DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0269
THE SUCCESSIVE SETTLEMENTS AT PHYLAKOPI. 249
The maturer period which we are now discussing is represented by
undisturbed floor-deposit and by pottery more or less intact, found in parti-
cular instances in that deposit on honse-floors which had apparentlj7 been
covered up before the final period of the First City to which the floor-
deposits as a whole belong.
The characteristic series of vases PI. IV. 1-10 is from such deposit.
Thus, f'or example, the pyxis PI. IV., 1 was found inside a pithos of the same
class as XXXIV., 1 in a house at E 3 : 11 whose floor-deposit, according to
all the indications, was covered up at a period long anterior to the closing
one of the settlement.
Equally t}rpical of this period and of this kind of deposit are the vases
6, 8. If one compares with those vases the beaked jugs PI. IX., 1-10 one sees
that typologically at least the painted variety has emerged as a development
from the incised class. Yet typical specimens in both classes were found in
the same floor-deposit in a house of this period at G 2 : 10. Thus we
cannot say that the painted beaked jugs are actually a derivation from the
dark-faced vases of the duck class, but that they go back to one proto-
fcype with those, and that the duck vases actually found along with
the painted beaked jugs are a rudimentary survival from this prototype
alongside of the more developed painted class. The jar-types PI. VIII., 4-6
and the lids 1, 2, 3 belong to floor-deposit of the same period. The
vessel 6 was actually found in G 2 : 10 along with the vases above
referred to.1
These prototypes as well as the Originals of other types of vases found
in floor-deposit must have come into use in the early period of the First
City. It may be conjectured that these types at that time belonged
chiefly to the incised class with dark ground. Alongside of these began
to appear the wares of Section 3 with lustrous glaze geometric design, dark
on a light ground, which we find beginning to be characteristic of this
early period, though probably not as native produetions but as importations.
We can be certain that wares with geometric design appearing light on a
dark ground began to be imported about the same period. Some time well
on in this early era the Melians adapted the glaze technique to their own
clay, producing a general effect which, on aecount of the porous character of
their clay, was never able to attain the distinetness of outline or the lustre of
the foreign designs. The consummation of this tendency was effected in the
era represented by the floor-deposits to which we have just referred. In this
second period accordingly we have a prime of ceramic art, amply attested by
the Contents of those floor-deposits, in which wares with white-filled incised
geometric design appearing light on a dark ground co-exist with painted
wares having more or less lack-lustre geometric glaze design appearing dark
on a light ground. The preference for models in this technique was based
on extrinsic reasons. The Melian potters had special difficulties to contend
with on aecount of the porous character of their clay, which did not easily
1 The fragments on PI. V. belong to the same soft of deposit.i
The maturer period which we are now discussing is represented by
undisturbed floor-deposit and by pottery more or less intact, found in parti-
cular instances in that deposit on honse-floors which had apparentlj7 been
covered up before the final period of the First City to which the floor-
deposits as a whole belong.
The characteristic series of vases PI. IV. 1-10 is from such deposit.
Thus, f'or example, the pyxis PI. IV., 1 was found inside a pithos of the same
class as XXXIV., 1 in a house at E 3 : 11 whose floor-deposit, according to
all the indications, was covered up at a period long anterior to the closing
one of the settlement.
Equally t}rpical of this period and of this kind of deposit are the vases
6, 8. If one compares with those vases the beaked jugs PI. IX., 1-10 one sees
that typologically at least the painted variety has emerged as a development
from the incised class. Yet typical specimens in both classes were found in
the same floor-deposit in a house of this period at G 2 : 10. Thus we
cannot say that the painted beaked jugs are actually a derivation from the
dark-faced vases of the duck class, but that they go back to one proto-
fcype with those, and that the duck vases actually found along with
the painted beaked jugs are a rudimentary survival from this prototype
alongside of the more developed painted class. The jar-types PI. VIII., 4-6
and the lids 1, 2, 3 belong to floor-deposit of the same period. The
vessel 6 was actually found in G 2 : 10 along with the vases above
referred to.1
These prototypes as well as the Originals of other types of vases found
in floor-deposit must have come into use in the early period of the First
City. It may be conjectured that these types at that time belonged
chiefly to the incised class with dark ground. Alongside of these began
to appear the wares of Section 3 with lustrous glaze geometric design, dark
on a light ground, which we find beginning to be characteristic of this
early period, though probably not as native produetions but as importations.
We can be certain that wares with geometric design appearing light on a
dark ground began to be imported about the same period. Some time well
on in this early era the Melians adapted the glaze technique to their own
clay, producing a general effect which, on aecount of the porous character of
their clay, was never able to attain the distinetness of outline or the lustre of
the foreign designs. The consummation of this tendency was effected in the
era represented by the floor-deposits to which we have just referred. In this
second period accordingly we have a prime of ceramic art, amply attested by
the Contents of those floor-deposits, in which wares with white-filled incised
geometric design appearing light on a dark ground co-exist with painted
wares having more or less lack-lustre geometric glaze design appearing dark
on a light ground. The preference for models in this technique was based
on extrinsic reasons. The Melian potters had special difficulties to contend
with on aecount of the porous character of their clay, which did not easily
1 The fragments on PI. V. belong to the same soft of deposit.i