Teos, a major production centre of Geometric and Archaic pottery in North Ionia

Abstract

Recent archaeological and archaeometric research at Teos has shown that this polis was one of the most prolific production centres of painted pottery in Ionia from the late 8th to the mid-6th century BC. The neutron activation analysis (NAA) of kiln wasters established the chemical fingerprint of Teian pottery. Local production of painted pottery can be traced back until the Protogeometric period. In the Late Geometric period, Teian workshops produced the bird kotylae and, in the 7th century BC, their even more widespread successors, the bird bowls, the first standardised decorated fine ware in the eastern Aegean produced for large-scale export. In addition, the Teian potters had a major share in the production of the North Ionian Wild Goat style as well as in simply decorated dishes, bowls and other shapes. Another important result of this NAA was the localisation of a frequent and widespread type of Late Archaic trade amphorae, previously called ‘Zeest’s Samian and Protothasian’, ‘Ionian I’ or ‘İonia β’ amphorae, at Teos.