Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...
produced a wide variety of richly decorated Minoan pottery. Its restless sequence of quirky maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...
of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, in
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, along coastal
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.
The pottery includes vases, figurines, models of buildings, and burial urns called larnakes. Several pottery shapes, especially the
rhyton
A ''rhyton'' (: ''rhytons'' or, following the Greek plural, ''rhyta'') is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table; in other words, a cup. A ...
cup, were also produced in soft stones such as
steatite
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in subdu ...
, but there was almost no overlap with metal vessels. The finest achievements came in the Middle Minoan period, with the palace
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
called
Kamares ware
Kamares ware is a distinctive style of Minoan pottery produced by the Minoans in Crete. It is recognizable by its light-on-dark decoration, with white, red, and orange abstract motifs painted over a black background. A prestige style that requir ...
, and the Late Minoan all-over patterned "Marine Style" and "Floral Style". These were widely exported around the
Aegean civilizations
Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea. There are three distinct but communicating and interacting geographic regions covered by this term: Crete, the Cyclades and the Greek mainlan ...
and sometimes beyond, and are the high points of the Minoan pottery tradition.
The most comprehensive collection is in the
Heraklion Archaeological Museum
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one of the largest museums in Greece, and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains by far the most important and complete collection of artefacts of t ...
on Crete.
Traditional chronology
The traditional chronology for dating
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...
was developed by Sir
Arthur Evans
Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age.
The first excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos on the List of islands of Greece, Gree ...
in the early years of the 20th century AD. His terminology and the one proposed by
Nikolaos Platon
Nikolaos Platon (Greek , Anglicised ''Nicolas Platon''; – ) was a Greek archaeologist. He discovered the Minoan palace of Zakros on Crete. In 1936, after excavations near Staphylos village in Skopelos Greece, he also discovered a Minoan pit tom ...
are still generally in use and appear in this article.
For more details, see the
Minoan chronology
Minoan chronology is a framework of dates used to divide the history of the Minoan civilization. Two systems of relative chronology are used for the Minoans. One is based on sequences of pottery styles, while the other is based on the architect ...
.
Evans classified fine pottery by the changes in its forms and styles of decoration. Platon concentrated on the episodic history of the Palace of
Knossos
Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...
. A new method, fabric analysis, involves geologic analysis of coarse and mainly non-decorated sherds as though they were rocks. The resulting classifications are based on composition of the sherds.
Production and techniques
Little is known about the way the pottery was produced, but it was probably in small artisanal workshops, often clustered in settlements near good sources of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
for potting. For many, potting may well have been a seasonal activity, combined with farming, although the volume and sophistication of later wares suggests full-time specialists, and two classes of workshop, one catering to the palaces. There is some evidence that women were also potters. Archaeologists seeking to understand the conditions of production have drawn tentative comparisons with aspects of both modern Cretan rural artisans and the better-documented Egyptian and Mesopotamian Bronze Age industries. In
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...
the word for potter is "ke-ra-me-u".
Technically,
slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to:
*Slips (oil drilling)
*SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces)
*SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System)
*Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form
*The Slips, a UK electronic music duo
See also
* ...
were widely used, with a variety of effects well understood. The
potter's wheel
In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...
appears to have been available from the MM IB, but other "handmade" methods of forming the body remained in use, and were needed for objects with sculptural shapes.
Ceramic glaze
Ceramic glaze, or simply glaze, is a glassy coating on ceramics. It is used for decoration, to ensure the item is impermeable to liquids and to minimize the adherence of pollutants.
Glazing renders earthenware impermeable to water, sealing th ...
s were not used, and none of the wares were fired to very high temperatures, remaining
earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...
or
terracotta
Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
. All of these characteristics remain true of later Greek pottery throughout its great period. The finest wares often have very thin-walled bodies. The excavation of an abandoned LM
kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...
Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
), complete with its "wasters" (malformed pots), is developing understanding of the details of production. The styles of pottery show considerable regional variation within Crete in many periods.
Early Minoan
Early Minoan pottery is broadly characterized by a large number of local wares with frequent
Cycladic
The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate in ...
parallels or imports, suggesting a population of checkerboard ethnicity deriving from various locations in the eastern Aegean and beyond.
FN, EM I
Early Minoan pottery, to some extent, continued, and possibly evolved from, the local Final Neolithic (FN) without a severe break. Many suggest that Minoan civilization evolved ''in-situ'' and was not imported from the East. Its other main feature is its variety from site to site, which is suggestive of localism of Early Minoan social traditions.
Studies of the relationship between EM I and FN have been conducted mainly in East Crete. There the Final Neolithic has affinities to the Cyclades, while both FN and EM I settlements are contemporaneous, with EM I gradually replacing FN. Of the three possibilities, no immigration, total replacement of natives by immigrants, immigrants settling among natives, Hutchinson takes a compromise view:
:"The Neolithic Period in Crete did not end in a catastrophe; its culture developed into that of the Bronze Age under pressure from infiltration of relatively small bands of immigrants from the south and east, where copper and bronze had long been in use."
Pyrgos Ware
EM I types include Pyrgos Ware, also called "Burnished Ware". The major form was the "
chalice
A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...
", or Arkalochori Chalice, in which a cup combined with a funnel-shaped stand could be set on a hard surface without spilling. As the Pyrgos site was a rock shelter used as an ossuary, some hypothesize ceremonial usage]. This type of pottery was black, grey or brown, and burnished, with some sort of incised linear pattern. It may have imitated wood.
Tripod Cooking Pots
The EM II era in the Minoan civilization saw the start of tripod cooking pots at places like Knossos, with that came a brief adoption of horned stands in cooking pot production, primarily used during the EM II period. These features have not been identified elsewhere beyond Knossos and surrounding regions. Cups had reduced in size for it to be used by one person. The vast majority of these Minoan tripod cooking pots had deep featured bodies, usually being supported with three legs with either horizontal handles or vertical handles with a small opening on the top. They appear to be the most common way to cook. These cooking tripods were made from red firing clay with rock fragments to create the coarse touch that these pots had. The usage of animal goods can be identified in the tripod cooking pots, and the usage of plant byproducts can also be identified. The mixture of both can be found in the tripod cooking pots, but with plant byproducts being more evident than animal byproducts in some instances. There appears to be also found residue of beeswax in the tripod cooking pots. Most of these discoveries were found at Sissi. What that beeswax was used for is uncertain. This appears to potentially lead to the possibility of subtypes of these cooking pots. There is evidence that these pots started to show up during the EMI in the Hagia Photia; its appearance in the Hagia Photia during the second EMII period is questionable. Most of these discoveries were located in the Northern and Northeastern sections of the island.
Incised Ware
Another EM I type, Incised Ware, also called Scored Ware, were hand-shaped, round-bottomed, dark-burnished jugs Example and bulbous cups and jars (" pyxes"). Favored decor was incised line patterns, vertical, horizontal or herring-bone. These pots are from the north and northeast of Crete and appear to be modeled after the Kampos Phase of the Grotta-Pelos early Cycladic I culture Some have suggested imports or immigrations. See also Hagia Photia.
Agyios Onouphrios, Lebena
The painted parallel-line decoration of Ayios Onouphrios I Ware was drawn with an iron-red clay slip that would fire red under oxidizing conditions in a clean kiln but under the reducing conditions of a smoky fire turn darker, without much control over color, which could range from red to brown. A dark-on-light painted pattern was then applied. From this beginning, Minoan potters already concentrated on the linear forms of designs, perfecting coherent designs and voids that would ideally suit the shape of the ware. Shapes were jugs, two-handled cups and bowls. The ware came from north and south central Crete, as did Lebena Ware of the same general types but decorated by painting white patterns over a solid red painted background Example . The latter came from EM I tombs.
Koumasa and Fine Gray Ware
In EM IIA, the geometric slip-painted designs of Koumasa Ware seem to have developed from the wares of Aghios Onouphrios. The designs are in red or black on a light background. Forms are cups, bowls, jugs and teapots Example: "Goddess of Myrtos" . Also from EM IIA are the cylindrical and spherical pyxides called Fine Gray Ware or just Gray Ware, featuring a polished surface with incised diagonals, dots, rings and semicircles.
File:Early Minoan pottery, 3000-2600 BC, AMH, 144548.jpg, File:Early Minoan pottery, 3000-2600 BC
File:Tonvase Koumasa 01.jpg, Bird shaped clay vessel from Koumasa, 2600–2300 BC, AMH.
File:Minoan pottery, Kyparissi, 2600-1900 BC, AMH, 144562.jpg, Burnished cup, Kyparissi, 2600-1900 BC, AMH
Vasiliki Ware
The EM IIA and IIB
Vasiliki Ware
Vasiliki wares are a distinctive type of Minoan pottery produced in Crete during the Minoan period, named for the finds around the town of Vasiliki, Lasithi, although it was produced at other sites too. The vases include a reddish-brown wash applie ...
, named for the Minoan site in eastern Crete, has mottled glaze effects, early experiments with controlling color, but the elongated spouts drawn from the body and ending in semicircular spouts show the beginnings of the tradition of Minoan elegance Examples 1 Examples 2 . The mottling was produced by uneven firing of the slip-covered pot, with the hottest areas turning dark. Considering that the mottling was controlled into a pattern, touching with hot coals was probably used to produce it. The effect was paralleled in cups made of mottled stone.
File:Vasiliki ware tea pot archmus Heraklion.jpg, Another style of "teapot", Vasiliki, 2400 - 2200 BC, AMH
File:Vasiliki ware, jug, 2400-2200 BC, AMH, 144530.jpg, Vasiliki ware, jug, 2400-2200 BC
File:Tonkrug Vasiliki 01.jpg, Teapot in the white style, 2300–2000 BC, AMH
File:Pottery from Vasiliki, 2300-1900 BC, AMH, 144823.jpg, White style jug, 2300-1900 BC
File:Vasiliki ware from Phournou Koryphi 2.JPG, Other shapes; two "egg-cups" at rear
File:Vasiliki teapots with elongated spouts AMH Heraklion.jpg, White style teapots, AMH
EM III Pottery
In the latest brief transition (EM III) in eastern Crete begin to be covered in dark slip with light slip-painted decor of lines and spirals; the first checkered motifs appear; the first petallike loops and leafy bands appear, at
Gournia
Gournia () is the site of a Minoan palace complex in the Lasithi regional unit on the island of Crete, Greece. Its modern name originated from the many stone troughs that are at the site and its original name for the site is unknown.similar to those found on seals In north central Crete, where Knossos was to emerge, there is little similarity: dark on light linear banding prevails; footed goblets make their appearance Example .
Middle Minoan
The rise of the
Minoan palace
Minoan palaces were massive building complexes built on Crete during the Bronze Age. They are often considered emblematic of the Minoan civilization and are modern tourist destinations. Archaeologists generally recognize five structures as palac ...
s at
Knossos
Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...
and
Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
and their new type of urbanized, centralized society with redistribution centers required more storage vessels and ones more specifically suited to a range of functions. In palace workshops, standardization suggests more supervised operations and the rise of elite wares, emphasizing refinements and novelty, so that palace and provincial pottery become differentiated.
Th forms of the best wares were designed fo In the palace workshops, the introduction from the Levant of the
potter's wheel
In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...
in MM IB enabled perfectly symmetrical bodies to be thrown from swiftly revolving clay. The well-controlled iron-red slip that was added to the color repertory during MM I could be achieved only in insulated closed kilns that were free of oxygen or smoke.
Pithoi
Any population center requires facilities in support of human needs and that is true of the palaces as well. Knossos had extensive sanitation, water supply and drainage systems, which is evidence that it was not a ceremonial labyrinth or large tomb. Liquid and granular necessities were stored in pithoi located in magazines, or storage rooms, and elsewhere. Pithoi make their earliest appearance just before MMI begins and continue into Late Minoan, becoming very rare by LMIII Examples 1 . About 400 pithoi were found at the palace of Knossos. An average pithos held about 1100 pounds of fluid. Perhaps because of the weight, pithoi were not stored on the upper floors.
New styles
New styles emerge at this time: an Incised Style (see above), and the tactile
Barbotine
wikt: barbotine, Barbotine is the French for slip (ceramics), ceramic slip, or a mixture of clay and water used for moulding or decorating pottery. In English the term is used for three different techniques of decorating pottery, though in all cas ...
ware, featuring the relief decoration studded with knobs and cones of applied clay in bands, waves and ridges. Such decorations are sometimes reminiscent of the marine-derived features such as the
sand dollar
Sand dollars (also known as sea cookies or snapper biscuits in New Zealand and Brazil, or pansy shells in South Africa) are species of flat, burrowing sea urchins belonging to the order Clypeasteroida. Some species within the order, not quite a ...
tests
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
, and barnacle growths Example .
Barbotine ware features three-dimensional decorations, as well as the use of the ceramic slip. Ridges and protuberances of various types are seen on the surface of vessels.
The earliest stages of
Kamares ware
Kamares ware is a distinctive style of Minoan pottery produced by the Minoans in Crete. It is recognizable by its light-on-dark decoration, with white, red, and orange abstract motifs painted over a black background. A prestige style that requir ...
also appear at this time. Scholars place Barbotine ware a bit earlier than the Kamares ware,
: "Barbotine Ware appears, in its earliest stages, a bit before MM IA, in EM III. The style gradually becomes more popular and picks up significantly in MM IA, along with the conservative incised style, dark on light style, and White on Dark Ware."
Gisela Walberg places Barbotine Ware, with its thin walls and dynamic motifs, in the Early Kamares Ware phase.
Spirals and whorls motifs appear in Minoan pottery from EM I onwards (Walberg), but they become especially popular during EM III. A new shape is the straight-sided cylindrical cup.
MMIA wares and local pottery imitating them are found at coastal sites in the eastern
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...
, though not more widely in the Aegean until MMIB; their influence on local pottery in the nearby
Cyclades
The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...
has been studied by Angelia G. Papagiannopoulou (1991). Shards of MM IIA pottery have been recovered in Egypt and at
Ugarit
Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
.
Kamares Ware
Kamares Ware
Kamares ware is a distinctive style of Minoan pottery produced by the Minoans in Crete. It is recognizable by its light-on-dark decoration, with white, red, and orange abstract motifs painted over a black background. A prestige style that requir ...
was named after finds in the cave sanctuary at Kamares on Mt. Ida in 1890. It is the first of the virtuoso
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors.
When looking at artworks and ...
wares of Minoan civilization, though the first expressions of recognizably proto-Kamares decor predate the introduction of the potter's wheel.
Finer clay, thrown on the wheel, permitted more precisely fashioned forms, which were covered with a dark-firing slip and exuberantly painted with slips in white, reds and browns in fluen floral designs of rosettes or conjoined coiling and uncoiling spirals. Designs are repetitive or sometimes free-floating, but always symmetrically composed. Themes from nature begin here with octopuses, shellfish, lilies, crocuses and palm-trees, all highly stylized. The entire surface of the pot is densely covered, but sometimes the space is partitioned by bands. One variety features extravagantly thin bodies and is called Eggshell Ware .
Four stages of Kamares ware were identified by Gisela Walberg (1976), with a "Classic Kamares" palace style sited in MM II, especially in the palace complex of Phaistos. New shapes were introduced, wit Examples 2 Examples 5 Examples 6 Examples 7 Examples 8 Examples 9
File:Cup with Kamares ware motif, Phaistos, 1800-1700 BC, AMH, 144927.jpg, Cup from
Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
File:Decorated cups Phaistos archmus Heraklion.jpg, Cups from
Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
File:Krater Kamares-Stil 02.jpg,
Krater
A krater or crater (, ; , ) was a large two-handled type of vase in Pottery of ancient Greece, Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water.
Form and function
At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in ...
from
Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
File:Fruchtschale Kamares-Stil 05.jpg, Dish from Phaistos
File:Small pithos, fish in a net, Phaistos, 1800-1700 BC, AMH, 144972.jpg,
Pithos
Pithos (, , plural: ' ) is the Greek name of a large storage container. The term in English is applied to such containers used among the civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the succeeding Iro ...
with fish in a net, Phaistos
File:Kamaes ware, Phaistos, 1800-1700 BC, AMH, 144938.jpg, Phaistos
File:Pithos Kamares-Stil 02.jpg
File:Kamares ware, AMH, 144915.jpg
File:Minonan pottery jug, babotine decoration, 2100-1950, BM, GR 2002.5-10.2, 142751.jpg, Jug with barbotine decoration, 2100-1950
Age of Efflorescence
In MMIIB, the increasing use of motifs drawn from nature heralded the decline and end of the Kamares style. The Kamares featured whole-field floral designs with all elements linked together (Matz). In MMIII patterned vegetative designs, the Patterned Style, began to appear. This phase was replaced by individual vegetative scenes, which marks the start of the Floral Style. Matz refers to the "Age of Efflorescence", which reached an apogee in LM IA. (Some would include Kamares Ware under the Floral Style.)
The floral style depicts palms and papyrus, with various kinds of lilies and elaborate leaves. It appears in both pottery and frescoes. One tradition of art criticism calls this the "natural style" or "naturalism" but another points out that the stylized forms and colors are far from natural. Green, the natural color of vegetation, appears rarely. Depth is represented by position around the main scene.
Late Minoan
LMI marks the highwater of Minoan influence throughout the southern Aegean (Peloponnese, Cyclades, Dodecanese, southwestern Anatolia). Late Minoan pottery was widely exported; it has turned up in Cyprus, the Cyclades, Egypt and Mycenae.
Floral style
Fluent movemented designs drawn fro flower and leaf forms painted in reds and black on white grounds predominate, in steady development from Middle Minoan. In LMIB there is a typical all-over leafy decoration, for which first workshop painters begin to be identifiable through their characteristic motifs; as with all Minoan art, no name ever appears.
Marine style
In LMIB, the Marine Style also emerges; in this style, perhaps inspired by frescoes, the entire surface of a pot was covered with sea creatures, octopus, fish and dolphins, against a background of rocks, seaweed and sponges . The Marine Style is more free flowing with no distinct zones, because it shows sea creatures as floating, as they would in the ocean. The Marine style was the last purely Minoan style; towards the end of LMIB, all the palaces except Knossos were violently destroyed, as were many of the villas and towns.
Rhyta
Dated to LM IA and following also are conical rhyta, or drinking cups, in
steatite
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in subdu ...
and also imitated in ceramic. Example Some of the rhyta are ornate libation vessels, such as the noted found at Knossos. The Bull's Head Rhyton, however, was a specific type of which many instances have been found. The bull's head is found in ceramic as well. Other noted stone vases of LM IA and II are the "Harvester Vase View 1 View 3 View 4 from
Hagia Triada
Hagia Triada (also Haghia Triada, Hagia Triadha, Ayia Triada, Agia Triada), () is a Minoan archaeological site in Crete. The site includes the remains of an extensive settlement noted for its monumental NeoPalatial and PostPalatial period build ...
, which depicts a harvest procession, the Chieftain Cup , depicting a coming-of-age rite, th (Hagia Triada), showing boxing scenes depicting a peak sanctuary to the "mistress of animals" and featuring birds and leaping goats, and others.
File:Ewer of Poros, 1500-1450 BC, AMH, 145214.jpg, Marine Style "Ewer of Poros", 1500-1450 BC
File:Ewer from Phaistos, Reed Painter, 1500-1450 BC, AMH, 145026.jpg, Floral Style ewer from Phaistos, 1500-1450 BC
File:Minoan jug, papyrus flowersy, Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC, AMH, 145071.jpg, Floral Style ewer with
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
, from Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC
File:Clay bulls head rhyton, Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC, AMH 4581, 145069.jpg, Clay bulls head rhyton, Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC, AMH
Image:Bull's head vase.JPG, Bull's-head Vase from LM II
Minoan-Mycenaean
Around 1450 BCE, the beginning of LM II, the Mycenaean Greeks must have moved into the palace of Knossos. They were well-established by 1400, if the Linear B tablets can be dated to then. The resulting LM II culture is not a break with the Minoan past. Minoan traditions continue under a new administration. However, the vase forms and designs became more and more Mycenaean in character with a large variety of decoration. Style names have multiplied and depend to some degree on the author. The names below are only a few of the most common. Some authors just use the name "Mycenaean Koine"; that is, the Late Minoan pottery of Crete was to some degree just a variety of widespread Mycenaean forms. The designs are found also on seals and ceilings, in frescoes and on other artifacts. Often Late Minoan pottery is not easily placed in sub-periods. In addition are imports from the neighboring coasts of the Mediterranean. Ceramic is not the only material used:
breccia
Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language ...
,
calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
,
chlorite
The chlorite ion, or chlorine dioxide anion, is the halite (oxyanion), halite with the chemical formula of . A chlorite (compound) is a compound that contains this group, with chlorine in the oxidation state of +3. Chlorites are also known as s ...
,
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
, dolomite and other colored and patterned stone were carved into pottery forms. Bronze ware appears imitating the ceramic ware.
Palace style
During LMII, Mycenean influence became apparent. Th vase forms at Knossos are similar to those on the mainland. The Palace Style showcased by them adapts elements of the previous styles but also adds features, such as the practice of confining decor in reserves and bands, emphasizing the base and shoulder of the pot and the movement towards abstraction Examples 1 . This style started in LM II and went on into LM III. The palace style was mostly confined to Knossos. In the late manifestation of the palace style, fluent and spontaneous earlier motifs stiffened and became more geometrical and abstracted. Egyptian motifs such as
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
and lotus are prominent.
Plain and Close Styles
The Plain Style and Close Style developed in LM IIIA, B from the Palace Style. In the Close Style the Marine and Floral Styles themes continue, but the artist manifests the ''horror vacui'' or "dread of emptiness". The whole field of decoration is filled densely. Examples . The Stirrup Jar is especially frequent.
Subminoan
Finally, in the Subminoan period, the geometric designs of the Dorians become more apparent.
Discovery and recognition
Minoan wares were already familiar from finds on the Greek mainland, and export markets like Egypt, before it was realized that they came from Crete. In most 19th-century literature they are described as "Mycenaean", and the recognition and analysis of styles and periods had gone some way on this assumption. Only in the 1890s were the first finds on Crete recognised and published, from a cave at Kamares. These were found by a local archaeologist who allowed the young
John Myres
Sir John Linton Myres (3 July 1869 – 6 March 1954) was a British archaeologist and academic, who conducted excavations in Cyprus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having been a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford and then Ch ...
to publish them; Myres had realized that they were the same ware as finds in Egypt published by
Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English people, English Egyptology, Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. ...
. For several decades analysis of Minoan pottery was essentially stylistic and typological, but in recent decades there has been a turn towards technical and socio-economic analysis.
Written records of pots and pans
The Linear B tablets contain records of vessels made of various materials. The vessel ideograms are not so clear as to make correlation with discovered artifacts easy. Using a drawing of the "Contents of the Tomb of the Tripod Hearth" at Zafer Papoura from Evans' ''Palace of Minos'', which depicts LM II bronze vessels, many in the forms of ceramic ones, Ventris and Chadwick''Documents in Mycenaean Greek'' Page 326. were able to make a few new correlations.
Thrapsano
Thrapsano () is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Minoa Pediada, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . Populat ...
, then and now, a village known for pottery
Notes
References
* Betancourt, Philip P. 1985. ''The History of Minoan pottery'' Princeton University Press. A handbook.
* Cappel, Sarah et al., eds., ''Minoan Archaeology: Perspectives for the 21st Century'', 2015, Presses universitaires de Louvain, , 9782875583949
* Hutchinson, ''Prehistoric Crete'', many editions hardcover and softcover
* Matz, Friedrich, ''The Art of Crete and Early Greece'', Crown, 1962
* Mackenzie, Donald A., ''Crete & Pre-Hellenic'', Senate, 1995,
* "Oxford", ''The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean'', Eric H. Cline (ed.), 2012, Oxford UP, google books * Palmer, L. A., ''Mycenaeans and Minoans'', multiple editions
* Preziosi, Donald and Louise A. Hitchcock 1999 ''Aegean Art and Architecture''
* Platon, Nicolas, ''Crete'' (translated from the Greek), Archaeologia Mundi series, Frederick Muller Limited, London, 1966
* Traunmueller, Sebastian, "Pots and Potters", in Cappel google books * Willetts, ''The Civilization of Ancient Crete'', Barnes & Noble, 1976,
* Yakubovich, Ilya, ''Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language'', Brill, 2010,
Further reading
*Betancourt, Philip P. 2007. ''Introduction to Aegean Art.'' Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press.
*Boardman, John. 2001. ''The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters, Pictures.'' New York: Thames & Hudson.
*MacGillivray, J.A. 1998. ''Knossos: Pottery Groups of the Old Palace Period'' BSA Studies 5. (
British School at Athens
The British School at Athens (BSA; ) is an institute for advanced research, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy, that promotes the study of Greece in all its aspects. Under UK law it is a reg ...
) Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002 *Preziosi, Donald, and Louise A. Hitchcock. 1999. ''Aegean Art and Architecture.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Walberg, Gisela. 1986. ''Tradition and Innovation. Essays in Minoan Art'' (Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern) Bibliography (see Pottery)
*Edey, Maitland A., ''Lost World of the Aegean'', Time-Life Books, 1975
External links
*Dartmouth College: Prehistorical Archaeology of the Aegean website:
Santorini
Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...
Pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...