Zeest's «Samian» jars. Furthermore, the complete absence of Milesian oil containers would appear rather puzzling on a predominantly Greek settlement. But, as the frequency data published by M. Manucu- Adamesteanu look rather questionable and confusing, these comparisons appear of relative value and, judging by the amounts of transport amphoras alone, it is not easy to decide clearly whether we are faced with a Greek or autochthonous settlement, since most of them were not found within clear dwelling complexes.

- Concerning the origin of all these materials, it must be pointed out that most of these transport amphoras appear to be of North-Ionian manufacture: not only those of Chian and Clazomenian types but also those of Zeest's «Samian» type, meanwhile reassigned to the area Erythrae / Teos and reinterpreted as wine- instead oil-jars. As for the additional ones, consisting of both Lesbian grey and Zeest's «tumbler-bottomed» specimens, they are also issued from the Northern part of Eastern Greece, viz. from Lesbos for the former and from its mainland peraea for the latter. Even the Ionian cup might actually originate from some Northern centre of manufacture as recently put forward [6]. Such a Northern geographical assemblage sharply contrasting with the absence of any container issued from the Samian-Milesian area cannot be fortuitous.

- In addition to the above-mentioned Ionian cup of Villard B2 / Hayes VIII, some more fragments of painted pottery recall attention, viz. a little one ascribable to the North-Ionian black- figured style (fig. 12), but of poor fabric and completely reoxydized, possibly corresponding to an Histrian imitation; and another one of Attic black-figured pot of the last third of 6th century (fig. 13), seemingly contemporary with the Antimenes Painter or the Leagros group. Worth mentioning too are several rim fragments of 6th century undetermined Ionian bowls of North-Ionian origin as well as a single fragmentary thin-walled lamp with incurved rim and probable central cone seems related a North- Ionian type of the second half of 6th century BC (fig. 14).

- Of course, the field inventory also revealed quite a lot of sherds of wheelmade grey ware of East Greek type (fig. 15), raising a keen problem of identification of their centre of manufacture, either coastal Greek (Histria or Orgame?) or even native, as recently evidenced in the case of Getic Beidaud [7].

- Thus, the overwhelming majority of pottery finds of Greek type, cannot but point to the conclusion that the Cara Burun settlement was inhabited by colonists of same origin. Even so, the above-mentioned very low amount of collected handmade pottery [8], yet used as substitutes for cooking pots by Greek settlers for lack of their thin-walled wheelmade chytrai and lopades [9], appears somewhat puzzling in the case of an assumed fixed settlement, still evidenced by the presence of some spindle whorls (fig. 16).

Summing up, the assemblage of datable East Greek transport amphoras and associated pottery sherds from Cara Burun, dating back not much earlier to the mid-6th century BC down to the end of the archaic period might well correspond to a settlement of assumed North- Ionian immigrants established both in the immediate hinterland of their port of arrival and on the shore of the adjoining bay south of it, well- stocked with fish as an immediately available source of food until the bringing under cultivation of the surrounding countryside. Meanwhile, until the end of the archaic period, these immigrants are still receiving food staples from their homeland, first of all wines issued from various parts of North-Ionia and Aeolis, thus suggesting that the rural territories of the involved poleis were still able to produce enough foodstuffs for export and consequently that these immigrants are not really to be meant as panic- stricken refugees fled from their devastated territories following the Persian conquest, even if the Euxine was obviously submitted at that time to a widespread wave of specifically North-Ionian incomers, somewhat overshadowing its traditional image of Milesian preserve [10].

Dupont Pierre, Baralis Alexandre, Lungu Vasilica Cara Burun apud Orgame - the pottery assemblage of the Archaic period