This petro-fabric seems to be one of the products of ceramic production at Nea Paphos. Potters used variations of the same basic formula for both fine table ware (i.e., Color-Coated Ware) and coarse transport containers (Late Roman 1 amphora). It is locally attested since at least the mid-1st c. BCE to the 7th c. CE.
Clay is a light reddish brown to tan yellow-brown fabric in PPL, yellow in XPL, and is highly calcareous. Irregular vugh-shaped voids, ranging from 200–800µm, comprise ca. 15% of the fabric. The fabric is silty, ca. 15–20% of the total. The silt is composed of ferruginous nodules, quartz, mica, limestone, and feldspar. Aplastic components are also abundant, moderately to poorly sorted and generally sub-angular to rounded. These tend to be small, ca. <100µm, but there are some rock fragments over 400µm. Approximately 10–20% of the calcareous components are foraminifera, shells, and other bioclastic calcareous material. Planktonic forams like Globigerina are the dominant variety, and are more common than the shells. Among the aplastic components, calcareous material (primarily micritic limestone and calcite) is ca. 40% of the total, dull to bright red serpentine represents 20%, quartz <10%, pillow lavas 5%, chert represents about 3–5%, and there are trace amounts of plagioclase feldspar and micas. There is some variation in the abundance of sand-sized (i.e., >63µm) aplastic components, ranging from 10–20% of the entire fabric. These textural differences are most likely due to the active choices of the potter like clay levigation and the amount of temper added to the clay. One sample, Paphos π4, has fewer sand-sized inclusions than the other members of this fabric, but is otherwise identical.
The particular assemblage of minerals in this petro-fabric was likely derived from a combination of carbonatic and ophiolitic rocks. Sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks all overlap in the deformed Mamonia Complex in southwestern Cyprus. The complex is essentially Late Cretaceous to Quaternary (ca. 100 million ya–present) sedimentary material deposited over Late Triassic (ca. 237–200 million ya) alkaline to sub-alkaline igneous rocks such as olivine basalt and tholeiite which are mixed with sedimentary rocks, like radiolarian chert and limestone, and ‘slices’ of locally formed metamorphic rock (Robertson and Woodcock 1979; Malpas, Xenophontos and Williams 1992: 199; Lapierre et al. 2007: 2). All of these different components were smashed together by tectonic forces around the Maastrichtian Stage (ca. 72–66 million ya) (Robertson and Woodcock 1979: 661; Janssen and Little 2010: 1112). The amalgamation of calcareous, ophiolitic, and volcanic derived materials match with potential parent sources in the Mamonia Complex. These similarities are compounded by the similarities between the vessels and local clay and sediment samples collected around Nea Paphos. Fluvial red soil and pale Pakhna marl from the area contained the same microfossils, chert, and ophiolitic minerals (though in somewhat lesser quantities). The raw clay material was likely collected from alluvial deposits of rivers flowing down from the Troodos (the Ezousa, Xeropotamos and Dhiarizos) and mixed with the diverse melange of local rock, like serpentinite and Pakhna marlstone, sourced from the Mamonia Complex. The serial grain size distribution with a concentration of fine grains might be indicative of a lack of artificial tempering or a laissez-faire addition of mixed sand. Marzec et al. (2019) observed that the same material, with some differences in texture and preparation, was utilized to produce the fine tableware made in Nea Paphos workshops in the Late Hellenistic period.
This petro-fabric seems to be one of the products of ceramic production at Nea Paphos. Potters used variations of the same basic formula for both fine table ware (i.e., Color-Coated Ware) and coarse transport containers (Late Roman 1 amphora). It is locally attested since at least the mid-1st c. BCE to the 7th c. CE.
4th - 8th centuries CE
Late Roman, Early Byzantine, Byzantine, Late Roman