DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0114
94
0. C. EDGAR
almost invariable rule tliey have a flattened base ; in no single instance is
the base round, like tbat of a gourd; and a ring-base on tbe other band (e.g.
PI. XIV. 1) is an indication of tbe vase to which it belongs being compara-
tively late. The handle, again, is attached in a characteristic manner; the
lower end (and the upper also when it is not fastened to the rim, as it
usually is) is stuck through a hole in the side of the vase and protrudes on
the inside. In the case of open vessels, such as cups, the join is of course
smoothed over on the inside as well as on the outside; but in the case of ä
narrow-necked jug like PI. IX. 1 there was no need to conceal it, or rather there
was no getting at it. Besides this type tbe old suspension-handle is still of
course in common use. Another distinctive feature of the vases of this
period is the impressed ' letter' or mark which they frequently bear. These
marks are usually found on the handle or base of a vessel and, with a few rather
later exceptions, have been impressed in the damp clay before baking. A
fuller account of them is reserved for another chapter in which Mr. Evans
discusses their relation to other Systems of Symbols and tbe linear characters
of the early Cretan Script. For the present it is suffieient to note that as
a whole they are eoritemporary with the geometric style.
The pottery of this period is shaped with great regularity, as the illustra-
tions show, and judging from the outward appearance alone one would put it
down as wheel-made. Thus Mr. Blinkenberg speaks of the Phylakopi vases
in Sevres as wheel-made. Yet I have never observed any certain traces of
the wheel, any signs of rapid turning such as are so common on the later
pottery from the same site {e.g. XIX. 10). Many, indeed, of the geometric
vases and fraginents bear traces of having been shaped by a turning motion,
but not by a more rapid motion than could have been imparted by the
unaided band. If a wheel was used it cannot have been a rapidly revolving
one, and it seems to me more likely that the vases of this period are all of
them hand-made.
Finally, an important and somewhat puzzling characteristic remains to
be mentioned. A great many vases of the geometric fabrics bear on their
bases the impression of a mat of interwoven rusb.es upor. which they have
evidently been placed while still damp. These impressions are found on
vases of all sizes from large pithoi like XXXIV. 1 down to such tiny pots as
XXXV. 10, though it is on the larger kinds that they occur most frequently.
They are never found, however, on the finer vases with painted patterns.
These have always smooth flat bases, whether it was that they were not set
on mats during the process of their manufacture or (as is just possible) that
the impressions were obliterated before they were put into the oven. When
the design of the mat was of circular form such as PI. VI. 1, the vase was
usually but by no means invariably placed with the centre of its base on the
centre of the mat. In several instances there are traces of the pot having
shifted its position on the mat or of its having been set upon two different
mats in succession. In more than one instance again a vase with a hollow
foot like Fig. 70 bears the impression of a mat on the underside of its base,
showing that it had been in contact with the mat before the foot was added.
0. C. EDGAR
almost invariable rule tliey have a flattened base ; in no single instance is
the base round, like tbat of a gourd; and a ring-base on tbe other band (e.g.
PI. XIV. 1) is an indication of tbe vase to which it belongs being compara-
tively late. The handle, again, is attached in a characteristic manner; the
lower end (and the upper also when it is not fastened to the rim, as it
usually is) is stuck through a hole in the side of the vase and protrudes on
the inside. In the case of open vessels, such as cups, the join is of course
smoothed over on the inside as well as on the outside; but in the case of ä
narrow-necked jug like PI. IX. 1 there was no need to conceal it, or rather there
was no getting at it. Besides this type tbe old suspension-handle is still of
course in common use. Another distinctive feature of the vases of this
period is the impressed ' letter' or mark which they frequently bear. These
marks are usually found on the handle or base of a vessel and, with a few rather
later exceptions, have been impressed in the damp clay before baking. A
fuller account of them is reserved for another chapter in which Mr. Evans
discusses their relation to other Systems of Symbols and tbe linear characters
of the early Cretan Script. For the present it is suffieient to note that as
a whole they are eoritemporary with the geometric style.
The pottery of this period is shaped with great regularity, as the illustra-
tions show, and judging from the outward appearance alone one would put it
down as wheel-made. Thus Mr. Blinkenberg speaks of the Phylakopi vases
in Sevres as wheel-made. Yet I have never observed any certain traces of
the wheel, any signs of rapid turning such as are so common on the later
pottery from the same site {e.g. XIX. 10). Many, indeed, of the geometric
vases and fraginents bear traces of having been shaped by a turning motion,
but not by a more rapid motion than could have been imparted by the
unaided band. If a wheel was used it cannot have been a rapidly revolving
one, and it seems to me more likely that the vases of this period are all of
them hand-made.
Finally, an important and somewhat puzzling characteristic remains to
be mentioned. A great many vases of the geometric fabrics bear on their
bases the impression of a mat of interwoven rusb.es upor. which they have
evidently been placed while still damp. These impressions are found on
vases of all sizes from large pithoi like XXXIV. 1 down to such tiny pots as
XXXV. 10, though it is on the larger kinds that they occur most frequently.
They are never found, however, on the finer vases with painted patterns.
These have always smooth flat bases, whether it was that they were not set
on mats during the process of their manufacture or (as is just possible) that
the impressions were obliterated before they were put into the oven. When
the design of the mat was of circular form such as PI. VI. 1, the vase was
usually but by no means invariably placed with the centre of its base on the
centre of the mat. In several instances there are traces of the pot having
shifted its position on the mat or of its having been set upon two different
mats in succession. In more than one instance again a vase with a hollow
foot like Fig. 70 bears the impression of a mat on the underside of its base,
showing that it had been in contact with the mat before the foot was added.