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Introduction

Pottery was produced in Greece as early as , but the tradition of decorated ceramic vessels in Greece developed more quickly starting in the Bronze Age, a period that began around 3,000 B.C.E. and ended with the collapse of the around 1,100 B.C.E. On the Greek mainland, the Bronze Age is referred to as the Helladic Period and is divided into three broad phases: Early, Middle, and Late Helladic; the Late Helladic period is alternatively referred to as the Mycenaean period (1). During the Bronze Age, Greece was ruled by independent kingdoms that were probably often in conflict with one another (2). Because we lack substantial written records from this period in history, we rely primarily on archaeological finds, including pottery, to reveal something of the history of Bronze Age Greece.听

Early Helladic Period (c. 3,000-2,000 B.C.E.)

The Early Helladic period brought new听pottery shapes that were used alongside听those that had been in use since the Neolithic period. At this time, all pottery was hand-made.听An easily recognizable shape, , is one of the most common new shapes, one that was usually plainly decorated with a glossy dark paint. The sauceboat shape may have been derived from metal prototypes or even from the shape of cut gourds (3). Most pottery from this period was either painted in solid colors or decorated with very simple incised designs, as Neolithic pottery had been. The inhabitants of lived in small villages or as farmers and hunters, subsisting mainly on grains, olives, figs, and wild game such as deer. Our evidence suggests that women wove clothing, an important economic role they maintained听throughout Greek history (4).听

Middle Helladic Period (c. 2,000-1,550 B.C.E.)

Two major cultural and artistic shifts occurred in the . First, foreign invaders, known today as the Minyans, entered Greece and, second, the pottery wheel was introduced. The potter's wheel, which arrived in Greece around 2,000 B.C.E., had been invented about 2,000 years earlier in Mesopotamia (5). As a result of this new technology -- and possibly due to the influence of the arriving Minyans -- a new pottery type evolved from the simple, earlier, hand-made types. The pottery of the Minyans, called Minyan Ware, was an undecorated but highly polished painted ware with a sharp-edge profile that seems to have been influenced by metal vessels (6). Minyan Ware was made on a fast wheel and is found in monochrome gray, such as on , as well as black, yellow, and red, and it has a听distinctive soapy feel. A contemporary pottery style, called Matt-Painted Ware, is different in almost every way. Matt-Painted Ware is decorated with simple geometric designs and, later, more naturalistic motifs. This pottery style may have been introduced by foreigners, as well. In contrast to the fine, delicate fabric of Minyan Ware, Matt-Painted Ware tends toward the coarse and chunky. Despite innovations in pottery technologies and the arrival of the Minyans, life in Greece did not change much during the Middle Helladic period: farmers still tended their fields, hunters pursued the same game, and settlements remained small (7).听

Late Helladic听or Mycenaean Period (c. 1,550-1,100 B.C.E.)

The Late Helladic period, also known as , was a听time of great palaces and their centralized economies in Greece, including at Mycenae, Pylos, and Tiryns (8). The well-known 听anticipated future monumental relief carvings and betrays an interest in animal motifs and in patterns and movement that will be seen again in vase painting.听

Many new pottery styles were introduced in the Mycenaean period (9). Different听from the monochrome and simple designs of Middle Helladic pottery was the Mycenaean Pictorial style, which featured human and animal figures, as on a famous example called the . These vessels, with depictions of real and imagined creatures, marching soldiers, and chariots, foreshadowed later developments in Greek vase painting. The contemporary was another adventurous experiment, featuring aquatic birds and delicate geometric patterns competing for attention. Despite these innovations in pottery decoration, however, holdovers from the period of Matt-Painted Ware remained, especially at the beginning of the Mycenaean period, when simple patterned and banded pots were common.听

Later Mycenaean pottery decoration was influenced by the Minoan civilization on Crete. Minoan pottery, which was decorated with whimsical floral and aquatic motifs, was exported to the Greek mainland (10). The Mycenaeans simplified and abstracted the Minoan motifs and created a more patterned and decorative style than the more naturalistic depictions found on Crete. Common were variations on the Minoan Marine Style, as can be seen on showing an octopus. Not all Mycenaean pottery was decorated, however: a plain, glossy style, called Acropolis Burnished Ware, is an orange-tinted descendent of Minyan Ware (11).听

Around 1,100 B.C.E. Mycenaean civilizations collapsed. The reasons for this collapse is debated by archaeologists but, whatever the reason, Greece entered the Iron Age, sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages, although a great deal of excavation, study, and research has brought light into this once-unfamiliar period of Greek history. Depopulation and destruction seem to have characterized the Greek Iron Age and the residents of Greece at this time apparently produced no written documents and only limited amounts of pottery.听

The CU Art Museum's collection contains three vessels that date to the Late Helladic period. The earliest is a two-handled squat jar, dating to the Late Helladic I period. A three-handled squat jar听with spiral decoration and a stirrup jar听both date to the Late Helladic III period.

Footnotes

1. On the chronological divisions of the Greek mainland in the Bronze Age, see Reynold Higgins,听Minoan and Mycenaean Art听(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981): 65-6; John G. 笔别诲濒别测,听Greek Art and Archaeology听(Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1993): 29-30.
2. William R. Biers,听The Archaeology of Greece听(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980): 62-3.
3. 笔别诲濒别测,听Greek Art and Archaeology: 40;听see also Higgins,听Minoan and Mycenaean Art: 67.
4. For life in the Early Helladic period, see Emily Vermeule,听Greece in the Bronze Age听(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964): 36-42.
5. Andrew A Clark, Maya Elston, and Mary-Louise Hart,听Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques听(Los Angeles : The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002): 130-1.
6. Jeremy B. Rutter,听Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean听(), accessed 06 February 2019.听
7. On the Middle Helladic period, see Vermeule,听Greece in the Bronze Age:听72-81; Higgins,听Minoan and Mycenaean Art: 68-70.
8. On the Mycenaean palaces, see George E. Mylonas,听Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age听(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966): 46-88.
9. For the Mycenaean period and its art, see Mylonas,听Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age; for further information with excellent images, see Spyridon Marinatos,听Crete and Mycenae听(New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1960).
10. Jack L. Davis, "Late Helladic I Pottery from Korakou,"听Hesperia听48.3 (1979): 234-263; on Mycenaean pottery and its influence from Crete, see also Higgins,听Minoan and Mycenaean Art: 106- 22.
11. Penelope A. Mountjoy,听Mycenaean Athens听(Jonsered, Sweden: Paul 脜str枚ms F枚rlag, 1995): 13-4.