DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4759#0010
INTRODUCTION.
I. THE POTTERY OF CYPRUS.
The pottery of Cyprus falls under three headings, which for convenience,
though not perhaps with the strictest accuracy, are usually denned as follows :—
1. Bronze Age, from about 2500 B.C. to 900 B.C.
2. Graeco-Plwenician Period, from 900 B.C. to 550 B.C.
3. Hellenic Period, from 550 B.C. to 200 B.C., representing the time
during which imported Greek vases are found in the tombs, native
pottery gradually dying out except in the form of plain vessels.
The pottery of the Bronze Age again falls into two distinct periods:
(1) Copper Age, or pre-Mycenaean period (2500-1500 B.C.), during which few
bronze implements are found in the tombs, and all the pottery is purely
indigenous, the work of the original inhabitants*of the island, without any
admixture of importations. (2) The Mycenaean period (1500--900 B.C.), during
which the local pottery (including both painted and unpainted vases) is
reinforced by large quantities of Mycenaean pottery, among which are
elaborately-decorated examples, either made locally or specially made for
Cyprus and imported.
The sites on which Bronze Age remains are found are chiefly confined to
the central and southern parts of the island, the most important sites being
near the modern towns of Nicosia, Larnaka, and Famagusta. The discovery
in these tombs of such objects as milking-bowls and querns is an additional
proof of the conclusion naturally to be drawn—that the early inhabitants of
Cyprus were a race of pastoral lowlanders.1
There is no doubt that the art of pottery makes its first appearance in
Cyprus coincidently with the beginning of the Copper Age, which may be
placed at about the year 2500 B.C. Although no bronze is found in the earliest
tombs, on the other hand stone implements are absent, and the types of the
pottery are identical with those of the later Bronze Age. It presents throughout
very striking parallels with the pottery of Hissarlik (Troy) ; the forms are
largely similar, and the technique is the same, but the latter is ruder and
of inferior clay. Stone implements are found at Hissarlik, but no copper, from
which the inference may be drawn that that metal, being indigenous to Cyprus,
1 See Cyprus Mus. Cat., p. 14.
I. THE POTTERY OF CYPRUS.
The pottery of Cyprus falls under three headings, which for convenience,
though not perhaps with the strictest accuracy, are usually denned as follows :—
1. Bronze Age, from about 2500 B.C. to 900 B.C.
2. Graeco-Plwenician Period, from 900 B.C. to 550 B.C.
3. Hellenic Period, from 550 B.C. to 200 B.C., representing the time
during which imported Greek vases are found in the tombs, native
pottery gradually dying out except in the form of plain vessels.
The pottery of the Bronze Age again falls into two distinct periods:
(1) Copper Age, or pre-Mycenaean period (2500-1500 B.C.), during which few
bronze implements are found in the tombs, and all the pottery is purely
indigenous, the work of the original inhabitants*of the island, without any
admixture of importations. (2) The Mycenaean period (1500--900 B.C.), during
which the local pottery (including both painted and unpainted vases) is
reinforced by large quantities of Mycenaean pottery, among which are
elaborately-decorated examples, either made locally or specially made for
Cyprus and imported.
The sites on which Bronze Age remains are found are chiefly confined to
the central and southern parts of the island, the most important sites being
near the modern towns of Nicosia, Larnaka, and Famagusta. The discovery
in these tombs of such objects as milking-bowls and querns is an additional
proof of the conclusion naturally to be drawn—that the early inhabitants of
Cyprus were a race of pastoral lowlanders.1
There is no doubt that the art of pottery makes its first appearance in
Cyprus coincidently with the beginning of the Copper Age, which may be
placed at about the year 2500 B.C. Although no bronze is found in the earliest
tombs, on the other hand stone implements are absent, and the types of the
pottery are identical with those of the later Bronze Age. It presents throughout
very striking parallels with the pottery of Hissarlik (Troy) ; the forms are
largely similar, and the technique is the same, but the latter is ruder and
of inferior clay. Stone implements are found at Hissarlik, but no copper, from
which the inference may be drawn that that metal, being indigenous to Cyprus,
1 See Cyprus Mus. Cat., p. 14.