Cultural biographies of Greek pots: Attic red-figure and other glazed pottery consumption at Kale-Krševica

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at the site Kale-Krševica (south-eastern Serbia) have, so far, revealed between 1,500 and 2,000 red-figure, black-glazed and Early Hellenistic period sherds, originating mostly from the Athenian potters’ quarter of Kerameikos. These fragments, even though they represent a minority of the overall ceramic finds, have been discovered in almost all household and public contexts. Therefore, it seems that they played an important role in the everyday lives of the local population inhabiting this fortified Iron Age settlement, active from the late 5th until the early 3rd century BC. Their consistent distribution within the site is also a strong indication that the vessels were not elite or ‘prestige goods’, as in the case of earlier Iron Age settings in the Balkans, and that they were accessible to wider echelons of society. Consequently, we believe that it is possible to better understand the social changes behind the so-called process of Hellenisation by following subtle variations in archaeological contexts showing how these imports were treated by the community at Kale-Krševica. As a theoretical base, we will use the so-called biographical approach, together with material culture studies.