Illustrations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60053/GSU.IF.2.76.133-194Keywords:
Nicopolis ad Istrum, Provincial Roman ceramics, Pottery workshops, Ceramic kilns, Thracian tradition in ceramicsAbstract
The Illustrations section accompanying Bogdan Sultov’s dissertation presents a comprehensive visual documentation of the ancient ceramic production centres in the region of Nicopolis ad Istrum. It contains over fifty tables depicting the location, structure, and typology of pottery kilns, workshops, tools, and finished ceramic products discovered in sites such as Hotnitsa, Pavlikeni, Butovo, and Kalvaka. The plates illustrate in detail the full technological process — from clay extraction and preparation to shaping, decorating, firing, and distribution of pottery. Various categories of ceramics are represented, including household ware, amphorae, censers, lamps, and fine tableware. These illustrations constitute an essential complement to the analytical text of the dissertation, providing precise archaeological evidence of the production techniques and stylistic features of the ceramic centres active between the first and fourth centuries AD.
References
TABLE I. Location of the ceramic centres on the territory of Nicopolis ad Istrum.
TABLE II. Ceramic centre near Hotnitsa: Location of the pottery kiln. Layout of the potters’ workshops. General view of the workshops. Pottery kiln No. 5 (in the workshop). Stone platform of a potter’s wheel.
TABLE III. Pottery kilns (general views).
TABLE IV. Ceramic centre near Pavlikeni: Location of the pottery kilns. General view of the site. 3–4. General view of the eastern section.
TABLE V. Ceramic centre near Pavlikeni: Clay-pit (general view). Facility for clay storage. Potter’s workshop in the potter’s lodging. Independent potter’s workshop.
TABLE VI. Ceramic centre near Pavlikeni — general views of the structures.
TABLE VII. Ceramic centre near Pavlikeni: Supporting pillar and part of the partition wall of the kiln. Garbage pit with discarded ceramic production. Fine and coarse hand-made ceramics. Clay coating of a destroyed kiln. Ceramic production in a potter’s workshop. Furnaculae with a supporting pillar of clay urns.
TABLE VIII. Ceramic centre in Butovo: Location of the pottery kilns. Archaeological excavations (general view). Layout of the architectural complex in the square. Conserved and exhibited pottery kiln.
TABLE IX. Ceramic centre in Butovo: Potter’s tool (iron shovel). 2–6. Pottery kilns.
TABLE X. Scheme of a pottery kiln: Working platform. Praefurnium (heating chamber). Furnus (lower chamber). Partitioning wall. Chimney flues. Supporting pillar. Upper chamber. Opening for inserting pottery and smoke outlet. Clay coating. Stone casing.
TABLE XI. Pottery kilns from Hotnitsa, Pavlikeni, and Butovo (various views).
TABLE XII. Additional examples of pottery kilns from Butovo and Pavlikeni.
TABLE XIII. Potter’s tools: Iron casing of a shovel (Pavlikeni). Various potter’s tools (Pavlikeni). Clay disc of a potter’s wheel. Iron poker (Pavlikeni).
TABLE XIV. Moulding of earthenware (1–6).
TABLE XV. Additional processing: 1–7. Bottom shaping. 8. Clay base for fixing vessels during moulding. 9. Two-handled earthenware from Butovo.
TABLE XVI. Additional processing: 1, 3–5. Neck reinforcement. 2. Fragment of a vessel showing neck attachment traces.
TABLE XVII. Manufacture of clay censers: 1–5. Production stages. 6. Completed censer from Hotnitsa.
TABLE XIX. Earthenware decoration — incised ornament (1–6). TABLE XX. Earthenware decoration — made with a cogwheel (1–9).
TABLE XXI. Earthenware decoration — stamping: Stamped motifs. 2, 4, 5. Vessels with stamped decoration (Pavlikeni, Butovo). 3, 6. Clay seals for stamping.
TABLE XXII. Earthenware decoration — squirting and applied ornament (1–9).
TABLE XXIII. Earthenware decoration — appliqué technique: 1–3. Appliquéing. 4. Relief image of a Gorgon (Butovo). 5–8. Clay moulds for appliquéing (Butovo, Pavlikeni). 9. Fragment of a vessel with appliqué decoration.
TABLE XXIV. Additional appliqué moulds and decorated ceramics from Butovo, Vurbovka, Pavlikeni, and Hotnitsa.
TABLE XXV. Fingerprints and discarded ceramic production.
TABLES XXVI–XXXIX. Typology of vessels — dishes, bowls, cups, jugs, amphorae, and two-handled vessels, showing multiple subtypes and decorative variants from Pavlikeni, Butovo, Hotnitsa, and Kalvaka. TABLE XL. Strainers and censers — domestic and funerary types.
TABLE XLI. Varia — miscellaneous ceramic artefacts.
TABLES XLII–XLIV. Dishes, bowls, pots, and lids — various types and uses.
TABLE XLV. Vessels for food and liquids — hand-made and wheel-made urns and cups.
TABLES XLVI–L. Fine ceramics — tableware, amphora-like forms, jugs, censers, and greyish-black ware used in daily life. TABLE LI. Trays and terracotta figurines (3rd–4th centuries).
TABLE LII. Lamps and lamp moulds — imported and local types from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD.
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Copyright (c) 1985 Богдан Султов
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Annual of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Faculty of History (GSU-IF).
