The ceramics of Selinunt and its context

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Over the last decades, during excavation of the agora of Selinunt by D. Mertens, a great amount of ancient pottery and metal objects have been found. These metal objects have been studied and published by Holger Baitinger. Till now the ceramics have not been fully studied. The results of this project will allow for the first time an understanding of the genesis and production of local ceramics in a Greek colony in Sicily from the 7th to the 5th cent. BC. Here we find the production in the town itself which started very soon after its foundation as well as the production from its region. On the other hand there is a large quantity of imports from different places of all over the Mediterranean like Ionian ceramics, ceramics of the mother city Megara Hyblaea, from Etruria and the punique area. In addition the excavation brought to light a huge diversity of forms: pithoi, amphoras of transport, tablewares, in which latter can be imported or of local production. Furthermore there are terracotta figurines and loom weights. The excavation offers some very important results which allow going back in the earliest time of the colony before the construction of the first real buildings started. The finds will bring us to a deeper understanding of the social formation of the early town, eg. for the provenance of the first settlers and their wives and for the relations to the surrounding areas. Apart from the agora, other sites of Selinunt will be taken in consideration. Together with the remains of the buildings and other items, the analysis of the different types of ceramics will lead us to a deeper understanding of daily life, and also of the history of commerce with its different aspects.