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 - Bjelajac, L.: Late Roman glazed Pottery in Singidunum (Moesia I). p. 33–38.

Alba Regia, XXV, 1994 L. BJELAJAC LATE ROMAN GLAZED POTTERY IN SINGIDUNUM (MOESIA I) Sporadic finds of lead-glazed pottery in the region of Upper Moesia and Singidunum proper appear in the period of the Early Roman Empire both as imported and local products. Pottery of that time is characterized by good facture and quality glaze of lemon-yellow and olive-brownish color. If is difficult to draw a distinguishing line between imported and local ware when it has been positively established that the production techniques were known to potters of terra sigillata workshops of Viminacium and Margum by the mid-second century. The fact ist proved by reliefornamented glazed forms, the decorative style of which undoubtedly confirms that they originate from the said workshop (Bjelajac 1991, Pl.l). It is still unclear whether the plain forms - plates, cups and jugs - were manufactured by local potters or whether the ware originated in North Italian, Gaulish, Rhineland or Pannonian centers (Bonis 1990, 36-37). Finds of both imported and locally-made glazed pottery of the 2nd and 3rd centuries have been very scarce and these probably represent luxury ware out of everyday use. Mass use of glazed pottery occurs in the 4th century. This paper's aim is to establish the chronology and typology of Late Roman glazed pottery in Singidunum (modern Belgrade) which, in the 4th century was one of the major towns in Moesia I. Although Singidunum is considered to have harbored a major craft center the exact location of pottery workshops has not been discovered yet because the wider settlement area (Ager Singidunensis) is situated mostly under modern urban areas. The most precisely stratigraphically defined materials presented in this paper originate from a well exploited site "Veliki Kalemegdan" (legionary camp) and "Donji Grad" (Roman settlement) situated in the area of modern Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress. Apart from a large number of glazed pottery sherds from the 4th century layer, which were impossible to date more precisely, several closed collections from the above mentioned sites have been selected to classify closely typologically and chronologically dated ware groups. The sites and conditions of the discoveries, therefore, defined an older group of ware which can be dated to the middle third of the 4th century and a later group dated to the last quarter of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century. Glazed wares of the older group were found in a refuse pit in the settlement (Donji Grad), dated precisely by the presence of 177 coins with their latestdated emission in 341/48 AD (Ivanisevié 1983, 77) and closed layers and pits of the legionary camp (Veliki Kalemegdan), which have been also closely dated by coins and other finds to the second third of the 4th century. These deposits are rich in glazed ware of various types and varieties (figs. 1/1-2, 4; 2/2-5, 7; 3/56, 8). Most have been encountered amongst the mortaria (fig. 1/1-2, 4), with the shape profile closely resembling those with the IVSTINIANVS stamp, reaching Singidunum as imports from Pannónia (Poetovio) in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries (BOJOVIC 1977, 37, Pl. LXII/544). The quality of the local 4th century ware is somewhat poorer and is characterized by a dark olive color and smaller dimensions. The second third of the 4th century in Singidunum is represented by a single variant of mortarium (fig. 1/1-2, 4), of a unified clay and glaze properties of olive green and olive-brownish color. Hemispherical bowls are quite numerous and appear in various dimensions, ranging from rather small as fig. 2/2 to middle-sized like fig. 2/3. The bowls are frequently decorated with lines on the rim or incisions at its edge, along with a specimen with a graffito on the rim (BOJOVIC 1977, Pl. LII/474). Plates like fig. 2/7 have similar decoration on their rims. Jugs appear in several types (fig. 3/5-6, 8). More common samples like fig. 3/5-6 of similar shape have one or two handles, while trefoil-mouthed jugs are rather rare (fig. 3/8). 33