Pages: 261-276 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp234261276 

We publish a collection of glass vessels originating from a burial ground of the 1st—2nd centuries AD, excavated in the vicinity of Kerch. We discuss their assortment, chronology, and role in the funerary rite. A characteristic feature of the funerary rite is the predominance of perfume vessels in children’s burials, i. e. balsamaria of various sizes, and almost complete absence of tableware, characteristic mainly of male graves. The planigraphic distribution of burials with glass vessels in burial mound 2 allows us to identify, preliminarily, two stages of their circulation here: the early one, when all of them were probably still imported from afar, and the later one, reflecting the wider spread of glassware in the region — including, possibly, local production, by the late 1st century AD. The predominance of vessels, which spread widely on the Bosporus towards the late 1st — early 2nd century, suggests that the formation of some elements of the burial rite associated with the use of glass vessels as grave goods could be directly related to the beginning of their wide circulation in the region.

Keywords: Bosporus, glassware, Roman times, children’s burials, funerary rite, balsamarium, guttus

Information about authors:

Olga Rumyantseva (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5648-6079
Denis Beylin (Simferopol, Crimea). Institute of Archaeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician V. I. Vernadsky Ave. 2, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-5701-9402
Irina Rukavishnikova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2034-8659