General Information

Troy VII-VIII Tan Ware includes vessels made from the later second into the early first millennium BCE (Late Bronze and early Iron Ages). Shapes are primarily open vessels for food and drink, such as cups (skyphoi and kantharoi), bowls, kraters, and dinoi. At Troy Tan Ware is first attested in Troy VIIa levels, and continues into early Troy VII (the Protogeometric and Archaic periods). 

The name is based on the color of the fabric and surface. Vessels are tan in color both inside and out (7.5YR 7/4 - 6/6). As this ware family was produced in many different localities, the actual clay composition differs from place to place. At Troy, the fabric also contains silver mica and white quartz inclusions, and surfaces are burnished.

Troy VII-VIII Tan Ware seems to be Troad version of a family of light-faced wares made throughout coastal and western Anatolia (Ionia, Lydia, and Caria; see Pavúk and Horejs 2018, p. 466).