Paul Reynolds

University of Barcelona | UB · Departament de Historia i Arqueologia

A new regional typology for the amphorae of the Roman and Byzantine perods in the Levant (1st to 7th centuries AD)

A comparison of the supply of imported amphorae, fine wares and cooking wares to Beirut and Butrint show quite distinct supply networks through the 3rd to 7th centuries. The paper concentrates also on the transition from the 3rd to 4th centuries and the pre-Byzantine origins of the Byzantine economy in the East.

Fine wares from 13 deposits excavated in the Beirut Souks (BEY 006) and ranging from c. 450 to the early 7th century are here discussed, quantified and illustrated (primarily ARS, LRC, LRD and ERS 'A'). These contexts offer significant data on the typologies and dating of LRC and LRD in particular.

The analysis of Fatimid polychrome white-opaque glazed ware found at the archaeological sites of Bir Ftouha and Utica (Ifriqiya) revealed that, contrary prevailing belief, the glazes were successfully opacified with quartz rather than tin oxide (cassiterite) particles. This led us to hypothesise that the use of cassiterite to opacify the glazes in...

Excavations in the former Roman port of Utica (North Tunisia) by the University of Oxford and the INP (Tunisie) have revealed an area of medieval Islamic houses in the area of the Roman forum. Stratified sequences of pottery have established four main phases of occupation which would appear to span the mid-10th to mid-11th century. The range of gla...

A representative selection of glazed ceramics recovered from medieval Islamic contexts excavated in the former Roman port of Utica (North Tunisia) (23 of 99 pieces) has revealed new data about medieval glaze technologies in the central Mediterranean. Stratified sequences of pottery have established four main phases of occupation which span the mid-...

A representative selection of glazed ceramics recovered from medieval Islamic contexts excavated in the former Roman port of Utica (North Tunisia) has revealed new data about medieval glaze technologies in the central Mediterranean. Stratified sequences of pottery have established four main phases of occupation which span the mid-10th to the mid-11...

The concerted efforts of Paul Reynolds focusing on the pottery analysis of the Beirut assemblages (BEY 006, 015 and 045 and Julian Henderson and Yvette Sablerolles analyzing the glass finds of BEY 015, have encouraged the architectural and stratigraphic analysis of the site by its excavators. BEY 015 has provided clear evidence for primary producti...

Amphorae are key materials in the investigation of the production and transport of goods in ancient times. For the Roman period, many typologies of amphorae are standardised and there are hypotheses concerning their uses and contents mainly based on the shape, provenance, tituli picti and, when preserved, the solid contents. However, there are stil...

The production of polychrome decorated ceramics began in Ifriqiya in the 9th century under Aghlabid rule, with continuity during the 10th century under the Fatimids. These comprised finely painted brown and green designs with a characteristic yellow background (a transparent lead glaze containing iron oxide). This production was substituted in the...

La publication d’un dossier consacré à l’alimentation dans l’Antiquité tardive répond à la nécessité d’accroître nos connaissances à ce sujet. Entendue comme une construction socioculturelle vitale et identitaire, l’alimentation constitue un aspect essentiel de la vie quotidienne des peuples de l’Antiquité tardive de toutes les classes, métiers et...

VIEW TEXT in the other entry: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342610931_L'alimentation_dans_l'Antiquite_tardive

All results of the ERAAUB team in recent years

Cet article presente une synthese du large eventail de la culture materielle de l’Hispanie des vie et viie siecles (peninsule Iberique et Baleares), periode qui couvre l’occupation et l’expansion wisigothiques ainsi que la reconquete byzantine. Y sont presentes les vestimenta, armamenta et outils agricoles, les objets liturgiques, les textiles, le...

This paper summarises trends in local and imported wares from the 3rd century BC to the Umayyad period on sites surveyed in the Homs region. Comparison with the range of goods present in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley (Lebanon), and across Syria is also offered in order to place Homs within a wider regional context. This underlines the thorough lack of c...

This contribution presents the LRCW.net a website with a virtual laboratory intranet devoted to the study of coarse and cooking wares in the late Antique Mediterranean. It is designed as a public website with a virtual laboratory intranet. There, all institutions and researchers interested in the subject can work together towards a specific purpose...

Archaeological excavations in the Roman and late Antique city of Palma (underneath modern Palma de Mallorca) in the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands), have documented two ceramic deposits that can be provisionally dated to the Vandal (455-534 AD) and Byzantine (534-902/903 AD) periods, respectively. The paper presents the ceramic materials and...

A typology and quantification of a large assemblage of late 10th-early 11th century pottery from Bir Ftouha, near Carthage (Tunisia).

The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of the distribution of Eastern Mediterranean Late Roman amphorae in the current Catalan coastal territory, based on a review of the main archaeological contexts that have been excavated to this date. In particular, evidence recovered in major urban centres (Tarraco, Emporiae, Barcino, Iluro) and in se...

The 1992 excavations at Bir Ftouha provide new information on the Roman bath-house discovered in the 19th century, and traces of a Late Antique building aligned with the bath-house. A series of midden pits containing late 10th-early 11th century Islamic pottery and bone were excavated nearby. A full catalogue and typology of the pottery is presente...

The development and evolution of LRD 2 into LRD 9 through the 5th to 7th centuries is traced and illustrated through a revision of the evidence presented in Late Roman Pottery (Hayes 1972) and finds from new contexts excavated in Beirut.

This paper presents in full a 7th century pottery deposit from a shaft dug into one of the corners of a building on Calle Soledad (Cartagena), formerly thought to be part of the Byzantine walls erected under the Byzantine reconquest of Spain, now interpreted as being part of the portico associated with the Roman Theatre. The assemblage and other By...

This paper summarises both the evolution and the results of the Barcelona ICREA/ESF workshop on late Roman fine wares. A brief guide to what we agreed were the principal Mediterranean contexts for the dating of fine wares, as well as a summary of the principal conclusions on the dating and sources of ARS, LRC and LRD forms are presented. Plans for...

A typology and archaeometrical study of the late 1st-early 2nd century AD pottery workshop in Beirut: amphorae and kitchen wares.

This paper reflects the two seasons of fieldwork undertaken in 2005 and 2006 by a small team in part of the Shin basalt region, or Wa’ar, as it is known locally, to the north-west of Homs. It builds upon initial work undertaken in the basalt region as part of the Settlement and Landscape of the Homs Region Project (SHR Project). The work is focusse...

A typology and archaeometrical analysis of the local and imported (North Palestinian 'Workshop X') cooking wares in Beirut, 3rd to 7th centuries.

The study of imported ceramics found in Beirut and suspected to belong to north Syrian products will provide key evidence for the roles in trade of the various postulated centers in northern Syria and northern Lebanon. It is proposed that a comprehensive range of likely north Syrian products imported to Beirut will be chemically analyzed by PIXE (p...

Selected pottery deposits from Roman-Late Antique Butrint. A typology of the Medieval 'Otranto' amphorae.

This insula, which lay on the western margin of the earlier Iron Age city, was uncovered during post-war reconstruction work carried out in Beirut during I994-6. Laid out in the Hellenistic period, the insula was filled out with a series of small courtyard houses after the Roman annexation. A public portico was added along a main street in the seco...

A fully quantified pottery deposit of c. 600-650 from the Imperial Baths in central Beirut. The dominance of Egyptian table wares and amphorae is a marked feature of the assemblage. Other imoirts are from northern Palestine (probably Caesarea), Cyprus and possibly the Aegean.

Large-scale excavations in Beirut city center unearthed, among other remains, an amphorae workshop dating back to the 1 st century AD. Elemental analysis of ceramics from this workshop provided reference data for local production in the Roman period. These data were used to test the attribution to Beirut of several small containers, including «caro...

Ion Beam Analysis techniques were developed and utilized for applications in the domain of archeology at the accelerator laboratory of the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission. The characterization of Beirut kiln materials, mainly amphorae ceramics from the Roman period, was done using PIXE technique. In two runs with 1 and 3 MeV protons, we measured...

The Roman and Byzantine port of Butrint, situated on the SW coast of Albania directly opposite the island of Corfu, has been the focus of a major research project since 1994. The investigation of the site and its hinterland commenced with excavations within the walled town and a survey of sites and monuments in the region (Hodges et al 1997). Despi...

A typology of the prinicipal local amphora of Beirut, late 2nd century BC-7th century AD

Baetican and Portuguese-Lusitanian amphorae imports in Beirut

Two Beirut pottery assemblages datable to the first half of the 2nd century AD are presented. They illustrate the ceramic forms in this period and offer important insights into current patterns of production and exchange of local and imported fine wares, amphorae and coarse wares in the region. Reference here is also made to pottery from a number o...

A fully quantified and illustrated 1st century AD pottery assemblage from Leptis Magna (Libya)

The third season of excavation of a Roman town house adjacent to the theatre of Lepcis Magna took place in September 1996. The whole ground plan of the house had not previously been exposed and this was the primary task of the 1996 fieldwork. It appeared that the first building was constructed of well-dressed stone with interior mud-brick walls in...

En este artículo presentamos una tipología y cronología de la cerámica tardo-romana modelada a mano de carácter local, regional y de importación en los yacimientos del valle del Río Vinalopó (Alicante). Se trata de la producción y distribución de la cerámica de los distintos centros, con referencia particular a los paralelos etnográficos modernos....

This article provides summary comments on the catalogue of African Red Slip Ware and other Late Roman fine wares (sigillata chiara B, lucente and paleochretienne grise), and a few Tunisian amphorae from excavated sites in Valencia. This work was carried out in 1980-1981 in the Archaeological museum stores which were formerly in the basement of the...