Stamped Ceramic Vessels from Mediaeval Sougdaia

This article presents the first-time analysis of the stamped ceramic ware (“Stamped Monochrome Green Ware”) from the Golden Horde Period discovered in all the years of archaeological researches of mediaeval Sougdaia. Although there are publications of the pottery kilns where this ware was produced, the collection itself was not introduced into the scholarship before. Nevertheless, this collection is one of the most representative for the Crimean peninsula. In total, there are 84 glazed and non-glazed fragments, including archaeologically complete forms, and 10 qalyp matrices. From the morphological features, there are reasons to establish five main types. Three of them divide into two variants according to the functional purpose. Two types more are so far isolated vessels with no analogies among the materials of Taurica and nearby territories. Each of the selected types contains vessels of two technique groups. Relief designs form seven main elements, combined into seven main ornamental compositions with several variants. According to the archaeological contexts represented mainly by stratigraphic horizons featuring wide chronological framework, the stamped ceramics of Sougdaia dates from the fourteenth to the first half of the fifteenth century. It is not possible to distinguish the complexes from the first quarter of the fourteenth century. The distribution area of stamped ware and, above all, the most representative collections of Solkhat and Azak have been analyzed. The sources from which this ware came to the Crimea have been repeatedly analyzed. Among them could be Khwarazm, which is still disputed by some experts, and the territory of Transcaucasia.