Ashlee Hart

The differences in local ceramics production throughout the Iron Age, 1200-200 BCE, from three archaeological sites in Thrace, Bulgaria—Emporion Pistiros, Zavoy, and the region of Philippopolis—reflect changes in manufacturing techniques and consumption through time, which correlate temporally with the Greek colonization of Thrace. The indigenous ceramics of this period have not been systematically analyzed, but traditional interpretations attribute these changes to Greek interaction. The project utilizes macroscopic analysis of over 15,000 ceramic fragments to create comparative typologies and chronologies, and also incorporates chemical testing to draw conclusions about microscopic changes in the clay fabric. This project contributes to understandings of nonelite Thracian culture during the Iron Age and reinterprets Greek interaction beyond traditional colonial analyses.