Abstract
Between 2000 and 2003, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in collaboration with the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology excavated the remains of an Ottoman period shipwreck in the southern bay of the town of Kitten, Bulgaria, dating to the reign of Sultan Selim III (1789–1807). This article discusses the smoking pipes and paraphernalia found on the wreck. The studied material offers a refinement to the dating of Ottoman pipes and proposes a reading of Ottoman pipe stamps from the Balkans that were hitherto considered undecipherable.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asparuhov, M. (1993). A collection of smoking pipes from Kaleto, Nicopolis. Newsletter of the Museums in NW Bulgaria 41: 47–69.
Baram, U. (1996). Material Culture, Commodities and Consumption in Palestine, 1500–1900. Doctoral dissertation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Baram, U. (1999). Clay tobacco pipes and coffee cup sherds in the archaeology of the Middle East: artifacts of social tension from the Ottoman past. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 3: 137–151.
Batchvarov, K. (2009). The Kitten Shipwreck: The Archaeology and Reconstruction of a Black Sea Merchantman. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station.
Batchvarov, K. (2011). The Black Sea shipwreck from Kitten and Mediterranean whole-moulding. In Catsambis, A., Ford, B., and Hamilton, D. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 250–266.
Batchvarov, K. (2012). Design and construction of a Black Sea Ottoman ship. In Günsenin, N. (ed.), Between Continents: Proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Ege Yayinlari, Istanbul, pp. 175–182.
Bouzigard, A. (2010). Archaeological Evidence for the Consumption of Tobacco and Coffee in Ottoman Arabia. Masters thesis, Eastern Carolina University, Greenville.
Buckingham, J. S. (1825). Travels Among the Arab Tribes, Longman, London.
Buckingham, J. S. (1827). Travels in Mesopotamia, Henry Colburn, London.
Colton, W. (1835). Ship and Shore: Or Leaves from the Journal of a Cruise in the Levant by an Officer in the United States Navy, Leavitt, Lord, New York.
Grehan, J. (2006). Smoking and Early Modern “sociability”: the Great Tobacco Debate in the Ottoman Middle East (17th–18th centuries). American Historical Review 111: 1352–1377.
Hayes, J. (ed.) (1980). Turkish Clay Pipes: A Provisional Typology, BAR, Oxford.
Hayes, J. (1992). Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul. The Pottery, vol. 2. Princeton.
Humphrey, J. W. (1990). The Turkish clay smoking pipes of Mytilene. Society for Clay Pipe Research Newsletter 26: 2–9.
Iltcheva, V. (1975). Clay pipes from Veliko Turnovo. Jahrbuch der Museen in Nordbulgarien Band 1: 179–199.
Kahanov, Y., and Cvikel, D. (2008). Akko Underwater Excavation 2007. RIMS News 33: 16–18.
Porozhanov, K. (2000). The sunken ship near Urdoviza: preliminary notes. Archaeologia Bulgarica 4: 92–95.
Robinson, R. (1983). Clay tobacco pipes from the Kerameikos. MDAI Athenische Abteilung 98: 265–285.
Robinson, R. (1985). Tobacco pipes of Corinth and the Athenian Agora. Hesperia 54: 149–203.
Shterionov, S. (1999). The Southern Black Sea during the National Revival, Tomel, Sofia.
Simpson, S. J. (1990a). A brief introduction to Ottoman clay pipes. Society for Clay Pipe Research Newsletter 27: 6–10.
Simpson, S. J. (1990b). Ottoman clay pipes from Jerusalem and the Levant: a critical review of the published evidence. Society for Clay Pipe Research Newsletter 28: 17–23.
Simpson, S. J. (1993). Turkish clay pipes: a review. Society for Clay Pipe Research Newsletter 39: 17–23.
Simpson, S. J. (1998). Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: pipe smoking in the Ottoman Empire. British Museum Society Magazine 31: 14–17.
Simpson, S. J. (2002). Ottoman pipes from Zir’in (Tell Jezreel). Levant 34: 159–172.
Sirakova, I. (1987). Clay pipes for chibouks from Rousse. Jahrbuch der Museen in Nordbulgarien 13: 237–245.
Sirakova, I. (1989). Clay bowls for chibouks from the Shumen Fortress. Jahrbuch der Museen in Nordbulgarien 15: 91–94.
Sirakova, I., and Bojilova, P. (1991). Pipes and chibouks from the collection of the Ethnographic Department of the Historical Museum–Shumen. Jahrbuch der Museen in Nordbulgarien 17: 165–177.
Spencer, C. E. (1851). Travels in European Turkey, in 1850 Through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace, Albania, and Epirus; with a Visit to Greece and the Ionian Isles, Colburn, London.
Stancheva, M. (1972). Tobacco pipes collection in Varna Museum. Bulletin du Musee National de Varna 8: 81–99.
Stancheva, M., and Medarova, S. (1968). Production of clay pipes in Bulgaria. Muzei I Pametnitzi na Kulturata 3: 4–13.
Todorov, V. (2007). Clay pipes from the site Sexaginta Prista, end of the XVIII to early XX century. Newsletter of the Regional Museum of History–Russe 11: 188–219.
Vroom, J. (2005). Byzantine to Modern Pottery in the Aegean: An Introduction and Field Guide, Parnassus Press, Utrecht.
Walsh, R. R. (1828). Narrative of a Journey from Constantinople to England, Carey, Lea, and Carey, Philadelphia.
Ward, C., and Baram, U. (2006). Global markets and local practice: Ottoman period clay pipes and smoking paraphernalia from the Red Sea shipwreck at Sadana Island, Egypt. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 10: 135–158.
Wood, J. (1999). A study of clay tobacco pipes in Tunis: were they traded to Gozo (Malta)? Post-Medieval Archaeology 33: 233–241.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to express his gratitude to Dr. John McManamon of Loyola University, Chicago, who read and commented on an early draught of this article. His help is deeply appreciated. Dr. Donny Hamilton of the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University also read and commented on the first draught and his sage advice is deeply appreciated. The author is much obliged to Dr. Cheryl Ward for her valuable advice. The contribution of the Arabic scholar Mr. Azam Halabi from the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, in reading the pipe stamps is gratefully acknowledged. The author would also like to express his gratitude to Dr. Deborah Cvikel, Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa, for submitting photos of the pipe stamps to Mr. Halabi for identification, for her encouragement and for reading and extensively commenting on the last draught of this article. Dr. Kalin Porozhanov’s support and encouragement is hereby gratefully acknowledged. Naturally, all mistakes and shortcomings in this work are entirely the responsibility of the author. The excavation of the Kitten shipwreck was made possible by generous grants from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the National Geographic Council for Exploration, RPM Nautical Foundation and private individuals.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Batchvarov, K.N. Clay Pipes and Smoking Paraphernalia from the Kitten Shipwreck, an Early Nineteenth-Century Black Sea Merchantman. Int J Histor Archaeol 18, 1–19 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-013-0244-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-013-0244-z