DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0062
Reversing the order of the spade, we shall begin our analysis of Vasiliki pottery with the strat-
um immediately above bed rock and work our way upward through the layers of house-remains to the
surface of the hill.
Period I (E. M. II). The lowest half-metre in rooms 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20, yielded numer-
ous sherds of gray clay—some coarse and gritty, belonging chiefly to flat dishes on a low foot (like
Fig- 37. 3-P- 56, infra), or to tall goblets with a slender stem (PI. XII 12); others of very fine grain, in-
cised, which proved to be parts of a large jar (No. 13). This gray ware is sub-neolithic. The goblets are
covered with a sticky varnish, burnt black and polished by bone. The incised fragments are speci-
mens of an archaizing style which, by the finer clay and mechanical regularity of incision, betrays the
hand of a potter possessed of far greater skill than his predecessors of the true neolithic period. The
same type has been found at Palaikastro, Zakro, and Gournia.1 It has no white chalk filling for the
incisions, such as occurs so commonly in the true neolithic pottery of Knossos.2 The goblets show
an advance upon a Knossian form of the First Early Minoan Period, which in turn has been com-
pared with pottery found by Dr. Petrie in 1st Dynasty deposits at Abydos.3
Period II. In the next stratum, that of the oldest house walls, we came upon aware of buff clay,"
usually hand-made in clumsy shapes, and painted in 'Cycladic' style with geometric designs in dark
brown paint of an inferior quality, that flakes off at the least touch (sherds 25-28, 31-33); two
favorite forms of decoration are cross-hatched triangles and long ribbons of paint (20, A. B). Some
vases were of great size, the triangles in one case measuring 10 cm. a side. Almost all the fragments
belong to schnabelkannen or covers. Specimens of this early, dark-on-light, geometric ware 5 have
been found at Palaikastro, Gournia, and Aghia Photia, and the geometric pottery of Phylakopi is of
the same class, though of later date and more elaborate type. At the same level as the 'Cycladic'
style, Vasiliki yielded a common ware of dark, gritty clay, which had badly disintegrated.
Period III. This seems to have been the era of greatest prosperity. The older houses had been
destroyed and the ruins levelled down, most of the walls being utterly swept away in laying the foun-
dations of the new building. In the interval, the 'Cycladic' style of Period II had died out and the
only traces of it that remained were black bands or stripes on one or two pieces of the mottled 'Vasiliki'
ware. Until the discovery of Vasiliki, this mottled ware was known in Crete by only one specimen,
found in a much disturbed cave-burial near Zakro.8 One strange fact about this mottled ware is that
it is always wheel-made, even in the case of fragments found with the incised sherds, and is of a clay
quite superior in strength and texture to the rival fabrics. Fragments of this ware, belonging to
bowls and schnabelkannen, were mixed with the incised sherds of Period I, and in Period II this
style seems to have enjoyed an almost equal popularity with the 'Cycladic,'but not before Period III
did it attain complete sway. The shapes are of an exaggerated type, such as long-necked slender-spouted
Period I: Nos. 1-4, 12, 13. Period II: Nos. 20, 21, 25-28, 31-33. Period III: 5-9, 10, 11, 14-19,22-24. Period IV:
29, 30, 34, 35.
The reader is referred to Plates A, B, described on p. 60. In material, color, and surface, XII 13 is like A 5; XII, 5, 7,
= B, 1,2, and XII, 6, 8, 9-11, 14-19 are in the same 'Vasiliki' style, —fine dots = orange, coarse dots = red, heavy shading
= black. The 'Cycladic' style of XII, 20, 21 is represented in warmer lints by A 3; and XII, 23, 24 are related to A, 1, 2, 4.
1, 2 Obsidian knives; the best of ten specimens. Lengths, 5.5 cm.
3 Fragment of obsidian core. Actual size. The variety is that of Melos (note 27, p. 2, supra).
4 Part of large handle of a clay vessel with curious incisions on flat side—possibly linguistic characters. L. 9.5 cm.
W. 6.5 cm. From Room 9.
5 = PI. B 1, described on p. 60. Schnabelkanne of mottled 'Vasiliki' ware. H. (inc.) c. 20.5 cm. From Room 3.
6 Like preceding, but of more exaggerated form. Metal tradition; this type often has a clay pellet on each side of the
spout. H. 29 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3701.
7 = PI. B 2, described on p. 60. Side-beaked jar. Mixed technique. H. 14 cm. From Room 16.
8 Side-beaked jar, 'Vasiliki' ware; small foot, graceful spout. H. 13.2 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3728.
9 Low bowl, same ware; two suspension handles. Ridged rim for inset cover. This shape seems to be a survival of an
earlier type. H. 6.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3764.
10 Trough-spouted jar, same ware, with rim handle. Brilliant hand-polish. H. 9.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3744.
11 Bridge-spouted jar, same ware; two side-handles. Prototype of 'hole-mouthed' jars common in later Minoan periods
(see Pis. II 48; VI 17; VIII 35; IX 27). H. 11.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3747.
12 Tall goblet, sub-neolithic type. Coarse, gritty clay, covered with heavy varnish, burnt black, and highly bur-
nished. H. 15 cm. From Room 9.
13 Large jar with small cylindrical mouth, two large horizontal handles and two pairs of small suspension handles, either
ornamental or for fastening lid. The shape may have been sub-spherical like the small vase Plate A 5, which it
1 Palaikastro, B. S. A., VIII, p. 290. Zakro, B. S. A., VII, p. 144, fig. 52. Gournia, PI. A 5, described on p. 60;
also p. 56, and, for distribution of the shape of the Vasiliki jar, note 36, 3, p. 6, supra.
2 So far as I know, this white filling common in the true neolithic ware of Knossos (/. H.S., XXIII, PI. XIV) has no
parallel in Eastern Crete, and we have yet to learn whether the neolithic style of Knossos can be used as a standard
in judging contemporary settlements in this part of the island.
3 Evans, B. S. A., X, 1903-4, p. 24, fig. 8; cf. note 35, 2, p. 6, supra.
4 This marks another difference from Knossos, where white-on-black geometric ware develops directly from the incised
white-filled neolithic; whereas at Vasiliki there is no white filling and two periods intervene between even the sub-neo-
lithic incised ware and the white-on-black geometric. For full discussion, see Seager, Trans. Univ. Penna., 1, 111.
■ Palaikastro, B. S. A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, i, and p. 201, fig. 3, b. Gournia, Plate A 3, described on p. 60; cf. a jar from
Aghia Photia, p. 56, infra. Phylakopi, Excavations at Phylakopi, Melos, Pis. VII, VIII. For distribution of this ware
see note 36, 5, p. 6, supra. f*.
0 Zakro; Hogarth, B. S. A., VI11, p. 144, fig. 52, first vase, second row. 'Vasiliki' ware has now been found under-
lying Gournia Town (PI. VI 1, p. 37), in minimum quantity among the North Trench sherds (E. H. Hall, p. 57, infra);
in a cave-burial at Aghia Photia (PI. A 4); at Palaikastro underlying the town (B. S.A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, h),and at the burial-
site of zk SXXfyixa (ibid.,f\g. 1, a-g); in the burial chambers next the " tholos," at Aghia Triadha (Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI,
1905, p. 250, PI. X, fig. 22). For comparison with the Second or Burnt City, Hissarlik, see note 36, 4, p. 6, supra.
VASILIKI
jugs7 (No. 6), side-beaked jars8 (Nos. 7,8), the dipper cup (No. 17), and the egg-cup" (Nos. 15, 16)—forms
which were discovered at Hissarlik in the Second or ' Burnt' City. As a rule, our ware is superior to
the Trojan, in finish and in levigation of the clay. Some of the Vasiliki shapes occur in Cyprus and the
hard red surface of certain pieces resembles both the early incised ware of Cyprus10 and the' black-topped'
pottery of Dr. Petrie's pre-dynastic Egyptians.11 But the 'Vasiliki' ware is the work of a local school
of potters, who experimented until they produced new and often gorgeous effects. For the Aegean peo-
ples were always ready to receive ideas from their neighbors, but they never rested content until these
ideas had been changed and beautified to suit their own more artistic tastes. The clay is fine, hard, and
pinkish. The body color is usually red shading to orange, with patches of black shading to bronze
green, according to the different degrees of heat to which the vessel has been exposed. Exactly how
this effect was obtained has not been satisfactorily explained, but possibly the vase was covered
with paint and then embedded in coals, the black patches being produced by live coals in direct con-
tact with its surface. Some of the 'egg-cups' have been fired in the same way as the early Egyptian
pottery, by being placed upside down on the coals, a proceeding which blackens the rim; but, in the
majority of cases, the burnt parts form irregular patches or streaks which are not confined to any one
part of the vessel, and in duplicate shapes the decoration may be entirely different, owing to a different
application of the flame. On a few vases, notably the side-beaked jar, No. 7 (PI. B 2, described on
p. 60), this mottling has been artificially caused to form a distinct pattern. Whenever the mottled
effect is especially brilliant with many shades of color, e.g., No. 5 (PI. B 1), the vase has been given a
higher polish than is usual in the less striking pieces. Aside from the mottled ' Vasiliki' ware,12 and a
burnished red ware akin to that of Cyprus 13 (No. 16), some vases were made in Period III of inferior
clay, unpainted or covered with a thin coat of slightly lustrous color, black or red, and some excep-
tional pieces were produced showing a beginning of decoration in white paint (23, 24), and of the
'drip' pattern so common at Gournia (cf. PI. VI 43).
Period IV. This was a time of unrest and of marked deterioration in architecture and in pottery.
The big house had been destroyed, and a settlement of poor huts had arisen in the northeast corner of
the ruin. The deposit in these hovels was about 1^ metres deep. The pottery found in it is character-
ized by geometric designs in white paint on a black ground (sherds 29, 30, 34, 35), and one may trace
a gradual development from the crudest ware of this kind to one closely resembling the more finished
fabrics of the middle Minoan or ' Kamares' period. The shapes are identical with those mentioned
by Miss Hall as found in the North Trench at Gournia (p. 57, Figs. 41,42, infra). The typical' Vasiliki'
ware, of mottled technique had disappeared. Whether the last settlers on the Kephala—the owners of
white-on-black pottery—were routed by the builders of the Town at Gournia, or owed their overthrow
to another cause, future seasons of Cretan exploration must tell us.
closely resembles in fabric. Fine gray clay, burnished. The elaborate design of parallel lines, herring-bone
pattern, concentric semi-circles and dotted interspaces, is incised. H. (inc.) c. 21 cm. From Room 9.
14 Small jug, mottled 'Vasiliki' ware. Hand-polished. H. 9 cm. From Room 12.
15 'Egg-cup,' same ware. H. 6 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3766.
16 Trough-spouted 'egg-cup'; slight rim handle. Hard red body-paint, highly polished. H. 6.7 cm. From Room 16.
Reg. No. 5776.
17 Hemi-spherical cup with large loop-handle. Poor gritty brown clay; no red paint. H. 6.5 cm. From Room 19.
Reg. No. 3778.
18 Hemispherical cup with round handle. Poor red gritty clay; heavy coat of red body-paint. Hand-polished. H. 7.6
cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3780.
19 Globular cup with base-ring and bridge-spout at right angles to handle. Fine-grained clay, shading from light yel-
low to dark brown; unpainted (?). H. 7.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3747.
20 Round-bodied schnabelkanne, hand-made. Uneven buff clay; dark brown paint. H. 21.1 cm. From Room 21.
21 Jar apparently hand-made, with narrow cylindrical neck and two side handles. Poor gray clay, much burnt; dull
black paint. H. 17.2 cm. From Room 12.
22 Clay head, very crude; two holes for eyes, a straight slit for mouth. Faint traces of black paint, to indicate eye-
brows and a heavy triangular mat of hair falling from top of head to below the neck. H. 4.3 cm. From
Room 21.
23 Handleless cup. Red body-paint, shading to black; decorated in white paint, with three groups of three narrow bands,
around top, middle, and base of cup.
24 Beaked jar, unusually squat, no foot; a clay horn on either side of spout. Lustreless black body-paint; decoration in
creamy white paint. H. 6.7 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3737.
Nos. 23 and 24 are forerunners of the white-on-black geometric style of Period IV.
7 Schliemann, Ilios, Nos. 1156-1162.
8 Side-beaked jars have been found in Early Minoan deposits at Knossos (B. S. A., VI11, p. 95, fig. 65, s) and Palaikastro
(B. S. A., IX, p. 307, fig. 7, 1; B. S. A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, h.); there is one specimen from Syros ('P2tp. 'Ap/. 1899, PI. 9, 14).
Two interesting modifications may be cited, one with incised decoration from the "tholos," Aghia Triadha (Mem. R. 1st.
Lomb., XXI, 1905, PI. IX, fig. 21), the other in ' Kamares' ware from Gournia (PI. VI 10).
9 H. Schmidt with Dorpfeld, Trojau. Ilion, I, p. 261, fig. 127; the 'egg-cup' has been found also at Palaikastro (B. S. A.
X, p. 197, fig. 1, f, g), and in early graves in Spain (Siret, Les Premiers Ages du Metal dans le Sud-Est de VEspagne,
PI. XX, figs. 98, 103, 106).
10 Myres and Richter, Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum, pp. 36, 41 ff.
11 Vide supra, note 35, 9, p. 6. M. Maspero's discovery of a 'black-topped' vase with a Vlth Dynasty stela brings
the Egyptian and Cretan techniques into contemporary use.
12 'Vasiliki' ware has a less brilliant counterpart in pottery now in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, which was discov-
ered by the Hemenway expedition in prehistoric pueblos of Arizona Indians. The Pumpelly expedition brought back from
Turkestan in 1904 mottled sherds indistinguishable from Vasiliki fragments. Siret's Bronze Age excavations in Spain
yielded large jars of similar technique, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
13 The plain red finish was a common mode of decoration among prehistoric Peruvian potters; in the TrocadeVo Museum,
Paris, are pieces of Peruvian pottery almost identical with this style from Vasiliki.
R. B. Seager.
um immediately above bed rock and work our way upward through the layers of house-remains to the
surface of the hill.
Period I (E. M. II). The lowest half-metre in rooms 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20, yielded numer-
ous sherds of gray clay—some coarse and gritty, belonging chiefly to flat dishes on a low foot (like
Fig- 37. 3-P- 56, infra), or to tall goblets with a slender stem (PI. XII 12); others of very fine grain, in-
cised, which proved to be parts of a large jar (No. 13). This gray ware is sub-neolithic. The goblets are
covered with a sticky varnish, burnt black and polished by bone. The incised fragments are speci-
mens of an archaizing style which, by the finer clay and mechanical regularity of incision, betrays the
hand of a potter possessed of far greater skill than his predecessors of the true neolithic period. The
same type has been found at Palaikastro, Zakro, and Gournia.1 It has no white chalk filling for the
incisions, such as occurs so commonly in the true neolithic pottery of Knossos.2 The goblets show
an advance upon a Knossian form of the First Early Minoan Period, which in turn has been com-
pared with pottery found by Dr. Petrie in 1st Dynasty deposits at Abydos.3
Period II. In the next stratum, that of the oldest house walls, we came upon aware of buff clay,"
usually hand-made in clumsy shapes, and painted in 'Cycladic' style with geometric designs in dark
brown paint of an inferior quality, that flakes off at the least touch (sherds 25-28, 31-33); two
favorite forms of decoration are cross-hatched triangles and long ribbons of paint (20, A. B). Some
vases were of great size, the triangles in one case measuring 10 cm. a side. Almost all the fragments
belong to schnabelkannen or covers. Specimens of this early, dark-on-light, geometric ware 5 have
been found at Palaikastro, Gournia, and Aghia Photia, and the geometric pottery of Phylakopi is of
the same class, though of later date and more elaborate type. At the same level as the 'Cycladic'
style, Vasiliki yielded a common ware of dark, gritty clay, which had badly disintegrated.
Period III. This seems to have been the era of greatest prosperity. The older houses had been
destroyed and the ruins levelled down, most of the walls being utterly swept away in laying the foun-
dations of the new building. In the interval, the 'Cycladic' style of Period II had died out and the
only traces of it that remained were black bands or stripes on one or two pieces of the mottled 'Vasiliki'
ware. Until the discovery of Vasiliki, this mottled ware was known in Crete by only one specimen,
found in a much disturbed cave-burial near Zakro.8 One strange fact about this mottled ware is that
it is always wheel-made, even in the case of fragments found with the incised sherds, and is of a clay
quite superior in strength and texture to the rival fabrics. Fragments of this ware, belonging to
bowls and schnabelkannen, were mixed with the incised sherds of Period I, and in Period II this
style seems to have enjoyed an almost equal popularity with the 'Cycladic,'but not before Period III
did it attain complete sway. The shapes are of an exaggerated type, such as long-necked slender-spouted
Period I: Nos. 1-4, 12, 13. Period II: Nos. 20, 21, 25-28, 31-33. Period III: 5-9, 10, 11, 14-19,22-24. Period IV:
29, 30, 34, 35.
The reader is referred to Plates A, B, described on p. 60. In material, color, and surface, XII 13 is like A 5; XII, 5, 7,
= B, 1,2, and XII, 6, 8, 9-11, 14-19 are in the same 'Vasiliki' style, —fine dots = orange, coarse dots = red, heavy shading
= black. The 'Cycladic' style of XII, 20, 21 is represented in warmer lints by A 3; and XII, 23, 24 are related to A, 1, 2, 4.
1, 2 Obsidian knives; the best of ten specimens. Lengths, 5.5 cm.
3 Fragment of obsidian core. Actual size. The variety is that of Melos (note 27, p. 2, supra).
4 Part of large handle of a clay vessel with curious incisions on flat side—possibly linguistic characters. L. 9.5 cm.
W. 6.5 cm. From Room 9.
5 = PI. B 1, described on p. 60. Schnabelkanne of mottled 'Vasiliki' ware. H. (inc.) c. 20.5 cm. From Room 3.
6 Like preceding, but of more exaggerated form. Metal tradition; this type often has a clay pellet on each side of the
spout. H. 29 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3701.
7 = PI. B 2, described on p. 60. Side-beaked jar. Mixed technique. H. 14 cm. From Room 16.
8 Side-beaked jar, 'Vasiliki' ware; small foot, graceful spout. H. 13.2 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3728.
9 Low bowl, same ware; two suspension handles. Ridged rim for inset cover. This shape seems to be a survival of an
earlier type. H. 6.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3764.
10 Trough-spouted jar, same ware, with rim handle. Brilliant hand-polish. H. 9.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3744.
11 Bridge-spouted jar, same ware; two side-handles. Prototype of 'hole-mouthed' jars common in later Minoan periods
(see Pis. II 48; VI 17; VIII 35; IX 27). H. 11.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3747.
12 Tall goblet, sub-neolithic type. Coarse, gritty clay, covered with heavy varnish, burnt black, and highly bur-
nished. H. 15 cm. From Room 9.
13 Large jar with small cylindrical mouth, two large horizontal handles and two pairs of small suspension handles, either
ornamental or for fastening lid. The shape may have been sub-spherical like the small vase Plate A 5, which it
1 Palaikastro, B. S. A., VIII, p. 290. Zakro, B. S. A., VII, p. 144, fig. 52. Gournia, PI. A 5, described on p. 60;
also p. 56, and, for distribution of the shape of the Vasiliki jar, note 36, 3, p. 6, supra.
2 So far as I know, this white filling common in the true neolithic ware of Knossos (/. H.S., XXIII, PI. XIV) has no
parallel in Eastern Crete, and we have yet to learn whether the neolithic style of Knossos can be used as a standard
in judging contemporary settlements in this part of the island.
3 Evans, B. S. A., X, 1903-4, p. 24, fig. 8; cf. note 35, 2, p. 6, supra.
4 This marks another difference from Knossos, where white-on-black geometric ware develops directly from the incised
white-filled neolithic; whereas at Vasiliki there is no white filling and two periods intervene between even the sub-neo-
lithic incised ware and the white-on-black geometric. For full discussion, see Seager, Trans. Univ. Penna., 1, 111.
■ Palaikastro, B. S. A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, i, and p. 201, fig. 3, b. Gournia, Plate A 3, described on p. 60; cf. a jar from
Aghia Photia, p. 56, infra. Phylakopi, Excavations at Phylakopi, Melos, Pis. VII, VIII. For distribution of this ware
see note 36, 5, p. 6, supra. f*.
0 Zakro; Hogarth, B. S. A., VI11, p. 144, fig. 52, first vase, second row. 'Vasiliki' ware has now been found under-
lying Gournia Town (PI. VI 1, p. 37), in minimum quantity among the North Trench sherds (E. H. Hall, p. 57, infra);
in a cave-burial at Aghia Photia (PI. A 4); at Palaikastro underlying the town (B. S.A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, h),and at the burial-
site of zk SXXfyixa (ibid.,f\g. 1, a-g); in the burial chambers next the " tholos," at Aghia Triadha (Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI,
1905, p. 250, PI. X, fig. 22). For comparison with the Second or Burnt City, Hissarlik, see note 36, 4, p. 6, supra.
VASILIKI
jugs7 (No. 6), side-beaked jars8 (Nos. 7,8), the dipper cup (No. 17), and the egg-cup" (Nos. 15, 16)—forms
which were discovered at Hissarlik in the Second or ' Burnt' City. As a rule, our ware is superior to
the Trojan, in finish and in levigation of the clay. Some of the Vasiliki shapes occur in Cyprus and the
hard red surface of certain pieces resembles both the early incised ware of Cyprus10 and the' black-topped'
pottery of Dr. Petrie's pre-dynastic Egyptians.11 But the 'Vasiliki' ware is the work of a local school
of potters, who experimented until they produced new and often gorgeous effects. For the Aegean peo-
ples were always ready to receive ideas from their neighbors, but they never rested content until these
ideas had been changed and beautified to suit their own more artistic tastes. The clay is fine, hard, and
pinkish. The body color is usually red shading to orange, with patches of black shading to bronze
green, according to the different degrees of heat to which the vessel has been exposed. Exactly how
this effect was obtained has not been satisfactorily explained, but possibly the vase was covered
with paint and then embedded in coals, the black patches being produced by live coals in direct con-
tact with its surface. Some of the 'egg-cups' have been fired in the same way as the early Egyptian
pottery, by being placed upside down on the coals, a proceeding which blackens the rim; but, in the
majority of cases, the burnt parts form irregular patches or streaks which are not confined to any one
part of the vessel, and in duplicate shapes the decoration may be entirely different, owing to a different
application of the flame. On a few vases, notably the side-beaked jar, No. 7 (PI. B 2, described on
p. 60), this mottling has been artificially caused to form a distinct pattern. Whenever the mottled
effect is especially brilliant with many shades of color, e.g., No. 5 (PI. B 1), the vase has been given a
higher polish than is usual in the less striking pieces. Aside from the mottled ' Vasiliki' ware,12 and a
burnished red ware akin to that of Cyprus 13 (No. 16), some vases were made in Period III of inferior
clay, unpainted or covered with a thin coat of slightly lustrous color, black or red, and some excep-
tional pieces were produced showing a beginning of decoration in white paint (23, 24), and of the
'drip' pattern so common at Gournia (cf. PI. VI 43).
Period IV. This was a time of unrest and of marked deterioration in architecture and in pottery.
The big house had been destroyed, and a settlement of poor huts had arisen in the northeast corner of
the ruin. The deposit in these hovels was about 1^ metres deep. The pottery found in it is character-
ized by geometric designs in white paint on a black ground (sherds 29, 30, 34, 35), and one may trace
a gradual development from the crudest ware of this kind to one closely resembling the more finished
fabrics of the middle Minoan or ' Kamares' period. The shapes are identical with those mentioned
by Miss Hall as found in the North Trench at Gournia (p. 57, Figs. 41,42, infra). The typical' Vasiliki'
ware, of mottled technique had disappeared. Whether the last settlers on the Kephala—the owners of
white-on-black pottery—were routed by the builders of the Town at Gournia, or owed their overthrow
to another cause, future seasons of Cretan exploration must tell us.
closely resembles in fabric. Fine gray clay, burnished. The elaborate design of parallel lines, herring-bone
pattern, concentric semi-circles and dotted interspaces, is incised. H. (inc.) c. 21 cm. From Room 9.
14 Small jug, mottled 'Vasiliki' ware. Hand-polished. H. 9 cm. From Room 12.
15 'Egg-cup,' same ware. H. 6 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3766.
16 Trough-spouted 'egg-cup'; slight rim handle. Hard red body-paint, highly polished. H. 6.7 cm. From Room 16.
Reg. No. 5776.
17 Hemi-spherical cup with large loop-handle. Poor gritty brown clay; no red paint. H. 6.5 cm. From Room 19.
Reg. No. 3778.
18 Hemispherical cup with round handle. Poor red gritty clay; heavy coat of red body-paint. Hand-polished. H. 7.6
cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3780.
19 Globular cup with base-ring and bridge-spout at right angles to handle. Fine-grained clay, shading from light yel-
low to dark brown; unpainted (?). H. 7.5 cm. From Room 19. Reg. No. 3747.
20 Round-bodied schnabelkanne, hand-made. Uneven buff clay; dark brown paint. H. 21.1 cm. From Room 21.
21 Jar apparently hand-made, with narrow cylindrical neck and two side handles. Poor gray clay, much burnt; dull
black paint. H. 17.2 cm. From Room 12.
22 Clay head, very crude; two holes for eyes, a straight slit for mouth. Faint traces of black paint, to indicate eye-
brows and a heavy triangular mat of hair falling from top of head to below the neck. H. 4.3 cm. From
Room 21.
23 Handleless cup. Red body-paint, shading to black; decorated in white paint, with three groups of three narrow bands,
around top, middle, and base of cup.
24 Beaked jar, unusually squat, no foot; a clay horn on either side of spout. Lustreless black body-paint; decoration in
creamy white paint. H. 6.7 cm. From Room 16. Reg. No. 3737.
Nos. 23 and 24 are forerunners of the white-on-black geometric style of Period IV.
7 Schliemann, Ilios, Nos. 1156-1162.
8 Side-beaked jars have been found in Early Minoan deposits at Knossos (B. S. A., VI11, p. 95, fig. 65, s) and Palaikastro
(B. S. A., IX, p. 307, fig. 7, 1; B. S. A., X, p. 197, fig. 1, h.); there is one specimen from Syros ('P2tp. 'Ap/. 1899, PI. 9, 14).
Two interesting modifications may be cited, one with incised decoration from the "tholos," Aghia Triadha (Mem. R. 1st.
Lomb., XXI, 1905, PI. IX, fig. 21), the other in ' Kamares' ware from Gournia (PI. VI 10).
9 H. Schmidt with Dorpfeld, Trojau. Ilion, I, p. 261, fig. 127; the 'egg-cup' has been found also at Palaikastro (B. S. A.
X, p. 197, fig. 1, f, g), and in early graves in Spain (Siret, Les Premiers Ages du Metal dans le Sud-Est de VEspagne,
PI. XX, figs. 98, 103, 106).
10 Myres and Richter, Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum, pp. 36, 41 ff.
11 Vide supra, note 35, 9, p. 6. M. Maspero's discovery of a 'black-topped' vase with a Vlth Dynasty stela brings
the Egyptian and Cretan techniques into contemporary use.
12 'Vasiliki' ware has a less brilliant counterpart in pottery now in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, which was discov-
ered by the Hemenway expedition in prehistoric pueblos of Arizona Indians. The Pumpelly expedition brought back from
Turkestan in 1904 mottled sherds indistinguishable from Vasiliki fragments. Siret's Bronze Age excavations in Spain
yielded large jars of similar technique, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
13 The plain red finish was a common mode of decoration among prehistoric Peruvian potters; in the TrocadeVo Museum,
Paris, are pieces of Peruvian pottery almost identical with this style from Vasiliki.
R. B. Seager.