"Non-Mycenaean" Pottery: A Reply to Gisela Walberg

Author(s): Jeremy B. Rutter

Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Spring, 1976), pp. 187-188
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
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 1976] ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES 187

conditions of pottery production may also be con-

narrow range of time which makes the Korakou

sidered. When the Mycenaean citadels were destroyed,

pieces and a very few comparable vases from other

the workshops with large-scale production, closely con-

Mycenaean sites atypical and hence "non-Mycenaean."

nected with the larger centres, could be assumed to

To cite instances of the occurrence of no more than

have been supplanted to a considerable extent by

one of these features on any given vase in a series of

small local workshops with a limited production or

truly "Mycenaean" vases which are scattered over a

even household production. The production at Berbati, wide range in both space and time fails, in my opin-

for instance, ceased at the end of Myc. IIIB. The

ion, to establish a valid Mycenaean pedigree for the

influence from the larger centres would have dimin- Korakou vessels.

ished. The clay for the local workshops may have been
I have argued that pottery closely similar to the

obtained from the neighbourhood and not from the

Korakou handmade and burnished material was

old clay-beds and a proportionally greater number of

found in Troy VIIb. That the Trojan comparanda are

vessels ought to have been made by hand. This may

not identical to the Korakou pieces in terms of their

help to explain the existence of large mineral and other

shape proportions or in the precise outline of the

inclusions in the clay of some of the Korakou ma-

decorative impressions on their applied cordons is

terial. Mica and other inclusions, which makes the

neither contested nor surprising. What is significant

clay harder, is desirable when a vase is built up by

is the overall resemblance in terms of shapes, decora-

hand instead of thrown on the wheel. Not only coarse

tion, and method of manufacture between the two;

or rather coarse domestic pottery, but also fine Myc.

it seems to me undeniable that as a group the Korakou

IIIC pottery is often unslipped.9 Slipping and burnish-

vases are far more closely related to this Troy VIIb

ing serve the same two purposes: first to close the

pottery than to any "Mycenaean" handmade vessels.

pores of the clay to make the vessel water-tight and,

Furthermore, both at Korakou and at Troy the respec-

secondly, to give it an attractive surface.10 The prepa-

tive groups of comparable handmade and burnished

ration of a slip takes more time than the preparations

pottery were considered to have no immediate ante-

for burnishing. Slipping is thus more suitable for large-

cedents in the recognized local wares. It is this last

scale production. For a potter who only makes a few

fact which led me to suggest that the handmade and

vessels at a time it may seem easier to leave as many

burnished pottery from early LH IIIC Korakou was

as possible unslipped and to burnish those which must

the product of immigrants rather than of local pot-

hold liquid for some time, such as domestic vessels.

ters, since very similar pottery seemed to have been

These technical conditions rather than actual con-

introduced at Troy in a comparable fashion at about

nexions may explain a similarity to Italian, Rou- the same time.

manian, and Bulgarian pottery. Extensive foreign ele-

Other interpretations of the Korakou handmade pot-

ments requiring an external explanation cannot be

tery are certainly possible, and Walberg's alternative,

identified in this Myc. IIIC pottery.

that this pottery is in fact an inferior "Mycenaean"

product to be explained by the collapse of palatial

GISELA WALBERC

civilization at the end of LH IIIB, is worthy of con-

UNIVERSITY OF UPPSALA

sideration. However, it is clear from Korakou and vir-

tually every other site at which LH IIIC occupation is

attested that fine painted pottery, as well as coarse

"NON-MYCENAEAN" POTTERY:

cooking wares, continued to be produced in quantity

A REPLY TO GISELA WALBERG

in standard "Mycenaean" fabrics, technique, shapes,

Of the sixteen vases and sherds from Korakou

and decoration during the LH IIIC period; although

which I recently published in this journal, eleven de-

pottery may possibly now have been made by non-

monstrably come from contexts of early LH IIIC date;

specialists at the household level, the claim cannot be

none of the remaining five must necessarily belong

made that standard Mycenaean wares were not avail-

to an earlier or later period. Their identification as

able. What is peculiar about the Korakou handmade

"non-Mycenaean" rests in their handmade manufac-

and burnished pottery is that it does not appear to rep-

ture and burnished surface treatment and in the fact

resent the poor attempts by unskilled potters to pro-

that the shapes which they represent combined with

duce a familiar "Mycenaean" range of shapes and

the decoration which they exhibit are decidedly ab-

decoration, but rather is indicative of a taste for shapes

normal in Mycenaean ceramics. This is not to say that

and decorative treatments with no immediate local

individual Mycenaean vases were never handmade,

ancestry. One could maintain that these unusual new

never burnished, never plastically decorated with cor-

shapes and approaches to decoration represent the sur-

dons or grooves, or never painted with a wavy line.

facing of a popular tradition in ceramics buried since

It is rather the particular combination of 'these fea-

late Middle Helladic times under the Minoan forms

tures on a small group of vases occurring within a

favored by those arbiters of taste who had controlled

9 MP 14.
notably in jugs and alabastra of the Myc. I and II periods, but

10 V. Hankey observes in "A Late Bronze Age Temple at

it is a slow process and was not, as far as I know, used in the

Amman," Levant 6 (1974) 143, that burnishing is often, but

mass production of small closed shapes of Myc. III." It may

not exclusively associated with handmade pottery and that

be noted that slipping and burnishing often occur on the

"evidence of burnishing can be seen in a few Mycenaean pots,

same pot.

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 188 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IAJA 80

Mycenaean Greece from their palaces and who now no

zigzag saltire on it and the wash on its top, base

longer called the tune. However, this explanation

and the right hand side. Yellow was also added on the

dots of the upper border and the stems and fruit

seems to me unlikely for at least three reasons. First,

it demands the assumption that this tradition had sur-

of the ivy.

vived virtually without trace for four hundred or more The style of the Eros in the form, the use of the

years. Second, the vast majority of LH IIIC pottery colours and the pose is without doubt that of the

continues directly the styles in both shape and decora-

painter of the well-known series of pocola of Beazley's

tion current at the end of LH IIIB and thus does not

Volcani Group.2 As for details one may note the shape

reflect a sudden change in popular taste. And third, of the head, the wings and the way the legs are ar-

the handmade and burnished pottery of early LH IIIC

ranged, not to mention the small feet; compare the

does not, on present evidence, appear to continue long

Eros of the Kassel bowl and more particularly those

into the LH IIIC period; in fact, I have suggested

on the two Guglielmi oinochoai in the Vatican which,

that some of its features were absorbed into the tradi-

as Dr. Forti has pointed out, must be by the same

tion of Mycenaean painted pottery and that it other-

hand." The ivy at the sides also finds its counterpart

wise soon disappeared. These last two considerations

on the round-mouthed jug no. 81 of the Guglielmi

seem to me to be better explained as the absorption of

collection. Laurel with dot-fruit such as we see on

an intrusive element than as the resurfacing of a na-

the body of the vase occurs on some six other mem-

tive one.
bers of the group including the new elephant plate

JEREMY B. RUTTER
from Aldria in Corsica, although there is only one

other example with ivy leaves added in the way

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

that we have here.4 (The laurel leaves, the fruit, the

stem and the dots of the lower border are painted

AN ADDITION TO THE VOLCANI GROUP

yellow.)

The work of this painter may be divided into three

PLATE 36

parts, first his activity in Taranto as represented by

One of the more interesting pieces in the collection

an elaborately made kantharos that is decorated with

of the John Elliott Classics Museum in the Univer- an Eros not unlike the one here, again with ivy to

sity of Tasmania, Hobart, is the oinochoe inv. no. 46

each side, and an even more elaborate kantharoid

krater with Erotes and a panther-chariot.5 Second is

(pl. 36).1 Its shape is ordinary enough, shape VII in

Beazley's classification, and the standard oinochoe

an intermediate stage represented by the Guglielmi

form in southern Etruria in the fourth and third cen-

oinochoai and a number of other strongly Apulianis-

turies B.C. It is the decoration on the neck that is

ing vases from Aldria already attributed to the painter

unusual and, so far as I know, without close parallel

by Forti.6 The third part includes the main series of

on vases of this shape. A chubby Eros with short wings

pocola with their painted inscriptions to Roman divini-

stands at an altar, a spray in his left hand and what

ties together with the elephant plates. Almost all the

may be a sacrificial knife in his right. He has a roll

last group is of shapes native to the Latin or southern

of drapery about his waist. To the right, under the

Etruscan tradition. That the Hobart oinochoe should

Eros's left hand, stands a cock; to each side of the

belong to the third stage is clear if only from its shape,

scene, a sash hangs from the border above. By the

although the decoration shows that it must be early

handle at each side is a plant-form composed of ivy-

in that stage because of its close relationship to the

leaves and fruit about a painted stem. The clusters of

Guglielmi vases. The elephant plates can also be

fruit are shown as small circles. Yellow-orange was

shown to be relatively early in this third series' and

added over the white for the details of the Eros and

they are important here because their subject-matter,

the cock, for the spray and the back of the knife he
war elephants with "castles" and soldiers, surely means

carries. The flames on the altar are yellow as is the

that they cannot be far in date from Pyrrhos's Italian

1 For the photographs and permission to publish them as well

38b; RendNapoli 1970, pl. I, i.

as much help in the verification of details, I am indebted to Mr.

4 Vatican AB 2, EVP 210, 4, Trendall Vasi italioti ed etruschi

R.G. Hood. The vase was first published in his Greek Vases in ii (Vatican 1953) pl. 68k.

the University of Tasmania (Hobart 1964) pl. 23, no. 46. The
5The kantharos Taranto 111429 from Taranto, Forti pl. 2ia,

height of the vase is 0.277 m. Its provenience is unknown.

RendNapoli 1970, pl. 12, 33. The krater Naples 81007 from

2 Beazley Etruscan Vase-Painting (Oxford 1947) 209 ff (with

Oria, CVA (3) pls. 54-55, IhOAl 50 (1972-1973) 153-54.
earlier literature). The more important publications on the topic
6RendNapoli (1970) 233-65.

since then are L. Forti La ceramica di Gnathia (Naples 1965)

7Apart from the careful use of colour that might in itself

I57ff; id. "Una officina di vasi tarantini a Vulci" RendNapoli

suggest a relatively early position in this series, the subsidiary

45 (i970) 233-65; F. Coarelli and J.-P. Morel in Roma medio-

decoration on the Villa Giulia plate is still under clear Apulian

reputbblicana. Aspetti cultturali di Roma e del Lazio nei secoli IV

inspiration. For illustrations, see for example EVP pl. 39, I,

e III a.C. (Rome 1973) 57-67. The last also has the fullest series

Enciclopedia dell'arte antica vi, 255 fig. 262, RendNapoli (1970)

of illustrations.

pl. 3, 9, and in colour Roma (cf. n. 2 above), cover. For the

3 Forti Ceramica di Gnathia 163; for the Guglielmi oinochoai

Aliria plate, Milanges Carcopino 559 fig. 15, RendNapoli

Beazley-Magi La raccolta Benedetto Guglielmi nel Museo Gre-

(1970) pl. 3, io, La ne'cropole pr'romaine d'Ale'ria (Gallia

goriano Etrusco (Vatican 1939) pl. 31, nos. 8o-8i; RendNapoli

suppl. XXV 1973) no. 320 pl. 99.

1970, pl. 12, 31-32. The Kassel bowl: EVP 20o, io; Forti pl.

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