Pontil Marks on the Vessels from Frontovoe 3 Necropolis in the South-Western Crimea as a Source for Investigating Glassworkers’ Tools and Technological Traditions

Pontil, an essential glassworking tool, was widely used in Roman time Europe from the 3rd quarter of the first century. It was used for the hot working of the rim and other vessel parts after it was separated from the blowpipe. There are several basic types of pontil marks. It was also possible to make a blown vessel without using a pontil. Different types of pontil marks as well as methods of manufacturing blown glass vessels without a pontil have been examined for the vessels of the Frontovoe 3 necropolis (late 1st — late 4th/early 5th c. AD), which has been exhaustively excavated in the SW Crimea. Although the pontil was already widely in use when the necropolis of Frontovoe emerged, near a half of balsamaria from the graves of the late 1st — mid-3rd c. AD has no pontil mark; tableware without a pontil mark is less common. The annular marks were the earliest; solid marks appear in the mid-/late 2nd c. From the second half of the 3rd century, vessels without pontil marks and with cracked-off rims appear here. All three technological traditions coexist up to the final stage of the necropolis. The difference in the pontil mark types for two of the most frequent types of beakers, likely locally made in SW Crimea, suggest their different producers (workshops).