A Complex of the Early-Eleventh Century Finds from a Cistern in Quarter IX of Chersonese

This paper discusses a complex of ceramic finds excavated from a cistern in quarter IX in the north-eastern area of Chersonese, which supplied water to a public bath at the first stage of its existence. Although the reasons why the cistern was covered with soil remain unclear, later on residential buildings appeared at this site. The finds published here comprised imported transport and table ceramic wares. The complex included brown-clay flat-handle transport pitchers, presumably from the Taman area; Günsenin I amphorae produced on the Marmara Sea coast to the south-west of Constantinople; Glazed White Ware II tableware (according to J. Hayes’ classification) and painted white-clay Polychrome Ware also produced in the vicinity of the Byzantine capital. A vessel with polished surface is probably connected with the manufacture of the Khazar Khanate circle. The questions of the chronology of specific pottery types nave been analysed with account to their modern dating. According to the combination of dates, the complex of finds from the cistern in question is attributable to the beginning of the eleventh century. An important role for the dating of the complex is played by the chronology of the white-clay polychrome ware clarified by G. Sanders and the absence of Günsenin II amphorae dating from the mid-eleventh to the early twelfth centuries. The ceramic ware from the infill of the cistern comprises only imported pieces and reflects the two directions of Cherson’s trade in the said period: first, Constantinople and its environs and second, the Azov Sea and Northern Caucasus area.