Byzantine amphora

Pyriform amphora with a neck like a funnel, an upturned lip, thickened outwards like a collar, and a rounded base. The large handles, oval in section, start a little higher than the middle of the neck and rise obliquely, slightly exceeding the level of the lip (towards the exterior of which they stick), so that after a bend instead of going down vertically on the shoulder of the vessel. The body, ovoid, has thick walls and presents horizontal grooves on the shoulder and at the base. It was made of relatively clean paste, with rare small microparticles. After burning, the vessel became red-orange. On the shoulder a mark was incised after burning, towards one of the legs. It shows no traces of engobe on the outer surface. Type Günsenin IIa.

Dimensions: Height = 46 cm (with handles); Maximum diameter = 25,7 cm. Very good state of conservation.

Place of discovery: Sinoe Lake (Constanța County, Romania). Collection of the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța.

Dating: the end of the 10^th century - the 11^th century AD.

Bibliography: Cristina Paraschiv-Talmaţchi, Gabriel Custurea, Nouvelles données sur les découvertes sous-aquatiques du littoral roumain, Pontica, 48-49, 2015-2016, p. 241-279, no. 10; Cristina Paraschiv-Talmaţchi, Researches of byzantine amphorae discovered in Southern Dobrudja (10^th-14^th century), Русский Сборник, 8/1, Брянск, 2016, p. 130-143.