MAIASP. 2024. No. 16

S.V. Yartsev (Tula, Russia), Ma Yan (Hohhot, China)

A new find of grey clay pottery with dark lacquer coating from the excavations of “Adzhiel I” in the context of ethno-cultural interaction on the territory of the European Bosporus in the 1^st century BCE

DOI: 10.53737/2713-2021.2024.24.49.014

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Pages: 357—365

The article is devoted to grey clay pottery with dark lacquer coating, a fragment of which was found in 2023 in the layer of the 1^st century BCE — 1^st century CE at the “Adzhiel I” site, located on the western border of the Bosporan Kingdom. Relative to the total volume of pottery in the region, such pottery is much rarer at this time. Obviously, the use of this specific pottery reflects the peculiarities of ethno-cultural interaction in the Bosporus during the era of the Mithridatic Wars and in the subsequent period of the reign of the kings Pharnaces and Asander. In the author’s opinion, the finds of the above ceramics in a number of frontier places of the state, where mercenaries and military settlers were serving at that time, could indicate the presence of military personnel, most likely of high status, for whom the use of black-lacquer ware was part of the cultural tradition. Amid disruptions to trade connections and a decline in traditional imports, these military elites became the primary consumers of locally produced imitations of such pottery. As a working hypothesis, the author proposes to consider such military commanders as natives of Asia Minor, who came to the Bosporus together with the Pontic army of Mithridates VI Eupator and stayed here in the service of the kings Pharnaces and Asander. It is not excluded that by using such utensils, these war veterans tried to preserve their ethnic and possibly social identity, staying in a different ethnic environment.

Key words: Bosporan Kingdom, Mithridates VI Eupator, Pharnaces, Asander, military settlers, black-lacquer ceramics, grey-clay ceramics with dark-lacquer coating, “Adzhiel I”, Uzunlar defence line, signal towers, royal residences.

Received June 25, 2024

Accepted for publication July 12, 2024

About the authors:

Yartsev Sergey Vladimirovich (Tula, Russia). Dr. habil. (History), Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

E-mail: s-yartsev@yandex.ru

Ma Yan (Hohhot, China). PhD, Inner Mongolia University

E-mail: my_history@163.com