DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0167
THE POTTERY.
147
as a likely source of supply for Melos. We know tliat a good deal of
Kamares pottery was imported from Grete (v. p. 148) and that there was
also a trade in stone vessels (v. p. 196), and I may add that many frag-
ments of ordinary pithoi, evidently not local, seemed to me to be of Cretan
fabric.
Since tlie time of our excavations in Melos, and even since the above
paragraphs were written, the qnestion has come to be partly settled. The
recent excavations in Crete have thrown njuch light on the origin of
Mycenaean pottery of what we may call the mature technique. On the
whole they amply confirra the idea that Crete was the cradle and chief centre
of the manufacture. But they have also disclosed several distinct fabrics in
different parts of the island. The vases from Zakro are peculiarly instructive
in this connection ; on thern we find the same designs constantly repeated
but sometimes executed in the Kamäres techniipie, and sometimes in the
Fig. 1241 (1 : 3). Fig. 125 - (1 :
SpECIMENS OK L.VTK MyCEXAKAN" l'OTTKKY FOUND AT PlIVLAKOPI.
mature Mycenaean technique: they are obviously the product of a local
school in process of transition from the one style to the other. To a Cnossos
fabric has been assigned with great probability a groüp of large vases in the
so-called ' Palace Style,' characterized by fantastic floral designs combined to
a large extent out of Egyptian elements ; several fragments of this class were
found at Phylakopi. Among other vase-types that may be claimed for
Cnossos a somewhat later group of large pseudamphorae with a sprawling
octopus design is the most conspicious. It is probable indeed that the earlier
vases in the fully developed Mycenaean technique belong without exception
to sorne fabric or other in Crete. The later Melian pottery, which, though
equal from the decorative point of view to the best of the Cretan vases (whether
of the Kamäres or the mature Mycenaean fabrics), is much inferior to them
technically, proves that the art of making this Stapenor kind of wäre had not
penetrated into the neighbouring Aegean area, nor is there any reason for
1 Reddish clay ; design in somewhat red- 3 Grey elay ; reddish brown paint; suspen-
dened bluek ; inside glazed blaok. sion handle. From the Well.
h 2
147
as a likely source of supply for Melos. We know tliat a good deal of
Kamares pottery was imported from Grete (v. p. 148) and that there was
also a trade in stone vessels (v. p. 196), and I may add that many frag-
ments of ordinary pithoi, evidently not local, seemed to me to be of Cretan
fabric.
Since tlie time of our excavations in Melos, and even since the above
paragraphs were written, the qnestion has come to be partly settled. The
recent excavations in Crete have thrown njuch light on the origin of
Mycenaean pottery of what we may call the mature technique. On the
whole they amply confirra the idea that Crete was the cradle and chief centre
of the manufacture. But they have also disclosed several distinct fabrics in
different parts of the island. The vases from Zakro are peculiarly instructive
in this connection ; on thern we find the same designs constantly repeated
but sometimes executed in the Kamäres techniipie, and sometimes in the
Fig. 1241 (1 : 3). Fig. 125 - (1 :
SpECIMENS OK L.VTK MyCEXAKAN" l'OTTKKY FOUND AT PlIVLAKOPI.
mature Mycenaean technique: they are obviously the product of a local
school in process of transition from the one style to the other. To a Cnossos
fabric has been assigned with great probability a groüp of large vases in the
so-called ' Palace Style,' characterized by fantastic floral designs combined to
a large extent out of Egyptian elements ; several fragments of this class were
found at Phylakopi. Among other vase-types that may be claimed for
Cnossos a somewhat later group of large pseudamphorae with a sprawling
octopus design is the most conspicious. It is probable indeed that the earlier
vases in the fully developed Mycenaean technique belong without exception
to sorne fabric or other in Crete. The later Melian pottery, which, though
equal from the decorative point of view to the best of the Cretan vases (whether
of the Kamäres or the mature Mycenaean fabrics), is much inferior to them
technically, proves that the art of making this Stapenor kind of wäre had not
penetrated into the neighbouring Aegean area, nor is there any reason for
1 Reddish clay ; design in somewhat red- 3 Grey elay ; reddish brown paint; suspen-
dened bluek ; inside glazed blaok. sion handle. From the Well.
h 2