Data copyright © University of Southampton unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Dr
David
Williams
Dept of Archaeology
University of Southampton
Avenue Campus
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
England
Tel: 080 593032
Comments specific to this amphora typeA (north Palestinian) reduce-fired product is a rare fifth century AD import in Beirut but Late Roman 5 usually occurs in oxidised fabrics, from buff to orange in colour. |
Palestinian grey fabric |
---|
Visual characteristicsThis is very hard, fine and thin-walled, often with a reddish core in a reduced dark grey-black fabric. Common 0.5-2mm rounded red brown inclusions, common fine 2mm limestone inclusions. Lime eruptions/spalling often visible on the surface. |
PetrologyThe grey fabric is similar in thin section to the orange fabric, with a clean clay matrix displaying a scatter of rounded or subrounded quartz grains and occasional limestone (Peacock & Williams, 1986: Class 46). |
Palestinian orange fabric |
CommentsEquivalent to: PAL AM of the National Roman Fabric Reference Collection (Tomber & Dore, 1998: 103) |
Visual characteristicsNorth Palestinian examples are sandy, quartz and lime-rich fabrics. A finer, buff to pale yellow fabric, with common fine lime is typical for some late fifth to seventh century AD variants (Piéri Type 3: the size of the modules suggests that Abu Mena/northern Egypt is not the source (Piéri pers. comm.). Another common fabric is orange-red brown in colour and rich in iron oxide pellets, lime and quartz (another late fifth to seventh century AD Piéri Type 3 source: Judaea?). Some sixth century AD examples have a fabric very close to that of Gazan amphorae (Almagro 54) (for some illustrations of the range of Late Roman Amphora 5 and their fabrics, see Reynolds, 2005a). |
PetrologyThin-sections of the orange fabric show abundant well-sorted sand inclusions, average size 0.25 mm, comprising well-rounded to subrounded quartz grains with a scatter of rounded biosparite limestone grains and occasional plagioclase feldspar (Peacock & Williams, 1986: Class 46). |