Globular Form Amphoras

These amphoras were found mostly in the central part of the site, as noted in the 1995 survey.  As excavation progressed, sherds of the globular type were found mixed with Ayla-Axum types in the deepest excavated sections in the center of the site.  Neither extremity of the wreck yielded sherds of this type.  Their concentration in the central part of the wreck indicates their stowing area, with these possibly occupying the central part of the hold with Ayla-Axum amphoras stowed fore and aft, if not to either side as well.  It is also possible the globular amphoras were stacked on top of the Ayla-Axum amphoras, cushioned by dunnage as necessary.

The sherds of the Type II vessels indicated a globular shape, perhaps with the slightest vertical flattening on one axis of a type known as a costrel (Pedersen, 2000: 10).   The necks of these vessels often retained their handles, the style and configuration of which were the same as that of the sherd raised by the tourists in 1995 (see the 1995 survey report).  The largest globular piece comprised neck, handles and a section of the body that included vertical rilling spiraling to a central button on the side (pictured here above left).  A reconstruction of the type, based on various data from the excavation, yields a vessel with a diameter of approximately 40 cm. and with a possible volume of 27 liters, based on an idealized round shape. 

Other globular sherds derived from other areas of the bodies without handles or neck.  At least one sherd displayed a blank band covering the joint of the two hemispheres of the vessel and separating the rilling on either side of the body just right of center.  This one, however, was not excavted but only observed during excavation. 

The globular vessels at Black Assarca likely originate in Aila, where a number of similar vessels have been found in association with kilns.  These vessels were noted to be “particular” to Aqaba, with “strap handles attached to the neck” and with “symmetrical rilled sides” and are designated as pilgrim flasks (Melkawi, Amr, and Whitcomb 1994: 456).    There are stylistic differences to the ones from Aqaba, but otherwise they appear to be of the same corpus.  

For more information see:

Pedersen, R. K. “The Byzantine-Aksumite Period Shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea.”   Azania (2008) XLIII: 77-94.