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Late Helladic IIIA 2 Pottery from Mycenae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2013

Elizabeth French
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Extract

The L.H. IIIA 2 period according to Furumark's chronology covers the fourteenth century, a crucial phase in Mycenaean history and, whatever absolute dates are eventually assigned to the period, the pottery belonging to it marks the vast expansion of Mycenaean trade throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. It is therefore extremely important to determine what pottery must and what pottery may belong to L.H. IIIA 2. The definition of L.H. IIIA 1 pottery adopted in a previous article enables us to deal with the beginning of the period. The division between L.H. IIIA 2 late and L.H. IIIB 1 can be placed, in terms of the pottery from settlement sites, at one of two points. The earlier would be the introduction of the vertical (as compared with horizontal or diagonal) Whorl-Shells. This was suggested by Mackeprang. The later point, and the one adopted in this discussion, is the introduction of the Deep Bowl (FS 284) and in unpainted ware the Conical Kylix (FS 274). This later terminus seems preferable as a more radical and easily recognizable development.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 60 , November 1965 , pp. 159 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1965

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References

Abbreviations additional to those in standard use:

Attica = Stubbings, F. H., ‘The Mycenaean Pottery of Attica’, BSA xlii (1947) 1 ff.Google Scholar

BM A = Catalogue of Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, vol. i; Part I: Prehistoric Aegean Pottery by E. J. Forsdyke.

Chamber Tombs = Wace, A. J. B., ‘Chamber Tombs at Mycenae’, Archaeologia lxxxii (1932).Google Scholar

CMP = Furumark, A., The Chronology of Mycenaean Pottery (1941)Google Scholar.

D = Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Denmark (fascicules 1 and 2).

FM = Furumark Motive Number; MP 236 ff.

FS = Furumark Shape Number; MP 585 ff.

GB = Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain (fascicule 7).

MP = Furumark, A., The Mycenaean Pottery (1941).Google Scholar

MT II = Bennett, E. L.et al., ‘The Mycenae Tablets II’, TAPS xlviii (1958) pt. 1.Google Scholar

MT III = Chadwick, J.et al., ‘The Mycenae Tablets III’, TAPS lii (1962) pt. 7.Google Scholar

MV = Furtwängler, A. and Loeschcke, G., Mykenische Vasen (1886).Google Scholar

Stubbings MPL = Stubbings, F. H., Mycenaean Pottery from the Levant (1951).Google Scholar

T 502 etc. = Mycenae, Chamber Tomb number 502 etc.

USA = Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, United States of America.

Vourvatsi = Kyparissis, N.AD xi (1927–28) parartema 65 ff.Google Scholar

Acknowledgements:

This work was undertaken with the help of a Fellowship from the Bollingen Foundation. The preliminary study was made in 1960 for a background summary in my thesis on terracotta figurines. In the summer of 1963, Mrs. W. J. Craig and I made a detailed study of the material from the terraces on the Atreus Ridge and under the House of Shields. The present account is based closely on that study. The final discussion rests on my own conclusions and on detailed notes on pottery development made by Mrs. Craig. Mrs. Craig is in no way to blame for the faults of this article, and it would not have reached its present form without her assistance and erudition. I am most grateful for her constant help. I am also grateful to Mr. Mervyn Popham with whom I have discussed the problems of L.H. IIIA on many occasions.

1 Stubbings MPL passim.

2 BSA lix (1964) 241.

3 The proportion of open vases found on settlement sites contrasts strongly with that in tombs on the mainland (except Attica). Numerous Kylikes and other open vases are, however, found in tombs on Rhodes.

4 AJA xlii (1938) 537.

5 For instance in the shape and pattern lists given by Furumark, MP.

6 E.g., the pottery from Attica (Stubbings, Attica) and from Rhodes, (GB 285–94, D 39–46, 50–63).Google Scholar Further evidence will be available when the material from Berbati, which yielded L.H. IIIA pottery in quantity, has been published.

7 CMP 99.

8 MP 585 ff.

9 T 516: 7.

10 USA 142: 6.

11 BSA xxv (1921–2, 1922–3) pl. 14f. Cf. Schliemann, , Mycenae pl. xxiGoogle Scholar, no. 202 which is probably L.H. IIIA 2 late.

12 Attica pls. 4–7; D 51–53.

13 BSA xlix (1954) 275 f., pl. 48d. Cf. BM A 1063, 1, 2 also from Mycenae.

14 Cf. BSA lix (1964) 249.

15 This comes from the earlier group of tombs excavated by Tsountas (1887–8) and individual tomb numbers are not given in the museum inventory. These tombs, nos. 1 to 54, were published, AE 1888, 119ff. Tombs 55 to 103 have not been published (except T 70, the Tomb, Stele, AE 1896, 2 ff.Google Scholar and T 102, JHS xxiv (1904) 322).

16 BSA xlix (1954) 58.

17 CMP 99.

18 The closest parallels for the Jar have not been illustrated previously but will appear in a forthcoming article on L.H. IIIB 1 pottery.

19 For the Deep Bowl cf. BSA lvi (1961) pl. 13, b.

20 The other is L.H. IIIA 1 (BSA lix (1964) 241, n. 5).

21 NM 2753, Excavations of 1887–8.

22 NM 2757, Excavations of 1887–8.

23 NM 2772, Excavations of 1887–8.

24 As yet few buildings can actually be assigned to the period. Probably the traces of occupation on the rock below the terrace of the House of the Oil Merchant (MT III, 30 f.) belong to L.H. IIIA 2, and several structures in the area of the Cyclopean Terrace Building are also assignable to this period.

25 As was the material used in this report.

26 E.g. MT III, fig. 72, top row, nos. 2 and 3.

27 Other published pieces of L.H. IIIA 2 pottery from Mycenae are: Schliemann, , Mycenae pl. xiiiGoogle Scholar, nos. 62, 64 and ? 63; xxi, no. 202. MV 30: 267 and perhaps others; 31: 286, 287, 288, ?289, 290, 291, 292, ?293, 294, 295, ?300, 301; 32: 303, ?305, ?307 ?309, 311 (?NM 1145, restored and on exhibition); 44: 103; BM A 1057, 1062–7 at least some sherds of each number; BSA xxv (1921–2, 1922–3) fig. 25b (Grave Circle supporting wall), pl. xiv a, e, g (Ramp House area), pl. xxxi, j, k, l, m, o (below the floor of the Pillar Basement).

28 CMP 64.

29 These sherds, together with almost all other sherds from the early excavations, were among the material in the Nauplia Museum of which the storage trays were destroyed during the war. Luckily this material, being registered, was marked in ink and it has been possible to salvage a considerable proportion of it from the heaps of sherds which remained. The work of sorting these heaps was initiated in 1961 by the Ephor of the Argolid, Dr. N. Verdelis, and the work has been carried out by Greek, Swedish, and British archaeologists. The first stage in which all marked sherds were removed from the debris was finally completed in July 1964. It should later be possible to identify some of the joining (but unmarked) sherds of the T 505 material from among the collection of painted sherds of this period. Unfortunately a number of fragments may have been lost. The salvaged material from T 505 and elsewhere at Mycenae is now in the Mycenae storeroom of the Nauplia Museum.

30 I have not been able to identify the author of these notes.

31 Chamber Tombs 16 f.

32 It must be emphasized that these are rough sketches; I have tried to retain their original character without interpreting them.

33 Presumably Chamber Tombs fig. 8d.

34 Chamber Tombs 16 ff.

35 Only the restored pots were given museum numbers.

36 The diameters of these large Kylikes are very uneven presumably because they sagged while drying.

37 Found in 1964 too late to illustrate.

38 Compare however Attica pl. 10: 8.

39 Cf. Furtwängler, , Aegina 373Google Scholar ‘Typus C’, pl. 109, though the closest parallel is an unpublished fragment from Schliemann's excavations at Mycenae now in the National Museum, Athens.

40 No. 587 was the Stirrup Jar from the chamber (Chamber Tombs 18) which has not been identified.

40a This sherd (Chamber Tombs fig. 8f) was identified among unnumbered fragments in March 1965.

41 The proportion of plain and coarse wares mentioned in the notes is also very unusual. The wear inside the monochrome Stemmed Bowls may be noted also.

42 Chamber Tombs 12 ff.

43 Cf. the notes above p. 164 and Fig. 1: 16.

44 PAE 1950, 222 ff. The figure references given below in the footnotes are all to this article.

45 The pots and figurines listed op. cit. 229 may or may not belong and for this reason are ignored in this summary.

46 Figs. 5, 9, 12: 700.

47 Fig. 7: 487.

48 Figs. 6, 8.

49 Figs. 7: 347, 12: 181.

50 Figs. 10: 138, 12: 140.

51 My thanks are due to the late Dr. I. Papadimitriou for permission to sketch this Kylix.

52 Figs. 10: 88, 13: 83.

53 Figs. 10: 208, 13: 182.

54 Fig. 5: 4.

55 Fig. 10: 88.

56 Fig. 5: 3.

57 Fig. 13: 83.

58 Fig. 10: 138.

59 Fig. 5: 338.

60 Fig. 9: 17.

61 Fig. 9: 5. 12: 700.

62 Or FM 51: 4.

63 Fig. 9: 15.

64 Fig. 9: 16.

65 Fig. 11: 461.

66 Figs. 7: 653, 12: 701.

67 Fig. 11: 230.

68 Figs. 7: 443, 13: 183.

69 Fig. 13: 184.

70 Fig. 7: 451.

71 Fig. 11: 476.

72 This area was under the supervision of Mr. Reynold Higgins, whose notebook has been consulted throughout. I am grateful to him for his permission to quote verbatim from the pottery notes. The pottery which was kept is stored in the Mycenae storeroom of the Nauplia Museum under the designation ‘Atreus Ridge Trench G’.

73 See below, Lozenge. This may be a later intrusion.

74 For reference to the patterned sherds see the chart p. 200.

75 The categories of Mug distinguished by Furumark do not seem altogether valid. The chief difference between his FS 225 and 226 is the central rib which occurs only on the former. The size, however, of many of the examples with rib is greater than that allowed by Furumark. As more evidence for Mugs becomes available, it will become necessary to alter the divisions of shape.

76 Cf. above p. 172.

77 Of these one Kylix stem 55–512, and one base 55–511 were registered.

78 Cf. Attica pl. 9: 5; Vourvatsi fig. 24.

79 Cf. above p. 172.

80 For profiles of sherds in Plates 51 and 52, (a)–(c), see Fig. 12a.

81 AJA xliii (1938) 537.

82 They are also very common in L.H. IIIB 1 e.g. in the pottery from the Prehistoric Cemetery, Central.

83 Several other examples of diagonal Whorl-Shells are of types other than the simple more or less standard type.

84 This may be a pair of Whorl-Shells flanking the hybrid type of Flower cf. Fig. 2: 8.

85 MP fig. 51 ‘Composition’.

86 It is possible that this sherd is a later intrusion, (? L.H. IIIC), though the pattern does occur in the Petsas' House material, see above p. 172.

87 It occurs in the material from the West Wall deposit at Tiryns.

88 Cf. Attica pl. 9: 9.

89 BSA lviii (1963) 48.

90 Cf. Vourvatsi fig. 27.

91 BSA xlix (1954) 282, fig. 13.

92 Cf. Chamber Tombs pl. xxiv, T 513: 3, 4.

93 Compare the very simplified form of Palm II.

94 The work was under the supervision of T. Leslie Shear Jnr. from whose notebook the details of excavation and pottery have been taken.

95 MT III 30 and Plan IV (section).

96 This pottery is stored in the Mycenae storeroom of the Nauplia Museum.

97 For profiles of sherds in Plates 52, (d) and (e), 53, and 54, (a) and (b) see Fig. 12b. The painted material is summarized in the chart (p. 201).

98 Cf. Vourvatsi fig. 26.

99 Compare the example from the deposit beneath the Cyclopean Terrace Building (reillustrated Plate 53, (c) 3). In profile this is nearer to the Whorl-Shell example from the terrace below the House of Shields than to the one with Flower.

100 On grounds of fabric this could be the same pot as Plate 53, (d) 1.

101 At least at Ialysos, e.g. MV 8: 49; 11: 70; Stubbings MPL pl. III 1.

102 It is, however, FS 264 not 274.

103 MT III fig. 60.

104 BSA xlviii (1953) 14; MT II 9.

105 BSA xlviii (1953) pl. 8e; MT II fig. 38.

106 Other profiles of Plate 54, (c) and (d) are shown in Fig. 12b.

107 BSA lix (1964) 250.

108 BSA xvi (1909–10) pl. 2i.

109 FS 304: 4.

110 Attica pl. 4: 13.

111 Compare too the disintegrated Cuttlefish (Vourvatsi fig. 24) with that in Plate 51, (b) 7.

112 It seems best to leave this shape number for those examples which definitely have a single horizontal handle e.g. FS 283: 5, 9, 12, 13, 14a, 15, 16. There is an example from Mycenae T 89 and another has just been published from Berbati, Säflund, G., Excavations at Berbati (1965) 38Google Scholar, fig. 19: 7.

113 e.g. BSA lvi (1961) pl. 13a.

114 e.g. D 15–53, also Attica, Vourvatsi.

115 This is always the case but it seems particularly true here. Perhaps, however, the scattered nature of the evidence and the strong local traditions of Rhodes which supplies so much of the material adds to the difficulties in distinguishing the stages of Kylix development.

116 It is normally a true handle zone.

117 Attica pl. 9.

118 D 57:3.

119 T 525: 5, see above p 161.

120 FS 284: 22. This is now published, Säflund op. cit., 38, fig. 19: 9a. I am grateful to Professor Säflund for permission to publish a drawing of this vase. There are also two other Deep Bowls of early type from this interesting and important tomb group.

121 This is first found at Mycenae in the material from the ‘South West Trench’ below the Cyclopean Terrace Building, BSA lvi (1961) 86.Google Scholar

122 Vourvatsi fig. 26.

123 Except negatively by the absence of FS 274.

124 I.e. those listed above p. 183.

125 These are totally absent in the material from the Bothros, Atreus, BSA lix (1964) 257.Google Scholar

126 It is important to try to identify the earliest examples of Whorl-Shell on the mainland and its probable source. Furumark's suggestion (FM 23d) is not entirely convincing.

127 BSA lix (1964) 250.

128 Chamber Tombs 166.