Household items

Hall № 3 exposition presents household items, such as, for example, a firesteel. However, the mass category of household finds are dishes. The vast majority of them were made of clay, as well as of glass and metal.

Clay dishes include storageware, kitchenware, and tableware. According to the typological and chronological classification, these finds have analogues in other sights of the Northern Black Sea region, particularly in Crimea. Tableware is represented with jars, bowls, and plates. They are usually covered with yellow, green, and brown glazes and drawn patterns (sgraffito ceramics). The ceramic roots of these types are connected with the Byzantium pottery craft and aesthetic tastes. Sgraffito pottery is typical of urban centers, is quite prestigious, and is used by the society’s upper circles of that time. A unique dish fragment with an inscription in Cyrillic, covered with gilding, was found among the Tiahyn fortress ceramics. This find certainly emphasizes the master of the fortress’ special importance. Analogues for the sample have not yet been found.

Glassware was also prestigious and expensive at that time. Fragments of it are presented in the exhibition. There are metalware fragments of cast-iron cauldrons. This type of kitchenware entered Eastern Europe’s everyday life with the Mongol invasion. Cauldrons were useful for storing food as well as cooking for large numbers of soldiers in garrisons. Cast iron cauldron finds were recorded during the research of other Northern Black Sea region fortresses.