BRONZE WINE KRATERS FROM ANCIENT MACEDONIA

by Vasil Chulev The Bronze Age is a prehistoric period that followed the Stone Age and preceded the Iron Age, when thanks to the discovery of metallurgy certain weapons and tools came to be made of copper and bronze alloy rather than stone. The Bronze Age began in the southeastern urope in the late !th and early "rd millennium B.#. .. It is associated with the very beginnings and spread of the uropean civilization, and the first urban life.
Bellow: Copper and Bronze tools and weapons unearthed from the tumulus at the village of Kravari near Bitola. Bitola Museum, 13th century B.C.E.

$acedonia, which is slightly larger than the state of %ermont, and with a population of only & million ' has some (,))) registered archaeological sites. *ut of these, from the Bronze Age alone, there+s a hundreds of archaeological locations scattered throughout the country. The ,& princely tombs discovered at Trebeni-te near *hrid and dated ( th century, the tumulus at Berantsi near Bitola, .rivi /ol near Shtip, and /abitsi near %eles, are representative of the growth of nobility in $acedonia in the first millennium B# . At Trebeni-te, the ten male graves with their bronze helmets and swords, and three female graves with their 0ewelry, clothes and potery, hands and faces covered with gold and golden masks 12 found so far3, were not common peoples graves. This 4oyal necropolis

was particularly rich with findings and unraveled the une5pected wealth, high cultural and civilization achievements, influence and connections between the $acedonian tribes in the ancient world. The large krater in bronze found in ,6") in Tomb 7 of the necropolis of Trebeni-te 1near 8ake *hrid in $acedonia3, was the sub0ect of a comple5 program of study and restoration involving several specialists and 9ualified professionals in order to benefit from every opportunity to gather knowledge available 1during the krater+s temporary stay in Italy3. The artifact ' a masterpiece of ( th century B# toreutics ' is indeed one of the e5tremely rare archaic kraters to have survived to this day 1together with the other e5ample found in the Tomb , of the same necropolis, robed by Bulgar occupation forces during the Balkan wars and now part of the collection of the Archaeological $useum of Sofia in Bulgaria: and the monumental krater discovered at %i5, in ;rance3. Among the rare artifacts belonging to this category, that of Trebeni-te is the only publicly known krater to be on a tripod.1
Left: Bronze wine rater from the !oyal tom" discovered at the village of #re"enishte, near $hrid. !o""ed from Macedonia "y the %er"ian occupation forces sometime "etween 1&3'(1&33. #oday part of the permanent collection of %er"ian )*ational+ Museum in Belgrad Bellow: Bronze helmet from the same site of #re"enishte, Macedonia

Beside the various bronze tools, weaponry, 0ewels, etc. , one particular item found fre9uently in the $acedonian royal tombs is the bronze wine krater ' a large deep bronze bowl used for mi5ing wine with spices in ancient times. These wine kraters present a uni9ue recognizable form of ancient craftsmen, manufactured repeatedly in all sizes and colors, although the basic material almost always remained the bronze alloy. The largest one found so far, publicly known to the modern science and archaeology, is high ,,("
<Il cratere a volute su hypokrateridion da Trebeni-te. Studi, ricerche ed interventi di restauro=, Bollettino di Archeologia *n 8ine, /irezione generale per le antichita+ II, &),,>!. $inistero per i Beni 8e Attivita #ulturali.
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meters and weights &)) kg. It was e5cavated at %i5 in ;rance, in what appeared to be the ancient 9ueen+s tomb. The surviving bronze kraters like this one are few, but those of which the provenance is known still fewer. ?evertheless, this huge bronze wine krater from %i5 was not of local manufacture, but to what is now ;rance it was imported ' most probably from Ancient $acedonia. $odern western scientists still have huge difficulties in admitting the $acedonian origin of these bronze vessels, since most of them through time were stolen from $acedonia and are now part of private collections and foreign museums. They intentionally misinterpret them as Etruscan, Corinthian, etc., but traces and records of the ancient artisans and their most probable directions of trade from the end of the archaic period onwards was between #ampania and Apulia with pirus and $acedonia. As most of these bronze vessels findings are concentrated in $acedonia the conclusion is inevitable. The foremost specialist on this matter, #laude 4olley, e5plains what can be seen for instance with the volute crater from Agrigento, buried at the end of the 2th century B# , which is identical to the famous golden@plated bronze krater found in /erveni 1Thesalia3 , which is according to him undoubtedly made in $acedonia in the second half of the ! th century B# . /espite 4olley+s e5pertise and all the difficulties to date or find the origins of such a notorious@difficult artifacts, as smuggled ancient bronze vessels are, they all must agree on one thing ' that they are most fre9uently found in $acedonia with the same unmistakably recognizable pattern on its foot.

Above: Bronze wine rater ,upper ornamental part, handles and carrying tripod are missing-. Macedonia, .th century BCE, Bitola museum. Bellow: Bronze amphora and "ronze situla from /Cr vi0te1 archaeological site, near the village of Berantsi. Macedonia, 2th century BCE, Bitola museum.

Ahat is easy to notice even for a non@e5pert eye, beside the same material and color, is the similarity or almost identical shape and ornaments of these bronze vessels. Same as the toreutic way of crafting them. The neck and mouth with its ovolo and beaded border cast to shape, its prolongation a s9uat body of same thickness as the rim, are hammered and annealed repeatedly, thinning the metal and stretching the vessels to their final form. The handles and the foot are usually attached to the body by soft solder 1tin or lead3 and the parts of the stand, though a very tight fit, were reinforced with the same. The parts that were missing and pieces broken off of these ancient artifacts, has been painstakingly reproduced during the restoration, without any additions, as they were when assembled. *nly other distinctive mark that connects all this bronze vessels, beside the identical shape, is their common origin ' $acedonia.

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Above: Comparing the forma of different ancient "ronze raters and similar vessels6 1. Bronze amphora from /Cr vi0te1 site, near the village of Berantsi. Macedonia, 2th century BCE7 3. %mall "ronze rater from unclear origin, ,Museum of 8ine 9rts in Boston, :%9-7 3. #he "ronze rater ,with missing upper ornamental part, handles and carrying tripod- from /Cr vi0te1 site, near the village of Berantsi. Macedonia, 2th century BCE7 2. #wo "ronze raters from #re"eni0te near $hrid. Macedonia, . th century BCE ,$ne is now in the %er"ia1s )*ational+ Museum in Belgrad, the other in 9rchaeological Museum of %ofia in Bulgaria-7 4. #he "ronze lantern found with a clay lamp inside, decorated on "oth sides with two heads of ancient god ;an, found in the !oyal tom" 3 in ancient Macedonian capital 9igai, near Kutlesh ,now renamed ) Vergina+-. 9egean Macedonia, 2th century BCE ,e<posed at the museum of !oyal #om"s in Kutlesh, now =reece-7 .. #he "ronze rater from >i<. 8rance .th?4th century BCE7 5. #he golden?plated "ronze rater from @erveni, #hesalia. 3 rd century BCE. ,9ccording to e<pertise "y Claude !olley ? of Macedonian provenience-.

As we can see from the list of the shown kraters above ' ( out of B publicly known bronze kraters and similar bronze ob0ects were originally found in $acedonia. But very few are to be seen in the museums in the land of origin. Cet another bronze krater, on loan from the 8evy > Ahite #ollection and appeared briefly on display in the $useum of ;ine Arts in Douston, was recently looted 1in ,66(3 from an archaeological site near the village of .ore-nica in the southern part of the 4epublic of $acedonia. This krater, which is thought to be among the ten most beautiful artifacts in the world, was e5cavated in the mid nineties and smuggled from $acedonia through secret diplomatic@military channels. The high@level diplomatic criminal conduct of this operation was very obvious, given that the krater in 9uestion, which is currently in the private collection of Shelby Ahite in the E.S. ' is allegedly about & meters high. It was claimed that there is no evidence of how it was e5cavated and smuggled, no documentation, no witnesses, and yet the most interesting thing in this case is how the Internet@related drawings and sections of the tomb where the artifact was discovered with a dozen of other items that originate from (th century B# appeared on the web.

Above: #he plan of the looted tom" 4 from Kore0nica appeared on internet. 9mong the finds were the three "ronze warriors figurines ,no. 1'- placed around the huge "ronze rater ,no. 11- which contained cremated remains. #he tom" also contained two shields, pieces of "ody armor, spears and a num"er of helmets.

So, there were witnesses, and those knew how to complete their work very professionally. The place, located 0ust to the north of Stena 1Demir Kapija3, is hardly on any map, but is visible in high resolution on Foogle arth 1!,G&(+)(++? &&G,!+&)++ 3. The looting took place in ,66( and the pillaged site comprises of a mayor royal tomb. In &))B, two British archeologists, /ominic Haulsen and 4uben Torp began with geo@scanning of the area using the e9uipment provided by Freat Britain, in order to re@open e5cavations on the ground, but unfortunately these activities had stop since. To be continuedI