Nankov, Emil : Markers of Military Mobility: Toward an Archaeology of the Sling in Ancient Thrace (5th c. BC – 4th c. AD)

Emil Nankov,
Markers of Military Mobility: Toward an Archaeology of the Sling in Ancient Thrace (5th c. BC – 4th c. AD)
with
A Corpus of the inscribed lead sling projectiles from Bulgaria /
Glandes Plumbeae Inscriptae in Bulgaria Repertae
(Excavations and Research / Разкопки и проучвания, vol. 50)

The present study is dedicated to some of the finds from a type of archaeological structures that are specific to the Classical and Hellenistic necropolis of Apollonia: the so-called "ritual fireplaces". These are remains of rituals carried out in the necropolis and related to food consumption or offerings and libations for the dead. Ritual fireplaces are usually discovered between the graves, most often next to stone walls and other structures delimiting burials or groups of burials.
The repertoire of finds from the ritual fireplaces comprises mainly pottery: mostly black-glaze and plain vases, rarely painted (red-figure) ones. The shapes are mainly for serving food. Less represented are terracotta figurines, metal items, funerary wreaths, etc.

It should be emphasized that the scope of the present study is modest: it analyzes only 45 out of hundreds of ritual fireplaces investigated in the necropolis of Apollonia in the last three decades. The analysis of several dozen fireplaces aims to partially fill a gap in the existing literature dealing with black-glaze pottery from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The monography comprises an introduction and three main chapters:
Chapter I. Black-glaze pottery from the ritual fireplaces in the necropolis of Apollonia: Types and chronology,
Chapter II. Catalogue of the black-glaze pottery with a commentary on the context (some 400 vases from investigations in Kalfata, Budzhaka, and Mesarite localities), and
Chapter III. Other pottery. The conclusion discusses specific and the general problems of the pottery in the fireplaces, problems of chronology, and an attempt to bind archaeological evidence with historical processes.