Troy VIII Gray Ware/Aiolian Bucchero
Turkey/Aegean
c. 900-200 BCE
Geometric, Archaic, Hellenistic
General Information
Troy VIII Gray Ware is a long-lived ware family that includes all reduction-fired gray vessels made in the region of the southern Troad throughout the first millennium BCE, including cooking, dining and utilitarian vessels. Vessels are generally cleanly finished but without special detailing. Incision is the most frequent decorative technique, with horizontal or wavy lines being the most common.
The longevity of Gray ware vessels means that the best way to differentiate them chronologically is according to their shape.
Troy VIII Gray Ware ranges in color from medium gray (Gley 1 4/N-6/N) to gray/brown (5YR 4/1-6/1, 2.5YR 4/1-6/1, 5/1-6/1). The fabric is usually levigated and contains small white quartz and lime inclusions. Both interior and exterior surfaces are wet-smoothed; this technique, in combination with the naturally occurring mica in the fabric, often gives a silvery sheen to the outside of the vessel. Small quantities of this fabric appear as dark gray, light gray, and sometimes blue or brown in color but with a gray exterior.
