Pottery Pt.2
- Created by: Ruthfeath
- Created on: 28-05-18 15:03
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- Pottery Pt.2
- Periods
- Mycenaean I = 1550 - 1500BC
- Mycenaean II = 1500 - 1370BC
- Mycenaean III = 1370 - 1200BC
- Importance
- No fixed dates for events
- For any date between 3000 - 2000BC different dating methods can produce wildly differing dates of 300 years or so
- Radiocarbon dating does not work effectively this far back - can only reduce known date to range of 150 years
- No written list of kings & the years or order in which they reigned
- However there are dates of the kings in the Egyptian & Babylonian dynasties through their written records
- Through evidence of Mycenaean contact with the Egyptians the developments in objects like pottery have been dated
- This has then been used to date potsherds & pottery objects found in different levels at Mycenaean sites & in Mycenaean tombs
- Dated pottery at Mycenaean sites can be used to date material & objects found in the same level or location (metalwork, jewellery, ivory, etc.)
- More can then be understood about the development of these different objects & materials over time - relative chronology
- Potsherds are some of the most valuable evidence for dating & chronology
- As pots were fragile but fired clay itself was difficult to break the potsherd is seen as being made & broken at a similar time
- This is different to when an entire pot is found
- As pots were fragile but fired clay itself was difficult to break the potsherd is seen as being made & broken at a similar time
- No fixed dates for events
- Development over time
- Definite change in pottery style identified at start of period
- Convenient - easier to identify pottery from pre-Mycenaean period
- Protogeometric pottery type introduced at end of Mycenaean era - also useful for dating
- Before the Mycenaeans a popular type of pottery was known as matt-painted ware
- Matt paint used on a light background with geometric patterns
- Mycenaean I
- Patterns less formal, fresher, with a naturalistic element introduced
- Change in style can be traced back to Crete & the Minoans
- Forms of vases mostly follow those from Middle Helladic but new types are also introduced - most obvious is the alabastron
- Alabastron Vase
- Takes its name from a bag like type of vessel manufactured in Egypt in alabaster
- Mycenaean version is squatter & more elegant in clay
- Mycenaean alabastra vase was produced in Mycenaean sites & exported to Egypt & Syria
- These vases found in Egypt & Syria are therefore important for dating
- Vases not as popular in Crete
- Alabastron Vase
- Another type of vase found in Egyptian tombs & therefore important for dating was the Vapheio cup
- Terracotta version has long Cretan history dating back to c.2000BC
- Vapheio cup represents one of the commonest types of vase found in use during Mycenaean I & II
- Patterns less formal, fresher, with a naturalistic element introduced
- Mycenaean II
- Pottery still strongly influenced by Crete
- Inspiration is freer
- Era of the Palace style jar
- Called this because of the large but elegant storage jars decorated in a florid style that were the fashion in the palace at Knossos
- Although these jars originated at Knossos, they were more popular on the Greek mainland, and were also produced there
- Greece still learning much from Crete but Mycenaeans had already started to add their own individuality to the influences they had absorbed through trade & cultural contact with Crete
- Mycenaean III
- Order & symmetry becomes increasingly important in the design of pottery
- Geometric patterns of pre-Mycenaeans became important again, designs become quite abstract
- New designs became popular for export
- Forms of pottery still based on older pre-Mycenaean wares but new more elegant styles were also introduced from Crete eg stirrup jar which the Mycenaeans transformed
- Stirrup jar became one of the most popular types of Mycenaean vase
- Main advantage was that it poured slowly from the funnel
- Jar was produced in all sizes from large, coarse grained, plainly decorated vesself used for olive oil to tastefully painted, small models which probably contained unguents and perfumes
- Standard of production became of the highest order with carefully selected clays fired to a hardness that gives a clear clink when struck
- Pots sometimes covered before firing with a slip of the same fine clay to make them impermeable - colour of this vase after firing was uaually buff
- Patterns then added in red, brown or black paint
- Pottery mass produced for home market & export
- Three-handled jars, stirrup jars, alabastra, small jugs, large bowls (kraters), small bowls, kylikes, cups
- Decoration often stylized with stripes & bands of paint, others included vivid scenes such as chariots & bull fighting
- Famous krater vase is the warrior vase
- Towards the end of the period the quality declines with often careless brushwork & paint lacks lustre
- Local characteristics in style develop
- Rhodes - unique design is produced based on Cretan designs, produced the Octopus jar and exported them widely
- Mycenaean III Styles
- Close
- All available space decorated often with a complicated pattern
- Granary
- Decoration is kept to minimum with simple motifs and often just simple wavy lines
- Large parts of pot painted in one colour, usually black or brown
- Sometimes the whole pot is painted leaving a horizontal band in the middle that may or may not be filled with a geometric pattern
- Close
- Definite change in pottery style identified at start of period
- Rodney Castleden
- Floral style (1550-1500BC)
- Based on Minoan style
- featured floral designs with informaldesigns of flowers, grasses, reeds etc.
- Marine style (1500-1450BC)
- all types of marine life are depicted including dolphins, fish, octopuses
- Pottery is so different from before including a new design, (goblet) that we should assume that Cretan potters were brought into centres suchas Mycenae, Pylos and Thebes.
- Clay potters’ disk along with Minoan ware has been found onthe Greek island of Aegina suggesting the presence of Cretan potters.
- Palace style (1450BC)
- Reuses motifs seen in the Floraland Marine styles but in a formal stylized way
- Palace style decoration was applied to many large jars
- Whereas Minoan wares are relaxed, Mycenaean wares are stiff and formal
- Late Mycenaean period (1400-1200BC)
- Mycenaean pottery was similar over a wide area– perhaps reflecting a political and economic union of some kind, perhaps centring on Mycenae.
- Same style spreads across the eastern Mediteranean from Sicily to the Levant marking the extent of the Mycenaean trading area.
- Cretan pottery remains distinct however, suggesting that they were perhaps autonomous.
- From 1400BC the Mycenaeans used stirrup jars for storing and transporting wine and olive oilas were alabastron
- Large bowls were used for storing dry goods and were decorated inpictorial and pattern designs
- Large kraters are now thought to have been made east ofMycenae where suitable clays have been found.
- These large kraters were perhaps specifically made for export to Cyprus where they were used as the centrepiece for drinking ceremonies.
- Floral style (1550-1500BC)
- Periods
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