THE CAPACITY OF NORTHERN PONTIC AMPHORAE OF THE 8th-10th CENTURIES

Abstract

The article deals with study of capacity of medieval amphoraе that are spread over sites of the 8th — 10th

centuries in the Northern part of the Black Sea region. Such vessels were manufactured in pottery centers of

Byzantine Taurica. The task complexity is related to lack of written sources on regulation of the Black Sea

amphorae production in Taurica and on the state control of volumetric standards applied to ceramic

containers. 176 intact vessels found at monuments of Crimea, Taman peninsular, the Sea of Azov basin, the

Don river basin and the Caucasus served as the material for this study. The method of 3D modeling (with

use of Autodesk 3Ds Max computer program) was employed for solution of the task. The results of the study

suggest that some amphorae groups can be associated with at least five capacitive standards based on

Byzantine volume units of wine.