General Information

Cooking pots with an everted rim, thin walls (0,2-0,3 cm), and very wide (up to 3.5 cm) vertical handles with a shallow central groove.

Cooking pots of this kind are distributed across various locations, with only a limited presence in Cyprus, particularly in Nea Paphos, where only a few examples have been documented. These pots are frequently discovered at coastal sites in Asia Minor, including Elausina Sebastae, Anemurium, and Tarsus, as well as numerous inland sites. Interestingly, they have also been identified in more distant locales such as Caesarea Maritima, Carthage, and Kenchreai. The production and circulation of these cooking pots appear to have commenced around the 5th century CE, with the peak of their distribution observed between the 6th and 7th centuries CE. Scholars Ferrazzoli and Ricci have proposed Cyprus as a potential production area for these pots, however the vast majority of fragments found at sites in southern Turkey point to this region as a potential producing location. 

Inclusions: Fabric shows that this group has few to frequent, fine to coarse white, yellow, grey or dark grey, pink inclusions.

Voids:  Voids in the fresh break are few to frequent, fine to medium, elongated and rounded.

Hardness: Fabric is fairly hard or hard.

Feel: Feel of the surface is smooth with some irregularities.

Texture: Texture of the fresh break is hackly.

Colour: The colour of the external surface ranges between red (2.5 YR 6/2), pinkish grey (7.5 YR 6/2), reddish brown (2.5 YR 4/4), reddish grey (5 YR 5/2) and reddish brown (2.5 YR 5/3), while the colour of the fresh brake is red

Paphos/Nea Paphos (Cyprus/Western South Coast)