Turkey - Sinope

The Amphora workshops of Sinope

In antiquity, amphorae were used to transport the essential goods of the time (especially wine, oil and fish in brine) and were produced for a mass market (mainly in the Black Sea area). One of the most important export centres was Sinope, a prosperous and powerful Greek colony on the northern shores of present day Turkey.

Sinope amphora production can now be better understood following the discovery and excavation of several workshops, their kilns and in particular their rubbish heaps. Excavations on the Boz Tepe peninsula (at Zeytinlik and Nisikoÿ) have uncovered amphorae dating back to the 3^rd Century B.C.

Their marks, each bearing an emblem including the names of the magistrate for that year and of the master potter, have enabled one to determine the chronological dating and conditions of production. The workshops located in the Bay of Denirci (14 kms to the South of Sinope) were fully operative from at least the 3^rd to 5^th century A.D. : unmarked amphorae were made there using a pale clay, whose origin was previously unknown.