DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.619#0028
THE AECHAIC POTTERY AND ITS CLASSIFICATION.
19
BROWN :—
X. Non-Natjeeatian :
1 dark brown outside, angular rim (pi. x. 10.)
(Melian).
2 red-brown figures, white flesh., &c. (Island
pottery).
22. Referring to the periods of the different
classes by the levels at which they are found in
the rubbish trench of the temenos (which are not
correlative to the levels in the town, owing to the
depth of the trench at first), we call the lowest
bottom of the trench 220 inches level, and the
highest pottery-bearing ground that we cleared in
the temenos 330 inches level, the levels starting
from an arbitrary datum below every point to which
we can refer, including the bottom of the early
wells. Roughly speaking, I should suppose level
220 is of about 650 b.c, 250 of 600 B.C., 285 of
550 B.C., and 330 of 520 B.C. The data for such
an estimate are. that the town and temple was
probably founded in the reign of Psamtik I., judg-
ing by the history of the site in general and the
earliness of some of the dedicated pottery; that
the Polemarchos vase can hardly be put later than
600 B.C.; that the terra-cotta archaic heads are
not likely to be as late as 550 b.c; that the glazed
figures are akin to those of the scarab factory
destroyed in 570, and hence are not later than
about 550 B.C.; that the Phanes vase is about
530 B.C.; and that the brilliant incised ware with
black figures on a buff ground is far from being
the latest black figured, and would not be likely
to be after the Persian conquest 520 b.c; and as
nothing later than that is found, it probably closes
the series of dedications in the troubles of the
Persian war. Having these probable indications,
which are in good general agreement with the
intervals of the strata, we can hardly do wrong in
accepting the scale indicated above.
We will now note each class which we can limit
to any particular age, and those that are remark-
able in themselves:—
A 3. The rough yellow-brown jugs, made thin,
with pinched necks, and a brown wash over the out-
side, are early, being found twice at 230, and once
at 240.
B 5. The coarse red-brown pottery is very early,
being found often at 220 ; and this just agrees in date
with finding the same sort of very coarse pottery of
dull red in the burnt stratum of the oldest town,
which I should also put to about 650 B.C.
B 6. The very coarse red, with a soft thick coat of
white on it, is a little later, being only found at 230
and 240.
C 4, with the double crescent pattern
)))))
(((((
is
later, coming at 290.
C 5. This thick light brown is early, being at 230
and 240.
D 1 is rough pottery, washed over yellowish, and
with patterns of lines, not swelling thick and thin, but
uniformly rather coarse. This seems like the natural
successor of the rough red white-washed. It is at 250.
D 4, black fret and bands, is at 285 level.
D 5, plain, is found up to 250.
A. The plain hard ware is early, all being at 230.
F. The Naukratian ware of thin brown, with a hard,
glazy, fragile, scaly coat of white clay, is found at all
levels from 230 upwards to 310 ; generally the plainer
varieties are earlier, and the patterned later. F 3,
7 and 8, have not been found in levelled strata, how-
ever. The typical shape is a bowl with a long conical
rim, as high as the whole of the rest of the bowl.
(PI. x. 1 and 3).
G 1, 2. This class is most characteristically to be
known as eye bowls, as no other pottery (except- one
scrap of black and buff brilliant incised) have eyes as
a pattern. These bowls, however, have eyes on them
only in the later examples, and then always two eyes.
The best characteristic is the absence of any rim, the
bowl simply coming up to a thin edge in one curve
from the base. (PI. x. 11.) The range of these bowls
is just that of the class F, but the eye-pattern never
appears till level 310, or perhaps 530 b.c. The inside
is sometimes only coloured with bands; sometimes it
is all black (or brown, or scarlet, according to the
oxidation in baking) with the characteristic Naukratian
lines—a thin red line, bordered by a white line on
each side.
G 4 to 7 are generally early, of 230 level.
J. The piuakes (stem-dishes) are generally early,
about 230 to 260.
K 2. The painted black jugs (pi. vi. 1, 2) are not
so early, the levelled pieces being at 285 and 290,
or about 540 b.c This accords with the style of
them, as this design, of slightly later style, is fouud at
Naukratis in exactly the style of the potter Amasis.
This would date them to about 540, or later; and the
D 2 .
19
BROWN :—
X. Non-Natjeeatian :
1 dark brown outside, angular rim (pi. x. 10.)
(Melian).
2 red-brown figures, white flesh., &c. (Island
pottery).
22. Referring to the periods of the different
classes by the levels at which they are found in
the rubbish trench of the temenos (which are not
correlative to the levels in the town, owing to the
depth of the trench at first), we call the lowest
bottom of the trench 220 inches level, and the
highest pottery-bearing ground that we cleared in
the temenos 330 inches level, the levels starting
from an arbitrary datum below every point to which
we can refer, including the bottom of the early
wells. Roughly speaking, I should suppose level
220 is of about 650 b.c, 250 of 600 B.C., 285 of
550 B.C., and 330 of 520 B.C. The data for such
an estimate are. that the town and temple was
probably founded in the reign of Psamtik I., judg-
ing by the history of the site in general and the
earliness of some of the dedicated pottery; that
the Polemarchos vase can hardly be put later than
600 B.C.; that the terra-cotta archaic heads are
not likely to be as late as 550 b.c; that the glazed
figures are akin to those of the scarab factory
destroyed in 570, and hence are not later than
about 550 B.C.; that the Phanes vase is about
530 B.C.; and that the brilliant incised ware with
black figures on a buff ground is far from being
the latest black figured, and would not be likely
to be after the Persian conquest 520 b.c; and as
nothing later than that is found, it probably closes
the series of dedications in the troubles of the
Persian war. Having these probable indications,
which are in good general agreement with the
intervals of the strata, we can hardly do wrong in
accepting the scale indicated above.
We will now note each class which we can limit
to any particular age, and those that are remark-
able in themselves:—
A 3. The rough yellow-brown jugs, made thin,
with pinched necks, and a brown wash over the out-
side, are early, being found twice at 230, and once
at 240.
B 5. The coarse red-brown pottery is very early,
being found often at 220 ; and this just agrees in date
with finding the same sort of very coarse pottery of
dull red in the burnt stratum of the oldest town,
which I should also put to about 650 B.C.
B 6. The very coarse red, with a soft thick coat of
white on it, is a little later, being only found at 230
and 240.
C 4, with the double crescent pattern
)))))
(((((
is
later, coming at 290.
C 5. This thick light brown is early, being at 230
and 240.
D 1 is rough pottery, washed over yellowish, and
with patterns of lines, not swelling thick and thin, but
uniformly rather coarse. This seems like the natural
successor of the rough red white-washed. It is at 250.
D 4, black fret and bands, is at 285 level.
D 5, plain, is found up to 250.
A. The plain hard ware is early, all being at 230.
F. The Naukratian ware of thin brown, with a hard,
glazy, fragile, scaly coat of white clay, is found at all
levels from 230 upwards to 310 ; generally the plainer
varieties are earlier, and the patterned later. F 3,
7 and 8, have not been found in levelled strata, how-
ever. The typical shape is a bowl with a long conical
rim, as high as the whole of the rest of the bowl.
(PI. x. 1 and 3).
G 1, 2. This class is most characteristically to be
known as eye bowls, as no other pottery (except- one
scrap of black and buff brilliant incised) have eyes as
a pattern. These bowls, however, have eyes on them
only in the later examples, and then always two eyes.
The best characteristic is the absence of any rim, the
bowl simply coming up to a thin edge in one curve
from the base. (PI. x. 11.) The range of these bowls
is just that of the class F, but the eye-pattern never
appears till level 310, or perhaps 530 b.c. The inside
is sometimes only coloured with bands; sometimes it
is all black (or brown, or scarlet, according to the
oxidation in baking) with the characteristic Naukratian
lines—a thin red line, bordered by a white line on
each side.
G 4 to 7 are generally early, of 230 level.
J. The piuakes (stem-dishes) are generally early,
about 230 to 260.
K 2. The painted black jugs (pi. vi. 1, 2) are not
so early, the levelled pieces being at 285 and 290,
or about 540 b.c This accords with the style of
them, as this design, of slightly later style, is fouud at
Naukratis in exactly the style of the potter Amasis.
This would date them to about 540, or later; and the
D 2 .