New group of glazed Anatolian Pottery from the Ottoman fortress of Azak

The article introduces a new group of glazed pottery of Anatolian production from the archaeological studies of different years (1962, 2004, 2020) on the territory of the former Ottoman fortress of Azak in the North-Eastern Azov Region. Among the finds, there are 20 fragments of open shaped vessels (bowls, plates) and one fragment of the lid which originate from redeposited cultural layer of the site dated back to the late Middle Ages – Modern period. Close analogies can be found on the Crimean peninsula in the materials from the excavations in Sudak, Aluston, Cembalo, Mangup, Partenit, Biyuk-Lambat (Maly Mayak), and Chufut-Kale where they are generally dated by the last quarter of 15th–17th century AD, as well as in South-Western Georgia (Gonio fortress in Adjara) and on the Taman Peninsula (the Taman fortified settlement) in the cultural layer of the 16th–17th centuries AD. Production centre for this group of Ottoman pottery has not yet been established. The group got its conventional name ‘thick-walled bichrome bowls’ due to the dominant archaeological remains of thick-walled bowls with the characteristic decor style in the Crimea.