Description
This third volume of the Final Reports of the Thorikos Excavations (South Attica): Graffiti, Dipinti and Stamps contains 232 items. The aim of the study was to integrate this mainly epigraphical information into the chronology of the site. Therefore it was important to emphasize the narrow relationship between the script, any possible meaning of those short texts and the typology of the bearer. It is noteworthy to state how information from the script, typology and stratigraphy converged. An effort was made to give the graffiti and dipinti a meaningful interpretation, although sometimes difficult as the meaning was not always evident and clear. The majority of the graffiti, alphabetic or not, are owner's marks, private or public, but some of them may have had a commercial significance and may have been scratched or painted on the vessels by retail dealers, stockists or traders. Although the stamps, mostly on fragmentary amphorae, generally come from a disturbed layer, the date can be retrieved by the impressed symbols, letters, monograms and names of the manufacturers and appointed officials.
