Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 25. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1995)
Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta XXXIV - cvjetićanin, T.: Late Roman glazed Pottery from the Iron Gate Region (Dacia Ripensis). p. 27–32.
PI. 2: Glazed forms commonly with unworked surface So, it is possible that customers satisfied their need for luxury by glazed pottery. However, the number of glazed products in the fortresses and other military sites in Raetia, Noricum and Pannónia (Bonis 1991), just as in Moesia and Dacia (Gudea 1987; Gudea 1990), and, as we have seen, in the Iron Gate (where all the sites except two are part of the well-organized military complex), suggest that this sort of pottery is related to military organization and the needs of the army. (7) For example, the inland regions of Moesia, away from zones with large army concentrations contain little, if any, glazed material (Cvjeticanin 1988; Popovic 1990). Glazed pottery occurred generally in the beginning of the 4th century. A final answer to the problem of whether the'production of glazed pottery in some of the zones started earlier than in others (Gudea 1990) may be given when our researches make more progress. Though our types are analogous with ceramic forms from other regions, we believe that the quality and density of find-places is a consequence of local production, regardless that working centers were not found. The unchanging raw material base, error repetition in the application of glaze and firing, the appearance of glazed surfaces on wares that were not commonly glazed, as well as its diffusion, support this conclusion. An explanation for the indentity of types is the direct result of cultural standardization. However, we admit that some forms which autochthonous pottery was not acquainted with, could be produced under foreign cultural influence, but in local realization. The simplicity of the decoration does not allow analogies. Sameness in glaze color might be explained as consistent acceptance of fashion-dictates, just as availability of copper and iron oxides (mining centers in the hinterland of the frontier). There is a possibility that the glaze mixture was a trade product, sold by travelling craftsmen. This short discussion of the Late Roman pottery from the Iron Gate region is the first result of the author's new investigations and research-work, and the beginning of further study of this problem. Complementing lacunae in this field will create a solid base for further studies of this phenomenon in the territory of the Empire. Glazed mortars in the Iron Gate region appeared in the beginning of the last quarter of the 3rd century, perhaps as an effect of restoring the military significance of this zone, due to Aurelian's abandonment of Dacia, i.e. the region of the left bank of the Danube. 31
