Dating
Even though the kiln produced light-on-dark patterned pottery, and there is no evidence that it ever fired vases decorated with dark-painted motifs on a lustrous buff ground, there are compelling reasons for dating its lifetime to the advanced and final stages of LM IA, as they are now defined at Kommos. Until recently, the LM IA phase at Kommos was poorly known through a few stratified contexts on the Hillside and Hilltop. In their publications of this material, Betancourt and Watrous divided...
Stratigraphy Of The Kiln Dump
The dump covered a 14.5 by 7.5 m area stretching east, north, and west of the kiln Fig. 27 .22 Farther to the north and east, kiln pottery was mixed with destruction debris of Building T as well as with LM IIIA2 B and historical material.23 The dump was covered by the same LM IIIA2 B stratum that topped the kiln Fig. 8 see above, p. 28 . Below the kiln dump as well as to the west and east of it, excavators found debris of the ruined South Stoa see above, pp. 5, 8 . This destruction material...
Rhyta Fig
This shape is relatively rare in the dump, being represented by about 20 globular specimens 50 and 3 piriform ones 51 . During this preliminary study no complete profile was restored. However, the mended parts are quite large and many are in a fresh condition, so that it seems likely that they are kiln products. It is possible that occasionally conical rhyta also were fired in this kiln.126 Rhyta shaped like animals, animal heads, cups, or alabastra have not been identified among the kiln or...
Wasters Figs
A large number of wasters, 312 in all, have been recovered from the dump, and an additional 3 come from the kiln channels and the firing pit. Most wasters were quite evenly distributed throughout the strata of the dump, occurring in 56 out of 138, or in more than one out of three, excavation units.154 However, several clusters numbering up to 37 wasters have been found in the red and dark brown strata, mostly in the vicinity of the firing pit Figs. 28, 30 .155 Their distribution suggests that...
BridgeSpoutedJars Fig
With approximately 116 examples, this pouring vessel is after the conical cup the most popular vase shape in the kiln and the dump. Bridge-spouted jars occur somewhat more frequently than do jugs, representing 10 of the estimated number of vases, as opposed to 8 for the jugs Fig. 39 . A preponderance of bridge-spouted jars over jugs also has been noticed by Watrous among LM IA pottery from the Kommos hillside houses.107 Most bridge-spouted jars are small and have fine fabrics 34-36 . An...
LM IA POTTERY PRODUCTION AT KOMMOS Vase Shapes
The range of shapes fired in this kiln and their relative frequencies in this deposit are summarized in Table 4 and Figure 39 pp. 43 and 67 . Conical cups take up 56 , and other cup types and bowls an additional 15 . Pouring vessels represent 20 of the kiln output. These include bridge-spouted jars, jugs, and a few rhyta. Oval-mouthed amphoras take up 6 of the deposit, and large basins, closed jars, pithoi, and fine pedestaled vases the remaining 3 . With few exceptions, the percentages of the...
Table Proposed Synchronization Of Lm Ia Stages At Kommos Knossos And Palaikastro
Early LM IA MM IIIB LM IA transition MM IIIB Advanced LM IA MM IIIB LM IA transition LM IA Advanced LM IA Interval of unknown duration The presence of a mature LM IA Knossian straight-sided cup with darkon-light reed pattern in a final LM IA context at Kommos further supports the contemporaneity of the two stages.173 In view of the chronological proximity of the advanced and final stages at Kommos, it is likely that advanced LM IA at Kommos would have overlapped at least in part with the...
Pithoi
7 joining base fragments preserving 75 base and small part of lower body. Pres. H. 0.068, Diam. base 0.297. Coarse fabric with reddish yellow fracture and paler reddish yellow surfaces. 25 inclusions. Coil-built. Slightly overfired. Exterior and interior pale yellow slip. Coated with calcite. Kiln, channels 2 trench 95A, pail 172 6 and 3 trench 97F, pail 72 1 . 36 sherds with few joins, preserving 15 rim, 20 body, 4 horizontal handles. No base. Diam. rim 0.40. Coarse fabric with red and reddish...
ANALYSIS OF VASE SHAPES AND DECORATION Conical Cups Fig
Conical cups82 outnumber by far any other vessel shape present in either the kiln or the dump. More than 650 conical cups have been recovered among a total of 1,158 vases Table 4 Fig. 39 . Of these conical cups, 183 have so far been restored and studied Table 8 . They conform to a Protopalatial and Neopalatial conical cup typology that has been developed over the last few years on the basis of stratified finds from Kommos.83 This Kommian typology is based on criteria of shape and decoration....