Tobacco Clay Pipes Discovered in the Historical Center of Timişoara
Tobacco Clay Pipes Discovered in the Historical Center of Timişoara

Summary/Abstract: On the occasion of rescue archaeological excavations carried out in the historical centre ofTimişoara, one of the most important medieval and early modern towns of the Banat region, researches havebeen made in the “core” of the late medieval and then Ottoman-period settlement. A rich and diverse archaeologicalinventory has been recovered on this occasion; however only a part of it has been studied and thuspublished in a fi rst monograph. Th e present study aims at presenting a small category of ceramic artefacts datedto the Ottoman period (16th–17th centuries), namely the tobacco pipes. Th e habit of smoking and the use oftobacco pipes have been introduced to this region by the Ottoman and Balkan populations settled here after theOttoman conquest of Timişoara and of the northern part of Banat in 1552. Based on already existent typologieswe have placed the items into categories; however, due to the diversity of their shapes and ornaments, there stillare individual and yet unique pipes. As for the workshops that produced them, we could conclude that some ofthe pipes come from the Balkans (one even bears a craftsman or workshop mark) or even as far as the Orient,while others can be labeled as local products.

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