Ceramic vessels constitute the most extensive group of finds from the Late Bronze Age, the early Iron Age, and the archaic epochs. They are of interest not only as evidence for pottery production and early painting, but they also constitute important historical primary sources from the pre-historic "Dark Ages". Seen from the context of their stratigraphic find-spots and their association with other objects, they deliver various sorts of information regarding settlement history and economic history, daily life, and cult for the early period of Ephesos.
During the Late Bronze Age period, Ephesos was an important central site in western Anatolia, and its identification with Apasa, the capital city of the Luwian kingdom of Arzawa, is now highly probable, based on recent research by M. Büyükkolancı and D. Hawkins. The kings of Arzawa were the most powerful rulers in western Asia Minor and were in contact with the great kings of the Hittites and the Pharaohs of Egypt. After the collapse of the Aegean and Anatolian spheres of power in the late 2nd millennium B.C., Ephesos was one of those sites where small groups of settlers from the Greek mainland were able to annex territory. This was the "birth" of the Ionic city of Ephesos, which would flourish in the Archaic period, the home of the philosopher Heraclitus and the poet Hipponax.
In the framework of the current project, the pottery finds of the Late Bronze Age, the Proto-Geometric, the Geometric, and the Archaic epochs deriving from the excavations in the Sanctuary of Artemis (OEAI, directed by A. Bammer 1965-1994), from the late Heiligtum der Artemis Geometric-Archaic settlement beneath the Tetragonos Agora (ÖAI, Leitung G. Langmann und P. Scherrer 1987-1996) (OEAI, directed by G. Langmann and P. Scherrer 1987-1996), and from the Ayasoluk hill (Ephesos Museum Selçuk, directed by M. Büyükkolancı 1996-2002) ausgewertet. will be evaluated. All three find-spots allow particular observations, which contribute to a total picture of ceramic production and usage in early Ephesos:
at the Artemision, tens of thousands of vessels and fragments of vessels dating to the pre-Hellenistic period have been excavated. Amongst these are found painted vases of high artistic quality. The particular importance of the find-group taken as a whole lies in the favourable conservation situation of the early Greek strata at the Artemision, which enables a contextual analysis to be worked out. Through the combined evaluation of stratigraphy and ceramic finds, it is possible to set up a detailed chronology for East Greek ceramics of the late 8th and 7th centuries B.C., and to arrive at decisive fixed points for the dating of the archaeological levels and architectonic structures. Furthermore, at specific find-spots inside the sanctuary, it has been possible to recognize intentional deposits, which, in cooperation with the researchers analyzing small finds and animal bones , are analyzed from the viewpoint of what they reveal concerning cult practices. The most extensive find-complex of the Proto-Geometric period known to date from the entire eastern Aegean region comes from the deepest levels in the region of the so-called Central Base. This will be published by M. Kerschner, who is also studying the geometric and orientalizing vessels as well as the western Anatolian imports. St. Karl, in the framework of his dissertation project, is analyzing selected find-groups of late geometric and archaic drinking vessels as well as imported Corinthian wares; these play a central role in the chronological classification of the earliest excavated architectural structures in the temenos.
At the late Geometric-Archaic period settlement underneath the later Tetragonos Agora, the ceramic finds can be correlated with the four building phases distinguished by P. Scherrer, which span a period from the mid-8th century up to the mid-6th century B.C. The comparison of the ceramic spectrum from the settlement with that of the Artemis sanctuary offers interesting aspects. Through the discovery in 1996 of a potter's kiln beneath the Agora, the existence of local pottery production in Archaic Ephesos is now proven without a doubt.
The Ayasoluk hill, in addition to the Artemision which lies nearby, is thus far the only find-spot in the region of Ephesos where usage is attested during the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. For the Late Bronze Age, finds have been made here not only of western Anatolian wares, but also of Mycenean pottery; amongst these, in addition to imports from the Argolid, eastern Aegean products are also present. On the western slope of Ayasoluk, in 2001/2002 M. Büyükkolancı opened up a circular cavity struck into the rock containing an extensive find-complex dating to the middle geometric period; previously, this material had only been attested at Ephesos by individual pieces.
An interdisciplinary programme concerned with identification of the origin of the ceramic finds represents an important aspect of the ceramic research. By means of archaeometric analysis, carried out by H. Mommsen (University of Bonn) using the neutron activation method, it has been possible to localize with certainty three chemical element patterns at Ephesos; this demonstrates that Ephesian potters produced painted vessels in the Mycenaean, geometric and orientalizing styles. In order to identify the places of origin of the various imported wares, in cooperation with the excavations at Kyme, Miletus, Samos, Sardis and Smyrna together with a number of museums, over 500 comparative samples have been analyzed, leading to an identification of the most important pottery centres, and their production spectrum, of the eastern Aegean region. Furthermore, based on pieces found at Ephesos, it has been possible to prove for the first time that proto-geometric ceramic imports found their way from Athens to Asia Minor.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: Fragment of a plate of the so-called Ephesian Ware, from the Artemision (© OEAI)
Fig. 2: Mycenaean skyphos from the excavations on the Ayasoluk hill (© OEAI)

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