The Stamp Featuring a Rooster

The paper examines two stamps featuring a rooster found during archaeological excavations at the Kazantip Zapadnyy settlement and the Hermonassa fortified settlement. The find of one stamp in the layer dating to the Archaic period indicates that the imprint of the stamp is dated to the 5th century BC at the latest. The analysis of the image suggests that it is the mark of a pottery workshop or the mark of a potter who worked in the workshop. Maybe, the image represents a pictogram of Alectryont, i.e. the potter’s name and also serves as a apotropaion intended to protect the vessel and its contents.