STOPPERS, TRANSPORT STIRRUP JARS AND WINE TRANSPORT, 1450–1150bc

Abstract

This paper examines Late Bronze Age chipped ceramic and stone discs known most commonly as stoppers. Stoppers are distinguished from other classes of archaeological finds, including pierced discs and lids. Although it has long been known that stoppers could play a role in sealing ceramic vessels, recent scholarship has preferred to see them as multifunctional. For this article, 158 stoppers and 100 spout apertures from transport stirrup jar spouts found in secure Late Bronze Age III contexts have been studied. The results demonstrate a strong correlation in the apertures of transport stirrup jar spouts and the maximum diameter of stoppers that points to a meaningful relationship between the two. As the primary transport container of the Late Bronze Age, transport stirrup jars required careful sealing in order to allow their contents to transit without spilling or spoiling. There were many possible sealing configurations, however, and indeed this paper demonstrates some support for independent Mycenaean and Minoan traditions. A comparison with sealing traditions throughout the eastern Mediterranean reveals that the stopper method of sealing endured or reoccurred for thousands of years for the storage and transport of a specific commodity – wine. I conclude with the case study of stopper distributions at ancient Eleon, Boeotia, in order to show that a contextualised study of stoppers and stoppering activities in domestic structures has much to contribute to the study of social processes and domestic consumption practices.