Jars of the Day - Jars of the Season

The day ended with this hoard of early Roman pottery. Tucked in under a tree and into the baulk there were three visible jars which we had to remove before we left or they would not be there in the morning (night diggers). They appeared to be whole vessels. We were hoping.








 Here my wife (Irina) is holding one of the complete jars, a beautiful spouted wine jug. Five other vessels are in the black gouffa's. First there was one, then two, and by the time we were finished we had excavated six whole vessels. A couple were broken, but we had most of the pieces to mend them.

Early Roman table amphora with strainer.This double handled vessel was beautifully painted with red paint. The neck contained a five hole strainer.

Sources

 Avissar, Tel Yoqne’am; Loffreda, La ceramica di Macheronte e dell’Herodion, Fig. 20:17

Early Roman terracotta wine jug (ca.1st century AD). Sometimes the handle is on the side but here it is in the back.

 Sources

Miriam Avissar, ed., Tel Yoqne’am: Excavations on the Acropolis, IAA Reports 25 (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2006), 46 no. 2.
  Stanislao Loffreda, La Ceramica, Cafarnaeo 2 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1974), 810, Fig. 4:6.
  Stanislao Loffreda, La ceramica di Macheronte e dell’Herodion: (90 a.C.-135 d.C.) (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1996), 6, Fig. 25:1.

Early Roman terracotta table amphora (ca.1st century AD). This one is similar to the one above but the handle was missing and made of a lighter clay.

Sources
Avissar, Tel Yoqne’am, 46 no. 2.
  Loffreda, La ceramica di Macheronte e dell’Herodion, Fig. 20:15.
  R. Bar-Nathan, “The Finds at Lower Herodium,” in Greater Herodium, ed. Ehud Netzer, Qedem 13 (Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1981), Fig. 4:7.
  Hendrix, Drey, and Storfjell, (1996) Ancient Pottery of Transjordan, 249, no. 382; Montlivault-Villeneuve, “Gargoulettes Byzantines de Jérash,” 139–44.
  Walmsley, “Households at Pella,” 239–72.





Roman Small-Spouted Table Amphora  (ca.1st-2nd century AD). This is the third of this type found together in the same area.

Sources

 Hendrix, Drey, and Storfjell, (1996) Ancient Pottery of Transjordan, 249, no. 382; E. G. de. Montlivault-Villeneuve, “Gargoulettes Byzantines de Jérash,” Berytus 34 (1986): 139–44.
  Alan Walmsley, “Households at Pella, Jordan: Domestic Destruction Deposits of the Mid-8th C.,” Late Antique Archaeology 5, no. 1 (2009): 239–72.

Roman table Amphora with double handles. The jar was laying together but broken so it was easily mended.
Comparison vessel

Single handled ribbed Hellenistic/Early Roman Biconical Jug.

Sources:

Hendrix, Drey, and Storfjell, (1996) Ancient Pottery of Transjordan, 217 no. 304; Philip C. Hammond, “Pottery from Petra,” PEQ 105, no. 1 (January 1, 1973): 41: no. 15.
  John W. Hayes, Roman Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1976), Fig. 312.
  British Museum Access # 1982,0729.355
  Augustus W. Franks, “On Recent Excavations at Carthage,” Artlzaealogia 38 (1860): 163–86.
  John W. Hayes, Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 76, Pl. 29.