DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0200
180
OCCUKRENCE OF THE J>OTTERY MARKS.
Tripod Pots and .Similar Coarse Ware.—A 1-2, A 4, A (i, A ] 1-1-2, A 14-15, B 7-8.
B 11-13, B 15, C 5, C 8-9, C 14, E 1-2, B 9, E 11-12, F 5-6, P S, P 12-13, g 2, g 7-0, g 12,
H 1-2, H 5, H 7, H 10, H 12-13, H 15, 1 4, I 12-1Ö,J .1 l, J 3, .1 5, J 15.
Loom Weights.— C 5, E 11, J 14.
Painted Ware of Later Period.— See'above.
Apart from the few more elaborate Symbols which may be pictographic
the linear signs consist almost entirely of various combinations of the four
strokes | — / \. It will be observed too that they rim more or less in series,
e.g., E 11-15, G 9-13, H 1-3. The object which they served can only be
guessed at. They may be regarded as owners' marks, but in that case, seeing
that the marks have been engraved in the unbaked clay, we must assume
either that the pots were made by the owner himself or that they were made
by special order. Another possibility is that they are the tradenwks of the
potters. If so, the use of such trademarks can have been by no means a
universal custom at the place of manufacture, for many (probably the majority)
of the geometric vases are quite devoid of them. Perhaps a good many of
theni may be merely potters' memoranda. For instance A 1-8 and A 14-B 5
might have been used by a potter to record the number of vases that he or she
was turning out at a sitting, just as the illiterate islander of the present day
keeps his aecounts by making notehes on a stick.
As regards the signs (Fig. 151) which have merely been scratched on
so ^
3
151.
the hard surface after the vase had been baked (and possibly after it had
been in use for some time), Nos. 3 2 and 4 were found on local wäre of the
early Mycenaean style. Among the few other signs scratched on similar
pottery, A 12 and E 1 were also represented. The second double-axe, No. 5,
was found on a fragment of ' imported Mycenaean.' Nos. 1 and 2 occurred
on the bases of large cups or bowls with polished black surface and with a
slight, profiled foot: the form of the foot belongs to the post-geometric
period in Melos (see p. 94). One or two other fragments of the same wäre
had a piain cross on the base. The interesting sign-group on p. 183,
Fig. 155, was likewise found on the base of a similar vase. The second sign-
group, p. 184, Fig. 159, shoAVS the remains of three letters firmly impressed
in the unbaked clay : the fragment seemed to me to be of Cretan wai'e, but
as Mr. Evans does not recognize the symbols as Cretan this may have been a
mistake: at any rate it is certainly not Melian.
C. C. Edgar.
1 There are several sign.-? on tliis wäre like
I 14, more or less carelessly drawn triangles.
3 No. 3 is incomplete, tlie vertical line
merely representing a break. No. 4 is on tlie
base of a ' black and red' vase.
OCCUKRENCE OF THE J>OTTERY MARKS.
Tripod Pots and .Similar Coarse Ware.—A 1-2, A 4, A (i, A ] 1-1-2, A 14-15, B 7-8.
B 11-13, B 15, C 5, C 8-9, C 14, E 1-2, B 9, E 11-12, F 5-6, P S, P 12-13, g 2, g 7-0, g 12,
H 1-2, H 5, H 7, H 10, H 12-13, H 15, 1 4, I 12-1Ö,J .1 l, J 3, .1 5, J 15.
Loom Weights.— C 5, E 11, J 14.
Painted Ware of Later Period.— See'above.
Apart from the few more elaborate Symbols which may be pictographic
the linear signs consist almost entirely of various combinations of the four
strokes | — / \. It will be observed too that they rim more or less in series,
e.g., E 11-15, G 9-13, H 1-3. The object which they served can only be
guessed at. They may be regarded as owners' marks, but in that case, seeing
that the marks have been engraved in the unbaked clay, we must assume
either that the pots were made by the owner himself or that they were made
by special order. Another possibility is that they are the tradenwks of the
potters. If so, the use of such trademarks can have been by no means a
universal custom at the place of manufacture, for many (probably the majority)
of the geometric vases are quite devoid of them. Perhaps a good many of
theni may be merely potters' memoranda. For instance A 1-8 and A 14-B 5
might have been used by a potter to record the number of vases that he or she
was turning out at a sitting, just as the illiterate islander of the present day
keeps his aecounts by making notehes on a stick.
As regards the signs (Fig. 151) which have merely been scratched on
so ^
3
151.
the hard surface after the vase had been baked (and possibly after it had
been in use for some time), Nos. 3 2 and 4 were found on local wäre of the
early Mycenaean style. Among the few other signs scratched on similar
pottery, A 12 and E 1 were also represented. The second double-axe, No. 5,
was found on a fragment of ' imported Mycenaean.' Nos. 1 and 2 occurred
on the bases of large cups or bowls with polished black surface and with a
slight, profiled foot: the form of the foot belongs to the post-geometric
period in Melos (see p. 94). One or two other fragments of the same wäre
had a piain cross on the base. The interesting sign-group on p. 183,
Fig. 155, was likewise found on the base of a similar vase. The second sign-
group, p. 184, Fig. 159, shoAVS the remains of three letters firmly impressed
in the unbaked clay : the fragment seemed to me to be of Cretan wai'e, but
as Mr. Evans does not recognize the symbols as Cretan this may have been a
mistake: at any rate it is certainly not Melian.
C. C. Edgar.
1 There are several sign.-? on tliis wäre like
I 14, more or less carelessly drawn triangles.
3 No. 3 is incomplete, tlie vertical line
merely representing a break. No. 4 is on tlie
base of a ' black and red' vase.