General Information

The Notion Hellenistic Household Ware represents the standard household vessels of the site’s Hellenistic-era residents. The fabric is semi-finely levigated, slightly granular and micaceous with frequent gray, brown, and white inclusions. It is generally pale reddish yellow in color (5YR 6/6), are almost always fully fired, and usually wet smoothed on the exterior. Shapes consist of an array for household storage and use: bins, basins, lagynoi, jugs, funnels, unguentaria, and amphoras.

This ware has been defined on the basis of excavations of a single large Late Hellenistic house, so these particular forms represent a specific moment in the history of Notion. However, a surface survey of the full site and its immediate environs, carried out from 2014-2019, recovered ceramics from the Iron Age through the late Roman period that included many vessels whose ware description conforms with that of Notion Hellenistic Household Ware. That ware, named Hales River Valley Plain Ware, is characterized by a compact, pale pink-orange buff, slightly micaceous fabric with many small white, brown and red inclusions. The color difference is likely due to surface weathering and other environmental impacts over time.  

The ubiquity of vessels of this ware at Notion over time suggest that it was manufactured nearby.