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Handmade Burnished Wares of the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus

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Handmade Burnished Wares of the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus 1 HANDMADE BURNISHED WARES OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE IN CYPRUS Volume 1 by DESPINA PILIDES Submitted for the degree of PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 1991 2 ABSTRACT Handmade Burnished Wares of the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus The first objective of this study is to identify HBW on the various LB sites in Cyprus and to differentiate it from contemporary traditional Cypriot Wares, which are also handmade and burnished, so as to eliminate the prevailing confusion. Although the classification of the local handmade wares known as Monochrome and Coarse Monochrome is overridden with problems, a preliminary discussion only of those varieties chronologically overlapping with HBW, is included in this project; the mere comparison of HBW (fabric and shapes) with local traditional handmade wares will help accentuate the difference between the two. The "idiosyncratic" nature of this Ware was established not only by means of visual observation but also by the fact that no similar fabric is present in contexts earlier than the late phase of Late Cypriote. Neutron-Activation analysis of a number of HBW samples seem to tentatively suggest a possible importation of a few of these samples. Perhaps important for the interpretation of the presence of this ware in Cyprus is its apparent association with the locally made painted pottery comparable to that of LHIIIC middle in Greece. It consistently appears on a number of sites at the time of influx of this pottery; it does not occur on sites where small quantities of locally made painted pottery of Mycenaean styles, probably in transitional LCIIC/LCIIIA contexts, occur. HBW, including some specimens identified as probable imports by the Neutron- Activation analysis, seems to have also been associated with locally made painted pottery with Late LHIIIC affinities. Since this ware seemed to be, at least in origin, foreign to the Cypriote ceramic repertoire and since its closest affinities seem to lie in Greece, where it was found on a number of Mycenaean sites with a possible earliest appearance 3 in LHIIIB, a review of the contexts in which HBW appears in Greece and proposed interpretations are presented, to facilitate a re-appraisal of these views in combination with the new evidence from Cyprus. Do its affinities allow the hypothesis to be formulated that this ware had its origins outside the Mycenaean world and does evidence, such as that of metal, support such a hypothesis or do we have to seek for an explanation in the presence of specialised functions which necessitated such a fabric and those particular shapes to be used? Discussion of the above topics cannot lead to a definite conclusion, as a considerable amount of HBW from Greece remains unpublished and is therefore inaccessible to study but there are indications that if a comprehensive and systematic study of this ware is undertaken, it may eliminate prevailing misconceptions and lead towards a historically valid interpretation. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The initial impetus for starting this project as well as its subject were given to me by Dr Vassos Karageorghis. For these I am indebted to him. I am also grateful to him for making available while Director of the Department of Antiquities, all the relevant material housed in the Museums of Cyprus and for his constant help and encouragement throughout the years of my research. I have greatly benefited from the expert advice of Prof. J.N. Coldstream who, as my advisor and my tutor, earlier in my undergraduate studies, taught me how to organise my thoughts and through his constructive advice, made this research possible. I sincerely thank Prof. P. Astrom for allowing me to go through all the sherds from the excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke. I also wish to express my gratitude to Dr Yiannis Tzedhakis who, as Director of the Greek Archaeological Service, made it possible for me to see the HBW from several sites in Greece. My thanks are also due to the following: Prof. K. Kilian and Dr. Schonfeld for allowing me to see the HBW from Tiryns; Dr Birgitta Pallson Hallager for showing me the HBW from Khania; Mrs J. Vokotopoulou and Mr Dakaris for allowing me to see the handmade wares from Elaphotopos and Dodone; The Director of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens for permission to see the HBW from Korakou; Dr. Eva Strommenger - Nagel for making it possible for me to see the Buckelkeramik from Troy housed in the Museum Fur Vor- Und Fruhgeschichte in Berlin; Dr. Kaite Demakopoulou for allowing me to see the material from Troy housed in the National Museum in Athens; Dr. David Romano for kindly facilitating my study of "Ware VII" at the 5 Pennsylvania University Museum. I am grateful to Dr. V.J. Robinson, Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester for the extremely useful Neutron- Activation analyses of HBW, Monochrome and Coarse Monochrome Wares; Dr. I. Whitbread for making available his petrographic analysis report on the HBW from Menelaion and Dr. S. Sherratt for her valuable help and advice. I would like to extend my gratitude to the staff of the Department of Antiquities, especially in the Larnaca District and Castle Museums, to Dr. Maria Hadjicosti, Dr. P. Flourentzos, X. Michael for providing the photographs, Gregoris Christou for his help and patience. I also thank Sylvie Hartmann for drawing a large portion of the finds. My thanks are also due to the Director and staff of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute for their hospitality in allowing me to make extensive use of their library. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my family, my husband and children, to whom I dedicate this study, for their patience and support through the years of my research. TABLE OF CONTENTS; VOLUME I : Abbreviations p..10 Chapter Is Introduction p..12 Views on the origins of HBW: The history of the problem p..14 Notes p..31 Chapter 2: HBW outside Cyprus, particularly in Greece A: Published HBW from Greece p..32 B: HBW from Troy, N. East, the Balkans and South Italy p..99 Summary and conclusions p.121 Notes p.124 Chapter 3: A: The historical and chronological background of HBW finds in Cyprus p. 126 B: Recent studies on the correlation of the Cypriot and Aegean sequences p.162 Conclusion p.170 Notes p.172 Chapter 4: A: HBW in Cyprus: Fabric and shapes p.173 B: Ware VII: Fabric and shapes p.186 C: Fabrics misidentified as HBW Monochrome and Coarse Monochrome: Fabric and shapes p.191 D: "Unusual" shapes in Monochrome Ware p.202 E: Catalogue for HBW finds, Ware VII, Monochrome and Apliki Ware p.204 Notes p.229 Chapter 5:Intrusive Metal Assemblages in the Aegean in the 13th century and their relevance to Cyprus p.231 Chapter 6 Conclusions p.248 Notes p.256 Appendix I: Report on analyses of HBW by Vin Robinson p.257 Notes p.269 Bibliography p.270 7 VOLUME II List of Tables Table Is Correlation between shapes and surface treatment in Fabric A Table 2: Shapes and surface treatment in Fabric B Table 3: Direction of burnishing on HBW shapes Table 4: Chronological distribution of Fabric A and B on LB sites Table 5: Changing views in the classification of Mycenaean pottery Table 6: Chronological correlation between major LB sites in Cyprus according to recent scholarship Table 7: Correlation between Mycenaean and Cypriot sequences based on recent studies Table 8: Chronological and stratigraphic contexts of HBW in Cyprus and possible correlation with Mycenaean pottery sequence in Greece Table 9: Possible parallels for shapes in Fabric A Table 10 Possible parallels for shapes in Fabric B Table 11 Possible areas of provenance for HBW from Korakou (based on Rutter's study 1975) Table 12 The various theories on the origins of HBW List of Fig. Is Map of Cyprus showing sites discussed in text Fig. 2: Map of Greece and Anatolian coast showing distribution of HBW Fig. 3: Map showing various pottery styles in the Balkans and in Greece. After Bouzek 1985 fig. 96 Fig. 4: Mycenaean domestic vessels Fig. 5: Main HBW shapes from Tiryns dating LHIIIB2. After Kilian 1985 figs. 10, 11 Fig. 6: HBW shapes from Tiryns dating LHIIIB2. After Kilian 1985 figs. 12, 13 Fig. 7: HBW from Tiryns. After Kilian 1985 fig. 16 and Avila 1980 Fig. 8: HBW from Tiryns. Imitations of Mycenaean shapes in handmade ware. After Kilian 1985 figs 14 and 15 Fig. 9: HBW from Menelaion. After Catling and Catling 1981 figs. 2, 4 Fig. 10: HBW from Menelaion. After Catling and Catling 1981 fig. 3 Fig. 11: HBW shapes from Korakou. After Rutter 1975 Fig. 12: HBW shapes from Korakou. After Rutter 1975 Fig. 13: HBW from Corinth (After Rutter 1979, figs. 2, 7, Athens (Rutter 1975), Lefkandi (Popham and Milburn 1971, Popham and Sackett 1968), Khania (Hallager 1985a), Pellana (Demakopoulou 1982). 8 Fig. 14: New shapes in Troy Vllb in Coarse and Knobbed Ware. After Blegen et al 1958 fig. 218 Fig. 15: HBW from Tiryns: Unpublished quantitative table kindly forwarded by Prof. K. Kilian Fig. 16: HBW from Kition: Area I Fig. 17: HBW from Kition: Areas I and II Fig. 18: HBW from Kition: Area II Fig. 19: HBW from Enkomi and Sinda Fig. 20: HBW from Maa-Palaeokastro and Hala Sultan Tekke Fig. 21a: HBW from Hala Sultan Tekke b: Ware VII from Kourion -Kaloriziki T.5 and Idalion- Ayios Georghios T.2 Fig. 22 Unusual shapes in Monochrome Ware from Apliki Fig. 23 Large open shapes in HBW Fig. 24 HBW bowls Fig. 25 HBW cups Fig. 26 Closed shapes in HBW Closed shapes in HBW Fig.
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