THE GRECO-ITALIC AMPHORAE FOUND ON MALTEPE TUMULUS IN PHOCAEA

Abstract

Phocaea, which was one of the biggest cities in Ionia, was also an important pottery production centre from the Orientalising Period to the Late Antique Period. The many large pottery dumps which were unearthed in different sites in the modern city of Foca are evidence of this large-scale production. During the 1992 excavation season, a small part of the Archaic Period city wall of Phocaea was discovered in the fill of a fourth century mound referred to as Maltepe. However, in addition to preserving the archaic city wall for millennia, the other feature of this mound was its use as a ceramic dump. This situation gives us much important information about the pottery production in the city, especially during the Hellenistic Period. Many different pottery types were unearthed from the fill of the tumulus. Numerous Greco-Italic amphora fragments of the form known as western Mediterranean were also found among other pottery in the course of the tumulus excavation. The existence of these fragments here suggests that this type of amphora may have been produced in Phocaea. A total of 40 rim and base fragments were studied for this publication. In addition, in order to discover proof of their production in Phocaea, clay samples taken from the amphora fragments and soil samples taken from the local stream bed were analysed petrographically and chemically. As a result of these analyses, it was established that Greco-Italic amphorae were also produced in Phocaea in the third and second centuries BC.