Pottery Production in the Buddhist Communities in Central Asia: The Kushan-Sassanian Pottery Workshop of Kara Tepe (Termez, Uzbekistan)

Abstract

We present the first full archaeometrical study of Kushan‐Sassanian pottery from the Buddhist monastic complexes at Kara Tepe (Termez, Uzbekistan), recovered both in the pottery workshop and in the monastery, using a combination of analytical methods (XRF, XRD, SEM–EDS and OM). The study allowed the identification of the reference group, the correspondent fabric, the raw materials used for its productions, some of the technological processes involved in manufacture and several weathering processes. All the results confirm that the kiln was supplying the religious community of the monastery with pottery, made using local raw materials, and highlight the possibility that the kiln could have supplied the nearby monastic complexes, where no kilns have been found. Further archaeological evidence indicates the existence of specialized potters working itinerantly at the broader Bactrian area.

Assessing Hellenistic to nomadic cultural patterns through pottery in ancient Termez, Uzbekistan

“…These data suggest the occurrence of weathering processes related to the crystallization of salts in those sherds presenting the highest Na 2 O concentrations. This contamination process has previously been described in archaeological ceramics found at Termez and in other settlements located in the Amu Darya‐Surkhan Darya floodplain (Martínez Ferreras et al, ; Tsantini et al, ).…”

“…The bimodality observed among the vessels' aplastic inclusions lends further support to this hypothesis. Nevertheless, as has been suggested in the case of the tableware produced at Kara Tepe in Termez during the Kushan period (Tsantini et al, ), the clay was, in all likelihood, unintentionally mixed during extraction, since the sedimentary stratigraphy of the site is composed of successions of clayey, silty, and sandy layers of different widths. Such mixture would also explain why the coarse inclusions of the wares are in general larger than those found in the raw materials analyzed, especially in those presenting the greatest compositional similarity to the vessels.…”

“…However, there is no evidence of pottery workshops associated with the earliest occupations of the site, although kilns at Tchingiz Tepe and Kara Tepe demonstrate that there was a local production of tableware during the Kushan and Kushano‐Sasanian periods (Gurt Esparraguera, Ariño Gil, Martínez Ferreras, & Pidaev, ; Martínez Ferreras et al, , pp. 437–439; Tsantini, Martínez Ferreras, Ariño Gil, Gurt Esparraguera, & Pidaev, ).…”

Islamic glazed wares from ancient Termez (southern Uzbekistan). Raw materials and techniques

“…Even if some chemical differences have been detected among the vessels classified in groups A and B, all of them have been considered as local products. They consist of calcareous pastes (CaO: 10-11 wt%) with similar chemical composition to the local productions from Termez related to the pre-Islamic period (Tsantini et al, 2016;Martínez Ferreras et al, 2019b). Indeed, the mineralogical and petrographic composition of these vessels is consistent with the local raw materials (clayey sediments) also analysed from Termez and with the geological composition of the region.…”

Tableware in the Hellenistic Tradition from the City of Kampyr Tepe in Ancient Bactria (Uzbekistan)

“…; Tsantini et al . ), we present a complete archaeometric characterization of the Hellenistic–Seleucid and Greco‐Bactrian painted and unpainted wares from Kampyr Tepe. The aim is to shed light on the pottery production, in relation to local sources, and on the consumption patterns at the site throughout the period considered.…”