Pottery of Rhodiapolis Roman Era cooking pots 2006-2009 findings

Roman Era cooking pots unearthed in Rhodiapolis excavations during the years 2006 through 2009 consist the subject of this study. The mentioned cooking pots were found in the excavations at the Bathhouse, the Assembly Hall, the Agora, the Asklepion and various parts of the Theater such as the East Parodos, Cavea, Orchestra and Scene. They range from Early Roman Period to Late Roman ? Early Byzantine Period and cover a wide range of form variations.The pieces of pottery relevant to this study have been organized under main titles as stewing pot, casserole, frying pan and other forms relevant to cooking ware (pot stand, lid), and were evaluated by dividing into further subgroups.The stewing pots are round based, spherical shaped, deep, horizontal or vertical double handled, thin walled cooking ware with a lid. With their deep body form they have been used in preparing boiled or soup-like dishes as well as boiling water. The stewing pots, having great variation in form, were, regarding variations in rim and body forms, evaluated under five subgroups. Apart from these, the double walled stewing pots with a spout, that had first been found in excavations in Patara and later observed in Rhodiapolis, have been evaluated as a separate group entitled Pressure Cookers.The casseroles are conical, sharp profiled, shallow bodied, round based, depending on the use narrow or wide rimmed, and double handled cooking pots with a lid. Casseroles, being the shallow cooking ware they are, lacking the large interior of stewing pots, have been used mostly for roasted dishes or other unboiled preparations. The casseroles found in Rhodiapolis have been evaluated under three subgroups regarding their rim and body profiles.The frying pans show great similarity with their modern counterparts and can be evaluated under two subgroups regarding their use. Flat based, wide rimmed and shallow pans have been more used for frying; whereas narrow rimmed, round bodied, deep pans have rather been used for preparing or reheating boiled or soup-like dishes. The pans have been evaluated under two subgroups regarding their body and rim profiles.Pot stand are not directly cooking ware but are only used in connection with cooking ware as stands for round based, sack shaped bodied pots such as stewing pots and casseroles to facilitate their upright placement. The pot stands in Rhodiapolis have been, regarding the variations in their rim and body profiles, evaluated under three subgroups.Another form of pottery in auxiliary use with cooking pots are lids having a wide body and a handle at the top. The lids that have been used with cooking pots were evaluated under a single subgroup.The cooking pots, having been typologically classified, show similarities with findings covering a large geographical zone from Mediterranean to Adriatic Sea including Arykanda, Limyra, Perge, Patara, Demre, Ksanthos, Letoon, Sagalassos, Anemurium, Phokaia, Ephesos, Milet, Didyma, Troja, Saraçhane, Knossos, Berenice, Agora of Athens, Paphos, Pergamon, Corinth, Stobi, Yassıada Wreck. New forms have also been discovered to which no directly comparable samples could have been found.Among the findings of Rhodiapolis are cooking pots of various forms dating from Early Roman Period to Late Roman Period. However, due to the lack of discarded flawed products relating to the cooking ware, and also due to no clay analysis having been conducted, it is at this time not possible to determine whether these forms have been produced in Rhodiapolis or they have been imported from other cities. Apart from this, no pottery workshop being discovered also makes it difficult to make a final statement in this subject.Discarded flawed pottery products relating to pottery forms such as storage jar, pithos, plate, bowl, jug, pot stand, amphora and cooking pots are important in that they show the existence of a pottery workshop and mass production in Rhodiapolis. It is thus possible to state that the city has met the demand for coarse ware for daily use by its own local production.