Bezeczky, Tamás; Scherrer, Peter; Sauer, Roman; Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut [Contr.]: The amphorae of Roman Ephesus (Forschungen in Ephesos, Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2013)

Type 28

113

4. Other Italian Fabrics:
- Two amphorae of the Visellius workshop belong to a different group. Hard, fine fabric. Sparse amount of
black, grey, light brown, pale red and white grains. A few reaction rims surrounding voids, which once
held limestone nos. 265, 830.
- Hard, very fine fabric, abundant amount of microfossils. White and colourless grains; very few brown
grains. A few limestone or white reaction rims are visible nos. 257, 263 and 268.
- Hard, very fine fabric. Sparse white, red, grey and black inclusions nos. 262, 264, 269, 563.
Petrology
Italian Fabric P
Samples: nos. 258, 260 and 271
Matrix: nos. 258, 260 granular (oxidised sheet silicates, abundant fine grained carbonate particles), calcareous, optically active
to inactive ); no. 271 slightly micaceous and calcareous, optically active
Temper: Very frequent moulds of former carbonates, frequent monocrystalline quartz, subordinate alkali feldspars, muscovite,
oxidised mica and iron oxide concretions, rare foraminifers very rare polycrystalline quartz, chert and heavy minerals and
traces of plagioclase, biotite, carbonate grains, calcite bioclasts, siliceous bioclasts, siltstone/sandstone and crystalline rock
fragments.
The heavy mineral assemblage (arithmetic mean of three samples) consists of garnet (48%), brookite/anatase (15%), epidote/
zoisite (14%), rutile (8%), zircon (7%), hornblende (5%), titanite (1%), staurolite (1%), disthene (1%) and traces of augitic
clinopyroxene and spinel.
Comment: Marine clay. The petrographical composition and the heavy mineral assemblage are similar to some Adriatic fabrics
(Schorgendorfer 558 amphora Fabric Ac, Sauer 2005, 121).
Note: Amphorae nos. 277, 282 Lamboglia 2 also belong to this group.
R.S.

Italian Fabric Pl

Samples: nos. 259, 266 and 272
Matrix: Light-orange, brownish, slightly micaceous, calcareous groundmass.
Temper: Mainly monocrystalline quartz, carbonate grains and moulds of former carbonates, subordinate K-feldspars, muscovite
and iron oxide concretions, rare foraminifers and calcite bioclasts, very rare polycrystalline quartz, chert, biotite, oxidised mica,
and heavy minerals and traces of plagioclase, siliceous bioclasts, crystalline rock fragment and volcanic rock fragments.
The heavy mineral assemblage (arithmetic mean of three samples) consists of garnet (39%), epidote/zoisite (21%), zircon
(20%), rutile (11%), brookite/anatase (2%), titanite (2%), staurolite (1%), disthene (1%), hornblende (1%), augitic clinopyrox-
ene (1%) and traces of monazite, tourmaline, chromium spinel, diopsidic clinopyroxene and melanite.
Note: Amphorae nos. 276, 291 Lamboglia 2 also belong to this group.
R.S.

Italian Fabric R

Sample: no. 270
Matrix: Slightly calcareous and micaceous.
Temper: Very frequent monocrystalline quartz (larger grains are partly well rounded), frequent carbonate grains, mica (mainly
muscovite, rare biotite) moderate bioclasts (mainly foraminifers, partly broken) traces of corallinaceans, shell fragments, K-
feldspar, rare heavy mineral grains (some large augite grains).
The heavy mineral composition is: Clinopyroxene (mainly augite): 86%, epidote/ clinozoisite: 6%, hornblende: 4%, garnet:
3%, zircon: 1%.
Comment: The thin section is similar to nos. 258, 272, 266 and 271, also more or less similar to nos. 259 and 260, but heavy
mineral analysis is not comparable due to the very high augite content (different clay and fabric?).
R.S.