Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages 9781407306810, 9781407336824

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BAR S2140 2010

Pithoi Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

GIANNOPOULOU

Mimika Giannopoulou

PITHOI

B A R

BAR International Series 2140 2010

Pithoi Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Mimika Giannopoulou

BAR International Series 2140 2010

ISBN 9781407306810 paperback ISBN 9781407336824 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407306810 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

To my mother Phani

Table of Contents List of Figures................................................................................................................................................................... 11 List of Plates..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Preface and Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION I. RESEARCH ON POTTERY TECHNOLOGY....................................................................................................23 1. The theoretical framework........................................................................................................................23 2. The ethno-archaeological approach..........................................................................................................24 3. Analytical techniques................................................................................................................................25 II RESEARCH ON STORAGE VASES 1. History of research....................................................................................................................................26 2. Description of the object of research........................................................................................................27 2.1 The chronological and geographical framework of the research...................................................29 2.2 Archaeological Research...............................................................................................................30 2.3 Ethnographic Research..................................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 2 : STORAGE VASES IN VARIOUS PERIODS I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICE OF STORAGE...................................................................................33 II. STORAGE IN PITHOI........................................................................................................................................33 III. THE TYPOLOGY OF STORAGE VASES.........................................................................................................34 1. Prehistoric Times.......................................................................................................................................35 1.1 Neolithic Age (6500-3300 BC)......................................................................................................35 1.2 Bronze Age (3100/3000-1050 BC)................................................................................................36 2. Historical times.........................................................................................................................................40 2.1 Protogeometric and Geometric Period (1050-700 BC).................................................................40 2.2 Archaic Period (700-500 BC)........................................................................................................41 2.3 Classical – Hellenistic – Roman periods (5th century BC –330 AD)............................................41 2.4 Byzantine Period (330 AD -15th century).....................................................................................44 3 Post-Byzantine and Modern Times (16th-20th century)...........................................................................45 CHAPTER 3: THE TECHNOLOGY OF MAKING STORAGE VASES DIACHRONICALLY I. SOURCES: INFORMATION ON THE MAKING PROCEDURE FROM ANCIENT TEXTS.........................49 II. TYPES OF WORKSHOPS – FORMS OF PRODUCTION................................................................................50 1. Theoretical framework..............................................................................................................................50 2. Roofed workshop spaces...........................................................................................................................52 3. Open-air workshops..................................................................................................................................52 4. Itinerant workshops...................................................................................................................................53 III. KILNS..................................................................................................................................................................54 IV. THE TECHNOLOGY OF STORAGE VASES....................................................................................................55 1. Kinds and properties of the clays used for making storage vases.............................................................55 1.1 Clays .............................................................................................................................................55 1.2 The parameters determining the choice of clays for storage vases . .............................................55 2. The role of temper.....................................................................................................................................57 2.1 Kinds of tempers............................................................................................................................58 2.2 The properties of tempers in making storage vases.......................................................................59 2.3 Properties of tempers during firing................................................................................................60 3. Ways of processing and preparing the clay...............................................................................................60 4. Macroscopic commentary on the clay fabric of ancient storage vases.....................................................61 4.1 Prehistoric Times...........................................................................................................................61 4.2. Historical times..............................................................................................................................65 5. Making techniques....................................................................................................................................65 5.1. Kinds of techniques.......................................................................................................................65 7

Mimika Giannopoulou

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

5.2. Kinds of techniques with examples from archaeological and ethnographic researches in Greece and in other countries................................................................................................................................66 5.2.1. Slab building..................................................................................................................................66 5.2.2. Coil building..................................................................................................................................66 5.2.3. Technique of the wheel..................................................................................................................70 5.2.4. Technique with pivoted turntable or tournette...............................................................................71 5.2.5. Technique with slow wheel............................................................................................................72 Surface treatment – Decoration.................................................................................................................72 Drying.......................................................................................................................................................73 Stacking the vases in the kiln....................................................................................................................74 Fuel............................................................................................................................................................74 Firing.........................................................................................................................................................74 10.1 General principles of pyrotechnology – Forms of firing...............................................................74 10.2 Firing large storage vases...............................................................................................................75 Cooling......................................................................................................................................................76 Removing the vases from the kiln and works on the surface of the vases................................................77

CHAPTER 4: ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCΗ IN THE REGION OF MESSENIA PART A ANCIENT MESSENE 1. Landmarks in the history of ancient Messene...........................................................................................79 2. Excavations at ancient Messene................................................................................................................79 3. Geological commentary on ancient Messene............................................................................................80 4 Samples of storage vases from the excavation of ancient Messene 4.1 Provenance of samples...................................................................................................................81 4.2 Typology-description of samples of storage vases .......................................................................81 5. Macroscopic observations of the fabric, the decoration and the firing of the samples.............................82 5.1 Fabric.............................................................................................................................................82 5.2 Technique of making - Decoration................................................................................................83 5.3 Firing..............................................................................................................................................84 6. Dating of the samples . .............................................................................................................................84 PART B GULF OF MESSENIA.....................................................................................................................85 I. GEOMORPHOLOGY – HISTORY 1. The physical environment 1.1 The position of Koroni and the wider area....................................................................................85 1.2 Geomorphology.............................................................................................................................85 1.3. Flora and fauna..............................................................................................................................85 2. History.......................................................................................................................................................85 2.1 Landmarks in the history of the area of Koroni.............................................................................85 2.2 The manmade environment in recent times...................................................................................85 3. Pottery.......................................................................................................................................................86 3.1 Vase-making activity in the region. Material remains...................................................................86 3.2 The profession of vase-maker........................................................................................................86 II. VASES MADE WITHOUT USING THE WHEEL IN MESSENIA IN RECENT TIMES 1. Storage vases . ..........................................................................................................................................89 2. Vases for other uses...................................................................................................................................90 3. Macroscopic observations.........................................................................................................................91 III. TYPES OF WORKSHOPS AND TOOLS – EQUIPMENT 1. Workshop spaces 1.1 Types of workshops – Form of production....................................................................................91 1.2 The role of vase-making and of climatic conditions in the form of the workshops and the season of their operation . ............................................................................................................92 1.3 Spaces for vase-making.................................................................................................................92 2. Kilns 2.1 Kinds of kilns.................................................................................................................................93 2.2 Constructing kilns. Construction materials....................................................................................93 2.3 Capacity of the kilns......................................................................................................................94 3. Tools 3.1 Tools for extracting and preparing the clay...................................................................................94 3.2 Tools for vase-making....................................................................................................................94 •8•

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

3.3 Tools for decorating and glazing....................................................................................................95 3.4 Tools for firing...............................................................................................................................95 IV. RAW MATERIAL 1. Extracting clays and techniques of preparing the clay body 1.1 Clay deposits. Commentary...........................................................................................................95 1.2 Kinds of clays................................................................................................................................95 1.3 Extraction sites of clays.................................................................................................................96 1.4 Extracting, selecting and transporting clays. Carrying water........................................................96 1.5 Processing the clays.......................................................................................................................96 1.6 Mixing clays – Preparing the clay.................................................................................................96 V. MAKING VASES WITHOUT USING THE WHEEL 1. Stages of vase-making..............................................................................................................................97 Stages of the construction of a tzara.....................................................................................................................98 Assorted movements and actions during the whole length of construction.......................................................128 2. Ways of rectifying flaws..........................................................................................................................135 3. General remarks on the vase-making procedure.....................................................................................136 4. Techniques of decoration and thematic repertoire of decoration............................................................137 5. Glazing 5.1 Materials for glazing....................................................................................................................137 5.2 Preparing glaze............................................................................................................................137 5.3 Glazing vases...............................................................................................................................138 6. Drying the vases. Carrying vases to the kiln...........................................................................................138 7. Stacking the vases in the kiln..................................................................................................................138 8. Firing 8.1 Kinds of fuel................................................................................................................................139 8.2 Gathering the fuel........................................................................................................................139 8.3 Stages in firing.............................................................................................................................139 9. Removing the vases from the kiln...........................................................................................................140 VI. MIGRANT GROUPS.........................................................................................................................................140 VII. TRADE - PRODUCTIVITY 1. Productivity.............................................................................................................................................140 2. Trade of storage vases.............................................................................................................................141 CHAPTER 5: EVALUATION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA I. THE TECHNOLOGY OF MAKING STORAGE VASES DIACHRONICALLY 1. Evaluation of the making techniques......................................................................................................143 2. Evaluation of the raw materials in relation to use, size and technology.................................................144 II. THE COMMON FRAMEWORK OF PRODUCTION OF STORAGE VASES .............................................145 III. DIACHRONIC ELEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF STORAGE VASES 1. Evaluation of ethnographic and archaeological data 1.1 Variable elements in production diachronically...........................................................................146 1.2 Constant elements in production diachronically..........................................................................147 2. Ascertainments from ethnographic research...........................................................................................148 Appendix A: Mineralogical and petrographic analyses of clay samples from the area of the Gulf of Messenia........... 153 Appendix B: Petrographic analyses of stortage vessels from Ancient Messene and the area of the Gulf of Messenia.159 Appendix C: List of Samles from Ancient Messene and Traditional Storage Vessels from the Messenean Gulf ........ 169 Abbreviations.................................................................................................................................................................. 178 Bibliography................................................................................................................................................................... 179 Figures............................................................................................................................................................................ 195 Plates............................................................................................................................................................................... 219

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List of Figures

Fig. 1. Early Bronze Age pithos (2) and Middle Bronze Age pithos (1). Eutresis. (Goldman 1931, 32). Fig. 2. Pithoi of the Middle Bronze Age I and the Late Bronze Age I period from Cyprus. (Pilides 2000b, fig. 1). Fig. 3. Mycenaean pithos (Furumark 1972, 75, fig. 21). Fig. 4. Pithoi from Akrotiri with a spout set low on the body (Doumas 1978, 117, fig. 1-2). Fig. 5. Drawings of the upper part of Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba, Thessaloniki (Kiriatzi 2000, fig. 5.54). Fig. 6. Drawings of the upper part of Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba, Thessaloniki (Kiriatzi 2000, fig. 5.55). Fig. 7. Ovoid pithoi with wide mouth and low/without collar (Christakis 2005, fig. 4). Fig. 8. Piriform pithoi with narrow mouth and high collar (Christakis 2005, fig. 19). Fig. 9. Rims of pithoi (975-850 BC) from Nichoria, Messenia (McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 137). Fig. 10. Rims of pithoi (800-750 BC) from Nichoria, Messenia (McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 170). Fig. 11. Pithos of the Classical period from Nichoria, Messenia (McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 345). Fig. 12. Drawings of burial pithoi of the 4th century BC and the Hellenistic period, from Eleia (ChatziSpiliopoulou 1991, 358). Fig. 13. Drawings of burial pithoi of the 4th century BC and the Hellenistic period, from Eleia (ChatziSpiliopoulou 1991, 357). Fig. 14. Early Hellenistic pithos from Gordion. (Henrickson 1995, 567). Fig. 15. Byzantine pithoi. 8th-9th century. (Bakirtzis 1989, pl. 30). Fig. 16. Byzantine pithoi. No. 1. 9th century. Nos 2-3, 12th century (Bakirtzis 1989, pl. 31). Fig. 17. Ground plan of a workshop space and two kilns of a typical worshop producing wheel-made vases. Exhibit in the Museum of Traditional Pottery (Room C). Fig. 18. Section of a rectangular updraft kiln. Lesbos. MTP Archive Fig. 19. Section of a rectangular updraft kiln. Lesbos. MTP Archive. Fig. 20. Ground plan of a rectangular updraft kiln. Rhodes. 20th century (Psaropoulou 1985, 36). Fig. 21. Section of a rectangular updraft kiln. Rhodes. 20th century (Psaropoulou 1985, 36).

Fig. 22. Plan of the archaeological site of ancient Messene. Visible are the area of the theatre, the Asklepieion, the agora and the stadium of the city (Themelis 1999a, fig. 19). Fig. 23. Group 1a XVII5/K1 3.04.ΔT. Rim of a pithos. Ancient Messene. (Appendix C, no 33). Fig. 24. Group 2b XVI/36 Q 01 Π3/6. Rim of a pithos. Ancient Messene. (Appendix C, no 5). Fig. 25. A: Group 1g XVI/2T.ABορ.II.04. Base of pithos. Ancient Messene. (Appendix C, no 10). B: XVII5/K1-1.01 (Appendix C, no12). Fig. 26. Group1g XVII6/32.01. Rim of a pithos. Ancient Messene. (Appendix C, no14) Fig. 27. Group 1b XVII5./K1 ΔT.3.04. Rim of a pithos. Ancient Messene (Appendix C, no 40). Fig. 28. A: Group 1b XVII5./K1. ΔT.3.04 Base of a pithos. Ancient Messene (Appendix C, no 30). B: Group 1b XVII5./K11-01 Base of pithos. Ancient Messene (Appendix C, no 39). Fig. 29. Group 1b. Roman House. Pithos in situ. Ancient Messene (Appendix C, no 21). Fig. 30. Group 2A 2, Z.5,7. Ancient Messene (Appendix C, no 19). Fig. 31. Hellenistic pithos. Corinth (Boggess 1970, fig.1). Fig. 32. Front and section of a storage vase. Pithari. 19th century. MTP Fig. 33. Front and section of a storage vase. Pithari. 19th century. MTP Fig. 34. Front and section of a storage vase. Tzara. 20th century. MTP Fig. 35. Front and section of a storage vase. Bombaki. 20th century. MTP Fig. 36. Front and section of a storage vase. Limba. 20th century. MTP Fig. 37. Front and section of a storage vase. Limba. 20th century. MTP Fig. 38. Front and section of a storage vase. Threehandled stamna. 19th century. MTP Fig. 39. Front and section of a vase. Pitharopoulo. 20th century. MTP. Fig. 40. Front and section of a vase. Two-handled stamna. 19th century MTP. Fig. 41. Front and section of a vase. Taistra. 20th century. MTP. Fig. 42. Plans and sections of the workshop for making storage vases at Komboi, summer 1993. Plans and sections of the kiln for firing storage vases at Komboi, summer 1993. Drawings by Giorgos Servetiadis.

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Fig. 43. Reconstruction drawing of a workshop and kiln in the Gulf of Messenia. Exhibit in the Museum of Traditional Pottery (Room B). Fig. 44. Plan of a workshop and kiln in the Gulf of Messenia. Exhibit in the Museum of Traditional Pottery (Room B).

Fig. 45-51. Stages of the construction of a tzara. Fig. 51. Map showing the places of distribution of Messenian storage vases. Exhibit in the Museum of Traditional Pottery (Room B).

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List of Plates

Abbreviations: AM: Ancient Messene Chr. B.: Archive of Christos Boulotis IGME: Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration MTP: Archive of the Museum of Traditional Pottery NAM: Archive of the National Archaeological Museum N. L.: Archive of Nikos Liaros THERA: Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation Pl. 1.

Pl. 2. Pl. 3. Pl. 4.

Pl. 5. Pl. 6. Pl. 7. Pl. 8. Pl. 9.

Pl. 10. Pl. 11.

Pl. 12. Pl. 13.

Pl. 14.

Pl. 15.

Pl. 16.

Pithos with four handles, decorated with relief bands with dimples. From room 3 in the ‘double’ megaron at Sesklo. Beginning of the Late Neolithic period (ca 5300 BC). NAM 6015. Wide-mouthed pithos from Alepotrypa. Late Neolithic/EH I period. (Phelps 2004, Pl. 98.4). Pithos from Agios Kosmas, Attica. Early Bronze Age (2500-2100 BC). (Mylonas 1959, 132, Pl. 50). Large storage jar with incised representation of a dog, from Askitario near Rafina, Attica. Early Bronze Age (2500-2100 BC). NAM 8002. Pithos and fragments of pithoi with relief bands from Lerna III (2900-2450 BC). (Wiencke 1970, Pl. 19). Pithos from Myrtos-Fournou Koryfi, Crete. (Warren 2002, 145). Pitheon at Monastiraki, Crete. (Kanta 1999, 95). Restored pithos from the Koukonisi III. Beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Chr. B. Storage jar decorated with black painted geometric motifs, from Orchomenos, Boeotia. Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC). NAM 5875. Storage jar decorated with painted geometric motifs, from Orchomenos, Boeotia. Beginning of the Late Bronze Age (16th c. BC). NAM 5876. Pithos from Room IV, Trench 5, Koukonisi IV. Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC). Chr. B. Pithos with plastic rope decoration in horizontal bands, from Phylakopi, Melos. Late Cycladic period (16th c. BC). NAM 5834. Room with pithoi (pitheon) in Sector Alpha at Akrotiri, Thera. Late Cycladic I period. THERA. Pithos from Sector Alpha at Akrotiri, Thera. Late Cycladic I. THERA.

Pl. 17. Pl. 18. Pl. 19. Pl. 20. Pl. 21. Pl. 22. Pl. 23. Pl. 24. Pl. 25. Pl. 26. Pl. 27. Pl. 28. Pl. 29. Pl. 30. Pl. 31. Pl. 32.

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Pithos of the LH IIIB period (1350-1200 BC), found in Room 7 of the Archives in the palace at Eglianos. Archaeological Museum of Chora. 1993. Pithos with monumental decoration from the palace of Knossos. H. 1.23 m. Plastic relief bands and incised Linear A sign. NAM. Pithos of the Late Bronze Age from Cyprus. (Pilides 2000, 37, Pl. 10). Burial pithoi of the Geometric period from Nichoria, Messenia. Archaeological Museum of Kalamata. 2002. Relief pithos from a Cycladic workshop. 675-650 BC. NAM 355. Pithos with impressed decoration, from Athens. 675-650 BC. NAM 807. Pithoi from the Archaic House at Kopanaki, Triphylia. (Kaltsas 1983, 236-237, Pl. 1314). Pitheon in sector 23-15a at Karabournaki, Thessaloniki (Tiverios – Manakidou – Tsiafaki 1995, 282, Pl. 3). Pithoi of Olynthos VIII (Rodinson – Graham 1938, Pl. 77.1). Hellenistic pithos from Corinth (Boggess 1970, Pl. 16). Pitheon of the earlier phase at Tria Platania. (Adam-Veleni – Poulaki - Tzanavari 2003, 56-57). Pithos from the wine-making installation at Komboloi (Adam-Veleni – Poulaki Tzanavari 2003, 169). Pithoi in situ at Petres Florinas. Archive of P. Adam-Veleni. Pitheon in the Hellenistic house at Vergina. (Tsigarida 1992, 90, Pl. 2). Pithos from a Hellenistic house. Rizomata, Pieria. Archive of Angeliki Kotaridi. Pithos repaired with lead clamps, from Palatiano, Kilkis. (AnagnostopoulouChatzipolichroni 2001, 152). Pithos in situ at Argilos, room A, considered to have been an olive oil press (Bonias – Perreault 1997, 545). Rim of a pithos with an inscription, from. Karditsa (Intzesiloglou 1984, 148, pl. 48). Pithoi in the northwest room of the sanctuary of the Nekyomanteion (Oracle of the Dead) beside the Acheron. (Dakaris 2000, 34, Pl. 13).

Mimika Giannopoulou

Pithos sherd from Ancient Messene. Ancient Messene Pl. 34. Pithos sherd from Ancient Messene. Hellenistic period. Ancient Messene Pl. 35. Pithos sherd from Ancient Messene. Ancient Messene Pl. 36. Pithos sherd from Ancient Messene. Ancient Messene Pl. 37. Pithoi from Ainos. Post-Byzantine period. Mount Athos. Pl. 38. Pithoi of the Post-Byzantine period and modern times in Chios. Pl. 39. Pithos of the Post-Byzantine period from Mani, Laconia. Attica 2000. Pl. 40. Pithos of the Post-Byzantine period from Drama. 2010. Pl. 41. Pithos from Livorno. 19th century. Attica 2000. Pl. 42. Open-air workshop at Thrapsanos, Crete. Early 20th c. MTP. Pl. 43. Storage jar made on a kick-wheel, Samos 1998. Pl. 44. A. Storage jar from Siphnos (SpathariBegliti 1992, 263). B. Storage jar from Thasos (Papadopoulos 1999, 164). C. Storage jar from Kythnos (Psaropoulou 1990, 63). D. Storage jar (Psaropoulou 1990, 28). Pl. 45. Storage jars of several sizes. Chios 1996. Pl. 46. Pithos incised with the date 1743. Chios 1997. Pl. 47. Hole in the bottom of a storage vase. Chios 1996. Pl. 48. Storage vase for dry goods. Visible is the repair of the vase, with metal clamps. 18th century. Chios 1996. Pl. 49. Decorated lid of a pithos. Chios 1996. Pl. 50. Big pithos from Phoini, Cyprus. (Hampe Winter 1962, Pl. 27). Pl. 51-52. Storehouse with pithoi at Thrapsanos, Crete. 20th c. MTP. Pl. 53. Pithari used as a chimney in Crete. MTP. Pl. 54. Workshop of wheel made vessels on Lesbos. 1995. Pl. 55. Hand-operated tournettes (trochia) in a special trench (trocholakko). Open-air workshop at Thrapsanos, Crete. 20th c. MTP. Pl. 56. Open-air workshop making storage vases on the tournette (trochi). Crete 1940s. MTP. Pl. 57. The hut for storing the clay. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1993. Pl. 58. Pithos from Thrapsanos. Crete. 1993. Pl. 59. Pithos with a lid. Margarites. Crete. 1993. Pl. 60. Transporting pitharia on pack animals, for sale in various regions of Crete. 1930s. MTP. Pl. 61. Itinerant workshop (takimi) at Thrapsanos, Crete. 1960. MTP. Pl. 33.

Pl. 62.

Vertical updraft kiln at Margarites, Crete. 1996. Pl. 63. Constructing a pillar in the fire pit of an updraft kiln. MTP 1999. Pl. 64. Constructing kleidia and support pillar in a cylindrical updraft kiln. MTP 1999. Pl. 65. Constructing kleidia in a cylindrical updraft kiln. MTP 1999. Pl. 66. Completing the construction of ‘kleidia’ in a cylindrical updraft kiln. MTP1999 Pl. 67. Bricks for constructing the arches supporting the floor of a cylindrical updraft kiln at Thrapsanos. Crete. 1993. Pl. 68-69. Constructing the floor upon the kleidia in a cylindrical updraft kiln. 1999. MTP. Pl. 70. Opening holes in the floor of a cylindrical updraft kiln. 1999. MTP. Pl. 71. Beating the lumps of clay with a thick wooden tool. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980. MTP. Pl. 72. Wooden tool, the kopanos. Thasos. MTP. Pl. 73. Sieving clays in the koskina, in an open-air workshop in Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 74. The first stage of preparing the clay. Thrapsanos, Crete. MTP. Pl. 75. Preparing the clay. Thrapsanos, Crete. MTP. Pl. 76. Wedging the clay. Agios Stephanos, Lesbos. MTP. Pl. 77. Detail of a pithos of the LHIII period, from the palace of Pylos. Archaeological Museum of Chora. 1993. Pl. 78. Detail of a pithos from Nichoria, Messene. Geometric period. Archaeological Museum of Kalamata. 2002. Pl. 79. Slab-building was the technique used for making cooking pots by women in parts of Thessaly. MTP. Pl. 80. Storage jars of several sizes. Chios. 1996. Pl. 81. Making a big pithos by coil-building technique. Visible are the supports of the base (Hampe – Winter 1962, Pl. 38,5). Pl. 82. Broken pithari from the area of Koroni: the technique of making can be seen at the fracture point. 19th century. Kardamyli, Messene. 2002. Pl. 83. Base of a pithos (800-750 BC) in which the excavators distinguish the coil-building technique. Nichoria, Messene (McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 477). Pl. 84. Making a big pithos by the coil-building technique. Visible are the supports of the base (Hampe – Winter 1962, Pl. 38,5). Pl. 85. Wooden kick-wheel. 19th century. MTP. Pls. 86-87. Making the first part of a vase on the kickwheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 88. Completing the first part of a storage vase on the kick-wheel. Visible is the groove in which the second part will be placed. Siphnos. 1998.

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Pl. 89.

Forming the acute-angled edge of the second part on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 90. Forming the acute-angled edge of the second part of the pithari on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 91-94. Joining the two separately formed parts of a pithari on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 95. Preparing an external horizontal hoop on a pithari made on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 96-98. Placing an external horizontal hoop on a pithari made on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 99. Smoothing external horizontal hoops on a pithari made on the kick-wheel. Siphnos. 1998. Pl. 100. Applying the first volos in making a pithari on the tournette. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 101. Modelling the first volos in making a pithari on the tournette. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 102. Placing the first voloi, from which the phytema will be formed. 1980s. Thrapsanos, Crete. MTP. Pl. 103. Making the phytema of a pithari. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 104. Placing the volos of the first stomosa. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1993. Pl. 105. Making a pithari on the tournette. Visible are the trocharis who turns the trochi and the master potter who makes the vase. 1980s. Thrapsanos, Crete. Pl. 106. Adding an applied horizontal hoop (zonari) to a pithari. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 107. Placing the handles (afthia), on a pithari at Thrapsanos, Crete. MTP. Pl. 108. Executing incised decoration with a wooden tool on a modelled pithos. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 109. Incised lines for the attachment of ropes, raised band patterns on Minoan pithoi (Christakis 2005, pl. 1). Pl. 110. Storage vase. Detail of the decorative motif. Chios. 1996. Pl. 111. Executing impressed decoration on the applied hoop of a pithari. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. Pl. 112. Pithos with relief bands. Kardamyli, Messenia 2008. Pl. 113. Rope patterns on Minoan pithoi (Christakis 2005, pl. 4). Pl. 114. Detail of rectangular stamps on a tzara. Inscribed are the initials of the potter and the name of the place where the vase was made. 20th century. MTP. Pl. 115. Inscribed rims of pithoi and lid of pointedbase pithos for wine, from Komboloi.

Mid-4th – early 3rd c. BC (Adam-Veleni – Poulaki – Tzanavari 2003: 169, 171). Pl. 116. Cylindrical kiln. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 117. Cylindrical kiln. Firing of storage vases. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 118. Removing vases from the kiln after firing. Thrapsanos, Crete. 1980s. MTP. Pl. 119. Archaeological site Messene. View from the Asklepieion. Visible in the background are part of the gymnasium and the stadium. 2009. Pl. 120. The area of the stadium Messene. Roman House. 2001. Pl. 121. The area of the agora and stadium. Ancient Messene. 2001. Pl. 122. Geological map of the area of ancient Messene. Scale 1: 50000. IGME. Pl. 123. View from the port of Koroni. 2002. Pl. 124. The area of Charakopio with olive trees and vineyards. 2002. Pls. 125-126. The area of Charakopio, Messenia. 2002. Pl. 127. View from the port of Koroni to Komboi and Vounaria. 2002. Pl. 128. Vase inscribed with the date 1878 and the initials of the potter. MTP. Pl. 129. School-leaving certificate from the Greek school of Koroni, for the academic year 1895. It is written on the certificate that the pupil was the son of a vase-maker (Pasagiotis 1997, 29). Pl. 130. Pithoi in an old olive-oil press. Parapougi, Messene. 19th century. 2000. Pl. 131. Vases in an old kiln. Today, neither the kiln nor the vases survive. (Phanouriou 1986, 73). Pl. 132. Half-demolished kiln at Vounaria, Messene. The kiln no longer exists. 1993. Pl. 133. The sole surviving old kiln in the area of Koroni. Petriades, Messenia. 2002. Pl. 134. Tzares for sale. Vounaria, Messene. 1993. Pl. 135. Pithos from the Koroni area. 1993. Pl. 136. Pithos for storing wine, from the Koroni area. It has a tubular spout for pouring. 19th century. MTP. Pl. 137. Pithos. 19th century. Charakopio, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 138. Pithoi in an old olive-oil press. Phoinikounda, Messenia. 19th century. 1993. Pl. 139. Glazed tzara from the Koroni district. 20th century. MTP. Pl. 140. Tzara without glaze. Early 20th century. MTP. Pl. 141. Tzares for storing olive oil. Storeroom in a house at Kokkino, Messene. 2000 Pl. 142. Bombaki from the Koroni region. MTP. Pl. 143. Bombaki from the Gulf of Messenia. 20th century. MTP.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

Limba from the Gulf of Messenia. 20th century. MTP. Pls. 145-146. Glazed limbes from the Gulf of Messenia. 20th century. MTP. Pl. 147. Glazed stamna from the Gulf of Messenia. 19th century. MTP. Pl. 148. Glazed pitharopoulo with two handles. 19th century. MTP. Pl. 149. Glazed stamna with three handles. 19th century. MTP. Pl. 150. Glazed pitharopoulo with three handles from the Gulf of Messenia. 19th century. MTP. Pl. 151. Pitharopoulo. Visible is the hole in the bottom of the vase. Komboi, Messene 1993. Pl. 152. Pitharopoulo. MTP. Pl. 153. Stamna with two handles, made by the coilbuilding technique. House in Charakopio, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 154. Font from the area of Koroni. Chrysova, Messenia. 19th century. 2002. Pl. 155. Font with holes for placing the candles, from the area of Koroni. 19th century. Messenia 2002. Pl. 156. Font. 19th century. Vounaria, Messenia 1993. Pl. 157. Special vase in which grapes were trampled. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 158. Cylindrical vases, possibly beehives, made by the technique of coil building. 19th century. Vounaria, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 159. Trough for feeding animals. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 160. Cut tzara with copper sulphate inside, in a field in the area of Koroni. Copper sulphate was sprinkled on the vines. (Phanouriou 1986, 66). Pl. 161. Broken tzara containing copper sulphate for sprinkling on the vines. Gargarou at Charokopio, Messenia. 2002. Pl. 162. Pithos in an old olive-oil press at Charakopio, Messenia. On its rim had been placed a broken tzara with hole opened in the bottom, which served as a funnel. This pithos was used for storing the olive oil that was shared out as payment in kind to the labourers in the press. 1993. Pl. 163. Sherds of pitharia and tzares in a yard wall of a house. Area of the Gulf of Messenia. (Phanouriou 1986, 18). Pl. 164. Photograph of the model reconstruction of a workshop for making storage vases by the technique of coil building. The workshop space is a horse-driven olive-oil press. Exhibit in the Museum of Traditional Pottery (Room B). Pl. 165. Old olive-oil press at Komboi, Messenia. It had been used in the past as a workshop space for making storage vases by the Pl. 144.

Pl. 166.

Pl. 167.

Pl. 168. Pl. 169.

Pl. 170. Pl. 171. Pl. 172. Pl. 173.

Pl. 174. Pl. 175.

Pl. 176. Pl. 177. Pl. 178. Pl. 179. Pl. 180. Pl. 181. Pl. 182.

• 16 •

technique of coil building. It still exists. 1993. The kiln built in summer 1993 by Giorgos Angelopoulos, in the area of Charokopio, Messenia. Visible are the firing chamber in which the vases were stacked and its entrance. 1993. Old kiln at Skala, Laconia. The firing chamber. The kiln had been built by itinerant potters (pitharades) from Messenia. It no longer exists. MTP. Back view of the kiln at Elia, Laconia. It no longer exists. MTP. Detail of the conical crowning of a kiln (koukoula), in the area of the Gulf of Messenia. Visible are the smoke hole (xethymastra) and the two vents at the base of the cone, through which currents of hot air were emitted. Old kiln at Vounaria, Messenia. 1993. Trapezoidal bricks (plithia) left to dry. These were intended for building a conical updraft kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Trapezoidal wooden mould for bricks. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Building the lower part of a conical updraft kiln in the area of Charokopio, Messenia, in summer 1993. Visible are the placement of the large trapezoidal bricks and the entrance to the fire pit in which the fuel was put. Constructed by the old potter (tzaras) Giorgos Alexopoulos. Operated for two years. It still exists. 1993. Building the firing chamber of a conical updraft kiln at Komboi, Messenia. N.L. Building the entrance through which the vases are stacked in the firing chamber of a conical updraft kiln at Komboi, Messenia. N. L. Building the conical crowning of the conical updraft kiln at Komboi, Messenia 1992. N. L. Building the conical crowning of the conical updraft kiln at Komboi, Messenia 1992. N. L. Detail from constructing the brick-built vaults of the fire pit of a conical kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1992. N. L. Opening holes (phanouria) in the floor of a conical kiln. 1992. Komboi, Messenia 1992. N. L. Coating the inside walls of a conical kiln with clay mixed with straw (pisé). 1992. Komboi, Messenia 1993. N. L. Repairing the coating of a conical kiln by applying new pisé. Komboi, Messenia 1993. The coating of the kiln after firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Pl. 183.

Tools for firing, extracting clays and gathering fuel. MTP. Pl. 184. Sieve for sieving the clay. MTP. Pl. 185. Misotzares or kouroupes. Pitharia cut in the middle and used as containers for preparing the clay. Area of the Gulf of Messenia. They no longer exist. 1993. Pl. 186. Iron tool for raking the charcoal and ash after firing is completed. Pl. 187. Red clay at the locality Gargarou. Charokopio, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 188. Site of extracting light-coloured clay. Charokopio, Messenia. 2002. Pl. 189. Extraction site for red clay in the locality Gargarou. Charokopio, Messenia. 2002. Pl. 190. Testing the clay. Komboi, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 191-192. Lepidi. Earth used as temper in the clay for making large storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia. Aidini, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 193. Extracting clay from the locality Agios Vasileios. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 194. Transporting clay with the pack animal. Visible are the wooden crates, the pouria. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 195. Emptying clay onto the piatsa. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 196. Emptying clay into the pouria. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 197. Transporting water on the pack animal. Visible are the special clay vases for carrying water, the pitharopoula. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 198. Filling the special vases for carrying water, the pitharopoula. Fountain at Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 199. Emptying water from the pitharopoula into the kouroupes. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 200. Beating clays with a wooden mallet (kopanos). Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 201. Sieving clay to produce clay dust (bouchos). Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 202. Mixing clay with water in the kouroupes. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 203. Kneading-wedging the clay body. 1993. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 204. Modelled tzares drying outside the workshop. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 205. Detail of rectangular stamps on the rim and the base of the neck of a tzara. Inscribed with the place where made and the initials of the maker. Koroni area. 1993. Pl. 206. Detail of rectangular stamps on a tzara. Inscribed with the initials of the maker and the name of the place where made. 20th century. MTP. Pl. 207. Detail of rectangular stamps on a tzara. Inscribed with the initials of the maker and the name of the place where made. 20th century. MTP.

Detail of rectangular stamps on a tzara. Inscribed with the initials of the maker and the name of the place where made. 20th century. Koroni area.1993. Pl. 209. Tzara with rectangular stamps and characteristic decoration from impressing a serrated reed. Koroni area.1993. Pl. 210. Collecting special white earth (pipini) used in preparing the glaze. Memi, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 211. White pipini. Special earth used in preparing the glaze. Memi, Messenia. 1993. Pl. 212. Stone grinder for pulverizing the lead. MTP. Pl. 213. Phtiala with glaze ready to pour on the inside surface of an unfired tzara. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 214. Phtiala with glaze ready to pour on the inside surface of an unfired tzara. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 215. Freshly-glazed tzara turned upside down in order to drain. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls 216-219. Glaze of a tzara on the outside. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 220. Tzara glazed inside and outside. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 221. Glazed tzares in the courtyard of a house. 20th century. Vounaria Messene 1993. Pl. 222. Glazed tzara in the courtyard of a house. 20th century. Ancient Messene 2009. Pl. 223. Carrying storage vases for stacking in the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 224. Detail of a freshly-glaze tzara with lead glaze. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 225. The way in which a tzara is carried by two men inside the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 226. Detail of the manner of stacking and supporting two tzares in the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 227. Stacking tzares and bombakia in the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 228. Jars without glaze stacked inside the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 229. Stacking smaller storage vases between the larger ones, in order to pack the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 230. Stacking smaller storage vases between the larger ones, in order to pack the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls. 231-236. Stacking storage vases in the kiln. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls. 237-242. Building the entrance to the firing chamber with rectangular bricks, prior to firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 243. Gathering fuel on the pack animal. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls. 244-245. Loading fuel on the pack animal. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 208.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

Pl. 246.

Feeding the fire pit with fuel. Visible is the corridor of the kiln, where the fuel is placed. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 247. Kiln in the reducing stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls. 248-249. Fire pit in operation. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls. 250-251. Vases in the oxidizing stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pls 252-253. Vases in the reducing stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 254. Kiln in the oxidizing stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 255. Kiln in the reducing stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 256. Kiln in the final stage of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 257. Sealing the fire pit after completion of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 258. Firing chamber after completion of firing. Komboi, Messenia 1993. Pl. 259. Tzares for sale in the port of Koroni. 19th century. N.L. Pl. 260. Pithoi and tzares for sale in the port of Koroni. MTP. Pl. 261. Tzares in a courtyard at Kardamyli, Messenia. 2001. Pl. 262. Tzares for the storage of olive oil, in an old olive oil press. 20th century. Siphnos 1999. Pl. 263. Pithoi from the area of Koroni. 19th century. Thrapsanos, Crete 1996.

Pl. 264. Pl. 265. Pl. 266. Pl. 267. Pl. 268. Pl. 269. Pl. 270. Pl. 271. Pl. 272. Pl. 273. Pl. 274. Pl. 275. Pl. 276. Pl. 277. Pl. 278. Pl. 279.

• 18 •

Pithoi from Ainos and a tzara from Messenia. 19th and 20th century. Samos 1996. Tzara in a house. Chios 1996. Tzara in a storehouse. Chios 1996. Cut tzares used as plant pots in a house at Koroni. 1995. Tzares for the storage of olive oil in a house at Militsa, Messenia. 1997. Tzares and ‘bombakia’ with glaze. Charakopio, Messenia 1993. Tzares and pithoi. Those with globular body date from the 19th century and with ovoid from the 20th. MTP. Tzara for sale. Attica 2000. Storage vases from different parts of Greece, ready for sale. 2002. Several storage vases ready for sale. Petriades, Messenia 2002. House with storage vessels of various sizes. Charakopio, Messenia 2002. House with storage vases of various sizes. Charakopio, Messenia 2002. Tzares and bombakia in a courtyard. Pylos area. 2000. Tzares ready for sale. Attica 2000. Pithoi from Thrapsanos, Crete. Attica 2001. Vases and pithoi from Ainos in Thrapsanos, Crete. 1997.

Preface and Acknowledgments

as fine-ware vases, focused my interest, not simply because of the originality of the subject. From the outset, my aim was to find out why these vases do not show significant differentiations, even in periods in which there are changes in the appearance of the rest of the pottery, and what kind of information emerges from these vases regarding a diachronically ‘unseen’ everyday practice, that of storage. For my many years of research on pottery technology and pottery of recent times, I owe first and foremost warm thanks to Betty Psaropoulou and the members of the Board of the Centre for Research on Traditional Pottery, Aspasia Louvi-Kizi, Sonia Kalopissi and Panagiotis Valavanis, who entrusted me not only with conducting fieldwork but also with the administrative supervision of the restructuring and creation of the Museum of Traditional Pottery, at 4-6 Melidoni Street, in the Kerameikos neighbourhood of Athens. I owe to Professor Stella Drougou the decision to start a doctoral dissertation on the subject of the technology of storage vases diachronically. It is to her encouragement in 1996 and to her belief in the value of studying this subject over time that the happy outcome of my efforts is due. She honoured me with her trust and taught me crucial lessons of scientific ethics, collaboration and humanity. After I received my PhD for this thesis, in 2002, Professor Drougou suggested that I study Hellenistic pithoi in articulation with the economy of the Hellenistic Age, which is the subject of the post-doctoral research project I commenced with her in 2006, under the aegis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with material from many sites in Macedonia. I will be eternally grateful to her. I address warm thanks to Professor Kostas Kotsakis, who from the beginning embraced the subject of my study and throughout its course guided me with his astute interventions, mainly on matters of ceramic technology. I thank Professor Michalis Tiverios for his confidence in me and his boundless support, as well as for kindly agreeing to be one of the three examiners of my doctoral thesis. I am most grateful to Professor Petros Themelis, not only because he so generously and willingly allowed me to study the material of storage vases from ancient Messene, but also because he taught me first hand the methodology of excavation research. My collaboration with him in the excavation seasons, as well as during the whole time I was working on my thesis, was exemplary and an inexhaustible source of learning for me. To Professor Panos Valavanis I owe my love of Archaeology. His truly spellbinding classes armed me with passion and patience in my researches into the past, while his love and trust in me personally gave me strength in many difficult professional moments. To Professor Yanis Pikoulas I owe my love of fieldwork. His classes in historical topography

My involvement with pottery research began in 1987, when I was a first-year student in the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Athens. At that time I started to work concurrently as a volunteer in the then newly-founded Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery. At university and through my participation in excavations in the following years, pottery captured my interest, especially utilitarian or domestic pottery, in other words, vases for everyday use. I consider myself most fortunate that from early on (1989), the President of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery, Betty Psaropoulou, entrusted me to conduct fieldwork on the history and the technology of recent pottery in many parts of Greece. In the course of these research missions I came to realize how important human choices were in pottery production, at all stages in the making procedure. I became aware of the role of the vase-maker’s skill and of how the slightest differentiation in a manipulation had significant effects on the final creation. I ascertained also the potters’ insistence on the traditions that their craft had established in each region and the conditions that may generate a differentiation or a change in the technical procedures of making a vase. Above all, however, the research into recent pottery and the conversations with many elderly vase-makers all over Greece taught me the important role a series of factors relating to the social, historical, political and ideological structures of a society play in the creation of an artefact, factors that are difficult to detect in the artefact whose form and function they have determined. When I began publishing the findings of various researches, alone or in collaboration with worthy young colleagues, I was struck by the absence from the Greek bibliography of studies concerning the history of vases for everyday use, ancient and recent, and mainly of studies negotiating the technology of such vases. At the same time, we purposefully adopted a diachronic approach in our studies and always examined the vasemaking activity of a region contextually, incorporated in its historical, social and ideological environment. The fieldwork I conducted on behalf of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery in 1993, in which we recorded the technology of the storage vases of the Gulf of Messenia, was the launching pad for my further involvement with the study of storage vases in many parts of Greece. My participation for three consecutive seasons in the excavation of ancient Messene and my researches in the field throughout Messenia, in order to record recent storage vases and horse-powered oil presses, led to the creation of a database of ancient and recent material that lent itself to a diachronic study. Last, the lack of any analogous study on storage vases, primarily pithoi, which do not display the same degree of differentiation over time 19

Mimika Giannopoulou

were among my best experiences in archaeological research, not only for the knowledge I acquired but also for the opportunity they gave me to learn the methodology of fieldwork and the skills of communication with the people from whom ‘we fish’ memories of the past. I thank my colleagues in the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery, Irene Gratsia and Eleni Papathoma, for their indefatigable collaboration during the many years we strove together to enhance the importance of research into recent pottery, and we stood together united against all the external and internal troubles we faced. My true teacher in pottery technology was the renowned ceramicist Myrto Manganari. Her friendship and her eagerness to transmit her knowledge to me truly honour me, and I thank her especially. The contribution of my colleague Evangelia Kiriatzi in preparing the present work was significant, not only because she undertook so willingly and gratuitously to carry out the petrographic analyses of the samples, but also because the spirit of comradeship and collaboration engendered between us was truly remarkable. Her vast experience on issues of pottery technology and her concern to help me at every stage in the project were truly touching and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. Warm thanks are due to the geologist at the Institute for Geological and Mineral Research (IGM), Panagiotis Tsombos, which had confidence straight away in the research in the Gulf of Messenia and gratuitously visited the region to carry out the geological commentary. It was he who referred me to his commendable colleagues at IGME, Eleni Konstantinidou and Ioanna Mataraga, to carry out the petrographic analysis of clay samples from the region. Thanks to their readiness to help at this level, this material was processed and the report by Eleni Konstantinidou is included in the present work. Fieldwork in the Gulf of Messenia would not have been possible without the people who worked on and believed in the idea of reviving the ‘tzares’. Nancy Fanouriou was protagonist in this effort, making available her land for building the kiln and meeting the expenses of its construction. Antonis Rembelos from Komboi made the ‘tzares’, and despite the problems he faced with his ill wife and his advanced age, had faith in the venture and struggled hard to bring it to fruition. Yanis Papamikroulis from Charokopio, an old ‘keramidas’ (tiler), built the kiln, carried the clay, water and fuel, and was present during all the procedures, giving solutions to the diverse problems that arose. Christos Vasilopoulos, ‘jack of all trades’, participated in all the tasks and facilitated us in every conceivable way throughout the project. In addition to our thanks, we owe them more than words can say. Many people contributed, each in his/her own way, to the research in the Gulf of Messenia: my colleague Anna Kakadiari helped me at all stages in recording the vase-making procedures; architect Giorgos Servetiadis gratuitously made measured drawings of the kiln and the workshop in which the tasks took place; the elderly vase-makers Giorgos Bournias, Stamatis Sarris, Nikolaos Tsikinis, Giorgos Dokolas and Thanasis Kanellopoulos

gave of their time and patience in answering a barrage of questions. My dear colleague Nikos Liaros, who originates from Komboi, took part, from the first moment, in all phases of fieldwork, while later, in Athens, he helped me resolve various issues that emerged during the processing of the material. He also drew the sherds of ‘tzares’ and provided me with valuable photographs of the building of a kiln in the Gulf of Messenia. I thank him wholeheartedly. At the stage of gathering the special bibliography on ceramic technology essential was the assistance of my dear friend and colleague Douska Urem-Kostou, who always gave me a warm welcome on my visits to Thessaloniki. I thank her for everything. I also thank my colleague Alexandra Mari for eagerly helping me with whatever I asked. My thanks are addressed also to Vasilis Kilikoglou for initiating me into the world of Archaeometry and frequently enlightening me on technological issues, and to Yanis Maniatis, who without a second thought gave me access to his unpublished work on the pithoi of Pylia and granted permission to use data from it in the present study. Writing a doctoral dissertation is a lonely, lengthy and laborious process, during which one is often overcome by anxiety and disappointment. It is important at such moments to enjoy the support and encouragement of family and friends, whose contribution cannot be easily assessed and expressed in words. I feel truly blessed that during the stage of writing up I had the steadfast support of my friends, Christos Kouris, Grigoris Theodoridis, Nikos Anagnostopoulos and Maria Chasopoulou. Decisive at all stages in the fieldwork in the Gulf of Messenia – which he recorded audio-visually – was the presence of my friend and long-standing collaborator Tasos Bellas. Without him I would have thrown in the sponge many times. It is he who also undertook the electronic layout and pagination of the present publication. I owe him my deepest gratitude for years of support and confidence in my work, and for his always unconditional assistance, offered at the expense of his own needs and obligations. For the augmentation and updating of the study, for its publication by BAR, I am grateful to Professor Christos Doumas for making available photographs of pithoi from Akrotiri on Thera, to Christos Boulotis for information and photographs from his excavation at Koukonisi on Lemnos, to archaeologist Irene Nikolakopoulou for sending her own studies on the pithoi at Akrotiri on Thera, and to Konstantinos Christakis for generously allowing me to use material from his important studies on Minoan pithoi and storage. I am grateful to the Photographic Archive of the National Archaeological Museum and its head Eleni Morati, and in particular to the Museum’s photographer Irene Mieri for photographing the pithoi in the Museum, as well as for digitalizing and processing part of the illustrations. I am also grateful to my colleague and friend Kostas Pasxalidis for his valuable help in bibliographical issues. Last, I thank Polyxeni Adam-Veleni for making available material from Hellenistic pithoi at Petra in Florina, Effie Poulaki for material from Agroikies, the farmsteads of Platamona, Argiro Doulgeri-Intzesiloglou

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

for material from Kallithiro in Karditsa, and Angeliki Kottaridi for the pithos from Rizomata in Pieria. For the translation from Greek to English, I thank most sincerely Alexandra Doumas, not only for her accurate rendering of the text but also for her collaboration and understanding of practical matters. My warmest thanks must be addressed to the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Ambassador Louka Τsila and the Directors Amalia Kosmetatou and and the Director Efi Tsiotsiou for the financial support in my research.

In my scholarly pursuits my husband Nikos Xynos always gives me his abundant love and boundless support, succeeding in reducing my anxiety and insecurity. I thank him with all my heart. The present work is dedicated to my parents, Panagiotis and Phani, and especially to my mother, whose strength and kindness taught me that these two qualities can be combined and are a person’s legacy. Above all, however, her difficult and arduous life taught me to struggle honestly and to strive for the best.

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction I. RESEARCH ON POTTERY TECHNOLOGY

dealt with also as a social phenomenon. This means that an anthropological study of technology is applied, placing emphasis on how technologies can be understood as cultural choices dependent on the social, economic and ideological framework of a society.11 This approach is necessary because it is the only way of ascertaining the complexity of man’s relations with even the simplest technical processes. Given that the adopted techniques-practices are attuned to the social organization of each group and its worldview, people attach importance to certain elements of their technical systems. And last, every technical element has its own place in the everyday praxis and in the symbolic systems of a society.12 For example, a storage vase – as negotiated also in the present study – is not made simply to serve some utilitarian needs of storage, as in a society there are specific concepts in general on what storage is, who does it and what ideology it serves. So, the way in which a storage jar is made reflects and perpetuates these concepts, and each change in the making of storage vases stimulates changes in the existing storage practice or is associated with changes taking place in a society at an economic and a cultural level. The work of Leroi-Gourhan, who argued that every technique is characterized by a chaine operatoire, a series of operations that include a series of choices in time, constitutes a seminal contribution to the anthropological study of technology. This series of choices is the foundation of a society’s technology and is reflected in all aspects of its material culture, from daily tasks to organization of space.13 The production of any vase demands of its creator, that is, the potter/vase-maker, to make specific choices in the materials, the tools, the manufacturing techniques, etc., he uses. Thus, every pottery creation is the outcome of a series of choices made between alternative techniques.14 The choices made as chaines operatoires during a vase’s life concern the raw materials, the tools, the way in which it is made, the use, the distribution, the exchange networks, the disuse and, in some cases, its reuse.15 They are influenced by the environment, the level of technological knowledge and, of course, the economic, social, political and ideological framework of the social organization in each case.16

1. The theoretical framework Since the closing decades of the twentieth century, Archaeology, and specifically the study of pottery, has being trying to go beyond the simple description of the artifacts found in excavations as material documents of past societies, and to understand, through studying their technology, the people who created them.1 In studying human history, it is important for us to appreciate the long, slow process of learning the procedures that produce artifacts. In accordance with new research orientations, three research fields are distinguished in pottery studies: technology, use and style. Technology concentrates on re-synthesizing the techniques and analysing the raw materials;2 use looks at vase as tools and focuses on their morphological features and physical properties;3 style is understood as the characteristic way of performing an action and as the agent of codified messages, which is determined by the surface features of a vase, such as the decoration4. Result of this distinction is the focusing of scholarly interest on one or a combination of two of the above categories, that is, technology is linked more with the use of analytical methods and is treated statically, or it is combined with the study of use,5 or technology is linked with style,6 or style is confronted as something completely different from technology.7 The ‘ceramic ecology’ approach, founded by F. Matson8 and D.E. Arnold,9 and the ‘function and use’ approach10 focus respectively on the effect of environmental conditions on technological procedures, and on the relationship between the physical characteristics of a vase and its use. The above views are no longer considered adequate for studying pottery technology, as they examine only some facets of the issue, ignoring its social, economic, political, ideological and symbolic framework. On the basis of the most recent approaches of archaeologists and anthropologists to pottery technology, technology is 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Orton -Tyers -Vince1993, 30-31; Van der Leeuw-Pritchard 1990, 238; Kingery 1984, 171; Van der Leeuw 1981, 361. (The footnote bibliography in the text is cited according to the importance of a reference and not chronologically). Shepard 1985. Hally 1986, 267-295; Braun 1983, 107-134. Stark 1998, 4; Dietler-Herbich 1998; Sterner 1989, 451-459; David-Sterner-Gavua 1988, 378; Lemonnier 1986, 148; Van der Leeuw-Pritchard 1984, 7. Bronitsky-Hamer 1986; Braun 1983; Skibo 1992; Steponaitis 1984. Kingery 1986. Wright 1986, 1-20. Matson 1972. Arnold 1985. Skibo 1992; Skibo- Feynman 1999.

11 12 13 14 15 16

23

Whitbread 2001, 449; Kiriatzi-Day-Wilson 2000, 108; Kiriatzi 1999; Kotsakis 1999; Pfaffenberger 1992, 502; Hegmon 1998, 275; Lemonnier 1990, 28; Lemonnier 1986, 180. Pfaffenberger 1988, 239; Pfaffenberger 1988, 249; Skibo- Feynman 1999,2. Stark 1998, 5; Lemonnier 1986, 148-149. Sillar-Tite 2000, 3; Kiriatzi 2000, 16; Van der Leeuw-Pritchard 1990, 240. Sillar-Tite 2000, 6. Whitbread 2001, 449; Sillar-Tite 2000, 4, 7; Day-Wilson-Kiriatzi 1997, 275; Hosler 1996, 81.

Mimika Giannopoulou

Ethnographic researches on pottery technology also enhance the role of the personal choices of the vasemakers, who, acting within a technological tradition, are able to intervene consciously or unconsciously in various stages of the production process.17 The choices made18 and how people comprehend materials and procedures through their social experience19 are decisive for the nature and the shape of the product, its durability/longevity, etc. For specific choices to be made means that alternative solutions exist for each consideration, and therefore the choice made and the choice not made should be investigated, as well as how people choose, what determines their preferences and the reasons for these preferences. Nonetheless, as many ethnographic and ethno-archaeological researches show –the present study included–, each craftsman uses only a limited part of the technical possibilities, usually those he has learnt traditionally from other fellow craftsmen. Technological traditions are very strong in the sector of pottery; as the present study demonstrates, in the making of storage vases in recent times (19th-20th c.), in every production centre in Greece, habits and technological practices dating back hundreds of years were followed. That which differentiates in time has more to do with the style of the vases, which concerns external characteristics that are influenced directly by wider cultural changes. However, every technological tradition constitutes also a ‘technological style’, in which the vase-makers live and work, and which reflects consciously and unconsciously elements of their technological choices. The ‘technological style’, which is placed at the base of the chaine operatoire,20 summarizes the concepts of a social group on the ‘social value’ of pottery.21 Another issue bearing on the discussion on technological choices and ‘technological style’, and which influences the formation of both, is the organization of pottery production and the degree of specialization in this22. The organization of pottery production can depend in part on the raw materials available and the technical qualifications of the people, as well as on the economy and the social organization of a society. Specialization in general is characterized by the production of goods by one social group which does not make them solely for its own consumption, but to distribute to third parties. Specialization is defined more as an economic phenomenon and is associated with standardized products, increased production and efficient techniques. 23 Last, the organization of production and specialization are studied through the triptych: standardization, labour investment and skill. Standardization has been linked with the intensification of production24 and with the geographical concentration 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Sillar-Tite 2000, 10. Gosselain 1998, 87-89, Gosselain 1992a, 578. Van der Leeuw-Pritchard 1990, 241. Dietler-Herbich 1998, 237. Sillar-Tite 2000, 8-10; Stark 1998, 6; Crompton 1997, 418; Kotsakis 1983, 180; Gosselain 1992a, 583; Cullen 1985,77-100. Rice 1984a; Kotsakis 1983; Clark-Parry 1990; Costin 1991. Clark 1995, 267-294; Sinopoli 1991; Arnold 1985, 225-237; Kotsakis 1983, 208-216. Kotsakis 1983; Costin 1991.

of producers, and is studied on the basis of the shape or the decoration of the vases, and in many cases through a combination of external and technological features of a vase, as well as in relation to the organization of production and the mechanisms of exchange, consumption and rejection of the vases.25 Standardization, as will be seen also in the results of the present research, is not covered fully by the definitions to date, since, as the case of the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia shows, standardization can exist even when absolute morphological similarity in the quantities of pottery produced does not exist. Labour investment concerns the time the potter spends on making the vases and is linked with the investment of time in learning the technique and in the social and economic value of the objects.26 We have to be very careful in evaluating labour investment. For example, many people who study pottery have maintained that the application of the wheel technique demands more time to learn the technique and more time to apply it than the ‘coil’ technique. The present study argues that this is not so, at least in the case of making storage vases by ‘coil’ technique, because this is an equally persistent, fatiguing and time-consuming process. This may apply when small vases are made by ‘coil’ technique. The potter’s skill is reflected in the final result, through the presence or absence of flaws and the correct execution of simple or complex techniques of decoration, manufacture, firing, etc. Evaluation of this parameter in studying pottery is in most cases subjective, since the intensification or not of production should not be linked with the existence or not of skill. The study of the technology of storage vases in Greece, on the basis of archaeological and ethnographic research, is made in the framework of the parameters discussed above, that is, the technology is not examined independently and in isolation, but as a chaine operatoire relating to the technological choices, the technological traditions and the ‘technological style’ within which the makers of storage vases operated in different parts of Greece and in different periods. Mainly, however, an attempt is made to detect the reasons behind specific choices and processes, and the reasons why some processes live on in time and others are abandoned. The technology of storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia in recent times is presented in the context of the natural environment of the region and its historical background, and in relation to the socio-economic, cultural and ideological milieu. The ascertainments resulting from this approach are intended to function as a model for examining the same issue in earlier periods, by enhancing the complexity of relations between technology, use, style, standardization, specialization, skill, and so on, as well as social, economic and ideological parameters. 2. The ethno-archaeological approach Ethno-archaeology and experimental archaeology are established methods for examining the complexity of 25 26

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Kiriatzi 2000, 22-23. Costin 1991.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

relations between material culture and human behaviour. The combination of both can be effective for understanding pottery technology.27 Many scholars have argued, rightly, that without the contribution of experimental archaeology, ethno-archaeology and archaeometry, it is highly unlikely that the study of technological behaviour would have developed and been taken into account in archaeological inquiry. In reality, archaeologists started to become interested in technological processes when methods permitted them to recognize the processes hidden behind the artifacts.28 Other scholars have focused on studying the technology of all types of pottery, in combination with ethnographic studies on the same subject. The more technology was confronted in its social framework, the more the processes that followed it or were hidden behind the processes of its production were brought to the epicentre of research,29 while in 1980 even more ethno-archaeological researches commenced.30 London, in her ethno-archaeological studies of Cypriot pottery, argues that the ethno-archaeological approach helps to detect the mechanisms that influenced the differentiation of the pottery form and its treatment. Uniformity or differentiation in pottery offers documentation not only of the manufacturing tradition, but also of the economic and social catalysts that signal changes in pottery.31 Hampe and Winter,32 Matson,33 and Blitzer,34 were the first to use ethno-archaeological approaches and primarily ethno-archaeological researches to the study of ancient Greek pottery, while the majority of Greek and foreign archaeologists cite ethnographic parallels in their studies of ancient Greek pottery of various periods. In her recent studies on prehistoric pottery workshops, Despoina ChatziVallianou correlates characteristics of pottery workshops from the prehistoric farmstead at Pitsidia Pyrgiotissis with recent Cretan workshops, and notes striking similarities in the setting up and the technology of the wheels, in the arrangement of workshop space, and so on.35 Demesticha, in her study of the manufacture of Cypriot amphorae, combines information from the archaeological material with techniques of twentieth-century vases with similar characteristics.36 Last, the ethno-archaeological approach to the study of pottery, which includes direct observation and study of the variety in pottery production and distribution, and their relation with human behaviour and organization in living societies, makes a valuable contribution. Moreover, by testing the methods of physical 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Orton-Tyers-Vince 1993, 17; 113, Vitelli 1994, 143-148; SkiboFeynman 1999, 27-29; Rice 1984b, 247; Miller 1985,15; RenfrewBahn 2001, 193, 321. Tite 1999, 225; Dietler-Herbich 1998, 237; Efstratiou 1987, 479; Efstratiou 1988, 159-174. Orton-Tyers-Vince 1993, 15; Arnold - Neff - Bishop 1994. Longacre 1991, 4-6; Skibo- Feynman 1999, 29; Longacre 1991, 1-2, 4; Skibo 1992, 36; Kanta 1983,155; Henrickson - McDonald 1983. London 1989, 228. Hampe-Winter 1962, 1965. Matson 1972. Blitzer 1984, 1990. Chatzi-Vallianou 1995, 1035-1059. Demesticha 1998, 141, 145.

examination on ethnographic material, we monitor the validity of the results of these methods when we apply them to archaeological material.37 In addition to the above, the ethno-archaeological approach to pottery research and the conducting of ethnographic research help us not only to solve archaeological problems but also to ask questions about the technology and the use of pottery, which we could not possibly have thought of, let alone asked, by examining the archaeological material alone. Last, today especially, the need of ethno-archaeology is imperative because ‘traditional’ societies are vanishing rapidly and it is urgent that they be studied.38 The many years of research by the author and by other colleagues on recent pottery in Greece has verified this ascertainment, since rapid socio-economic changes, disappearance of all material remains and, of course, of human testimony are observed. The ethno-archaeological approach to the study of recent Greek pottery throughout Greece was applied from 1990 onwards in the research projects of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery.39 The present study used ethno-archaeological research in order to understand the technology of storage vases and generally of all the parameters surrounding it, mainly for a specific space, the region of Messenia. However, this approach is followed throughout the work, using in all thematic units the findings of ethnographic and archaeological researches. The author’s research and study of the ancient and the recent pottery sample in Messenia was combined with analytical techniques to determine the ceramic fabric and the information concealed in its formation, so as to obtain the fullest possible assessment of the subject. 3. Analytical techniques Experimental archaeology includes analytical techniques that focus on studying the provenance of materials, the manner of their processing, and their physical and mechanical properties,40 which determine the place of manufacture, the degree of technical know-how and the choices made by the vase-makers at different moments in time, and create a database for comparisons over time.41 The sub-disciplines of ceramic petrology and petrography have been established for studying and characterizing the composition and structure of the ceramic fabric42. Study of sherds of storage vases from ancient Messene and from the area of the Gulf of Messenia, using analytical 37 38 39 40 41 42

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Tite 1999, 181-233; Arnold 1972, 93-95. Longacre 1991, 10. Giannopoulou - Kiriatzi 2008, Giannopoulou 2002a-b, 2001a-b; 1999; 1998a-b; 1997; 1996; 1995; Giannopoulou - Demesticha 2008; Gratsia 1999. Whitbread 2001, 450; Bronitsky - Hamer 1986, 89-101; SkiboFeynman 1999, 3; Skibo 1992, 30. Rice 1987, 165; Arnold 1972, 93; Arnold 1991, 363-370; Rice1987,165. For analytical presentation of the methods of petrography see Kiriatzi 2000, 43-51. Whitbread 2001, 451; Tite 1999, 181-233; Day-Kiriatzi-Tsolakidou-Kilikoglou 1999, 1025-1036; Day 1989, 139-147; Bishop-Rands-Holley 1982, 281, 285.

Mimika Giannopoulou

techniques, was judged essential because these methods make it possible: • to locate sources of provenance of the raw materials of the ancient samples and, therefore, their place of manufacture; • to ascertain the differentiation in the ceramic fabric of the ancient and the recent samples, and whether this is associated with different time periods; • to verify the macroscopic observations in ancient and recent storage vases for the addition of non-plastic materials (temper); • to establish the differentiation in the proportions of the various kinds of clays, depending on the sizes of the vases; • to detect the properties of the raw materials and through their use in specific proportions, and thus to evaluate the technological choices of the vase-makers; • to ascertain the firing temperature, which plays a major role in the final durability of the vases and in the evaluation of the technical knowhow; • to evaluate the degree of technical know-how in the making of the ancient and the recent storage jars (pithoi) of Messenia. In preparing the present study of storage vases, we opted for the method of thin-section petrographic analysis, because this is the most appropriate for studying ‘coarse’ ware,43 since it is possible to detect the non-plastic materials (temper) that are added intentionally to the clay fabric of storage vases, which, as the present study demonstrates, is diachronically a specific technological behaviour. Samples for the analyses, which were made in the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens, were supplied from storage vases of ancient Messene and from recent storage vases from the area of the Gulf of Messenia. The samples of the latter were fewer because, due to fieldwork carried out in the area and its geological profiling, the sources of the raw materials, as well as the methods and the proportions of their mixing and processing were known. This material was also subjected to refiring, in order to answer questions relating to pyrotechnology. For the accurate evaluation of the technological choices made by the vase-makers in the Gulf of Messenia and of their technical know-how in manufacturing storage vases of various sizes, it was judged essential to make also mineralogical and petrographic analyses of clay samples from the area of the Gulf of Messenia, which were used in the past for making storage vases. The samples were studied in the laboratories of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME), using the methods of examination under a polarizing microscope and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and infra-red analysis (IR), in order to distinguish and determine the argillaceous minerals. 43

Tite 1999, 181-233.

II.

RESEARCH ON STORAGE VASES

1.

History of research

Many researchers have dealt with the subject of storage in general (see chapter 2,I), 44 but not with the ways of storage, one of which was, already in prehistoric times, the storage of produce in vases. Indeed, special studies referring to the technology of storage vases in any period are virtually non-existent. The finding of pithoi at a site is an indication that this is an organized settlement, and the study of these vases is considered very important for the study of the economy, domestic and public, particularly for the prehistoric period, for which there is no other evidence except material remains. Furthermore, as will be argued in the chapters to come, study of the pithoi which, on account of their weight and size are difficult to move and were usually made in proximity to the settlements, helps in the general evaluation of the technical know-how on pottery making at a site. E.M. Boggess is one of the very few researchers to have prepared a dissertation on the subject of Attic pithoi, which constitute the largest known group of storage vases.45 Another recent work is Irene Nikolakopoulou’s thesis on the pithoi of Thera.46 D. Pilidis, in her thesis on Cypriot pithoi, primarily of the Bronze Age, uses in addition to the archaeological material examples from recent Cypriot pottery, drawing parallels on technological matters. Samples of her material were studied by analytical techniques, in order to determine the provenance of the raw materials and the place of production of the pithoi.47 S. Christakis has dealt extensively with the subject of Bronze Age pithoi in Crete, particularly in conjunction with the system of production, distribution and storage in the Neopalatial period on the island.48 E. Kyriatizis discusses the technology of the Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki, in her doctoral dissertation on the LBA pottery in general from that site.49 E. Simantoni-Bournia has dealt with the relief pithoi of Naxos and Siphnos, focusing on the interpretation of the decoration of these vases.50 J. Cullen and D. Keller negotiate the diachronic use of pithoi in a long article.51 G. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou has dealt with the funerary pithoi of Achaea and Eleia, and their dating.52 Henrickson focuses on pithoi and compares pithoimaking in different pottery traditions.53 Ch. Bakirtzis, in his monograph on Byzantine domestic pottery, devotes a special chapter to pithoi in the Byzantine Age.54 There 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54

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Christakis 1999, 2-3; Kotsakis 1992, 131; Björk 1995, 114; D’ Altroy-Earle 1985,190; Halstead-O’Shea 1982, 98. Boggess 1989, 1970. Nikolakopoulou 2002. Pilides 2000a, Pilides 2000b. Christakis 2008; Christakis 2005; Christakis 1999, 1-20; Christakis 1996, 63-74. Kiriatzi 2000. Simantoni-Bournia 1998, 371-400; Simantoni-Bournia 1990. Cullen-Keller 1990, 183-209. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 351-362. Henrickson 1995, 553-572. Bakirtzis 1989.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

are, of course, references to pithoi in a host of excavation reports and studies.55 Storage vases of recent times (19th-20th century) and the technique of making them have been examined systematically by M. Vogiatzoglou in her study of Cretan pottery, 56 and by H. Blitzer mainly with regard to the trade of Messenian storage vases,57 while there are references to storage vases in more general studies on recent pottery.58 The author’s involvement with pottery studies began in 1986, with essays on Geometric pottery while at the University of Athens, with inventorying ancient and recent vases in the excavation of ancient Messene, in which she took part for three consecutive seasons (1989-1993), and with work at the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery (1987-2001). Between 1989 and 2001, the author carried out research all over Greece: Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Crete, Gulf of Messenia, Volos, Thrace, Aegina, Skopelos, Thasos, Siphnos and elsewhere. In each place the research included collecting oral testimonies on the basis of a special questionnaire, taking measured drawings of spaces, vases and tools, photographic documentation, as well as audiovisual in some cases, collecting samples of raw materials and searches in the archives of communities, municipalities and libraries. The documentation amassed was stored by subject in special electronic databases, while an attempt was made to collect the relevant bibliography on the pottery of each region through time. From the very first research efforts it became clear that the recent material, mainly in the study of pottery technology, offers invaluable information for the study of ancient pottery. This ascertainment led to a series of corresponding studies examining diachronically various subjects which were not always restricted to the technology of the pottery but concerned issues of typology, customs, trade and so on.59 Concurrently, in 1993 the author began attending and organizing a special seminar on techniques of making, decorating and firing vases diachronically, as well as theoretical classes on general issues of the history and technology of pottery. The specific focus on the technology of pottery diachronically, through studies and conference papers, began in 1994, after research in the Gulf of Messenia.60 Research in this area in 1993 was decisive for this specialization, since during its course it became apparent that hidden in the technology of pottery are all the choices, thoughts and, in the last analysis, the mentality of the people who produce and use pottery. 55

56 57 58 59 60

Pullen 2000; Day 1988; Betancourt 1985; Lewis 1983; Wiencke 1970, etc. Among the very few archaeometric studies on ancient pithoi is the unpublished work by Photou, Maniatis and Philippakis on samples of Early Helladic and Middle Helladic pithoi from the area of Pylia, see Photou – Maniatis –Philippakis (forthcoming). Vogiatzoglou 1972. Blitzer 1990. Ionas 2000; Giannopoulou 1998; Giannopoulou 1995; Psaropoulou 1987/8; Jones 1986; Matson 1972; Hampe-Winter 1962. Papathoma 2001; Giannopoulou-Gratsia 2000, 75-93. Giannopoulou (forthcoming)b; Giannopoulou 2007, 2001; 1999; 1998a-b; 1997; 1996; 1995.

In 1996 the author, together with another colleague, archaeologist Stella Demesticha, began extensive research in southern Chios, aimed at recording and dating the Medieval storage vases made without a wheel. This project lasted two years.61 Since 2003 research has been focused on the pithoi of the Hellenistic period in relation to contemporary economy, the main material being the pithoi from agroikies (farm houses) and closed from nothern Greece.62 2.

Description of the object of research

Even though names of many types of vases are known from Antiquity, these names are rarely linked with specific shapes. Moreover, very often more than one name was used for one type of vase. The same is true of storage vases and pithoi. From the studies to date it has not been possible to give a classification and an accurate onomatology of the ancient storage vases. Very few researchers have given a definition of storage vases, among them Bjork, who for the Neolithic Age characterizes as storage vases those which: 1. are big enough to hold between 5 and 50 litres of produce; 2. whose shape is generally closed and simple for easy access to the stored produce: such vases are frequently called jars; 3. whose quality is such that they can withstand possible physical pressures and chemical reactions of their content.63 In publications of ancient pottery and excavation reports, a large category of vases of closed shape with wide rim, of assorted sizes and uses, are called jars by the excavators, while storage vases of large dimensions are called pithoi. It appears from relevant studies that each researcher and excavator makes the distinction between jar and pithos on the basis of different criteria, which fact complicates the effort to distinguish storage vases into categories and to create a collective catalogue. Nevertheless, all researches mean by the term pithos storage vase of large size,64 (the dolia of Romans)65 even though they do not make clear what size, that is, to what dimensions and capacity the term corresponds.66 Vases that differ in size, shape and processing of the external surface are called by the excavators pithoi, e.g. vases 50 to 70 cm high with handles, even vases 1.75 m. high without handles.67 Cullen and Keller call large jars pithoi, without defining shapes and sizes of vases corresponding to this name68. Boggess calls large, wide-mouthed storage jars pithoi and distinguishes them from kadoi, characteristic wide-mouthed low vases for water, with globular body 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

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Giannopoulou-Demesticha 2008, 189-194. Giannopoulou (forthcoming)a, Giannopoulou 2006. Björk 1995, 115. Tiverios 1996, 18; Valavanis - Kourkoumelis 1996, 16; Tournavitou 1995, 69. As demonstrated by G. Pikoulas the barrel (cupa or cupula) is an object unkown to ancient Greece, and appears during early Christian times (Pikoulas 2001, 79-87). Kanowski 1984. Goldman 1931, 32. Cullen-Keller 1990, 183-184.

Mimika Giannopoulou

and handles, and from amphorae, characteristic feature of which is the narrow neck and small rim.69 The term pithos is used in the same way by Noble, who in his distinction of the vases mentions their use for storing large quantities of wine, water, fruits, etc.70 Betancourt, in his study in Late Minoan I pottery, calls pithoi the biggest vases, which are always handmade.71 Furumark uses the term pithoid jars for the category of storage vases of height 60 cm. to 1 m. 72 Mountjoy, in her studies on Mycenaean pottery, uses the term jar for large storage vases, although smaller than pithoi, but again without defining the dimensions.73 This is also the case for Kiriatzi, Andreou, Dimitriadis and Kotsakis for LH I and LH II material from Macedonia.74 Pilides, in her study of the Late Bronze Age Cypriot pithoi includes in the category with the general term pithoi the following categories of vases: 1. globular storage vases with short neck, wide rim and height up to 80 cm.; 2. storage vases with long neck and height from 70 cm. to 1.2-1.5 m.; 3. storage vases of large capacity and with very thick walls, of height up to 2 m. Under the general name pithoi and for all three categories of these storage vases, the distinction is made on the basis of their use. Pithoi of the first category are considered to be intended for everyday and immediate use, those of the second category for long-term storage, and those of the third for public storage.75 The distinction of categories of vases on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic examination of their ceramic fabric has appeared only recently in publications of ancient pottery. In such studies, a distinction is made between pithoi and storage vases generally under the overall name ‘jars’, but again without specifying the dimensions and the capacity of these vases.76 In the publication of the prehistoric material from surface survey on the acropolis of Elaia in the southern Argolid, the pottery is classified on the basis of the material from which it is made. According to this criterion, a special category of vases named pithos is distinguished, which corresponds to vases made of coarse-grained material with many small irregular calcareous inclusions.77 In another publication, again of material from the Argolid, there is a category named jars, referring to sherds of storage vases whose ceramic fabric contains quartz and volcanic minerals, and in some cases limestone.78 According to Christakis definition pithoi are pots over 50 cm in height, of various shapes, namely ovoid, globular, piriform, barrel, conical 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78

Boggess 1989, 211. Noble 1965, 15. Betancourt 1985: 127. Furumark 1972, 587. Mountjoy 1993, 92. Kiriatzi-Andreou-Dimitriadis-Kotsakis 1997, 364. Pilides 1996, 107-113. Kiriatzi 2000. Pullen 2000, 142. Runnels-Pullen-Langdom 1995, 16.

and tub, made of coarse and semicoarse fabric.79 Unfortunately, neither epigraphic nor literary sources of Antiquity define the storage vases of different size. The name pithos occurs in ancient texts, while there are many depictions of pithoi in Attic – mainly black-figure – vasepainting and very few representations in sculpture and the minor arts.80 The word is encountered from the Homeric epics to the Middle Ages, to define large storage jars.81 Although this term was used generally for a large storage vase, other terms also referring to large storage vases in antiquity are pithakne and phidakne (Attic version of pithakne), which appear in the late fifth century BC and were possibly used of vases of larger capacity than pithoi.82 The words phenaknis, pithaknis, pithaknion and pitharion also appear as names for storage vases in ancient texts. The words pithaknis and pithaknion denote storage vases smaller than the pithos, and the second occurs in texts of the fourth century BC. The words pithos, pitharion and pithopoulon are found in Byzantine texts, with reference to the Byzantines’ storage jar par excellence.83 Bakirtzis makes a pertinent distinction between vases named pithos and those named pithari, arguing that pithoi are the large storage vases that were placed in cellars/ storerooms, the pitheones, and were not moved from their position, while pitharia were storage vases of the same shape but smaller size, which were moveable.84 An essential clarification that should be made at this point is that the general category named pithoi includes vases of a wide typology and capacity, the use of which was never confined –from the moment they appear in archaeological research– solely to the storage of goods. Pithoi of the same types, capacity and ceramic fabric were used in various periods for burials, in manufacturing activities (bronze-working, textile processing, olive-oil production), as votive offerings in sanctuaries, for collecting water, as beehives, wellheads, in religious rituals and festivals, even as containers for smaller vases which were for sale. The multiplicity of uses of pithoi, the longevity of these vases and the difficulty in moving them are observed diachronically by all excavators and are not doubted by any researcher (see chapter 2II). In recent pottery the distinction between large storage vases is easier, since the main workshops producing them, in Greece and Cyprus, had different names for storage vases of different size, and very often of different uses. The nomenclature of vases of capacity up to 200 kg. varies from place to place, with the commonest names being tzares, tzareta (Ionian Islands), kioupia and kouroupia in many regions, brounies (Kythnos), vytines (Thessaly, Skyros, and elsewhere), and so on. Vases of capacity in excess of 200 kg are named pitharia or pithoi all over Greece but were not made everywhere, because their making demanded special technical know-how. Indeed, 79 80 81 82 83 84

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Christakis 2008, 12. Boggess 1989, 211, 250-270. For mention of the word in ancient texts and inscriptions see Boggess 1989, 219-248 and Cullen –Keller 1990, 200-205. Boggess 1989, 213. Bakirtzis 1989, 110. Bakirtzis 1989, 110.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

very often in recent pottery too some general terms hold sway for large-capacity storage vases, usually pitharia, pithoi, tzares or kioupia. In one of the biggest production centres of storage vases in recent times, the Gulf of Messenia, storage vases of capacity over 250 kg. were called pitharia. These were not glazed and usually were not moved from their original place of installation. Their height ranged from 95 cm. to 1.60 m. and the diameter of the rim from 45 to 55 cm. while the maximum diameter was between 85 cm. and 1.40 m. Storage vases of capacity from 100 to 250 kg. were called tzares. Their height ranged from 65 cm. to 1 m., rim diameter from 30 to 45 cm., and maximum diameter from 55 to 95 cm. Storage vases of smaller size were named, depending on their use, bombakia, limbes and trichera pitharopoula (see chapter 4, II2). In Crete, also a major production centre for storage vases, vases of more than 200 kg. capacity were called pitharia, those of 100-200 kg. capacity boumbouroi and those of 50-70 kg. capacity pitharakia, while vases of comparable dimensions to the last but for specific uses were called melopithara, roumbakia, etc. The difficulty in giving a precise definition of storage vases on the basis primarily of their dimensions and capacity was ascertained during the stage of collecting the archaeological material for the present study, which, as its title declares, deals diachronically with the technology of storage vases made without the use of the potter’s wheel. The present dissertation includes basically two categories of storage vases: tzares (jars) and, mainly, pithoi, which are easier to identify in excavations than are the other storage vases. In this study the term pithoi means storage vases of various shapes and uses, of over 150-200 kg. in capacity, while jars means storage vases of various shapes and uses, of 100-200 kg. in capacity. The dimensions corresponding to these capacities vary but, generally speaking, coincide with those given above for the vases from the Gulf of Messenia. The categories of these storage vases are also those which were made without the use of a wheel. In the recent period, in the workshops where storage vases of such sizes and capacities were made, smaller vases were produced too, which will be commented on with regard to their technological traits but will not be used for comparison with ancient ones because the sample of ancient small storage vases is very small and is difficult to identify in excavation reports. The present study focuses on vases made without the use of a wheel, although, for reasons of comparisons and technological observations, the other techniques of making storage vases are presented briefly. As we have said already, publications of pithoi with technological commentary are unfortunately very few and included here are those storage vases for which there is any type of commentary concerning their technology and, chiefly, their technique of manufacture. Unpublished data on storage vases are included only in those cases where the excavators have given me permission to use them.

The present study has two aims: 1. To present in detail the technology of making storage vases without the use of a potter’s wheel, as this survived in the area of the Gulf of Messenia, and to compare it with other techniques which have been used to make storage vases over time. Data from original fieldwork by the author on the subject of storage vases are presented also from Crete, Chios and Siphnos. 2. To present the technology and the dating of the sherds coming from storage vases found in ancient Messene. To facilitate our understanding of the subject, a historical retrospection on the presence and use of storage vases in different periods is given, through citing indicative examples. The analytical presentation of the technology of storage vases starts from the types of workshops, the kinds of clays, the techniques of extracting, processing and preparing the raw materials, the different techniques of making, decorating and firing the vases. The study focuses on the presence of non-plastic materials (temper) as integral elements of the technology of large storage vases. The study then goes on to present, date and comment on the technology or the material from ancient Messene, as well as material from other regions of Greece for which there is technological commentary. This is followed by the presentation of the results of research in the Gulf of Messenia, which focuses on the manmade and the natural environment, the technology of making the vases and the ways in which they are distributed. The resultant data, in combination with the presentation of the techniques, sketch all the facets of the climax and decline of vasemaking activity, while the technological choices and the differentiations in the storage vases in the specific place and time are evaluated and interpreted. 2.1

The chronological and geographical framework of the research

The timeframe of the present study spans the Neolithic to the Modern Age, as regards the general presentation of the history of storage vases, in particular pithoi, and the related technology. The geographical frame of the present study includes the whole of Greece and Cyprus in the general presentations of the technology of making storage vases and in the historical retrospection of storage vases. In the presentation of the manufacturing techniques, comparanda are given from countries outside Greece, for the purpose of achieving a better understanding and evaluation of each technique. Examples from Cyprus are also included in the archaeological and the ethnographic part, because great similarities over time in the production of storage vases were ascertained. In the specific presentations of the technology of making storage vases, as observed through studying original ancient and recent material, the research focuses on the Prefecture of Messenia and primarily its southern part, that

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Mimika Giannopoulou

is, the area of the Gulf of Messenia and ts northwest part, the area of ancient Messene. 2.2

Archaeological research

Excavations to date at ancient Messene have brought to light the agora of the city, sanctuaries and public buildings. The area of private houses has not been excavated, workshop spaces have not been identified, no kilns for firing vases or traces of pottery workshops or storage spaces have been found. In general, very little is known about the everyday private life of the city’s inhabitants, for which there are virtually no excavation data (see chapter 4 A.2). So, the sherds of storage vases come from the aforementioned spaces. The majority of sherds comes from natural deposits, which makes the typological separation and dating of them difficult. For the present, it impossible to have a clear and comprehensive picture of storage, its form and extent, as well as the typology of the storage vases in different periods. Nonetheless, useful observations on the ceramic fabric and in general on the technology of storage vases can be made. In the period 1999-2001, 123 sherds from the excavation of ancient Messene were inventoried and photographed. This work was done in the storerooms of the ancient Messene excavation, in successive visits. Concurrently, all the essential information was collected from the excavation daybooks and inventories. Observations were also made in the spaces from which the material comes (the author had taken part in the excavation of several of these) and the process and conditions of their finding were discussed with the director of the excavation, Professor Petros Themelis. In order to record and process the material, a special electronic database was created, in which all the data on each sherd were entered. Of the total of sherds, 63 belong to storage vases and 60 to other kinds of pottery –wide-mouthed vases, floor tiles, bricks, etc.–, which in the macroscopic examination of the material appeared to have a similar ceramic fabric to that of the storage vases. These sherds were included in the material for study, in order to determine whether the clay mass from which storage vases were made was used also for making a wider group of ‘coarse’ ware. Of the 63 sherds of storage vases, very few come from the area of the Augusteum (Sebasteion) (2), the Hierothysion (1), the Basilica (1), the Balneum (2), the temple-shaped building (2), the Roman Portico (1), the Athanasopoulos estate (1) and the tomb monument K7 (2). Several sherds come from the tomb monument K1 and its environs (4), the area of the Theatre (5) and the Roman House (5). Most sherds of storage vases come from the area of the Asklepieion (9), the area of the Gymnasium (8) and, mainly, from the area of the Stadium (11). Nine sherds of storage vases have no archaeological context and are stray surface finds. One pithos, half of it placed as a wellhead, is preserved in situ in a room of the Roman House, in the vicinity of the city’s Stadium. In the present study 38 sherds are presented analytically. These were selected on the basis of their technological and typological similarities, but also because they have a

clearer excavation context than the rest. All 38 sherds were subjected to petrographic analyses with thin sections and to refiring, on the basis of the following criteria: 1. Differentiations in the ceramic fabric. 2. Differentiations in the sizes. 3. Different parts of the vases. 4. Different excavation provenance sites. 5. Vases of different uses. The majority of sherds submitted for petrographic study comes from the Roman House and the Stadium (16), the Asklepieion (3), the tomb monuments K7 (3) and K1 (4), which are located in the area of the Stadium. The rest come from the Theatre (2), the Hierothysion (1) and the Gymnasium (2). Seven of the sherds examined by analytical techniques are not from storage vases but from open vases of large dimensions, macroscopic examination of which showed that the ceramic fabric displayed greater similarities to that of the pithoi. A sample from the pithos of which half is in situ in a room of the Roman House was also given for analysis. The results of the analyses were of significant help in confirming the place of production of the vases, that is, ancient Messene, and in understanding the technology of manufacture and the technological choices of the potters. The sherds were dated on the basis of excavation information, typology, technology and their comparison with published vases from Eleia and Corinth. 2.3

Ethnographic research

Research in the Gulf of Messenia and specifically in the area of Koroni, at its southern end, emerged as an imperative need in the framework of the effort to record and, primarily, to understand the different techniques of vase-making that were applied in Greece: for some of these techniques there was considerable information from other recordings and previous studies. The technique of making storage vases without using a potter’s wheel or other device refers to ancient practices and in its external characteristics was the most ‘primitive’ technique to have survived in Greece until the 1950s. The workshops that applied this technique in the Gulf of Messenia had attracted the attention of notable researchers, such as R. Hampe and A. Winter85 in 1960, F. Matson86 in the same decade, H. Blitzer,87 N. Phanouriou and P. Pasagiotis,88 who give general descriptions of the workshops and their function, the raw materials, the extensive trade of the vases and diverse folklore information pertaining to pottery production.89 A fortunate conjuncture not only for recording the material remains but also for representing the processes of making storage vases without the use of a wheel, in the Gulf of Messenia, was the initiative taken by the classics and language teacher Nancy Phanouriou, in 1992, to 85 86 87 88 89

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Hampe -Winter 1962. Matson 1972. Blitzer 1990. Pasagiotis 1997; 1994, Phanouriou 1986. Psaropoulou 1987-88.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

‘resurrect’ a craft forgotten since the 1950s. Fanouriou boldly proposed to one of the very few pitharades still alive, Antonis Rembelos from Komboi, to build a kiln and to make tzares. She contacted the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery, in order to record the process. The Centre designated the author to organize, implement and coordinate the project, which was considered high priority and most important because the technique of making storage vases without the use of a wheel was being revived after a lapse of some forty years. Thus, it was imperative to record the process not only in a static way, such as photography, but also using audiovisual media, because, on the one hand the static record does not do justice to the material, since pottery is a craft that by its very nature is full of movement, and on the other a professional audio-visual record would better serve the need to utilize to the information and make it accessible to the public. The extensive research project in the area of Koroni commenced in the summer of 1993, with the aim of dating and studying in depth the technique of making storage vases without using a potter’s wheel. This first phase lasted four months. The research was completed in six stages: • Fieldwork. • Computer-processing of the material. • Collecting of archival material. • Collecting the bibliography. • Macroscopic and microscopic study of the material. • Announcement of the results to the public, in conference papers, lectures and production of the documentary film entitle Tzares. The handmade storage vases of the Messenian Gulf. Fieldwork included: • Surface surveys in the area of Koroni, in order to locate all the material remains. Visits to old storerooms and houses. • Surface surveys in the whole of the Prefecture of Messenia, in order to locate vases from the area of Koroni. Visits to old storerooms and houses. • Collection of oral information by the method of interview. • Audio-visual recording of all the processes and the material remains. • Photographic documentation of all the processes, the material remains and the people. • Sampling of the raw materials. • Mapping of workshops and kilns. • Measured drawings of workshops, kilns and material remains. • Search for old photographs, texts and documents in the municipalities of Charokopi and Koroni.

Over three months, all the procedures were recorded in photographs, drawings and on film: extracting the raw material, preparing the clay, the long and laborious process of making a storage vase, gathering fuel, decorating and glazing the objects, stacking them in the kiln and, last, firing. The questionnaire for the interviews comprised four groups of questions: the first group concerned issues of technology, the second organization of the workshops and demand and distribution of the vases, the third the social dimension of the activity, and the fourth group more general issues of the history of the economy and the particular cultural characteristics of the area. Interviews were taken with all the old vase-makers and with all those directly or indirectly involved with vase-making, as well as with several elderly persons who had nothing to do with vase-making, in order to obtain comparative material on their attitude to this particular activity. Some of the oral testimonies recorded are quoted in the present study, mainly those relating to its specific object. The sampling of the clays, the tempers/fillers and the materials used to prepare the glaze took place under the guidance of old vase-makers, at sites they had used in the past. The measured drawings of the workshop used for making the tzares and the kiln in which they were fired were made by an architect, while the photographic documentation, in colour and black-and-white, by the author. Numerous visits were made to the area in the following years, for the purpose of covering other sectors essential for completing the record. These included a survey by a geologist, in order to prepare a special map showing the extraction sites of the raw materials and to take related samples. In a subsequent visit the corresponding sites were videoed, together with new material remains brought to light in later visit. Other visits were aimed at collecting documents and written documents from the communities, private archives, libraries and related agencies. In this research project it was not possible to determine the exact dating of vase-making activity in the area of the Gulf of Messenia, on the one hand because the recording focused on the technology of this activity, and on the other because there are insufficient material remains. As a consequence of the lack of systematic excavations at sites in this area, there is no sample of ancient vases of various uses, from which additional information and comparanda for the techniques and the raw materials could be drawn. Even so, all the oral information relating to the subject was collected and an attempt was made to evaluate al the surface material remains, which, in combination with travellers’ accounts on pottery-making activity in the region, convinced us that this was considerably earlier than the eighteenth century. The post-hoc processing of the material from recording using audio-visual media showed, among other things, the great contribution this made to the scientific study. For example, details in the vase-making procedure, which would have escaped attention in any other mode of recording, were captured by these media. We should not forget that in the research of this type any information lost is lost for ever and there is no leeway for their excavation.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

Two years after the filming in Koroni, the forty-five minute documnentary film on the Gulf of Messenia, of which the author was scientific editor, was completed.90 The storage vases of the Gulf of Messenia have been presented at numerous conferences and in seminars at the universities of Thessaloniki and the Peloponnese.91

90

91

The present work poses general questions on the technology of storage vases, which it tries to answer through specific and general samples of ancient and recent pottery. Basic aim of the study is to provide an introduction to the technology of storage vases, which is occasioned by the archaeological and recent material from Messenia but is not confined only to this.

The documentary film entitled Tzares; Handmade storage jars of the Gulf of Messenia was screened in 1996 at the 2nd Mediterranean Archaeological Film Festival and was awarded the Critics’ Prize. In 1999 it was screened by State television in Greece, as well as at the Archaeological Film Festival in Rovereto, Italy, where it received an honorary distinction. Last, in 2001 it won first prize at a festival of archaeological films in the Lebanon. Giannopoulou (forthcoming a-b); Giannopoulou-Kiriatzi 2008; Giannopoulou 2007, 120-131; Giannopoulou 1998b, 199-208; Giannopoulou 1995, 12-18.

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CHAPTER 2

Storage vases in various periods I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICE OF STORAGE



Storage in any time or place is a behavioural and technological mechanism that secures the availability of a wide variety of products, such as goods, artifacts, even knowledge (e.g. archives, etc.).92 Björk argues that storage of the surplus, whether this is based on the logic of ensuring food supply all year round because of the seasonality of many products, climatic conditions, etc., or is aimed at the exchange of products, was a basic need in each cultural phase except that of hunter-gathering.93 Organized storage spaces in ancient settlements can be considered the result of the intensification of production to such a degree that a surplus for storage was produced.94 The storage of products and foodstuffs, whatever the reason for this, presupposes the permanent settlement of people in one place and the development of social and political structures. These are essential preconditions for creating and defining strategies for storing and distributing the surplus, that is, the way in which the surplus is stored, controlled, administrated and distributed. Storage in the economy of a more complex society plays a role in the economic management of the surplus. The governmental bureaucracy, the military and the religious hierarchy demand a continuous and reliable supply of goods.95 The length of time of storage of both raw and processed products, such as foodstuffs, is dictated by the ‘viability’ of the foodstuff itself and the internal and external climatic conditions of the storage space. The period of storing a foodstuff depends also on the biological and social needs of a social group. Researchers who have dealt with the issue of storage in general, such as Halstead and O’ Shea, Christakis and others, distinguish three modes of storage and distribution: 1. central storage,96 when the surplus is controlled and stored by an administrative centre on behalf of a group of people,97 2. regional storage, when the storerooms are on the periphery of an administrative centre,98 3. household storage, which secures the economic independence of each household, giving it a

92 93 94 95 96 97 98

social and moral position through its contribution to the state surplus.99

II. STORAGE IN PITHOI The earliest means of storage have yet to be elucidated by archaeological research, since the absence of storage vases of large dimensions from very early times does not mean necessarily that vases were not used for storing goods. From the Late Neolithic period until the mid-twentieth century, in unbroken continuity both in making and in use, the basic means of household as well as public storage of products and foodstuffs was by placing them in clay vases of various sizes. Until the fifth century AD these vases were name mainly pithoi, while in later historical periods they are known as pithoi and pitharia (see chapter1 II.2). The frequency and the size of pithoi are related to a series of parameters that are related directly to the social organization and the economy of a social group.100 In all periods, the basic use of pithoi was for storing products and foodstuffs for long term preservation. In many cases pithoi were used for storing various domestic implements, such as tools, valuable objects etc. Cullen and Keller, in their relevant study on Greek pithoi diachronically, note that pitharia were a symbol of abundance and wealth for a house. In Classical Greece pithoi were left in the house and sold with the house.101 However, apart from their basic function as storage vases, pithoi also served other uses of a symbolic and religious character, and in many historical periods were associated with death and burial. The social and symbolic functions in the uses of pithoi very often coexist with the domestic and funerary uses, as is demonstrated by archaeological research and is documented by references to pithoi in Greek mythology, literature and art.102 The use for burials of pithoi that had previously been used for storage purposes is believed to have had a symbolic character in many periods, since, universally, fertility and rebirth are part of the rituals associated with death. As Cullen and Keller point out, ...pithoi are products of a specialist skill, a symbol of the existence of an organized settlement, a receptacle for the fruits of the earth and for the bones of the dead, and a focal point for the discovery of ties between good and evil, life and death...103

The most recent work on the politics of storage and its socioeconomic ramifications is Christakis’s study on Neopalatial Crete, see Christakis 2008, 9-11 and Christakis 1999, 2. Björk 1995, 114; D’ Altroy – Earle 1985, 190. Kotsakis 1992, 131. D’ Altroy – Earle 1985,191-192. Christakis 2008, 10; Christakis 1999, 3. Halstead – O’ Shea 1982, 98. Christakis 1999, 3; Halstead – O’ Shea 1982, 98.

99 Halstead – O’ Shea 1982, 98; D’ Altroy – Earle1985, 190. 100 Urem – Kotsou 2006, 132. 101 Cullen – Keller 1990, 193; Robinson – Graham 1938, 312-316. In recent times at Crete in many cases pihoi were sold with the houses, see Christakis 2008, 13. 102 Christakis 2005, 55, 69. 103 Cullen – Keller 1990, 193, 200, 203-204 and Nikolakopoulou 2002.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

There was no substantial change in the types of pithoi, their shape, sizes, making, from prehistoric into recent times, because, as has been argued, their great resilience and long duration of use kept their function unchanged.104 The pithoi made in later workshops in Greece display striking similarities to the corresponding vases from earlier periods.105 What differs in each period is their decoration and the socio-economic and symbolic importance of these vases.106 As ethnographic studies have shown, storage jars and cooking pots, more than any other category of vases, are those which change least over time,107 because, as Galaty maintains, men get used to the taste of food from and the storing of water in a specific vase, and have great difficulty in replacing it with something else.108 Cooking pots and storage jars, the production of which presents important technological differences in comparison with other vases, are made and distributed according to a completely different system than other pottery. Pithoi, whether made by itinerant potters or by individual workshops, have never been vases that were mass-produced and therefore their production was not a profitable activity.109 Galaty notes that, compared with the other types of vases, pithoi of the Late Helladic IIIB period (1340/30-1190/80 BC) in Messenia have a more coarse-grained clay fabric, were fired at relatively low temperatures –in comparison with wheel-made vases– and were made in small-scale workshop units that held out against the development of the major pottery-producing centres in the Bronze Age. This must not have been the case in later periods, however, and certainly not in recent times (18th-20th century). Even though, for the distribution of Mycenaean pottery, researchers claim that trade in the LH III period (1425 - 1390-1065 BC) was controlled by a central administrative authority, this does not seem to have been the case in the trade of pithoi, according to Blitzer’s study of the trade of pithoi in the Aegean.110 The study of pithoi in general contributes significantly to research on the organization of pottery production in one place, on the economy – mainly the agricultural and stockraising –, and the social stratification also of economic relations, given that already in prehistoric times pithoi were exported both empty – as vases per se – and full – for their content.111 A characteristic example is the finding of Minoan pithoi at Akrotiri, Thera, in the Late Cycladic period.112

104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111

Henrickson 1995, 569-570; Bakirtzis 1989, 111. Ionas 2000, 239; Day 1988, 501; Pilides 2000b, 103. Cullen – Keller 1990, 184. Henrickson 1995, 569-570. Galaty 1999, 77. Galaty 1999, 77. Blitzer 1990, 707. Henrickson 1995, 553. For storage spaces and their function in the Mycenaean economy see Kriga 1998, 423-448. 112 Nikolakopoulou 2001, 91-105.

III. THE TYPOLOGY OF STORAGE VASES Storage vases in general must be of shapes that ensure stability in placement, easy access to the stored product, easy access to the vase to clean it, the possibility of covering it to protect the stored product and, last, security during the transport of the vase, especially when it is transported full of solid or liquid content. Christakis argues that variability in stability, capacity, accessibility, transportability and graspability, suggests differences in the primary function of the bulk container.113 The stability of a vase in its placement in a space is determined by its shape, size, centre of gravity and base. For example, vases with narrow base are less stable, as too are very high cylindrical vases with long and heavy neck. It has been observed that the specific use of storage vases plays a major role in the formation of their shape. Storage vases for liquids are more elongated and have a high neck, to facilitate the outflow of the liquid and to prevent spillage, while large storage vases for solid products should have a wide neck and be short and globular. Access to the content of the vase depends on the form of its rim. Open mouths are preferable because they facilitate direct access to the content and are ideal for storage vases that are used frequently. A vase with narrow neck is preferable for storing liquids and can receive a lid. The form of the rim is also not accidental but useful, for example, for lifting a vase or for pouring something more easily.114 The shapes of storage vases that hold sway – although they are by no means the only ones – from the Bronze Age into Modern Times are ovoid, piriform, globular, barrel, conical and tub. In the eighth century BC, changes were made not only in the clay fabric of pithoi but also in the shape, since a preference for more cylindrical forms is observed.115 In the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, pithoi of ovoid shape prevail, with swollen belly, disc-shaped base or with button finial, with very short neck and flat everted rim. Throughout the Byzantine Age and the Post-Byzantine period, pithoi of ovoid and globular shape predominate, although piriform ones are not absent. In Modern Times, almost all shapes of pithoi coexist, with the ovoid ones predominant. The conical pithoi of the Ainos workshop were almost never placed on the surface of the ground but were set entirely or for half their height in the ground. These pitharia were preferred in large storage spaces, such as cellars for olive oil and wine, and in monasteries, shops, etc. This manner of placement, which secured the best possible protection of the vase, since it ruled out the likelihood of breakage and protected the content, has been noted since the Bronze Age. In this case the manner of placement of the vase contributes decisively to forming its morphological traits.

113 Christakis 2005, 45-50, table 1, 68. 114 Rice 1987, 225, 241. 115 Cullen – Keller 1990, 195.

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Bases are flat as a rule in all periods. Nonetheless, the button finial at the base is characteristic of Bronze Age pithoi from various regions of Greece, such as Nichoria in Pylia and Toumba in Thessaloniki, as well as of Geometrical, Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine pithoi. This finial is formed on pithoi that were set in the ground. It protects the lower part of the vase from blows and is of assistance in its transportation.116 The mode of transportation, by boat, pack animal, on a person’s back, etc., played a role in the form given to the base and the mouth. The iconographic testimonies on ancient pithoi, mostly from Prehistoric times suggests relationship of some decoration (for examplepictorial or abstract motifs) with the use of a pithos.117 The possibility of transporting a vase depends on its shape, size, weight and quality.118 A vase with rough surface can be transported more safely than one with a smooth surface. On many pithoi of ancient and later times there was a concavity at the base of the neck and the base was relatively high, so that rope could be bound at the base and the shoulders, and the vase fixed securely to the saddle of a pack animal or to various supports in boats and ships. The aforesaid modes of transport have been recorded in Crete and the Gulf of Messenia in recent times, and it is not unreasonable to assume that these may well have been used in earlier periods. On the relation between special uses and morphology, ethnographic research offers most eloquent examples, such as the tall cylindrical vases of Crete for dyeing and storing textiles, and the beehives of the Gulf of Messenia. The preference for certain shapes, as ascertained from ethnographic research, is apparently not linked only with the utilitarian value of a vase. In the area of the Gulf of Messenia, for example, the prevailing shape in all types of storage vases during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was globular, which clearly secured safer placement of the vase in a space, as opposed to the ovoid shape which was in greater danger of shifting, for example in the event of an earthquake. This shape, which conscientiously served utilitarian and commercial needs for almost two hundred years, changed in the twentieth century, when changes in the technology of the vases occurred. From the late nineteenth and during the twentieth century, economic and social transformations occurred which resulted in changes in the storage policy of individuals and of merchants-manufacturers. These changes led gradually to the abolition of the need for large storage vases all over Greece (industrialization of oil presses, wide availability of cheap materials, e.g. aluminium, etc.).

116 Bakirtzis 1989, 111. 117 Christakis 2005, 54. 118 Rice 1987, 226.

1. Prehistoric Times 1.1. Neolithic Age (6500-3300 BC) No large storage vases have been found in early Neolithic settlements excavated in Greece.119 The reasons for this absence must be both technological and social. It has been suggested that for storage in the Early Neolithic period containers made of animal skins were perhaps used, or that stocks of foodstuffs were kept in pits with claycoated walls, even though this has not been documented in excavations. Last, it is possible that fruits were stored underground or in baskets. However, from related studies it seems certain that honey and fat were stored in clay vases, as were some dry and semi-dry foodstuffs.120 Sherds of storage vases, with rim diameter up to 60 cm., of the Early Neolithic period (6500-5800 BC) have been found in the Franchthi cave in the Argolid, in Chios, at Makrygialo in Pieria, and elsewhere. The decoration consists of applied bands with impressed and incised motifs as well as relief decoration of barbotine type. Pithoi with a diversity of decoration have been found in Neolithic levels at Asea in Arkadia, with bands carrying impressed and incised motifs.121 Characteristic examples of Neolithic pithoi are the intact jars with collared neck from Sakovouni.122 Storage vases have been found in the Early Neolithic levels at Achilleion in Thessaly, 67% of them of medium size and 5% of large size. The thickness of the walls of the storage vases at Achilleion (6 - 8 mm.) does not refer to large pithoi.123 In the levels of the Middle Neolithic period (5800-5300 BC) at Franchthi and Lerna in the Argolid, sherds were found of large vases of Urfirnis type, with rim diameter 40-60 cm., of coarse-grained fabric and with vertical handles.124 A characteristic example from the period is a pithos from Sesklo, of height 95 cm. (Pl. 1). Large sherds of pithoi from the Late Neolithic period (5300-3200 BC) have been recovered from several sites in Messenia.125 Pithoi from the cemetery at Kephala on the island of Kea are dated to the Late Neolithic period. These are vases of height 35-60 cm., conical shape and with flat base. They are in very good condition because they were used in burials in later periods.126 On Crete, a Late Neolithic storage vase containing a burial was found in the Stravomyti cave and a sherd of a pithos of the Early Minoan I period (33002900BC) was recovered at Knossos.127 Recently, excavations at a Late Neolithic site on the island of Andros yielded a pithos 1.5 m. high with rim approx. 65 cm. in diameter and holes all over its body.128 From Makrygialo in Pieria come storage vases in three sizes, 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128

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Cullen – Keller 1990, 187; Vitelli 1999, 184-199. Björk 1995, 115-116. Cullen – Keller, 1990, 187. Phelps 2004, 119. The pithoi are exhibited in the Tripoli Museum. Björk 1995, 115. Vittelli 1974, 48, 93. McDonald-Hope Simpson 1969, 168. Cullen – Keller 1990, 187; Coleman 1977. Warren 1972, 143; Branigan 1970, 176. Personal communication from the excavator Ch. Televantou.

Mimika Giannopoulou

open and closed, with strap handles, mainly vertical and very rarely horizontally placed on the body. 129 In Southern Greece, the great quantity of large, heavywalled vessels, plain or cordon decorated, is a characteristic of the Final Neolithic period. Characteristic examples of this period are the storage vases from Alepotrypa in Lakonia, which are exhibited in the Diros Museum130 (Pl. 2). Their decoration with applied bands, the thickness and the arrangement of these bands display considerable similarity to the corresponding ones on recent storage vases from the Gulf of Messenia. 1.2

Bronze Age (3100/3000-1050 BC)

As farming settlements spread and multiplied in number and size during the Early Bronze Age (3100/3000-2000 BC) in mainland Greece, the moveable and immoveable storage installations increased commensurately. At Zygouries in Corinthia, four pithoi were uncovered on the east wall of a large room of a house, together with a millstone and domestic vases. The Zigouries pithoi resemble the pithoi of the same period from Agios Kosmas in Attica and from Eutresis in Boeotia, with ovoid or globular body, everted rim and narrow flat or rounded base.131 Very often there were cylindrical loops around the edge of the shoulder, possibly for tying rope to facilitate transport of the vase or keeping a lid in place (Pl. 4).132 Several pithoi were brought to light at Agios Kosmas in Attica, one of them in situ. The height of this vase, 86 cm., is common for pithoi in the Early Helladic period (3100/3000-2000 BC) in the Greek Mainland (Pl. 3).133 Pithoi up to 1.5 m. high, of comparable shape to the Early Helladic examples, were found in period IV levels at Emboreio on Chios134 and at Thermi on Lesbos.135 The EH pithos (2500-2100 BC) from Askitario near Rafina, in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, is 1.20 m. high and decorated with an incised representation of a dog (Pl. 4). Pithoi sherds are widespread in EH II levels (2650-2450 BC) of Lerna III, but are in fragmentary condition, making it difficult to recompose the vases and calculate their dimensions.136 In general, vases of this type from Lerna are estimated to have been 1.09 m. high, with maximum rim diameter 49 cm. The rim is usually slightly everted and most of the sherds are without decoration. Where decoration exists it consists of a narrow applied band. There are, however, 67 sherds with decoration of bands on the upper part of the pithos (Pl. 5). The commonest decoration on these sherds is incised motifs on an applied band. The width of the bands and the quality of the decoration on them differs from pithos to pithos, indicating that it was executed with a different cylinder.137 Sherds with similar decoration have been found also at Tiryns in the Argolid, 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137

Urem – Kotsou 2006, 137. Phelps 2004, 118-119. Caskey – Caskey 1960, 126-127. Cullen – Keller 1990, 188. Mylonas 1959, 39. Cullen – Keller 1990, 188. Lamb 1936, 93. Caskey 1956, 147-177; 1954, 3-30. Wiencke 1970: 95; Caskey 1959: fig. 42

some with handles below the rim.138 Four sherds of pithoi from Eliaia in the Argolid, which are dated to the Early Bronze Age, also have applied bands.139 Early Helladic pitharia with applied decoration have come to light too at Voidokoilia in Messenia.140 In the tumulus at Voidokoilia eight mortuary pithoi were revealed, which were covered by a capstone and had remained in situ until 1500 BC. The use of pithoi in burials of different periods, that is Early Helladic pithoi have been used for Middle Helladic burials, has been confirmed at Voidokoilia. The same phenomenon is observed at Argos too.141 The habit of inhuming adults in pithoi, and not just infants as is the case elsewhere, is observed more frequently in Messenia, where excavations have revealed pithoi buried in the grave circle of Pylos, at Papoulia and at Agios Ioannis of Pylia, where pithoi 2 m. high host burials.142 Mortuary pithoi have been found also in tumuli at Voidokoilia, Malthi, Peristeria, Eglianos and Kisso of Pylia.143 Last, many mortuary pithoi of this period have been recovered from numerous sites in Eleia.144 Numerous storage vases and pithoi of the Early Helladic II period (2650-2450 BC) have been located in the southern Argolid. These have a thick, everted or rolled rim of triangular cross-section. On some sherds of pithoi there is applied decoration consisting of bands with incisions or finger impressions, or in some cases a combination of both.145 Several sherds of storage vases, which the excavators name pithoi, dated to Early Helladic III (2200/2150-2050/2000 BC), are reported from Asine. One of the largest is of preserved height about 70 cm. and preserved maximum diameter 1 m. The sherds are decorated with applied and plain bands carrying incisions and triangles in chiastic arrangement. Here too decoration with applied cordon bands with finger impressions continues to appear.146 In Crete, sherds of 45 pithoi of the Early Minoan II period (2900-2300 BC) were found at Myrtos. These vases were ovoid with wide everted rim, small or large neck, three or four vertical handles and a flat base147 (Pl. 6). In the opinion of the excavators, these vases were intended for storing olive oil, olives, wine and other products. Indeed, the discovery of this ensemble of sherds and, in parallel, of eight clay tournettes for making the vases, convinced the excavators that this was a local workshop for making such vases.148 In fact, on the basis of these finds, Renfrew speaks of specialization in pottery production in the Early Bronze Age in the South Aegean.149 In a complex of buildings of the Protopalatial period, at Monastiraki on 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149

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Wiencke 1970, 94, 97. Pullen 2000, 133. Korres 1990, 1-11; Korres 1990 1-11. Korres 1988, 411, 416. Korres 1980b, 458-59; Korres 1980a, 150-169; Korres 1978, 334377; Korres 1977, 250-1; Blegen –Rawson 1973, 150-153. Korres 1980b, 458-59. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 359. Runnels – Pullen – Langdon 1995, 32, 360, fig.25. Frödin – Persson 1938, 231. Warren 2002, 142-145. Warren 1972, 18; Betancourt 1985, 48. Whitelaw – Day – Kiriatzi – Kilikoglou – Wilson1997, 265.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Crete, extensive storage spaces have been revealed with whole pithoi in situ, in which residues of olive oil and wine have been detected150 (Pl. 7). Single sherds of pithoi were found also in other rooms in the settlement. Of the 31 well-preserved sherds, 14 had a hole at the base for the outflow of liquids.151 The use of pithoi for burials of children and adults is confirmed in the Early Minoan II period (2900-2300 BC).152 Already from this period, a multiplicity of uses of pithoi is observed in Crete. In the early Late Bronze Age at Koukonisi on the island of Lemnos (Koukonisi III), in an open-air or semi-outdoor space with considerable evidence of metallurgical activity, five pithoi were located, which were probably associated with this activity (Pithoi Area XV)153 (Pl. 8.). Storage vases, large and small, of Middle Bronze Age date (2050/2000-1680 BC) in mainland Greece are called pithoi by their excavators154 (Fig. 1). Characteristic examples with matt-painted decoration and bichrome decoration in black and red are the pithoi from Orchomenos in Boeotia (NAM 5875 2000-1600 BC and NAM 5876 1600 BC respectively), which are about 70 cm. high and have two horizontal handles on the lower body (Pl.9). Several Middle Helladic pithoi used for burials have been brought to light at Asine. The largest has survived intact, with ovoid to piriform body, flat base and everted rim. Smaller storage vases also belong to this type.155 Pithoi from Middle Helladic levels at Asea have walls 3 cm. thick and are decorated with applied bands with oblique incisions and finger impressions.156 Sherds of pithoi and of other storage vases of the Middle Helladic III period (1750/20-1650 BC) are reported from many sites in Pylia, such as Metaxada, the palace at Eglianos, Gargalianous, Malthi, Nichoria, Koukounara, Tragana, Peristeria, and elsewhere. The pithoi have thick rim, rounded or flattened, and are decorated with applied bands.157 Indeed, at Malthi flat round lids of pithoi have been found.158 Middle Helladic pithoi at Kolona on Aegina are barrel-shaped with two handles set low on the body and a narrow flat base. Many of them carry matt-painted decoration and, primarily, ‘Geometricizing’ depictions of human figures and animals.159 Large storerooms or magazines in the palaces of Knossos, Phaistos and Malia in Crete were filled with pithoi up to 2 m. high. In the west magazine of Knossos alone, 420 pithoi were counted, of total capacity in excess of 60,000 kilos. The pithoi in the palaces were richly decorated in the Middle Minoan I (2100-1850 BC) and Middle Minoan II (1850-1800 BC) periods. In the second palatial period, 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158

Kanta 2002, 94-95. Warren 1972, 48-50. Cullen - Keller, 1990, 188; Branigan 1970, 176. Boulotis 1997, 238, 245, 255, fig. 16a. Goldman 1931, 32. Frödin-Persson 1938, 280. Holmberg 1944, 80. Davis – Alcock – Bennet – Lolos – Shelmerdine 1997, 441. Lids of pithoi are exhibited in the Kalamata Archaeological Museum. 159 Vasileiou 2002, 122-129.

pithoi were decorated with applied wavy bands, small handles, rows of impressed circles, ‘medallions’, applied vegetal motifs.160 In the Middle Minoan III period (17501700 BC) there was a notable increase in the existence of storage spaces in settlements. It was in this period that the so-called villas appeared in Crete, country houses with installations for processing olive oil and with storage spaces, as at Malia, Tylissos, Vathypetro and Nirou Hani.161 The shapes and decoration of the storage vases are similar to those of the Middle Minoan III period.162 At Koukonisi on Lemnos, in phase IV, dated at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, intact pithoi survive in situ in various closed spaces, some of which were clearly related with cooking163 (Pl. 10). Few pithoi of the Middle Bronze Age on Cyprus (19001600 BC) have been found in excavated sites. The thickness of their walls does not exceed 13 cm. and on some there are bands with finger impressions164 (Fig. 2). Pithoi continued to play an important role also in the Late Bronze Age (1680-1050 BC) but in this period they were rarely used for burials. The Mycenaeans used pithoi but allotted smaller spaces for storing products than in Crete. Moreover, their potters paid less attention to the decoration of pithoi than in Crete. In contrast to the ‘barrel’ shapes of the Minoan pithoi, the Mycenaean pithoi are usually ovoid with thin horizontal rim, no handles and a small flat base. The decoration is simple, usually applied bands with oblique incisions (Fig. 3). Furumark believes that the pithoi with flat base and ovoid body, which are widely diffused in Greece during the Mycenaean period and which are not found exclusively in palaces, were the product of a long tradition in making such vases and derive from the type of pithos in use in the Middle Helladic period. The same type is encountered at Mycenae and Asine in the Argolid, Berbati in Attica, Thebes, Delphi, Menelaion in Laconia, Malthi in Messenia, and elsewhere. The Mycenaean vases have applied bands around the body, a feature in common with EH and MH pithoi.165 Furumark argues that one other type of pithos encountered in the LH period and with characteristic conical body, pointed base, vertical handles and relatively narrow neck, comes from the East, as it occurs in Egypt, Palestine and Syria.166 Large storage vases of various sizes are present in levels of the Late Helladic I period (1680-1580 BC) at all settlements investigated in Messenia, but the material is very fragmentary and no complete profiles are preserved. Sherds of Late Helladic pithoi are reported from Nichoria in Pylia. Some have applied decoration, LH I (16801580 BC) and LH II (1600/1520-1445 BC), and occur respectively at Peristeria, Katarachaki and Volimidia in Pylia.167 Sherds of pithoi and of other storage vases of the 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167

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Graham 1962, 129. Cullen – Keller 1990, 192. Betancourt 1985, 127. Boulotis 1997, 238, 245, 255. And personal communication from the excavator. Pilides 1996, 107. Furumark 1972, 586. Furumark 1972, 74-76. Lolos 1985: 372.

Mimika Giannopoulou

LH II period have been found at other sites in Pylia, such as Metaxada, Gargalianous, Malthi, Nichoria, Koukounara and Tragana. The pithoi have thick rims, rounded and flattened, applied bands, etc.168 In Late Helladic levels at Asine, sherds of large pithoi with applied bands carrying various decorative motifs were found in the Mycenaean road. According to the excavators, they had been used to cover a grave.169 It is clear from the surviving material that the pithoi from the LH I period (1680-1580 BC) are similar in appearance to those used in eastern Mycenaean regions. The decoration consists of bands with finger impressions or with oblique incisions. As noted above, pithoi with this kind of decoration continue very old Helladic traditions and their shape changed little in the course of several hundred years.170 In the decoration of pithoi in the LH I period (1680-1580 BC) motifs that prevail in fine pottery are encountered, such as floral ornaments. Characteristic examples are the Late Cycladic (1600-1450 BC) pithoi from Melos, of height 73 cm. (Pl. 11), and, primarily, from Akrotiri on Thera, which are of various types, cylindrical, conical, ovoid and piriform with spigot above the base. Local pithoi of the LC I period stand out for the variety of types attested. The decoration of cylindrical and ovoid pithoi with pictorial motifs in the Middle Cycladic period is replaced in LC I by zones of large spirals, painted trickle and raised incised bands mainly in parallel arrangements.171 The pithoi at Akrotiri were placed in the basement of the houses, which were obviously the storage spaces, and many of them were sunken in the ground, to the level of the rim or to about mid-body172 (Pl. 12). Some have a spout set low on the body and were possibly for storing wine173 (Fig. 4). Those pithoi that stood on the ground had stone slabs around them for support and were provided with a lid174 (Pl. 13). In the Late Helladic II period (1600/1580-1425/1390 BC) in Messenia, sizeable pithamphorae decorated with marine motives, sacred ivy, and so on, were used for storage. Pithoi continued to be used for burials. The palace at Eglianos was a major centre of vase-making, as well as the centre of distribution for pottery and agricultural products, as is evidenced by the numerous pithoi for olive oil and the thousands of kylikes in the magazines. These vases are dated into the final years of the LH IIIB period (1340/301190/80 BC).175 Pithoi of the LH IIIA period (1425/1390-1340/30 BC) at Mycenae are known from the West House, the House of the Oil Merchant, the House of the Wine Merchant and the House of the Sphinxes. Their height ranges from 0.60 to 1.70 m., and they have horizontal or vertical handles. Most were found in storeroom context, on the floor or on bases, while various vessels for drawing out their 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175

Davis-Alcock-Bennet-Lolos-Shelmerdine 1997, 441. Frödin-Persson 1938, 307. Lolos 1987, 373. Nikolakopoulou 2001, 96. Nikolakopoulou 2002. Doumas 1978, 117-124. Doumas – Constantinides 1990, 41-43; Cullen – Keller 1990, 192. Korres 1980b, 463.

contents were found around them.176 From the LH IIIB level (1340/30-1190/80 BC) in the House of the Wine Merchant, eight pithoi of height 1.70 m. and 50 storage vases, with stone discs or large sherds for lids, were found, while 30 storage vases were recovered from the House of the Oil Merchant.177 The capacity of the storage vases in the palace ranges from 50-1,000 kilos. In the palace at Ano Egliano, 33 pithoi of the LH IIIB period (1340/30-1190/80 BC) were found in two storerooms, and 35 pithoi of height 1.15 m., in another location, which was possibly a wine cellar. Single pithoi were used throughout the palace. Of the LH pithoi from Messenia, exceptionally interesting in terms of typology, technology and preservation is the intact pithos found in Room 7 of the Archives in the palace at Eglianos, which is remarkably similar to the pithoi made in the Gulf of Messenia in recent times178 (Pl. 14). This pithos has thick walls, a flat base, an ovoid body, a long relatively narrow neck and a thick, flat, everted rim. The body is decorated and reinforced with 42 applied bands, each one covered with countless finger impressions. Two horizontal handles are placed below the junction of the neck with the body. Placed at the same height are two narrow vertical handles and two smaller flat handles opposite each other in the lower part.179 The pithos is 1.64 m. high, with a rim 61-64 cm. in diameter, 8-9 cm. wide and 3 cm. thick, and a base 38 cm. in diameter. From the same space comes one other pithos, preserved intact, which is 1.40 m. high, with a rim 48 cm. in diameter and 4.5 cm. wide, and a smaller storage vase about 1 m. high, with rim 50.5 cm. in diameter and 4.5 cm. wide. In the Late Helladic IIIB period (1340/30-1190/80 BC), a new kind of pottery appears in mainland Greece, which includes mainly vases of large dimensions, primarily for storage, decorated with applied cordon bands. Such vases have been found at Mycenae, Tiryns, Lefkandi, Aigeira and elsewhere. The earliest examples appear in LH IIIB2 (ca1225-1190 BC) and examples of them are known from Tiryns.180 The pithoi in this period were intended for storing liquids, such as olive oil and wine, as well as grain. They were normally 1 m. high or taller, with thinner walls than other contemporary storage vases and had vertical handles. Most were set in the ground, usually in basement rooms, and were permanently installed. A LH IIIB/C pithos for wine, with traces of beeswax inside, was found in Thebes.181 At Mycenaean Midea, storage vases of different sizes have come to light, the larger ones of conspicuously coarse clay fabric and with thick walls. Some of these originated from the Cyclades and Aegina. The most common decoration was a raised band with a design made by finger impressions.182 Pithos mouth with linear B.. from Aiani; it was found in the area of the ancient city and should be considered as the 176 177 178 179 180 181 182

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Tournavitou 1995, 69-72. Cullen - Keller 1990, 193. Blegen – Rawson 1966, 352, 92. Blegen – Rawson 1966, 394, fig. 381, pl. 55β. Mountjoy 1993, 92, 122. Andrikou 2002, 169. Dalinghaous 1998, 133-134, pl. 90.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

earliest epigraphic find in north Greece.183 Pithoi of the Late Bronze Age (late 14th – late 12th century BC) were found at the Toumba site in Thessaloniki, set in the ground and house floors. Ranging in height from 70 cm. to 2 m. and in rim diameter from 26 to 62 cm., they have an ovoid body with conical button finial at the base or a small flat base. Decoration is rare but where it exists consists of applied bands with incisions or finger impressions, on the upper part of the body (Figs. 5-6).184 The Neopalatial period (1700-1370/20 BC) is distinguished by the increase in settlement size, the flourishing of the arts and the trading contacts with the Aegean, Egypt and the Near East. This is the heyday of the Minoan Civilization. Some 320 Neopalatial houses have been investigated in Crete. From the Middle Minoan III period (1750-1700 BC), there was an increase in the storage of foodstuffs in the palaces.185 Pithoi continued to be the biggest vases during the Late Minoan I period (1700-1490 BC). They were always made without the aid of the potter’s wheel, continuing established traditions in techniques and typology.186 In LM I (1700-1490 BC) decoration with floral motifs appeared. Pithoi were still made on Crete in the LM IB-LMII period (1580-1430 BC), even though extensive destruction of settlements is observed on the island. In LM II (1490-1430 BC), pithoi with monumental decoration were made at Knossos (Pl. 15). In the palace at Archanes, 29 pithoi were found in situ, in space 33, some with the rim sealed with clay stamped with the impression of a seal ring.187 Christakis’s ethno-archaeological study of storage and the domestic use of pithoi in LM IB Crete is particularly fascinating because through the prevailing storage conditions, the number of vases and their find spots he comes to a series of very interesting conclusions on the economic, social and political situation on the island during this period. According to him, the archaeological data lead to the conclusion that in the LM IB period households had limited possibilities of storage, because access to crops and foodstuffs was limited or the contribution to the State surplus was great. The evidence he collected indicates that the foodstuffs stored were insufficient for satisfying the dietary demands of the household for a long interval and that only the households of economically robust provincial classes had this possibility. Christakis concludes that the economy in Crete was controlled exclusively by the palaces and that the surplus of goods was collected in these, with the aim of securing economic and political power by reducing the autarky of individuals. This tactic reached its peak during the Mycenaean phase on the island188 (Figs. 7-8). In this period pithoi were used mainly for storing wine, water, meat, fish, dried fruits/nuts, butter, cheese, beans, honey and bees (as hives), as well as for inorganic materials and objects. Pithoi had some secondary uses too. For 183 184 185 186 187 188

Karametrou-Mentesidi 2006, 81. Kiriatzi 2000, 186-187. Christakis 1999, 8,15. Betancourt 1985, 127. Petrakos 2002, 80. Christakis 1999, 16.

example pieces of pithoi from LMII Houses at Karphi may have served as chimneys or for catching rain water, etc.189 Ethno-archaeological research on Crete demonstrated that these uses are identified with those of recent pitharia on the island.190 It seems that pithoi on Crete were symbols of abundance, since they are represented on seal impressions and gold jewellery from Kastelli Pediados and from Malia.191 By the LM III period (1430-1100 BC), the pithoi differ dramatically from those of the Early Bronze Age; they are smaller – less than 1 m. high and are rarely decorated. The pithoi of the LM IIIB period (1320-1200 BC) range in height from 65 cm. to about 1 m., have an ovoid, piriform or flattened cylindrical body, are without decoration or have two bands on the lower belly and the shoulder.192 Late Bronze Age Cypriot and Cretan pithoi have been identified in Sardinia.193 There is an absence of pithoi sherds from Late Cypriot levels. Sherds of storage vases of this period, decorated with applied bands, have been found in rooms used for food preparation. Pithoi appear in the Late Cypriot IIA (1475/1250-1400/1375 BC) and primarily the Late Cypriot IIB period (1475/1250-1325/1300 BC), in the LC IIIC (1325/1300-1225-1200 BC) and LC III (12251050 BC) period (Pl. 16). The largest examples date to the 13th-12th century BC. Pilides, who has studied Cypriot pithoi, distinguishes them on the criteria of their size and shape into three categories: for everyday and immediate use, for long-term storage of products, and for public storage.194 From pithoi found in the Ulu Burun and the Iria shipwrecks, it is ascertained that pithoi used for trading goods were usually medium-size, that is, they belonged to the second category. At the time of the Ulu Burun shipwreck, which is dated to 1400 BC, an extensive trade network had developed between the peoples of the Mediterranean, The ship’s cargo included large pithoi, inside which were smaller vases of Cypriot provenance. It seems from the Ulu Burun and the Iria wrecks that pithoi were not on traded for their content but were used also as containers for transporting smaller vases.195 The results of archaeometric analyses of pithoi sherds from different sites on Cyprus indicate that pithoi were used not only for storing agricultural produce but also for working copper, in the production of olive oil, the processing of textiles, and generally in diverse craft-industrial activities. Storage vases were rarely higher than 60 cm. until the thirteenth century BC. Pithoi of various sizes, sometimes up to 1.50 m. high, were placed in large number in specially designed storages spaces and are frequently encountered in settlements of the LC IIIC period.196 The study of the pithoi has shown their stability in shape and decoration, as well as the uniformity in their 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196

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For other examples see Christakis 2005, 58-59. Christakis 1999, 4. Christakis 2005, 63; Cullen – Keller 1990, 200. Betancourt 1985, 26a-d, 48. Day 1988, 501. Pilides 1996,108, 111-112. Pilides 1996,113, 119; Bass 1987, 718. Pilides 1996, 115-116; Pilides 2000a, 365.

Mimika Giannopoulou

appearance, all over the island. This situation suggests that a large-scale system of organized and mass production of storage vases had developed on Cyprus. Pilides also argues that pithoi were used mainly for storing olive oil and to a lesser extent water and wine, while the storage of grain/ fruit in pithoi seems to have been avoided, because of the humidity that developed inside them.197 2. Historical times The pithoi of the Submycenaean period (1100/1075-1050 BC) were bigger and usually undecorated or decorated with just a few applied bands.198 2.1 Protogeometric and Geometric Period (1050-700 BC) At Nichoria in Messenia, pithoi sherds and whole pithoi have come to light in two constructions of Protogeometric and Geometric times: in one building of the ninth century BC and one building of the eighth century BC. These buildings were larger than the neighbouring houses and stood at about the centre of the site, which fact led the excavators to suggest that they were chieftains’ residences or community storage centres. Burial pithoi were rare in mainland Greece in the Protogeometric period (1050-900/850 BC) but were more common in the Geometric period (850-700 BC) (Pl. 17). The rims of the Protogeometric pithoi from Nichoria are flat or rounded and of large diameter –the smallest 30 cm.–, while the thickness of the walls ranges from 1.8-3.3 cm. (Figs. 9-10). Flat rims belonged to large pithoi and everted rims to smaller storage vases. There were two types of bases, flat and rounded, of 14 to 16 cm. in diameter, which belong to large pithoi, which were up to 2.30 m. high. On one sherd there is an applied cordon band below the rim. It was observed that pithoi hosting burials have button finials at their base, which, according to the excavators, may be a differentiating feature between domestic and funerary pithoi. Applied bands decorated with incised circles, oblique incisions and finger impressions are common on the pithoi from Nichoria in this period, continuing a tradition going back to the Early Bronze Age.199 In the Middle Geometric period, burials in pithoi were usual in the area of the Argolid, as attested by relevant finds from Tiryns, Nafplion and elsewhere. The scholars distinguished two types of Argolic pithoi: the early type with applied bands and the later one without applied bands. They are ovoid or with more swollen belly, everted rim and flat base, as a rule. Langdon, who studies Argolic pithoi, contends that they were not transported but were made in places close to the settlements. Sherds of these pithoi are similar to corresponding ones from the rest of the Peloponnese, Athens and elsewhere.200 An enormous pithos (ca 800-750 BC) was found in the corner of a building at Nichoria, in a space which the excavators maintain was for public use, because of its great storage capacity. The pithos is of maximum diameter 1.05 197 198 199 200

Pilides 2000b, 105. Cullen – Keller 1990, 194. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983,40, 89, 108. Runnels – Pullen – Langdon 1995, 63, 69.

m. and it was found set in a pit for its entire height, which is estimated to have been about 2.30 m. One other pithos was found on the same spot, but this is smaller, about 1.30 m. high, and was likewise set in the ground. The pithoi are dated to 850-800 BC and their decoration is consistent with the models of the previous period.201 Again at Nichoria, a large undecorated pithos 1.70 m. high was used for the burial of an adult. Pithoi of this area, which are dated circa 800-750 BC, have applied bands, while interesting is the appearance also of a decorative band with oblique incisions, around the point where the base joins the rest of the body. This decoration of pithoi is conservation and continues decorative models of previous periods. Also dated to 850-800 BC is a pithos of overall height 2.30 m., decorated with an applied band with oblique incisions, on the upper part of the belly.202 Messenian pithoi remained ovoid and without neck throughout the ninth and eighth centuries BC. In the eighth century BC the shape of pithoi changed, as indicated by finds from the Argolid, which show a preference for cylindrical forms. By the late eighth century BC, a short button finial is encountered in the base. Pithoi of similar kind were made in Attica in the same period.203 In Attica in the Geometric period, infants were buried in clay vases, among them pithoi. Pithos burial in Attica was practised continuously from Geometric times until the fourth century BC. In the eighth century BC there was a technological development in the material used for making Attic pithoi and the shapes became more elegant and symmetrical. Cut pithoi, which were used as wellheads, are known from Attica in the Geometric period.204 In the Geometric cemetery near the village of Myloi, in the wider area of Lerna, pithoi used for burials were uncovered. These were large, 0.95-1.30 m. high, ovoid, with thick rim and short thick foot. Some had applied bands on the body.205 At Vathyrema, Nichoria, which seems to have been a cemetery, the burial of a warrior was found in a pithos of the Late Geometric period (ca 750-700 BC). This pithos displays similarities with shapes of the preceding period and the button finial on its base also recalls pithoi of analogous type of the preceding period. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou characterizes the presence of mortuary pithoi in Achaia and the Argolid during the Geometric period as prolific, and in Eleia as more sporadic.206 Storage pithoi have been found in eastern Crete, noteworthy among which are those brought to light in the temple at Dreros, which are ovoid with horizontal handles and decorated with relief bands and incised stamped motifs.207 From excavations at various sites on Cyprus it seems that very large pithoi were no longer made in the CyproGeometric period.208 2.2. Archaic Period (700-500 BC) 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208

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McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 52, 54, 95. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 260-264, 108. Cullen – Keller 1990, 195. Boggess 1989, 96, 276, 277. Caskey 1956, 174; Cullen – Keller 1990, 195. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 359-360. Tsipopoulou 2005, 351. Pilides 2000a, 373; Pilides 1996, 119.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Between the late eighth and the sixth century BC, a category of storage vases and pithoi with relief decoration, known as ‘relief pithoi’, appears. These vases range in height from 0.50 to 2 m. and have a wide thematic repertoire of decoration, including geometric motifs and representations from mythology and the epics. It has been proposed that these pithoi were produced in workshops in Boeotia, on Andros,209 Cyclades, Crete and Rhodes210 (Pl. 18). Smaller pithoi, about 1 m. high, suitable for the needs of individual houses, were also made in this period. Very large pithoi continued to exist and in second use hosted burials. Examples of such pithoi are known from Eleia, but are by no means as frequent as in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.211 The Dipylon type is typical for Attica and conical shapes for Macedonia. Attic pithoi of the seventh century BC have thinner walls and a neck, and display uniformity212 (Pl. 19). From the end of the seventh century BC and the turn to the sixth, the handmade and mould-made decoration of the ‘relief pithoi’ had begun to retreat, giving way to the use of the roller stamp.213 In addition to being used for storage, pithoi were intended also as votive offerings in sanctuaries.214 Alongside these, simpler pithoi were produced. These had no handles and were decorated with applied bands on the body and neck. One further use of pithoi, or more precisely their upper half, in this period was as wellheads, a practice known from the Geometric period, as noted above. Sherds of pithoi dated to the sixth century BC, with with added bands decorated with finger impressions or incisions, have been found at Agios Andreas on Siphnos and evidently served domestic needs.215 Pikoulas, in his study of the South part (rural territory) of Megalopolis, and specifically the site of Maliokampos/ Malea, identified many sherds of storage vases which date to the second half of the sixth century BC. These have characteristic decoration of applied bands with oblique incisions.216 In rooms IV and V of the Archaic house at Kopanaki, two pithoi were revealed in situ, as well as numerous sherds of pithoi, on the basis of which the space was characterized as a pithoi storeroom (pitheonas) These pithoi display morphological peculiarities and in the view of the excavator imitate metal vessels. They have serpentine handles, a stepped body, very wide mouth and applied bands in the lower part and at shoulder level (H. 65 cm., Diam. of rim 31 cm., Diam. of base 40 cm.) (Pl. 20). Clay lids of pithoi were also found in the same house.217 Storage pithoi have come to light in eastern Crete, among 209 Televantou 2008, 18, 36. 210 Simantoni-Bournia 1998; Simantoni-Bournia 1990, 15-18 and Themelis 2006, 95-105. 211 Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 359. 212 Cullen – Keller 1990, 196; Boggess 1989, 99. 213 Simantoni-Bournia 1998, 371. 214 Cullen – Keller 1990, 196. 215 Personal contact with G. Petrocheilos, who studies Siphnaian pithoi. 216 Pikoulas 1988, 18-19, fig.78.91,1. 217 Kaltsas 1983, 210, 221, 235, 13-14.

them those found in the temple of Dreros. From the examples dated to the Archaic period, it appears that the typology of pithoi changed and from ovoid with horizontal handles they became high-necked and with vertical handles.218 On Cyprus, torpedo-shaped storage vases and large amphorae make their appearance in the Cypro-Archaic period.219 2.3. Classical – Hellenistic – Roman periods (5th century BC –330 AD) In the fifth century BC pithoi were an integral part of the equipment of every household, as shown by excavations in houses of the Classical period, in Athens, Thorikos, at Karabournaki in Thessaloniki220 (Pl. 21), Olynthos, (Pl. 22) and elsewhere. Throughout the Classical period it was common practice to set the lower half of the body of the pithos in the ground, in storage spaces or in spaces for food preparation, and to cover the mouth with a clay or stone disc/lid.221 This practice did not change in Hellenistic times and indeed continued without interruption into recent times. Storage vases of the Classical period are of assorted sizes, but in general smaller than the large vases of the previous periods, which were up to 2 m. high. There is reference to the pitheonas, that is the pithoi storeroom, in contemporary inscriptions.222 Attic pithoi of the Classical period were made of less coarsegrained material, while there was a significant change in the type, which no longer has a neck, as in earlier periods. Useful for identifying the types of pithoi in this period are the depictions on black-figure vases of the sixth century BC and three sculptural representations of pithoi on metopes of buildings of the Classical and the Hellenistic period.223 In these representations the pithoi are rarely decorated, and when they do have decoration this consists of incised wavy lines on the rim, the shoulder and the belly. According to Boggess, Attic pithoi were used for storing wine, milk, honey, olive oil, water, fruits and cereals, as well as salted meat and fish, and liquid and solid medicaments. Three pithoi from the Athenian Agora were used in second use as permanent water cisterns, while pithoi sherds were used as filling material in buildings. Last, pithoi were also dedicated as votive offerings in sanctuaries.224 At the Poithigia, which was the first day of the Anthesteria in Attica, the pithoi of wine, which had been sealed for some months, were opened and the festival commenced with wine-bibbing.225 In Classical times pithoi played an important role in trade 218 219 220 221

222 223 224 225

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Tsipopoulou 2005, 351. Pilides 2000a, 373. Tiverios – Manakidou – Tsiafaki 1995, 277-282. Veleni, commenting on Hellenistic pithoi intended for wineries, says that in order to protect the wine from the atmosphere and harmful movements, the vases were sunk in the ground and at sufficient distance from each other so that they did not touch (Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,152). Robinson – Graham 1938 , 207. For representations of vase-making in vase-painting of Archaic and Classical times see Chatzidimitriou 2005, 31-47. Boggess 1989, 250-267, 277, 279-280. Cullen – Keller 1990, 202.

Mimika Giannopoulou

and were of specific sizes, which were defined by public demand or directly by the State, and, as in previous periods, were sold either empty, as vases per se, or with their content, as containers for transporting various products.226 Many cases of the repair of pithoi are known from this period. Usually cracks in pithoi were repaired with lead clamps, as evidenced by examples from Olynthos, Corinth (Pl. 23), Eleia and elsewhere.227 After a pithos had been repaired, it was used for storing dry foodstuffs. On rims of Attic pithoi, inscriptions referring to their selling price have been identified. Written on five pithoi of the fourth century BC from Olynthos are their selling prices, 31 drachmas or 1 obol on the small ones and 53 drachmas, that is 4 obols on the larger ones. These prices are equivalent to the monthly wage of a labourer, denoting that acquiring a pithos was a great expense for a household, which is why pithoi were used for many years, were repaired, frequently had several uses and in general were well looked after.228 Indeed, the normal wish for wealth and happiness on a house, was ‘May your vases be full of goods’; according to Scheibler ‘vases’ (αγγεία) in this case means pithoi.229 Between 1988 and 1995, in excavations at Pistyros, Emporium of the Thasians, near modern Plovdiv in Bulgaria, a large number of Classical pithoi was found, most of them in situ. Because there is evidence of metallurgical activity in this space, the excavators have associated the pithoi with this and argue that they were used for storing water, olive oil, wine, grain/fruits, etc. The pithoi are decorated with applied bands only on the upper body, which remained visible when the rest of the vessel was set in the ground. These pithoi too were repaired with lead clamps. Some pithoi are stamped or carry other symbols. The larger pithoi are 1.5 m. high and over 1 m. in diameter, while their capacity exceeds 500 kilos.230 Sherds of at least two pithoi were recovered from the Classical levels of the tholos at Nichoria. These vases with globular and piriform body, and handles, were perhaps intended for storing liquids and foodstuffs used in the sacrifices carried out in this space231 (Fig. 11). Burial pithoi of Classical and Early Hellenistic times have been found at sixteen sites in the area of Kyline-Elis and Amaliada in Eleia, and at thirteen sites in the wider area of Olympia. The shape of these pithoi, which according to Chatzi-Spiliopoulou remained the same from the Middle Bronze Age, is ovoid, with cylindrical or disc base, which was flat on those vases less than 1 m. high. The rim is everted, “horizontal, sloping”. These pithoi are undecorated an range in size from 1.50-2.10 m. high, with rim diameter of 50 cm. to 1 m. Concave tiles, flat stones and clay discs with hole or protuberance were used as lids of the pithoi in

Eleia232 (Figs. 12-13). The production of pithoi increased during the fourth century BC, particularly in Athens and Corinth. Pithoi of this period are rarely decorated, while a change is observed in the clay fabric, which from very coarse-grained with numerous inclusions – characteristic of the preceding periods – was replaced by a finer-grained clay with fewer inclusions. The shape became ovoid to globular, with everted rim and no neck, which type was to dominate throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods.233 In this period many pithoi were set completely in the ground, up to the rim. Thus use of pithoi for collecting water, which was to be a common practice in Roman and Byzantine times too, began in the fourth century BC.234 In the Hellenistic period the pithoi storeroom (pitheonas) seems to have been a basic facility in farmhouses, arranged next to the wine-pressing installation.235 A house in ancient Corinth yielded copious sherds from large decorated pithoi. One pithos was restored complete and is dated between the late fourth and the early second century BC (Pl. 23, Fig. 31). It is 1.85 m. high, with rim diameter 42 cm., width of mouth 12.5 cm., and mean thickness of the wall 2-2.5 cm. The shape is ovoid with swollen belly, no neck and everted rim of triangular crosssection. The base ends in a bulky appendage with rings. Around the maximum diameter runs an applied decorative band, 1.3-1.4 cm. thick with wavy and straight lines. There is red slip on the zone of decoration. The decoration shows that this pithos was not destined to be set entirely in the ground, as was usual for Hellenistic pithoi, but only up to the point where the decoration begins. Thus, it was intended probably for public use in a temple or a civic building. The pithoi had been repaired with lead clamps at points where there were cracks.236 In some Houses of Classical and Hellenistic period in Eretria a pithos was found in the courtyard for the storage of the rain water.237 A pitheonas that communicated with wine-pressing installations was noted in houses dated from the third century BC to the first century AD at Lousoi.238 At Tria Platania, in the first dry plain north of the River Peneios, in the municipality of Platamonas, a large farmhouse of rectangular plan, of the late fourth century BC, has been brought to light. In its northeast corner was a pitheonas with 10 preserved pithoi and pits to receive 16 other pithoi (Pl. 24). In several sherds there are incised letters on the rim (Pl. 115). Solid residues inside the pithoi indicate that they held mainly grape pips, but also olives.239 In the rural environs of ancient Leibethra, in the area of Skotina, east of Olympos, at the site of Komboloi, a farmhouse and a pitheonas, in a single complex of the second half of the fourth century BC and the early third century BC. The pitheonas, of peculiar ground plan was

226 Boggess 1989, 290, 294. 227 Robinson – Graham 1938, 316; Boggess 1970, 73-78; ChatziSpiliopoulou 1991, 356. 228 Boggess 1989, 96, 298; Robinson – Graham 1938, 207; Cullen – Keller 1990, 199. 229 Scheibler 1992 , 23. 230 Lazov 1999, 339-340. 231 McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 335.

232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

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Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 356-360. Boggess 1989, 101. Noble 1965, 15; Cullen - Keller 1990, 199. Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,129. Boggess 1970, 74-75, 78, pl.16. Eretria 2004, 245. Mitsopoulou-Leon 2007, 43, pl. 9-18.. Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,56-57.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

square (approx. (19.50 x 19.50 m.) with central court. Two pithoi with pointed base were found on the floor. These had not been set in the ground but were probably supported on bases of perishable material. It was possible to restore one to a considerable degree, which was 2.15 m. high, 1.69 m. in diameter and with wall 3-4 cm. thick. It is dated to the mid-fourth and early third century BC240 (Pl. 25). At Komboloi, a total of 32 pithoi and 18 pits for pithoi were found. Many pithoi are of large dimensions, several have incised letters on the rim and were provided with clay lids, frequently coated with slip (Pl. 115). From the pips of Eurasian vine found inside the pithoi and the in the area around them, and the data of the archaeobotanical study of the residues, the space seems to have been associated with viticulture and wine-making.241 At ancient Lete, in the southwest wing of farmhouse G, of the Late Hellenistic period, the bottom parts of four large pithoi were found.242 Sizeable pithoi linked with the processing and storing of agricultural products have come to light also in a Hellenistic farmhouse at Asprovalta.243 Pithoi dated from the 3rd to the 4th were discovered in the so-called House of Pithoi in Aiani, Kozani.244 In the course of excavating the Hellenistic city of Petra, which enjoyed its heyday from the late third to the early first century BC, a large public pitheonas was revealed, with about 16 pithoi of large dimensions. On one pithos is the inscription Δησίκου Ποίησις (made by Desikos) (Pl. 26). Various kinds of storage vases have been found at Petra, characteristic among which are the sizeable pithoi with pointed base and thick walls, which were set solidly in the beaten-earth floor, and smaller storage vases with narrow and flat resting surface. The vases, in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, were found placed one beside the other, usually close to the north or the west wall of the ground floor, and were intended to store wheat, cereals, olive oil or even water, while the smaller ones were used in the preparation of salted foodstuffs. The commonest shape is ovoid, but with markedly swollen belly, tapering below and ending in a ring-shaped or button-shaped finial. There is no slip on the outside, while the inside of some pithoi is coated with resin to make it impervious. Fragments of pithoi repaired with lead clamps on the cracked or damaged points are also numerous. On the rim of one pithos the name of the owner ΙΟΛΛΑΣ (Iollas) had been incised before firing.245 Large pithoi set in the earth floor and covered with schist slabs were found in houses of the Hellenistic city on the slopes of Agios Panteleimon hill in Florina (4th-1st century BC). These contained quantities of burnt grain and on the rim of one is an inscription with the name ΠΑΡΑΜΟΝΟΥ (of Paramonos), which was stamped on the clay before firing.246 A characteristic pithos of Early Hellenistic times, which 240 241 242 243

Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,66, 68-69, 169, fig. 1. Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003, 169, 68, 70. Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,111-112. National Highway Thessaloniki - Kavala, see Adam-Veleni – Poulaki-Tzanavari 2003,86-87. 244 Karametrou-Mentesidi 2008, 40. 245 Adam-Veleni 1997, 139-140. 246 Lilibaki-Akamati – Akamatis 1999, 590-592.

displays significant similarities with the above examples, was found intact, set in the ground up to the rim, in the court of a house at Gordion, and was possibly for storing fruits247 (Fig.14). Extremely interesting are the pithoi, mostly of large dimensions, found in the 1997 excavation in the Metroon at Vergina, in a well-stratified part of the sanctuary, which is dated to the mid-second century BC248 (Pl. 27). Some pithoi sherds were found in the sanctuary and in deposits. The majority are body sherds from large pithoi with walls ranging in thickness from 3.1 to 3.9 cm., several are rim sherds ranging in thickness from 4.5 to 7.8 cm. and fewer are well-made ring bases. The rims are of triangular crosssection. In general, these are pithoi of very good and careful construction, some of which seem to have had a kind of reddish slip on the outside, obviously intended to give the vases a good and uniform appearance. Upon a natural terrace in the east part of the city of Aigai, southeast of the sanctuary of the Mother of Gods, a house built at the end of the Classical or the beginning of the Hellenistic period has been excavated. In its southeast part was one room with two large pithoi and one clay oven, most probably a storeroom-cum-kitchen.249 At Vergina, sherds of Hellenistic pithoi were found south of the cluster of the Tomb of Eurydike, whole from the site of Rizomata in Pieria comes a complete pithos, possibly from a Hellenistic house250 (Pl. 28). At the site of Palatiano, Kilkis, to the south of the heroon, in a pit cut in the bedrock against which abutted a wall of one of the two Roman houses, pithoi with pointed base and wide rim, an almost intact jar (pithari) and Hellenistic pottery were uncovered251 (Pl. 29). In the course of excavating building Α at Argilos, which is a typical example of a Hellenistic house and also included a craft-industrial installation that was probably an oil press, a large pithos 2.5 m. high was found, repaired with lead clamps and surrounded by plenty of carbonized olives252 (Pl. 30). In one of the buildings of the Late Classical and the Hellenistic period, brought to light in the excavation in Riga Feraiou Street on the site of ancient Pherai, the lower part of a large pithos with pointed base, the walls of which were joined by lead clamps, was revealed in situ in a pit.253 In house A at Kallithiro, Karditsa, which dates from the second half of the fourth to the end of the thirdbeginning of the second century BC, a storage space with nine pithoi was found. On two pithoi the rim was stamped with the name of the maker «CΟΥΤΗΡΙΔΗΣ» (Souterides) and carried also an incised inscription with the same name «ΣΩΤΗΙΔ[ΑΣ]»254 (Pl. 31). Characteristic examples of pithoi of the period are those 247 Henrickson 1995, 567. 248 For the Metroon see Drougou 1997,115-119. The author is studying this material. 249 Tsigarida 1992,86-89. 250 This particular unpublished pithos is being studied by the author, by kind permission of archaeologist Angeliki Kotaridi. 251 Anagnostopoulou-Chatzipolichroni 2001,150-152. 252 Bonias – Perreault 1997, 545. 253 Doulgeri-Intzesiloglou 1998, 436-437. 254 Intzesiloglou 1984, 148.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

found in the six rooms from the two lateral aisles of the sanctuary of the Nekyomanteion (Oracle of the Dead) beside the Acheron, which were for the safekeeping of offerings. The building is dated to Early Hellenistic times (late 4th-early 3rd century BC) and the storerooms are dated to the late third century BC255 (Pl. 32). The type of pithos without neck, of the Classical period, held sway also during Roman times.256 This type is identified also in numerous sherds of pithoi of the Hellenistic period, which have been recovered in the excavation of ancient Messene, the majority of them from the area of the Hellenistic stadium and the adjacent Roman house. The condition of the sherds is such that it is not possible to reconstitute the body of the vases. Nonetheless, these were evidently storage vases of assorted sizes, some of them large, which were locally made and have the distinctive rim of triangular cross-section (Pls. 33-34). They appear to have been basically ovoid in shape, with swollen belly and flat base. (Pls. 35-36 and chapter 4, A.4-5). On Cyprus during the Cypro-Classical period, storerooms and pithoi of large dimensions began to reappear. Pilides associates this fact with an upturn in the economy and the phenomenon of the city-state.257 Roman pithoi (Latin dolium) have been little studied, but as Hayes notes they had thick walls and were made in situ on the farmsteads or in vase-making centres.258 2.4. Byzantine Period (330 AD -15th century) Byzantine pitharia were ovoid or globular and, according to Bakirtzis, the particular shape was related to the place of storage. The rim is thicker than the walls at the belly and has a flat upper surface to receive a lid – of stone, wood or clay. One group of pithoi of the eighth and ninth centuries is of ovoid shape and decorated with applied bands (Fig.15). In parallel with the aforesaid pithoi of the eighth and ninth centuries, other pithoi with ovoid body decorated with applied rings were found in the Medieval settlement of Poliana (former Markur, Russia). One is 1.92 m. high and one other 2.15 m. These pithoi are strikingly similar to the recent pithoi produced in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia, the Balkans and the regions around the Black Sea. A third group of pithoi of the eighth and ninth centuries are of globular or piriform shape, with high rim and clearly distinguished neck (Fig. 16). They are decorated with applied wavy bands with rope pattern or comb impressions (carded), or incised straight or zigzag line. Fusiform or ovoid pithoi dating from the ninth century, with rim of triangular cross-section, short embolon and smooth body, were made in the Tauris Peninsula and are found in tenthcentury houses in Cherson.259 In household storerooms in this same city, pithoi 1.50 m. high have come to light. These have an almost globular body with bulky finial at the bottom, while the rim is folded over on the outside. They are dated to the twelfth century. Pithoi of this period 255 256 257 258 259

Dakaris 2000, 20, 24. Boggess 1989, 101. Pilides 2000b, 110.

Hayes 1997, 35.

Bakirtzis 1989, 111-113.

were used for storing cereals, olive oil and salted fish. In the storeroom of Prince Isaac at Magup, pithoi dated to the fifteenth century have been found. These have an almost globular body, wide neck and narrow base, and some are decorated externally with applied rings, like the pithoi dated to the eighth and ninth cetnuries.260 Pithoi for storing olive oil have been found in Early Christian context at ancient Olympia.261 Throughout the Byzantine Age pithoi were used for storing wine, olive oil, cereals, flour, salted fish, meats, dried foodstuffs, etc.262 A typical example of storing wine in a pithos can be seen on a mosaic floor found in a fourthcentury villa in Early Christian Argos. Depicted is a scene of a wine-making installation with cupids trampling grapes and a pithos half submerged in the ground, into which the must flows.263 Included in the Geoponica (Agricultural Pursuits) are instructions on the exact placement of pithoi in storerooms. Described in chapter 2 of Book 6, entitled Of the making of wine is the suitable place for setting pithoi, which should be kept in a dry environment (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 2,3). Instructions are given also on the way in which many pithoi should be placed in storage spaces, so that they do not touch each other (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 2,3). The Byzantine pitheones of Didymoteichos, which are semibasement cellars hewn out of the soft bedrock, correspond to this picture.264 The same chapter also includes instructions and explanations of the reasons why pithoi should be set in the ground for a part of their height (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 2,2). Pithoi should be placed in places where there is no humidity, because when they are set in the ground their content is at risk. For this reason, potsherds in a kind of cement were stuck to the outer surface of their walls, to prevent damp from the earth penetrating into the inside of the vessels.265 One other paragraph in chapter 3 of the Geoponica provides information on the production and distribution of pithoi (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,2). Testing by sound – the distinctive ring tone – to ascertain that the vase was well fired and not cracked was sufficient for the prospective buyer to purchase it, a practice that has been recorded ethnographically with respect to recent pithoi workshops in Crete. As is apparent from the lore in the Geoponica, in Byzantine times orders for pithoi were placed in the pottery workshops and the customer was expected to watch at close quarters the entire long procedure of making them (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,1-3). If at any phase in this procedure a fault appeared in the pithos or it was useless, the customer and not the vase-maker was held responsible. That is why the initials and the names incised on the rim or the upper body of the pithos prior to firing, so as to be visible when it was sunk in the ground, were of the owners and not the craftsmen.266 260 261 262 263 264 265 266

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Bakirtzis 1989, 113. Völling 2001, 34. Bakirtzis 1989, 115. Liveri 1992, 257. Asimakopoulou-Atzaxa 2005, 59. Bakirtzis 1989, 116. Bakirtzis 1989, 117. Bakirtzis 1989, 117.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

In the Byzantine Age pithoi were also to be found in fields, where they were used for storing water used for watering the crops. In Byzantine times too, cracked pithoi were not discarded as useless but were repaired with lead clamps. As in earlier times, repaired pithoi were used for storing cereals and other dry produce. The Basilics include an ordinance that infers that pithoi used for the purpose of seasonal storage were often rented.267 The repair of pithoi with lead clamps and the case of renting pithoi indicate that acquiring a pithos continued to be a serious and expensive matter, which is why a pithos was not replaced until it was completely useless. The use of pithoi for a long time was usual in all periods of the Byzantine Age, as documented also by a phrase in the will of the donor of the Theotokos Koteine monastery (1247), in which there is reference to ‘thirty ancient pitharia’, as well as in Cherson, where a pithos with globular body, of the eighth-ninth century, was found in a storeroom right next to a typical pithos of the twelfth-thirteenth century. 3. Post-Byzantine and Modern Times (16th-20th century) Post-Byzantine pottery in Greece has yet to be studied sufficiently and consequently the data available to us on pithoi of this period are few (Pls. 37-40). In the Ionian Islands glazed pithoi with pronounced globular body are encountered, which are of Italian or French provenance (Pl. 41) and were made from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century.268 There is reference to pitharia of various sizes and diverse uses in Venetian and ottoman legal documents269 and in notary documents of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Pithoi were recorded alongside other valuable property.270 The most commonly mentioned use in these texts is for storing and safekeeping olive oil.271 It is known for certain that the major centres of making pitharia in recent times, such as Crete, the area of the Gulf of Messenia, and Ainos, were in their heyday during the eighteenth century. On the basis of documents from the Ottoman period, the operation of pitharia-making workshops is dated securely from the seventeenth century (Pl. 42). In the Gulf of Messenia the peak of this activity is placed confidently in the eighteenth century (see chapter 4, 3.1). It has been ascertained in fieldwork in many parts of Greece that clay vases of assorted sizes played a leading role in the storage of products and foodstuffs until the mid-twentieth century, even in areas where there were no pottery workshops and these vases had to be imported from elsewhere. In modern times clay vases were cheaper than containers made of other material, such as wooden barrels, and had a longer life span. In the East Aegean, pitharia imported from the area of the Gulf of Messenia were purchased by prosperous members 267 268 269 270 271

Bakirtzis 1989, 11-120, Christakis 2005, 67. Korre-Zografou 1995, 117. Christakis 2005, 67. Christakis 2005, 66. Korre-Zografou 1995, 23.

of the rising mercantile class, who had the financial means to consume high-quality products, including pitharia for their warehouses. For example, in the nineteenth century a globular pithari from Koroni was considered an important acquisition for a household.272 In the nineteenth-twentieth century, storage vases of various sizes, for olive oil, wine, salted foodstuffs, grain and fruits, as well as for the safekeeping and dyeing of textiles, etc., were produced in all the pottery-making centres of Greece. In the overwhelming majority of workshops in this period vases were made on the direct kick-wheel, a technique by no means suitable for making vases of capacity in excess of 300 kilos. Storage vases of smaller dimensions, usually ovoid in shape, were made in these workshops, in places such as Kythera, Kythnos, Kalymnos, Rhodes, Kos, Symi, Chios, Imbros, Siphnos, Naxos, Corfu, Zakynthos, Macedonia, Soufli, Thasos and Patmos. Indeed, for Patmos there is oral testimony that pitharia of up to 500 kilos capacity were made on the island in the nineteenth century (Pls. 43-44). During Post-Byzantine and recent times, large storage vases were called pithoi, pitharia and also kioupia, even though this last name was more usual for smaller storage vases. However, the name that predominated was pitharia. The pitharia intended for storing wine, in Crete, the Gulf of Messenia and Siphnos, were provided with a hole about 30 cm. above the bottom of the vase, for the outflow of the liquid (Pl. 136). The earliest examples of storage vases of various sizes made without the potter’s wheel, exclusively for household needs, are to be found in the mastic-growing villages (Mastichochoria) of southern Chios (Pl. 45). These are storage vases of ovoid or almost piriform shape, which are in no way similar to pitharia of other types from other parts of Greece, such as Crete or the area of the Gulf of Messenia, and almost all carry rich decoration in an array of techniques – incised, impressed, relief, stamped, etc. In the course of our research, a wealth of decorative motifs was recorded, even though these vases are not carefully made (Pl. 46). Many of the locally made pitharia have holes at the centre of the bottom, probably for the outflow of water when they were being cleaned (Pl. 47). Several had been repaired using lead or iron clamps in the cracked part, attesting to the continuity of this practice from antiquity into the eighteenth century (Pl. 48). Alongside the pitharia, a large number of clay lids, of different sizes, was recorded, these too richly decorated on the exterior surface273 (Pl. 49). The pithoi of this category were used for storing mainly solid/dry foodstuffs. In the storerooms of the Medieval houses in the Mastichochoria of Chios, locally made pithoi almost always occur together with pitharia from the area of the Gulf of Messenia and the area of Ainos, while in a few cases, as in the village of Mesta, they coexist with Byzantine pitharia (Pl. 38). It is clear from residues noted inside pitharia from the Gulf of Messenia and from Ainos that these vases were used for storing olive oil and wine, 272 Blitzer 1990, 707. 273 Giannopoulou – Demesticha 2008, 189-194.

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and were evidently preferred because the interior was glazed. On Cyprus, storage vases and particularly those of large dimensions were made primarily at Phoini (Pl. 50). Storage vases of capacity up to about 300 kilos were made to Korno and Varosi. The storage vases from Koroni had rounded base, while those from Phoini were ovoid with rounded base, and from Varosi were ovoid. Their capacity ranged from 82 to 1,200 kilos and their height from 60 cm. to 1.50 m. There were five sizes of pitharia, which were made usually on order. Very often the client gave the potter the dimensions of the storeroom, in order for the latter to decide on the diameter of the pithari. The commonest sizes in the twentieth century were the tzara, of about 170 kilos capacity, and the smaller storage vase of about 35 kilos capacity. Pitharia made at Phoini were intended mainly for storing wine, and in some places for olive oil. In areas distant from Phoini, such as Kyrenia, storage vases for olive oil were imported from the Gulf of Messenia, Italy, France andm after the mid-twentieth century, from Crete.274 In modern times too, pitharia were rarely moved from the position in which they were originally placed. From oral testimonies and observations in the course of fieldwork, it is clear that very often the pithoi were put in place first and then the storeroom was built. By the same token, it was not unusual to demolish a storeroom, in order to remove the very big pitharia. Many houses in pre-industrial Crete were abandoned leaving the pitharia in situ, while pithoi were used frequently in later periods (Pls. 51-52). Christakis, in his ethnoarchaeological study of storage in LM I Crete, examined also 620 cases of storage in 50 villages on the island, for the period 1898-1940. He ascertained that, although other means of storage existed, such as wooden barrels, metal vats, glass vessels, etc., most of the agricultural produce was stored in pithoi: about 40% of the olive oil, 20% of the wine and 10% of other foodstuffs. By this period, wooden barrels were used for storing about 80% of the wine.275 In the majority of cases, products were stored for a period of one to two years. Three type of storage practice are observed in Christakis’s study: 1. In a large storeroom in the house or in storeroom built close to the house. The number of storage vessels in each house was about 30 pithoi and wooden barrels. The maximum number of pithoi in one house was 70 and the mean storage capacity of the vases was 12,000 to 24,000 kilos approximately. Part of the production was sold immediately and the rest was stored. Most owners of such storage spaces were suppliers of olive oil or wine to the urban centres (72%). 2. The second type of storage represents 70% of the cases investigated and concerns the presence of special storerooms inside the house itself. The mean number of pithoi per house was 10 to 12. The storage capacity ranged from 4,000 to 274 Ionas 2000, 50, 54 -56, 61, 222. 275 Christakis 1999, 5-6.

3.

8,000 kilos approximately. The surplus was kept as long as possible and was sold periodically. The third model accounts fro 57% of the cases where small storerooms existed in the house and pithoi were installed even in living spaces. The mean number of pithoi was 10, with a storage capacity of approximately 2,200 kilos and storage period of one to two years.276

These three types of storage that Christakis distinguished in storage habits of modern times existed in other regions with high agricultural yields, such as the Prefecture of Messenia, which too had a major centre of production of storage vases. In the area of Messenia and in the rest of the Peloponnese, as well as in the Aegean islands and in Thessaly, the second and third types of storage are mainly observed, while the first type is confined to large urban centres, such as Volos, and sporadically elsewhere. The use of pitharia in the Modern Age was not limited to the storage of products and foodstuffs, but also covered other needs, such as: • The varela, a large pithari of 150 to 350 kilos capacity, was used not only for storing olive oil but also for keeping clothes, in houses where there were no chests. • The throumba, a Cretan pithari wider rim than the rest, was used all over Crete as a condenser for alcohol vapour in a still.277 • Smaller storage vases, such as kouroupia and pitharia, in which holes were opened in the body, were used in some parts of Greece, such as Crete and Siphnos, as chimneys278 (Pl. 53). • Very often pitharia were used also as beehives (Pl. 158). • In islands of the Cyclades and in other arid areas, it was not uncommon to place pitharia under the guttering of the houses, in order to collect rainwater. • Half or broken pitharia were used in the Gulf of Messenia as troughs for feeding livestock, for kneading clay or for the copper sulphate with which they sprinkled the vines (Pls. 160, 201). • In the Gulf of Messenia, pitharia sherds are found on top of yard walls and even on roofs. • Pithoi and pitharakia were used as containers to collect juice in wine press installations. They also used in separating oil from water in the processing of olive-oil.279 • In the horse-powered oil-press at Charokopi in the Gulf of Messenia, there were two large pitharia in which was placed the mertiko of olive oil (the share for payment in kind) for the labourers in the installation. Furthermore, a smaller cut pithari with hole in the bottom was 276 277 278 279

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Christakis 1999, 7. Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 39. Korre-Zografou 1995, 255; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 40. Giannopoulou 2009, 153-173.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

•

•

placed above the large pitharia and used as a funnel-cum-lid. A pithari of 1,000 kilos capacity, from the Gulf of Messenia, was found in situ in an animal-powered oil-press on Siphnos, for the same reason. Indeed, to draw the olive oil from such a large pithari, a wide-mouthed metal vessel (sigla = ‘bucket’), tied to a string, was used (Pl. 162). On Siphnos, pithoi were made with a wider rim than the rest and a hole in their lower body. These vases were used in the oil-presses and specifically for collecting the olive oil as it trickled out of the press. This oil was then emptied from these vases into the pitharia, and the mourga (sediment from the oil) was removed through the hole. The use of clay vases in many ceremonies and celebrations continued in modern times. On the island of Kos, when a member of the family died, the relatives were obliged to fill a pithari with wine, which remained sealed until the day the exhumation of the deceased. This wine was served to those who had comforted the bereaved, it was used to wash the disinterred bones, and a part of it was given to the priest, for Holy Communion.

Again in Kos, when a girl was born a pithari was filled with wine and then sealed, with the intention of opening it on her wedding day. However, if in the meantime a member of the family died, wine was taken from this pithari. In the Gulf of Messenia, pitharia were filled with must, which was left to ferment. On the day these pitharia were opened a feast was celebrated for this first wine, which was called prophtasoura. In many parts there was one tzara in which the best salted meat was kept and which was opened on a feast day, at the birth of a boy in the family, or when the house was offering hospitality to ‘special’ guests. In every household in Messenia there was one tzara with choice

pieces of salted meat, to treat visitors tot the house. During the Second World War, pithoi with food –cheese, olive oil, olives– were buried in the fields and covered with soil, twigs or straw, to hide them from the occupation forces. Such pithoi have been found in the area of Crete and Messenia. In fact, it is reported that men too hid in large pitharia, in the period of the Civil War. Pithoi-like vases for special uses were made in the same workshops as the pitharia and were produced in almost all the centres of pottery production. • At Thrapsano in Crete, in periods prior to the twentieth century, special tall pithos-like vases of cylindrical shape were made for dyeing wool and cotton fibres: the bogiatsopithara. The mesopithara were vases exactly half the size of the large pitharia, with very wide rim, and were used specifically for storing fruits.280 • Again in Crete, the melopitharo was of the same type as the other pitharia, the only additional feature being a groove formed in the rim, in which water was placed to prevent ants getting into the honey (meli) contained in the vase.281 To this day pitharia exist in old houses all over Greece, but very few are still used for storing foodstuffs. The basic use now, both of old pitharia and new ones, made mainly in Crete and Marousi, Athens, is for the decoration of shops and other venues. Nonetheless, their presence is pronounced in courtyards and gardens, empty or as plant pots, very often whitewashed or painted, in places of entertainment, in the entrances of houses in the countryside, in village squares on the mainland and in the islands, etc. (Pls. 261, 274-275).

280 Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 41. 281 Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 40.

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CHAPTER 3

The technology of making storage vases diachronically I. SOURCES: INFORMATION ON THE MAKING PROCEDURE FROM ANCIENT TEXTS

made on a wooden core, which was called kanabos, and were moved away from this before the clay dried’.286 In Byzantine texts there are references to brick-makers, tile-makers, cooking-pot-makers and pithoi-makers.287 A valuable source on the procedures in making pithoi is the third chapter of Book VI of the Geoponica, of the fourth century AD, which is entitled Περί κατασκευής πίθων (Concerning the making of the casks), where information is given on the raw materials, the techniques and the firing of pithoi. The following is said about the clays used for making pithoi: Γῆ οὐ πᾶσα ἐπιτήδειος πρὸς κεραμείαν, ἀλλὰ τῆς κεραμίτιδος γῆς οἱ μὲν προκρίνουσι τὴν πυρρὰν τὸ χρῶμα, οἱ δὲ τὴν λευκήν, οἱ δὲ ἀμφοτέρας συμμιγνύουσι (All earth is not fit for pottery; but some indeed prefer the clay of yellow colour, and some the white, and some mix both together) (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,1). Important is the information on mixing clays, which is common practice among potters in Greece, both in antiquity and in recent times. The Geoponica also mentions the use of white clay for making ‘casks’, i.e. pithoi. However, the clay of most pithoi in various periods is red or brown. It is, of course, possible that the author means generally light-coloured clays, such as some greyish white clays of Crete and the Gulf of Messenia, which were used in pithoi-making. In the same chapter there is a succinct description of the technique of making pithoi without using the potter’s wheel: ...οὐ πάντας δὲ τοὺς πίθους ἐπὶ τὸν τροχὸν ἀναβιβάζουσι οἱ κεραμεῖς, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μικρούς. τοὺς μέντοι μείζους χαμαὶ κειμένους ὁσημέραι ἐν θερμῷ οἰκήματι ἐπικοδομοῦσι, καὶ μεγάλους ποιοῦσιν... (The potters do not make all casks on the wheel, only the small; they indeed daily fabricate such as are of a larger size, set on the ground in a stove, and they make them quite large …) (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,4). This paragraph gives all information on making pithoi without using a wheel, a technique common in Greece – and the world over – not only in the Byzantine Age but also in earlier periods and, of course, as the present work demonstrates, in recent times. From the opening phrase of the paragraph on the technique of pithoi-making it becomes clear that two basic techniques were employed for making storage vases in general, that is, with the potter’s wheel and without the potter’s wheel. The difference was that the potter’s wheel was not used for making large storage vases, that is pithoi, but for smaller storage vases. Ethnographic studies of the workshops in Greece, in which vases are made on the wheel and without the wheel, confirm that this distinction was kept in modern times. The description in the Geoponica fits exactly the case of the technique of making large storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia,

References to the making of pithoi are scant in ancient texts of the Classical period. Pithoi are mentioned for their use, in various ancient texts and inscriptions, and just a few phrases imply that the making of them was a difficult matter.282 Just how technical and complex was the procedure of making pithoi can be seen from the ancient proverb that Plato puts in the mouth of Socrates: ... πρὸς Διός, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, οὐ καταγέλαστον ἂν ἦν τῇ ἀληθεία, εἰς τοσοῦτον ἄνοίας ἐλθεῖν ἄνθρώπους, ὢστε, πρὶν ἰδιωτεύοντας πολλὰ μὲν ἐτύχομεν ποιῆσαι, πολλὰ δὲ κατορθῶσαι καὶ γυμνάσθαι ἱκανώς τήν τέχνην, τό λεγόμενον δέ τοῦτο ἐν τῷ πίθῳ τὴν κεραμείαν ἐπιχειρεῖν μανθάνειν, καὶ αὐτούς τε δημοσιεύειν ἐπιχειρεῖν καὶ ἂλλους τοιούτους παρακαλεῖν (by Heaven, Callicles, would it not in truth be ridiculous that men should descend to such folly that, before having plenty of private practice, sometimes with indifferent results, sometimes with success, and so getting adequate training in the art, they should, as the saying is, try to learn pottery by starting on a wine-jar, and start public practice themselves and invite others of their like to do thus?), which occurs in other texts too and was used of those who try very difficult things without havi ng the necessary knowledge and experience (Plato, Gorgias, 514E. Cf. Protagoras, 324E and Laches, 187B). Noble, commenting on the phrase ἐν τῷ πίθῳ τήν κεραμείαν ἐπιχειρεῖν μανθάνειν (try to learn pottery by starting on a wine-jar), says characteristically that: ‘The difficulty of making pithoi was known in ancient times. There were frequent reminders that a vase-maker learns his art first with small vases and then makes pitharia’.283 The earliest reference in an ancient text to the technique of making pithoi is in the Onomasticon by Pollux, a work of the second century AD, and concerns making pithoi by the kannabos technique: περί ὃ δέ οἱ τοὺς πίθους πλάττοντες τόν πηλόν περιθέντες πλάττουσι, τοῦτο τὸ ξυλήφιον κάνναβος καλεῖται. (Onomasticon, VII, 164). According to this description, it seems that there was some kind of wooden frame called a κάνναβος (= grid, template), around which the pithoi-makers moulded clay, so forming the pithos. Boggess is the only researcher to have tried to reconstruct this techique graphically,284 while it is referred to by both Richter285 and Noble, who makes the following comment: ‘Some ancient pithoi were so big that they were

282 283 284 285

Boggess 1989, 220-237; Richter 1923, 87-103. Henrickson1995, 553-572; Noble 1965, 15. Boggess 1989, 237. Richter 1923, 87,88,93.

286 Noble 1965, 16. 287 Kizi-Louvi 1989, 120.

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Ainos and Cyprus, where such vases were made placed in the ground inside buildings with stable conditions of temperature and humidity (see 4, III.1). In another paragraph of the same chapter, where indicative information is given in the production and distribution of pithoi, there is a further reference to making pithoi on a wheel: οὐκ ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο αὔταρκες, ἀλλὰ χρῆ τὸν κατασκευάζοντα παρεῖναι τῇ κεραμείᾳ, καὶ ὃπως ὁ πηλὸς καλῶς εἰργασμένος εἴη προνοῆσαι, καὶ μὴ πρὶν ἐᾶσαι ἐπὶ τὸν τροχὸν ἀναβιβάσαι, πρὶν τὸν πηλὸν διαδεῖξαι ὁποῖος ἔσται ὁ πίθος ὀπτηθεὶς (This indeed in not all; but it is necessary that the maker should be present at the operation, and that he should previously know that the clay is well wrought, and not to suffer it to be applied to the wheel before the clay indicates the quality of the cask when it is burnt) (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,3). It is quite possible here that the author refers to one more technique of pithoimaking on a manually-operated wheel (tournette, turntable) and not on a kick-wheel. This technique is known from the workshops producing large storage vases in Crete.288 The only reference to the process of making the inside of the pithos impervious to liquids, a practice applied in many workshops producing small and large storage vases in Greece in recent times, is once again in chapter 3. There, in the paragraph about the desired shape of the pithoi, the author notes that the inner surface was coated with bitumen or pitch, after first being heated on the outside with hot ash: Καλλίους δὲ οἱ πίθοι τῶν εἰς γαστέρα ἐξωγκωμένων οἱ μακρότεροι, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ στόματα ἀνεῳγμένα ἔχοντες. τὰ δὲ χείλη τῶν πίθων ποιητέον ἔξω ἐπινεύοντα, ἵνα ὅταν τῇ τέφρᾳ ἐπιχρίωμεν αὐτούς, μὴ ἐμπίπτῃ τι εἰς τὸν πίθον ἀνοιξάντων ἡμῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκκυλίηται ἔξω. εὐθύς δὲ θερμοὺς ἔτι ὄντας πισσωτέον (Of the casks indeed that extrude into the belly, those that are long are the best, and especially those that have wide mouths. You are also to make the edges of the casks shelving externally, that when we cover them with ashes, nothing may fall into the cask when we open it, but that it may get down on the outside. You are likewise to pitch them immediately while they are hot) (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3,7,8). Coating with pitch as a method of waterproofing is encountered in recent times only in the workshops making storage vases at Kornos in Cyprus.289 Information on the final and very important procedure in pithoi-making, firing, is completely absent from Classical texts, even though there are many references to the firing of wheelmade vases. This absence may be due to the fact that the procedure of firing pithoi is the same as that for other vases. In the Geoponica, however, there is reference to the firing procedure: Οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τῆς κεραμείας ἐστὶ μέρος ἡ ὄπτησις. δεῖ δὲ μήτε ἔλαττον, μήτε πλέον, ἀλλὰ μεμετρημένως τὸ πῦρ ὑποβάλλειν. διὰ τοῦτο τινες, τὴν τῆς τοσαύτης κατασκευῆς δυσκολίαν παραιτούμενοι, τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρῶνται πίθοις, ὅ μάλιστα βλάπτει τούς οἴνους (But the burning is not an iconsiderable part of the potter’s art: and it is necessary to make the fire neither too small nor too large, but exactly proportionable. For this reason 288 Vogiatzoglou 1972, 59-82. 289 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70.

some, declining the difficulty of so much preparation, use the old casks, which is very harmful to the wines) (Γεωπ. [cas. Bas.] VI 3.5-6). With regard to the firing of pithoi, the author stresses that this is one of the most difficult phases of the whole procedure, during which the vase may become useless, due to under-firing or over-firing, due to too weak a fire or too strong a fire. For large pithoi, which not infrequently were placed in the ground before the foundations of the house were constructed around them, special kilns were built, which were pulled down in order to take out the fired pithos, a task that demanded the continual presence of the master potter.290 II. TYPES OF WORKSHOPS – FORMS OF PRODUCTION 1. Theoretical framework The production of vases is related to the political, social and economic systems of each period, and is influenced by environmental factors, such as the availability of raw materials in a place, and by the technology of a society and the skills of its people. So, vase production can be investigated in relation to economic systems, distribution and consumption.291 Specialization is one way of organizing production. It differs from non-specialized production in the amount of time spent on the activity, the acknowledged title of the person who practises it and the remuneration in payment or kind received for the products. According to Rice, specialized production in pottery is characterized by regularity in the variety of materials used in the productive activities, and is defined generally as the regular and repeated supplied of certain goods or services in exchange for certain others. She recognizes two types of vase-making workshops: the household workshop and the organized workshop.292 Blackman, Stein and Vandiver, in their research on specialization in the pottery from Tell Leilan in Syria, argue that the degree of specialization in vase-making should be examined through the study of worshop infrastructures, mechanisms of exchange and, last, the standardization of the physical and stylistic features of the vases produced by a particular population. In their view, this does not necessarily mean that all the vases made by professional potters are standardized but that when standardization is observed this means that professional specialization exists.293 The products of a specialized system of production are distinguished by standardization, sufficiency, skill and regional differentiation.294 Nevertheless, the relation between standardization of vases and pottery production is not always characteristic of professional specialization.295

290 291 292 293 294 295

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Bakirtzis 1989, 118. Costin 1991, 3; Galaty 1999, 29. Rice 1987, 86, 186. Blackman-Stein-Vandiver 1993, 61, 77. Costin 1991, 44. Arnold 2000, 333-375; Feinman – Upham – Lightfoot 1981, 871884.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Costin sees specialization within a permanent and organized system of production, in which the producers are dependent on domestic exchange relations, for at least part of their life, and consumers are dependent on producers for the supply of products that they do not produce themselves.296 Sinopoli recognizes two forms of specialization: dependent and autonomous independent. Dependent specialization concerns the production of special goods of high value, which are commissioned and controlled by a social elite and are part of a specific political process. Autonomous independent specialization concerns the production of everyday utilitarian goods for general distribution.297 In order to evaluate the degree of specialization of a particular group of workers in a society, the following parameters should be taken into account: 1. The intensity with which someone is involved with a craft and the time expended on practising it (Intensity). 2. The concentration and the distribution of specialized craftsmen in a space, and the relations between themselves and between them and the consumers (Concentration). 3. The social, political and economic context of the society that demands the specific goods (Context). 4. The scale of production, the magnitude and the principles characteristic of it (Scale).298 On the basis of these parameters, Costin proposes the following categories of specialization: 1. Autonomous individual craftsmen who produce for the household and exclusively for local distribution (individual) 2. Larger worshops that produce for local distribution (dispersed workshop). 3. Autonomous individual workshop units that, on a cottage-industrial basis, produce goods for regional consumption (community specialization). 4. Larger workshops in a community, which produce not only for the needs of this community but also for regional distribution (nucleated workshops). 5. Craftsmen who are not involved exclusively with producing a good and who produce seasonally for an elite clientele or for administrative mechanisms (dispersed corvee). 6. Craftsmen who work full-time, producing for an elite clientele and for administrative distribution (individual retainers). 7. Large-scale enterprises of craftsmen working fulltime for an elite clientele or for administrative mechanisms through highly specialized systems (retaine workshop).299

296 297 298 299

Costin 1991, 4. Costin 1991, 5,7; Sinopoli 1991, 73. Costin 1991, 43. Costin 1991, 8; Clark-Parry 1990, 321.

For the types of vase-making workshops in recent times, Jones proposes five categories, based on labour investment, productivity and degree of specialization. These categories correspond better to the forms and types of workshops operating in Greece over at least the last three hundred years, and some of them are the same as those in Costin’s classification.300 1. Making vases for the needs of one family (household production, see Costin 1). This type is not encountered in Greece during the twentieth century,301 with very few exceptions. Among them is the making of the bontza, a large clay tray for baking bread, which was made exclusively by the women in each house, in some villages in the mountains, as well as in the plain, of Thessaly. A similar case is that of the Pomaks in Thrace, who made a comparable vessel until recently. 2. Making vases in the same household (household industry) and in its environs for local or regional distribution. Characteristic examples of workshops of this type are those in Cyprus, in which vases are made on the tournette, and at Phoini, where large storage vases are made.302 3. Individual workshops in special workshop spaces (individual workshops, see Costin 2)303. Although not common in Greece, this type of workshop is found mainly in islands, such as Andros, Syros, Thasos and elsewhere. 4. Itinerant workshops.304 Included in this category are itinerant vase-makers who set up workshops far from their home. In Greece this phenomenon is recorded mainly among makers of large storage vases, characteristic examples being the craftsmen of Thrapsano in Crete and of the Gulf of Messenia. 5. Vase-making centres (nucleated workshops see Costin 4).305 This type includes workshop units in a place where several inhabitants are involved with vase-making and have their own workshop space. Most of the workshops that operated in Greece during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries belong to this category, as on Lesbos, Crete, Rhodes and elsewhere. Henrickson has argued for specialization in the making of storage vases, in his study on the Bronze Age pithoi from Godin Tepe in western Iran and on the Hellenistic pithoi from Gordion in Turkey.306 Likewise, Nikolakopoulou proposes specialization with regard to the Late Cycladic pithoi at the site of Akrotiri on Thera.307

300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307

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Jones 1986, 873. Jones 1986, 873. Ionas 2000, 215; Jones 1986, 873. Jones 1986, 873. Jones 1986: 873. Jones 1986, 873. Henrickson1995, 553. Nikolakopoulou 2002.

Mimika Giannopoulou

In Greece, in modern times at least, yet another form of specialization in vase production is observed, namely the making of a specific vase type. The workshops making large storage vases without using the potter’s wheel, such as those in the Gulf of Messenia, at Ainos and in Cyprus, and the workshops making storage vases using the tournette, such as those of Thrapsano in Crete, produced about 90% storage vases. It should be underlined here as important that in all the aforementioned workshops, the potters who produced vases without using the wheel did not know the technique of using a kick-wheel, in other words, they had specialized totally and exclusively in one technique and in specific types of vases. Ionas, in his study on vase-making activity in Cyprus, stresses that the pitharades were absolutely specialized craftsmen and the production of pithoi, as far as workshop organization is concerned, is not linked with the rest of the vase-making activity on the island.308 In general, the makers of large storage vases in Greece and in Cyprus constituted a separate community of vasemakers and the organization of their workshops was different in many ways from those in which the kickwheel was used. The former did not call themselves vasemakers (αγγειοπλάστες) but pithoi-makers (πιθαράδες) or jar-makers (τζαράδες), and although they loved their craft, this was not their main source of income. In the same regions, as well as in the three cases – the Gulf of Messenia, Ainos and Cyprus –, there were also workshops producing wheel-made vases in the same areas as these workshops or in areas near them.309 Exceptions are the pitharades of Thrapsano and, in some cases, of Ainos, who also made smaller vases on a kick-wheel, possibly because there are similarities to the tournette in the logic of its operation, and mainly because in Thrapsano, and the Prefecture of Herakleion generally, no other workshops producing smaller wheel-made vases existed.310 McDonald, Coulson and Rosser also speak about specialization in the making of storage vases without using a potter’s wheel, after their examination of ‘fine’ and ‘coarse’ wares of the Geometric period from Nichoria in Pylia. Specifically, they propose the existence of two vase-making traditions, the one producing fine pottery fired in kilns, and the other producing storage vases fired in bonfires.311 Kiriatzi is of the same opinion with regard to the making of pithoi in the Late Bronze Age at Toumba, Thessaloniki, while Chatzi-Vallianou emphasizes that the making of either the particularly elegant vases as fine as eggshells or the storage pithoi presupposes special technical procedures which can be detected in the framework of ethnographic approaches.312 One other serious factor determining the form and character of the workshops producing storage vases in recent times was that in all of them (Gulf of Messenia, Crete, Ainos) the vases were made by men. Moreover, vase-making 308 309 310 311 312

Ionas 2000, 215, 220. See chapter 5.I,3 and London 1991, 231. Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 21; Giannopoulou 1998a, 5. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 90. Chatzi-Vallianou 1997, 487-488. Chatzi-Vallianou 1995, 10351059.

was not the only occupation of these craftsmen, who also engaged in agricultural activities. Very few of them were exceptions to this rule, and these began their involvement with making storage vases much earlier than the rest. Making storage vases was a seasonal occupation, mainly during the summer months, which was also determined by climatic conditions. As Arnold notes too, when the planning of farming tasks intertwines with pottery making, the latter takes place in those months when there is a lull in the former, and is a male task.313 According to all the above, in Greece in modern times three types of specialist workshops for producing storage vases can be distinguished, on the basis of the technique of making, the type of workshop space and the permanency of the workshops in one place: 1. Roofed workshop spaces associated with the technique of making storage vases with or without a potter’s wheel. 2. Open-air workshops associated with the technique of the tournette. 3. Itinerant workshops associated with seasonal migrations of vase-makers and the setting up of seasonal workshops. 2. Roofed workshop spaces Pottery workshops in modern times, both those producing wheel-made vases and those producing handmade vases, were built near to or within settlements, most times only a short distance from each other. Their form, in general the same throughout Greece, was determined by the kinds of vases made in them. A typical workshop for making vases with or without the potter’s wheel included a roofed space of rectangular plan with two windows and one or two doors, inside which the vases were made, the kiln which was close to or some distance away from the workshop, open-air spaces for processing the argillaceous earth, preparing the clay and drying the vases, and, in some cases, storerooms (Pl. 54, 164, Fig. 17). Various portable utensils or permanent constructions of small dimensions, such as sieves, handmills, small kilns for firing different materials, complete the equipment of the workshops. The workshops and the permanent or portable constructions were usually built by the vase-makers themselves, of stones, bricks and wood, depending on the materials available in each area and the local architecture. Workshops that had a roofed space for making storage vases of large dimensions, such as those in the Gulf of Messenia, Ainos and Cyprus, display considerable similarity in their form and are presented analytically in chapter 5 (see chapter 4. Part B). These workshops produced storage vases of assorted dimensions and uses, as well as small and large vases for other uses, such as beehives, fonts, mortars, etc. (see chapter 4, II.2). 3. Open-air workshops To this category belong the workshops producing storage vases at Thrapsano in Crete, as well as in many other parts 313 Arnold 1976, 100.

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

of the island, where they were set up seasonally by vasemakers from Thrapsano, and after 1930 from Margarites too.314 The workshops were created in private spaces in Thrapsano, whereas when the itinerant vase-makers went to other parts of Crete they rented the necessary spaces each time. In these spaces the permanent construction was the kiln (Pl. 55-56). The master potter ‘made the deal’ (pactone), that is, he was responsible for negotiating the leasing of the space, the rent for which was usually paid in kind, that is in pithoi from the workshop’s production. The agreement was in most cases oral and only in a few cases written. Among the first constructions when a workshop was set up was the temporary hut. It was there that the clay was prepared and stored, and a kick-wheel was usually installed too, for making small vases for everyday use (Pl. 57). In the open-air workshops, ten to fourteen pithoi were made concurrently, on the same number of tournettes/ turntables, the trochia (see chapter 3, 5.2.4). The tournettes were placed in the trocholakkos, a rectangular ditch on the side of which a small square space was opened at halfmetre intervals. In this small space, known as the parastia or pholia (= nest), the tournette (trochi) was set. The space where the tournette-turner (trocharis) sat was called vanga (Pl. 56). At some point of the workshop a circular ditch was dug, the core of which functioned as a table at which the members of the workshop ate. In the Thrapsano workshops, in addition to pitharia, that is the vases of capacity in excess of 200 kilos (Pl. 58-59) and destined mainly for storing olive oil and wine, storage vases of other sizes and for many other uses were made.315 4.

Itinerant workshops

Alongside the permanently established workshops, there were also the so-called itinerant workshops. Teams of potters who made storage vases, from the area of the Gulf of Messenia, Thrapsano in Crete, Cyprus and Ainos, were migrating seasonally to various regions, where they made and marketed their products. Some archaeologists, such as Galaty, also speak of itinerant potters who made pithoi. In his opinion, cooking pots and pithoi were produced either by itinerant vase-makers or by small individual workshops.316 Pilides ascertains in Cypriot pithoi of the thirteenth century AD stabilization in shapes and decoration, as well as homogeneity in the general appearance of these vases all over the island. The presence of pithoi wasters at several sites of this period leads to the hypothesis that itinerant potters made these vases in various parts of Cyprus.317 Wiencke, in her study of the pithoi from Lerna III, notes exactly the same use of a roller as on pithoi from Zygouries and Tiryns, which leads her to suggest that potters were travelling from village to village and making storage vases.318 Henrickson does not rule out this possibility for 314 315 316 317 318

Giannopoulou 2001a, 15-16. Giannopoulou 2002a, 111-112. Galaty 1999, 77. Pilides 2000a, 365. Wiencke 1970,103.

pithoi-making in the area of Godin Tepe in western Iran, during the Bronze Age.319 The movement of potters, especially those making large storage vases, was completely logical, given that in periods before the twentieth century movement from one place on land to another was by cart and animals. The road network in Greece was in a primitive state and it was therefore particularly difficult and taxing to transport products, not least pithoi, which are bulky and far from easy to move (Pl. 60). So, the movement of the vase-makers and their temporary installation in areas where the raw materials were available and which had need of storage vases for the agricultural yields was preferable. This was common practice in the Gulf of Messenia (see chapter 4, VI.), in Crete where the pitharades of Thrapsano toured the rest of the island,320 in Cyprus where the pitharades likewise toured other parts of the island.321 Last, Siphnian vasemakers not only toured seasonally outside their island but also remained permanently in other regions of Greece.322 By the early twentieth century, the pitharades from Ainos too had already begun to move en masse to other regions.323 After all, the form of the workshops and the techniques for making storage vases, both in the Gulf of Messenia and Cyprus, and at Thrapsano in Crete, were conducive to migration, because no special tools or equipment, nor a special workshop space were required for making the vases. The movements of vase-makers from Ainos and Messenia, which intensified after the mid-nineteenth century, should be viewed in conjunction with wider economic and social changes. Indeed, in the early twentieth century pitharades from Ainos were basically moving to places such as Thasos, to cover orders from the olive presses.324 The basic criteria for selecting the site of an itinerant workshop were the availability of raw materials, the proximity to an urban centre, the yields of agricultural produce in the area, the existence or not of other permanent workshops making pithoi in the area, and, last, the distance from the potters’ home. At Thrapsano specialized teams of vase-makers were organized, the takimia, which toured various parts of Crete and set up open-air workshops for producing large storage vases (Pl. 61). The organization and operation of the team was called vedema (the word derives from the Latin vendemma, which means harvest),325 and those who participated in the vedema were called vedemaroi. The vase-makers of Kornos in Cyprus travelled alone or with one assistant or with their son, for two or three months in the summer, to other regions which they visited repeatedly for one to three years, executing commissions for large storage vases. These regions were mainly the villages in the Troodos, where the storage vases were 319 Henrickson 1995, 559. 320 Giannopoulou 1998a, 5-6; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 20-21. 321 London 2000, 102-109; London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69. 322 Spathari – Begliti 1992, 81-109. 323 Papadopoulos 1999, 70. 324 Personal communication from the archaeologist Stratis Papadopoulous, who is studying the Ainitan pitharia. 325 For details on the organization of the vedema see Giannopoulou 2002a, 115-116.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

essential because of the great production of wine there. Some space in the house of the vase-maker’s client was used as a workshop. The potters carried the clay with them, in a wooden barrel. There was usually a communally owned kiln in the village. The pitharia were made in the courtyard of the client’s house and vase-makers slept in the village coffee shop. In this case the client, not the potter, was obliged to supply the clay.326 In exchange for the pitharia, the vase-makers received money, fruits and other foodstuffs.327 III. KILNS Progress made in the methods of drying vases and firing them in a kiln enabled potters to practise their craft even in areas in which this was difficult, for example, in areas with very damp or humid climates.328 Kilns are an indicator of systematic production and technological development, since they secure higher and better controllable temperatures and firing conditions, by protecting the clay vases from air currents. Among the disadvantages of using kilns is the need for fuel and the additional expenditure of money by the potter for their construction and repair.329 Kilns brought, in their turn, a series of changes in the rest of the technology of pottery-making, the kinds of clays, the slips and the pigments used, because as Rye too has pointed out that specific increases in firing temperature demand changes also in other fields of technology.330 Two kinds of kiln are used globally: Horizontal downdraft kilns. Vertical updraft kilns.331 There is no evidence that the first kind was used in Greece.332 Horizontal downdraft kilns are common in workshops in Japan, China and Korea, for firing porcelain and stoneware vases.333 Vertical up-draft kilns were used for firing Greek, Roman and Mediterranean and Islamic pottery in general.334 In kilns of this kind firing temperatures usually reached 900° to1000°C. The basic types of kilns were of circular, rectangular or square plan (Figs. 18-21).335 These constructions comprised two separate chambers: the fire pit in which the fuel was placed, and the firing chamber in which the vases were fired (Fig. 19). The fire pit was directly below the firing chamber or adjacent to it at a lower level. The earliest kilns were often dug into a hillslope, with the fire pit in front of and slightly below the firing chamber.336 Greek kilns dating from the Prehistoric to the Byzantine periods numbers about 459 examples at various places 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336

Ionas 2000, 203. London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70. Arnold 1985, 215. Rice 1987, 161, 162. Rye 1981, 100. Rice 1987, 158. For their operation see Kiriatzi 2000, 74-76. Rye 1981, 100, Rice 1987, 160. Rye 1981, 100. For the typology of Greek kilns see Hasaki 2006, 221-227. Kiriatzi 2000, 74, Rice 1987, 159, Kalogeropoulou 1970, 429434.

in Greece.337 Minoan kilns in Crete have been identified and investigated in the palace complexes at Phaistos and Zakros, in the villas at Vathypetro, Agia Triada, Siteia, Karvousi, Palaikastro, Silamos, Stylos of Chania and Kosmos of Pyrgiotissa, and elsewhere. An impressive cluster of updraft kilns has been excavated at Gouves of Pediada near Herakleion. Their basic features are the same as those of traditional Cretan kilns (Pl. 62). They were open at the top and temperatures of 900° to 1000°C could be achieved.338 Late Bronze Age updraft kilns have been found at Pylos,339 Asine340 and elsewhere. Several examples of large kilns dating from the seventh century BC survive in the Athenian Agora, and from the Classical and Hellenistic periods in the Athenian Kerameikos,341 as well as in many other regions, such as at Polymylos in Kozani,342 Akanthos in Macedonia,343 but none has yielded sherds/wasters of pithoi. In none of the kilns found to date is there clear evidence that it had been used exclusively for firing large storage vases. The kilns used in modern times were also updraft and were part of the permanent installations of the workshops. They were built adjacent to or abutting the workshop with the potter’s wheel or the open-air space where vases were made, and were positioned so as to protect them from damp and the wind. Kilns for firing large storage vases were of the same type as the rest but were in many cases of larger dimensions. They were vertical and consisted of two successive chambers, the fire pit for the fuel, and the firing chamber for firing the vases (Fig. 21). The fire pit was usually entirely below ground level or half below ground level. A pillar or an arch in this pit supported the floor of the overlying firing chamber, in which the vases were stacked. The arches and vaults were constructed of bricks, the kleidia (= keys) (Pls. 64-68). On the floor-grid (eschara), vents were opened, the phanouria or phanoi, for the currents of hot air to enter the firing chamber (Plates 69-70). The fire pit had a small entrance, the stoke hole, for feeding the kiln with fuel. Depending on the type of kiln, the firing chamber was crowned by a chimneystack, as at Phoini in Cyprus, or had a big central vent or blow-hole, through which the smoke and gases could escape, as in the kilns in the Gulf of Messenia (Pls. 168-169), or was open above and covered with sherds during firing, as in the kilns of Crete (Pl. 116). In open-topped kilns it was not possible to achieve temperatures higher than 900° to 1000°C (Pl. 62). Not only was heat was lost from the upper part of the kiln, but also there was a danger that the vases stacked in the lower part and in direct contact with the heat, would be fired more.344 There was always an entrance to the firing chamber, through which the vases were stacked (Pl. 167). 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344

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Hasaki 2006, 222. Chatzi-Vallianou 1995, 495-496. Blegen – Rawson 1973, 19-20. Frödin-Persson 1938, 67. Boggess 1989, 120. Karametrou-Mentesidi 2006, 204-212. Trakosopoulou-Salakidou 2004, 167-179. Rice 1987, 160.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

The type of vertical updraft kiln at Phoini in Cyprus has certain peculiarities in relation to kilns in Greece. In the Phoini kiln there was no fire pit. A brick wall, 2.75 m. high and 3.10 to 3.25 m. in diameter, with a circular entrance, surrounded the construction. The fuel was placed above, below and between the vases in the firing chamber. These kilns held six large pitharia.345 The kilns were constructed by the vase-makers themselves or by specialist craftsmen. Their construction demanded great skill, precision and consistency in applying the inherited knowledge. The building materials were bricks and stones, and the interior surface was coated with clay mixed with straw (pisé). The use of raw clay and mud bricks for private and public constructions goes back to ancient times and continued into the sixth century AD.346 In Antiquity, bricks were made from clean clay, without calcite or sand, which was sieved and then mixed with straw, dry grass or animal hair. When the clay was ready, it was cut in wooden four-sided frames or boxes of rectangular shape. The mud bricks were square or rectangular and in a few cases trapezoidal in shape. Clay slurry was used as mortar.347 The earliest forms of kilns, such as those in the Gulf of Messenia, were built solely of mud bricks, without stone. Higher firing temperatures were achieved in these, while they were also more resilient to the high temperatures and to cooling.348 Indeed, Rice considers the type of kiln used in the Gulf of Messenia as a characteristic example of an updraft kiln and gives an analytical description of its type and function349 (Pl. 167) (for the construction of the kiln in the Gulf of Messenia see chapter 4, III.2.2). At Ainos the workshops had just one kiln for firing both storage and other vases. According to oral testimony gathered in the course of ethnographic research, a special form of kiln was also built for firing large pithoi. This kiln was a temporary constructions, which was demolished in order to remove the pithos fired inside. Noble proposes the use of kilns of this kind for firing large pithoi in the Classical period.350 Temporary constructions of this type are encountered in workshops of itinerant pithos-makers in Cyprus.351

and concerned its texture – fine or coarse – and its plasticity (the potters blew spittle into the palm of their hand and rubbed the clay with it in their fingers, see Pl. 190).353 Kotsakis notes characteristically that the kind of raw material defines the behaviour of the object during the stages of modelling and drying, the colour of the vase after firing, its hardness, its resistance to changes in temperature, and so on. The evidence indicates that Neolithic potters knew how to identify suitable clays.354 Sinopoli stresses that the differentiations in vase-making techniques kinds of vases, of ancient and modern vase-makers, were determined in large part by the quality and the nature of the raw materials available to them, among them the clays.355 The quality of the clay can also be associated with utilitarian advantages of some shapes. The choice of specific clays for vases of specific functions and uses is an indicator of technological development.356 When the desired clay body is not provided by one clay, potters can achieve this in three ways: 1. By adding non-plastic materials (fillers, tempers). 2. By mixing two or more kinds of clays. 3. By using coarse-grained clays or removing coarse-grained elements from the clays. In the workshops in Greece and Cyprus, the suitable clay body for making storage vases of large dimensions was prepared in the second or the third way, that is by using usually two kinds of clays and one third kind, which could not be used as clay on its own and was therefore used as temper. So, in evaluating the technology of a vase, it is essential to study also the kinds of tempers, since their presence in a clay fabric does not mean automatically that the durability and resilience aimed at had been achieved. This is borne out by examples of many pithoi in prehistoric times, the clay fabric of which contained a host of tempers, with the result that they were very crumbly or friable. In the view of Boggess, this was also the case with the ancient Attic pithoi357 and it is ascertained widely in archaeometrical studies of sherds of storage vases of all periods.

IV. THE TECHNOLOGY OF STORAGE VASES

1.2 The parameters determining the choice of clays for storage vases

1. Kinds and properties of the clays used for making storage vases

The parameters determining the choice of clays for storage vases are:

1.1. Clays352

1. The availability and the accessibility of the raw materials

One of the first steps in the production of clay vases was examination of the clay, which was carried out empirically 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352

Ionas 2000, 178. Orlandos 1955, 65. Orlandos 1955, 68-80. Rice 1987, 158. Rice 1987, 165-166; Matson 1972, 218-220. Noble 1965,16. Pilides 2000b, 104. For representations of the extraction of clay in ancient iconography see Chatzidimitriou 2005, 31-47.

Arnold stresses that the distance at which the raw materials are found plays a major role and concludes that pottery is rarely produced in a place where more than one day’s journey is needed to collect the raw materials.358 However, 353 354 355 356 357 358

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For clay in general see Giannopoulou 2002a, 120-122. Kotsakis 1996, 107. Sinopoli 1991, 50. Bronitsky 1986, 263. Boggess 1989, 104. Arnold 1985, 32.

Mimika Giannopoulou

in all cases, longer distances are covered in order to obtain tempers and materials for decorating and glazing the vases.359 In Greece, ethnographic researches confirm in large part Arnold’s observations, for the period before 1950, when clays were transported using pack animals. These ascertainments are confirmed also by the sites at which workshops for making storage vases of large dimensions were established, which in all cases –in Crete, the Gulf of Messenia, Ainos, as well as in Cyprus– were very close to areas with accessible deposits of clay, and indeed of various kinds. The vase-makers extracted the clay either from hillsides or from fields, which in many cases they rented specifically for this purpose. In all cases, the distance between the workshops and the clay extraction sites was no more than 10 kilometres. So, proximity of clay sources was an important parameter for the existence of any workshop making clay vases, and even more so for vase-making centres producing storage vases, where the quantities of clays demanded were large. 2. Methods of preparing one or more clays Dependent on these was the controllability of a clay, that is, how it was brought into a homogeneous state in which its behaviour in the modelling process is predictable.360 The workability of a clay, in other words, the possibility of modelling it, depends on its content in argillaceous constituents, the quality of the minerals and the non-plastic matter in the clay, which are either removed or added by the vase-maker.361 The plasticity of a clay is not synonymous with the virtues of a clay in regard to its workability. For example, a highly plastic clay may be unsuitable for certain vases if used by itself.362 Plastic clays have a tendency to crack in the drying or the firing process and are not suitable for making large vases or vases fired in a bonfire.363 3. The technique selected for making a storage vase364 Clays that are suitable for making vases without using a potter’s wheel may be unsuitable for producing wheel-made vases or mould-made vases. For example, clays to which tempers are added are suitable for making large storage vases without using a wheel, while a coarse-grained clay with temper is completely unsuitable for making vases on the kick-wheel, because such a clay cannot withstand the pressure of the wheel365 and, among other things, would cut the vase-maker’s hands with the rapid rotation of the wheel.366 Boggess notes that when a change in the method of making pithoi is observed in some periods, this is accompanied by a change also in the kinds of clay body from which these vases were made.367 The use of different clays and tempers for making vases by different techniques is known from ethnographic 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367

Whitbread 2001, 452; Arnold 1985, 50. Rice 1987, 226. Shepard 1985, 53. Arnold 1985, 21. Rieger 1972, 22. Bronitsky 1986, 219; Rhodes 1973, 29. Shepard 1985, 50; Vitelli 1984, 114. Arnold 1985, 29. Boggess 1989, 94.

research. It is encountered in all the workshops making large storage vases in Greece and Cyprus, as well as in other parts of the world. In Greece diachronically, coarsegrained clays with temper were used for making storage vases of various dimensions, without a wheel. For making storage vases of up to 300 kilos capacity, on the kick-wheel or without a wheel, plastic clays were used, as is the case in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia, Siphnos and elsewhere. 4. The function and use of a vase Many pottery specialists agree that the features of a vase are determined by the properties it must have in order to serve the use for which it is intended. For example, cooking pots must be resistant to high temperatures, vases for water must be able to cool their content, and so on.368 The relation between use, morphology and technology of a vase cannot be taken for granted in all cases, since the same vases, such as those for storage, could be used for different purposes. However, many technological changes observed in some centres of vase production are related to the use and the function of the vases.369 The clay used for making a vase depends to a considerable degree on the use of the vase. It has been ascertained that storage vases constitute a special category of pottery, on the basis of the clay chosen for making them.370 The use of a vase is related to certain properties of the clay fabric, such as porosity, permeability and density. All three depend on the quantity, the shape and the size of the inclusions in the clay body, and on the preparation of the clay. The relationship between permeability, porosity and density, and the use of a vase is, of course, a complex issue. For example, a clay body that is highly porous and permeable is not desirable for vases destined for long-term storage, particularly of liquids. For storing liquids, with the exception of water, low permeability is demanded, in order to minimize loss.371 On the contrary, porosity and permeability are desirable properties for vases intended for the short-term storage of water, because they permit evaporation, which cools the water, although after some time the minerals in the water block the pores.372 There are no particular problems in storing solids, which is why a wide variety of materials is suitable.373 5. The size of a vase and the thickness of its wall Vases of different sizes different clay and behave differently in the stages of drying and firing. Small vases can be made both from fine-grained plastic clay and from more coarsegrained clay, depending on the technique of making. The same applies to storage vases of capacity up to about 500 kilos. Storage vases of larger dimensions cannot be made from plastic clays because they are made in parts, which procedure demands thick and durable walls in order to 368 369 370 371 372 373

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Tite 1999, 218. Kilikoglou – Vekinis 2002, 1317. Shaw – Van de Moortel – Day – Kilikoglou 1997, 323-330. Rice 1987: 230; Rye 1981, 26. Rice 1987, 231. Rye 1981, 113.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

support the weight added each time, and, consequently, a coarse-grained clay body.374 6. The resilience of vases to mechanical pressures and to drying, and the behaviour of the various clays during firing Vases intended for storing large quantities of products for long intervals of time were generally of large dimensions and difficult to move.375 Nonetheless, the final durability of a vase does not depend only on the material from which it is made, but also on the shape, the technique of making, the thickness of the walls and the way in which it is placed during its use. In general, but not always, the thicker the wall of a vase the more resilient it is to mechanical pressures.376 A hard and durable vase is desirable for storing foodstuffs and produce. The same properties are also essential for the transport of storage vases. Resilience to mechanical pressures depends on a vase’s ability to resist percussion, on the degree of penetration and its resistence to deformation. These properties are dependent on the constitution of the clay body, the construction, the inclusions, that is the kind, the size, the shape and the ratios of the constituents of the clay body, as well as the firing377. The large storage vases over 2 m. high, in the prehistoric Aegean, have thick walls, which means that they dried out uniformly in the course of their production, one reason that explains the choice of coarse-grained material for making them. In most cases these vases were carried to their place of use loaded on pack animals, which means that they had to be resilient to pressures during their transportation. Like the amphorae which were transported full, for reasons of trade, or the vases used for carrying water, storage vases for foodstuffs, and cooking vessels, had to be made in such a way as to withstand mechanical changes.378 These categories of vases demanded special treatment and different materials.379 Clays in general have been separated into calcareous and non-calcareous. At temperatures of 800 to 850°C, in the phase of vitrification, both kinds display common characteristics. Above these temperatures the degree of vitrification of the outer stratum of the clay molecules depends on the kind of clay. In non-calcareous clays the rate of vitrification is rapid, whereas in calcareous clays it is slowed down by the creation of crystalline phases at high temperatures. The microstructure of the calcareous clays remains essentially unchanged at temperatures ranging from 850 to 1050ο C. On account of this property, it was possible to produce vases of stable quality with less control of the firing conditions than was demanded for those made of non-calcareous clays.380 All these depended, of course, on the granulometry and the distribution of the

374 375 376 377 378 379 380

Bronitsky 1986, 212; Rhodes 1973, 38. Rice 1987, 232. Tite – Kilikoglou – Vekinis 2001, 304; Rice 1987, 226. Rice 1987, 228. Woods 1986, 157-159. Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 274. Tite 1999, 216.

calcitic material in the clay body, as well as on the final firing temperature.381 The presence of iron oxides and other ferrous compounds, and their distribution in the granulometry of the clay body, determine the colour of the vases, depending on the degree of oxidation of the iron. Complete oxidation of the iron content results in shades of red and incomplete oxidation in greyish colour.382 Other parameters: Although, according to Rice, dominant determinant factor in the production of clay vases is the kind of clay used, the tools employed also play an important role, as do the skills of the vase-maker and the decisions he takes at certain stages in the production procedure.383 For example, in the same area and for the same vases, one vase-maker may use a different mixture of clay from another vase-maker.384 In addition to their environmental references, the choices of raw materials can be understood better as cultural choices. This argument is based on the fact that, even though vase-makers in many places often have a wide variety of alternative techniques and practices available to them in order to solve various issues of pottery technology, usually they take into account only a very small number of alternative solutions. This happens because the choices they make are dependent also on the particular worldview of each potter and the choices made with regard to the same issue by his predecessors in the past.385 Ethnoarchaeological studies have shown that recipes for preparing and mixing clays were passed down from generation to generation.386 The routine practice of a craft frequently forms the technological style, which has its own significance for the identity of a group of craftsmen. The way in which the raw materials were selected and processed can be a good index of social grouping and transfer of knowledge. Like the environment, technical demands and social identity also had their impact on the clay body.387 2. The role of temper As has been said already, the quality of the clay was affected also be the natural or the intentional presence of temper. Temper influences many of the final characteristics of vases.388 Archaeological and ethnographic research understands the use of temper as a means of controlling the plasticity of the clay in relation to its workability and, primarily, of reducing the pressures that develop in clay vases during the stages of drying and firing, by restricting the degree of shrinkage of the clay body.389 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389

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Kiriatzi 2000, 84, Rice 1987, 228. Shepard 1985, 150; Rice1987, 217. Rice 1987, 227. Whitbread 2001, 453. Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 261; Sillar 1997, 12; Gosselain 1994, 99-107. Sinopoli 1991, 15. Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998,275. Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 261. Kotsakis 1996, 107; Braun 1983, 123; Rye 1981; Shepard 1985, 25-27.

Mimika Giannopoulou

Definitions of temper in the clay differ among those studying pottery technology. A clay in its natural state can contain non-plastic elements in the form of inclusions, or the potter can add temper to a clay in order to achieve the properties he desires for the clay body he is going to use. Many researchers argue that the term temper should be used only of non-plastic materials that the potter adds to a clay.390 In the present study, the term temper is used for non-plastic materials intentionally added to the clay body by the vase-maker, and the term inclusions is used for the general description of the constitution of the clay fabric after firing. The presence of temper in pottery can be an index of technological skill.391 Temper in the clay fabric of vases is observed already in Neolithic pottery392 and generally in pottery of prehistoric times, in various forms.393 Vitelli, in her study of the Neolithic pottery of Greece, argues that temper played an important role in the creation and the use of ancient vases, and that the early vase-makers possibly expended a considerable amount of time on removing dangerous inclusions from the clay and preparing other non-plastic materials (tempers) to mix with it in suitable quantity.394 As a rule, temper was used for the category of pottery known in archaeological parlance as ‘coarse ware’ and which is characterized by temper particles over 5-10 mm. in size.395 Large storage jars belong to this category. 2.1. Kinds of tempers The commonest tempers used in ancient and recent pottery are: 1. All forms of calcium carbonate act as temper when mixed with clay (they can, of course, exist naturally in a clay). The behaviour of calcium carbonate in firing differs according to the temperature.396 In one group of vases of ‘Cycladic type’ it was ascertained that the potters at Agia Photia near Siteia in Crete used calcite and ground pottery (grog) as tempers.397 The wide use of calcite is ascertained also in prehistoric pithoi sherds from the southern Argolid.398 Physical and chemical examination of 12 samples from pithoi of the Early and Middle Helladic periods, from Voidokoilia and the sites of Kaminia and Ai-Giannis at Pylos, showed that calcite was, after quartz, the commonest temper in the clay body of pithoi.399

390 Whitbread 2001, 453; Rice 1987, 406; Shepard 1985, 24; Rye 1981, 31. 391 Kotsakis 1996, 107; Bronitsky 1986, 89. 392 Kotsakis 1996, 107; Schneider – Knoll – Gallis – Demule 1990, 513, 517. 393 Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 261. 394 Vitelli 1984, 118. 395 Shaw – Moortel – Day – Kilikoglou 1996, 328; Vitelli 1995, 55. 396 Rye 1981, 32, 33 397 Day – Wilson – Kiriatzi – Joyner 2000, 346. 398 Pullen 2000, 142. 399 Photou – Maniatis – Phillipakis 1980, forthcoming.

2.

Various forms of silica (SiO2).400

One of the commonest forms of silicon dioxide (silica) is quartz, various forms of which were used widely as temper in ancient pottery. It is observed in storage vases of the Early Minoan period from Mirabello in East Crete, fired at temperatures of around 1000°C.401 Other forms of quartz found in pottery are flint and sand, which consists of rounded or angular silica granules. Although sand is the most obvious temper, it is the least common choice of vase-makers.402 Sand is used as temper by the potters of Thasos, in the clay for making cooking vessels, and sometimes by the potters of Ainos for making pitharia. The potters at Phoini in Cyprus used river sand as temper only in the clay for making large storage vases.403 3. Various rocks, the commonest of the primary ones being andesite, diorite, trachyte, feldspars, basalt and volcanic ash. In the very large jars of the Inca period, andesite was used as temper, a practice that was kept over time.404 Among the secondary rocks, there is wide use of limestone and to a lesser extent of dolomite. From the category of metamorphic rocks, various kinds of schist, siltstone or mudstone and gneiss are used as temper.405 Tempers of the first and second category have been identified in Neolithic pottery from the Cave of Euripides on the island of Salamis in Attica.406 Siltstone is a common temper in ancient and modern storage vases of Messenia (see Appendix Β). 4. Organic and vegetal materials, e.g. plants, roots, dung, sponges, etc. Organic materials are of two kinds, coarse-grained and fine-grained. The former, such as straw, reduce shrinkage and improve the workability of very plastic clays. Most coarse-grained materials burn during firing, leaving large pockmarks in the clay fabric. These are desirable in making cooking vessels, because they stop the cracking caused by thermal stresses. In Greece, straw was added to the clay used as mortar in buildings or to the daub used to coat the walls of kilns. The addition of dung improves the plasticity of clays and was used in Tarsos during the Bronze Age.407 The addition of dung to the clay used for the appliqué rings on the exterior of pithoi is recorded in recent times in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia (see chapter 4,V.1).

400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407

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Rye 1981, 31; Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 261. Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 262. Rye 1981, 34. Ionas 2000, 151. Sillar 1997, 11. Shepard 1985, 26, Kotsakis 1996, 107, Shepard 1985, 26. Mari 2000, 24. Rye 1981, 31, 34.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

5. Materials made by the potters themselves, such as ground potsherds or bricks, referred to as grog. Because this material derives from already fired clay it is more stable during firing the clay body that contains it and is always an intentionally added temper.408 For one group of vases of ‘Cycladic type’, from Agia Photia near Siteia in Crete, the potters used not only calcite but also grog as temper and fired the vases at low temperatures.409 2.2. The properties of tempers in making storage vases Tempers in the clays prepared for making large storage vases have the following properties: 1. They improve the workability of the clays intended for making storage vases, particularly those of large dimensions.410 Tempers reduce the plasticity of a clay, making it less sticky, since they create a mesh in which the clay platelets are encapsulated (and therefore do not slip easily with the surrounding water). In this way, tempers help to keep the shape given to the clay body, without this collapsing under its own weight.411 The addition of tempers as 10% to 50% of the mixture depends on the plasticity of the clay and the kind of tempers.412 In the workshops at Margarites in Crete, the ratio of clay to temper (lepida) in the clay body was 85% clay and 15% lepida.413 The use of specific tempers is linked with the workability and the firing of the clay body, and with the use of the vase.414 For example, tempers belonging to the calcite category increase the workability of the clay modelled by techniques without the potter’s wheel, such as coil building. In this case, they help to ensure that each coiled section is able to bear the weight of the overlying coil, by reducing the elasticity of the clay and increasing its resistance to plastic deformation.415 Moreover, the greater the plasticity of the clay the lesser the coiling between parts, and it is impractical to use small coils for large vases.416 Ethnoarchaeological studies have shown that the constitution of the raw material and specifically the tempers chosen by pre-industrial vase-makers differ according to the particular function of the vase and is based on long experience in the craft.417 Vase-makers know the virtues of the various tempers and which ones are suitable for each vase.418 408 Rye1981, 33; Kotsakis 1996,107; Sinopoli 1991, 12. 409 Day – Wilson – Kiriatzi – Joyner 2000, 346. 410 Whitbread 2001, 453; Blandino 1984, 26; Kotsakis 1983, 115; Rye 1981, 31. 411 Kiriatzi 2000, 36; Kotsakis 1996, 107; Shepard 1985, 25. 412 Shepard 1985, 53; Rieger 1972, 25. 413 Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 76, Giannopoulou 2001a, 13. 414 Whitbread 2001, 453; Shaw – van de Moortel – Day – Kilikoglou 1996, 328. 415 Observation during fieldwork in the Gulf of Messenia and Vitelli 1984, 118. 416 Shepard 1985, 58. 417 Björk 1995, 11; Rice 1987, 119; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 76; Kotsakis 1983, 116; Rye 1981, 129-130. 418 Bronitsky 1986, 90.

The tempers used for storage vases differed from those used for cooking vessels, in which the tempers and the clay body in general had to resist thermal stresses. Analyses of a sample of 57 Late Minoan IA sherds from Kommos in Crete showed that coarse-grained sand had been used as temper in large storage vases. From the results of the analyses it emerges that the clay body was prepared in a particular way, depending on the size of the vase, with the coarsest-grained material in the clay body of the biggest vases.419 In general, larger vases demand thicker walls for their support and frequently require more temper in order to reinforce the clay. To make large vases with thick walls, tempers of larger size are needed so as to prevent the vase from collapsing under its own weight whilst it is being made.420 For example, if the wall is only 2 mm. thick, inclusions of diameter greater than 2 mm. will weaken it. However, that part of the vase that received the rest of the weight of the body, such as the base, was strengthened with a greater quantity of temper than the rest of the body, a method applied in the Gulf of Messenia and which Pilides identifies in the bases of Late Bronze Age pithoi from Kalavassos-Agios Dimitrios on Cyprus.421 In the Gulf of Messenia, extra temper was added also to the external applied rings that kept in place and protected the entire body of the vase. Kiriatzi, in her study of the Late Bronze Age pottery from Toumba in Thessaloniki, ascertains that the categories of tempers used for the pithoi were different from those used for other kinds of vases, such as cooking vessels.422 The use of grog was common for smaller vases. In Crete, grog was used in vases of capacity in excess of 40 kilos.423 Physical and chemical examination of 12 samples from Early and Middle Bronze Age pithoi from Voidokoilia and the sites of Kaminia and Ai-Giannis of Pylos demonstrated the addition of a large quantity of calcareous temper in the pithoi for domestic use. Scholars estimate that this differentiation was intentional because the calcite inclusions increase the permeability and the porosity of the clay body, making the vases more suitable for storing dry foodstuffs.424 2. They help the uniform and smooth drying of the clay body.425 A very important reason for adding temper to a clay is to ensure controllability in the stage of drying. Tempers are used to achieve uniform drying, so reducing the danger of cracking, which is inherent in a plastic clay, since each one of its fine molecules is surrounded by water.426 Tempers ‘open up’ the structure of the clay, providing outlet channels for the water from the surface by evaporation, neutralizing the extensive shrinkage and, in the end, 419 420 421 422 423 424 425

Shaw – Van de Moortel – Day – Kilikoglou 1996, 328. Rye 1981, 27, 227. Pilides 2000b, 105. Kiriatzi 2000, 189-190. Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 79. Photou – Maniatis – Phillipakis 1980 (forthcoming). Frank – Harlow 1990, 11-12; Shepard 1985, 25; Blandino 1984, 26; Kotsakis 1983, 115. 426 Shepard 1985, 25.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

facilitating the drying of the clay body.427 The larger the vase, the greater are the pressures exerted on the clay body and the shrinkage that results in the drying stage, therefore, greater is the need for temper.428 3. Frequently, the addition of a particular type of temper improves the mechanical characteristics of a vase,429 rendering it more resilient to mechanical pressures.430 The capability of storage vases to conserve their content depends on their ability to resist loads and pressures without breaking. These abilities depend on two properties that storage vases must have: strength and toughness. Strength is related to how much weight a vase can withstand and toughness is related to its durability to mechanical pressures, that is, blows, etc.431 However, the final strength of a clay body with temper depends also on the quantity of tempers and the firing temperature. The smaller the size of the grains of the tempers, the greater the strength of the walls and the resistance to cracks caused by thermal stresses.432 The different result offered by the various tempers and their different quantity in the clay body seems to have been observed by the ancient potters, at least in Athens, which is why from the eighth century BC a change in the clay fabric of pithoi is observed. The quantity of tempers was significantly reduced and, in tandem, the thickness of the walls. The internal energy is high in a clay body fired at high temperature, which favours the rapid spread of cracks, even when tempers exist, while the opposite is the case in a clay body fired at low temperature.433 Tempers can act as catalysts, reducing the point of maturity of the silica in the clay and are responsible for creating clays that mature at low firing temperatures and are therefore suitable for firing both in a bonfire and in a kiln.434 Calcite, feldspars, grog, seashells and so on, and in general fibrous and flat tempers minimize the tendency to fracture, in comparison with angular and rounded quartz tempers.435 But calcite can cause problems at high temperatures, which is why it can be used as a temper only in vases fired at low temperatures.436 The use of different tempers depends on their availability in a particular area, the size and the use of a vase. The addition of tempers, like the choice of clays, the techniques of making, and so on, depends also on the choices of the vase-makers and on the tradition of a region in the use of particular tempers and recipes for mixing materials. 427 Whitbread 2001, 453; Kiriatzi 2000, 36; Kotsakis 1996, 107; Shepard 1985, 24; Arnold 1985, 21; Rye 1981, 31; Shepard 1985, 24-27. 428 Rice 1987, 65-67; Rye 1981, 31. 429 Kotsakis 1996, 107. 430 Kilikoglou – Maniatis 1993, 483. 431 For details relating to mechanical pressures see Tite – Kilikoglou – Vekinis 2001, 309, 313. 432 Sinopoli 1991, 13; Bronitsky 1986, 97; Braun 1983, 123. 433 For analytical explanation of the phenomena see Tite – Kilikoglou – Vekinis 2001, 304. 434 Blandino 1984, 26; Vitelli 1984, 118. 435 Tite – Kilikoglou – Vekinis 2001, 309, 313; Arnold 1985, 24; Rye 1981, 117. 436 Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis – Day 1998, 261-262.

Research shows that each region shows conservatism in cleaving to its traditions.437 The identification of tempers in the clay body of an ancient sample can be diagnosed from the high ratio of coarsegrained material in the fabric, the distribution and the sizes of the grains, the alterations between inclusions of the same constitution, etc.438 2.3. Properties of tempers during firing One other important parameter in choosing tempers is the effect of heat and their behaviour during firing. Many materials are stable at temperatures of primitive firing. Some materials have the advantage of strengthening the clay body in firing or of producing interesting effects in the colour. In others changes take place during firing, which weaken the clay body and cause damage to the vases.439 The various tempers behave differently in different physical and chemical conditions. For example, feldspars, which are the commonest minerals and are widely used in pottery, have a high fusion or sinter point and remain unaltered at firing temperatures up to 1000°C. Grog as a temper is inert. Quartz, the commonest component of temper, has three reversal points, two of which occur at low firing temperatures.440 Organic tempers burn and leave pores in the clay fabric.441 They give a dark brown colour in semi-oxidized state, black or grey colour in reducing firing conditions. Organic materials close to the inside or the outside of the vase walls burn during firing and leave a dark core in the clay body. Tempers that decompose during firing are various forms of carbonates, such as bone, limestone and calcite.442 Calcareous tempers have strict limits in firing temperatures and even when these are used by generations of vasemakers they can cause failures and losses.443 These side effects can be reduced when the size of the calcareous inclusions is small and their expansion therefore generates smaller pressures. In order to neutralize the undesirable behaviour of calcium carbonate, the pithoi-makers of Thrapsano poured water on the vases immediately after removing them from the kiln and while they were still hot. A side effect of the dehydration of certain minerals, such as of mica or muscovite – one of the commonest minerals in pottery – is the creation of pockets of air in the clay body.444 3. Ways of processing and preparing the clay The ways of processing and preparing the clay body to be used in making storage vases differed considerably from those employed for wheel-made vases. The only case in which both the kinds of clays and the ways of preparing and processing the clay body were the same as those for wheel-made vases were the storage vases made with the 437 Frank – Harlow 1990, 11-12. 438 For the identification of tempers analytically see Kiriatzi 2000, 5051. 439 Shepard 1985, 28. 440 Shepard 1985, 28. 441 Shepard 1985, 30. 442 Rye 1981; Sinopoli 1991, 12. 443 Kiriatzi 2000, 83; Shepard 1985, 30. 444 Shepard 1985,31.

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

aid of the kick-wheel, as for example on Siphnos. We shall not refer here to the ways of processing and preparing the clay body in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia, since this is discussed in detail in chapter 5 (see chapter 4, IV.1.5-1.6). Here we refer briefly to the procedures followed in the workshops making storage vases in Crete, which are unique in the whole of Greece. There is no textual information on the preparation of the clay body for storage vases in Antiquity. However, for the Byzantine Age information on the mixing of clays in order to make pithoi exists in the descriptions in the Geoponica (Γεωπ. [Cas.Bas.] VI 3,1). The methods of processing and preparing the clay body in the workshops of Cyprus are very similar to those in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia. At Phoini in Cyprus two kinds of clays were used for making large storage vases, one with argillaceous minerals and one without many argillaceous minerals. As in the Gulf of Messenia, both kinds of clays were of different colour: one was red and the other buff. Moreover, in Cyprus, as in the Gulf of Messenia, the very plastic clay was called glyno (glina in the Gulf of Messenia). The pitharades of Phoini used different kinds of clays and mixtures from those used in the other vase-making workshops.445 In the workshops of Ainos, two kinds of clays plus sand were used for making storage vases.446 Some procedures were common to all the workshops, such as breaking up the clay and sieving it. The clay was first spread on the ground in the open air, outside the workshop, in order to dry. In Greece and Cyprus the usual practice was to break up the lumps by beating with a thick wooden tool, the kopanos (= mallet) or koupanos (Cyprus) (Pl. 71-72). Vase-makers always took care to remove coarse materials from the clay. Clays and tempers were sometimes pounded together and sometimes separately, usually without requiring any particular processing.447 The next stage in the processing of the clay was to pass it through sieves of pierced leather or wire mesh (Pl. 73). This procedure removed foreign bodies contained in the clay and very often produced a finer-grained earth that was used in kneading the clay body. When the potter judged the clay to be suitable for making the kinds of vases for which it was intended, he proceeded to mix it with water. This took place in two tubs, which in most parts of Greece were called karoutes, or in large wide-mouthed vases or in wooden vats.448 In all workshops, both in Greece and elsewhere,449 the clay body was kneaded or wedged with the hands and the feet (Pl. 74, 76), except in the area of the Gulf of Messenia, where it was wedged only manually (see chapter 4, IV.1.6). Wedging was a particularly laborious and timeconsuming task, particularly at Thrapsano,450 because the uniform distribution of the constituents and the elimination 445 446 447 448 449 450

Ionas 2000, 151-153. Personal communication from archaeologist Stratis Papadopoulos. Shepard 1985, 51; Rye1981, 37. Pilides 2000b, 103. Sprindel 1990, 54. For detailed description of the procedure of wedging clay at Thrapsano see Giannopoulou 2002a, 141-143.

of as much air as possible was an important precondition for the good workability of the clay and the avoidance of problems during drying and firing451 (Pl. 74-75). In all the workshops the clay mixed with water was left to ‘age’ for a considerable period of time, so that the surface of all its particles was well ‘soured’. According to Boggess, the clay used for making ancient pithoi was stored for several months before it was worked.452 The quantities of clay prepared were gathered in large slabs and covered with damp sackcloth, in order to keep their moisture and plasticity. Each quantity of clay to be used for making an object was kneaded one more time in the workshop, on a special bench or on some makeshift construction of clay. 4. Macroscopic commentary on the clay fabric of ancient storage vases 4.1. Prehistoric Times Petrographic analyses of Neolithic storage vases from Dispilio in Macedonia have shown that the clay body used for these vases was the same as that used for architectural constructions.453 Neolithic storage vases of smaller dimensions than pithoi, from the South Peloponnese, are made of very coarsegrained clay. There is a marked increase in the amount of pottery with a clay body of this kind during periods III and IV.454 In Neolithic coarse ware from Salamis in Attica, the use of limestone, feldspars and quartz, phyllite, schist, volcanic radiolarite and siltstone as tempers is observed.455 In Neolithic pottery from Aria in the Argolid, in a category of sherds characterized as ‘coarse ware’ and which includes storage pithoi, basins and large cups with short neck, the clay is impure, crumbly and with many inclusions 5-8 mm. in diameter (grit on the Wentworth scale). Thin sections of the sherds attest uneven and poor firing.456 All the ‘coarse ware’ from Kephala on the island of Kea is made of ferrous clay, with a high proportion of mica and schist and quartz as tempers.457 In the Neolithic Age, pithoi in general were made of sandy, coarse-grained materials. Pithoi sherds from Franchthi Cave are a typical example. In the Final Neolithic period a range of materials were used as tempers, while all the ‘coarse wares’ were fired at low temperatures.458 The clay fabric of the storage vases from Makrygialos in Pieria is mainly medium-grained and coarse-grained. Diversity is noted in the kinds of inclusions, since six of the seven basic categories are encountered, with a dominant presence of two: quartz and sand. Judging by their colour, a large number of storage vases had been fired in oxiding conditions, although black ones are present too.459 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459

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Kiriatzi 2000, 41; Rye1981, 39. Boggess 1989, 104. Sofronidou 2000, 176-177. Phelps 2004, 118-119. Mari 2000, 24. Douzougli 1998, 15-24; Chatzipouliou-Kalliri 1981, 139-165. Coleman 1977, 9. Vitelli 1995, 55. Urem-Kotsou 2006, 137.

Mimika Giannopoulou

Pithoi sherds are widely diffused in the Early Helladic levels at Lerna and at other sites. The clay is full of inclusions, but hard and well fired. The clay fabric is coarse-grained, grey in colour and stony.460 In sherds of Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age vases from the acropolis of Heliaia, south of Porto Cheli in the southern Argolid, researchers have discerned a special category named pithoi. Vases of this category are distinguished by the coarse-grained fabric with many small irregular limestone inclusions, the same as a later material of Early Bronze Age pithoi.461 Four sherds of the pithos category have an orange and reddish-brown coarsegrained fabric with grey, greyish brown or brown core. Visible in the inclusions are large particles of limestone, characteristic of late pithoi in the Early Bronze Age.462 In sherds of storage vases of the Late Helladic I period, from the southern Argolid, quartz and volcanic minerals, and in some cases limestone, have been identified as temper.463 A large number of storage vases and pithoi from the southern Argolid date from the Early Helladic II period. Most are of coarse-grained fabric, a few of semi-coarse fabric with temper, and 3/5 of the sherds show uneven firing.464 The fabric is redder than that used for making smaller vases. The sherds range in colour from reddish brown and brown to grey. In sherds of pithoi and in many sherds from very large pithoi with walls over 4.5 cm. thick, recovered from Early Helladic levels at Eutresis, a coarse-grained fabric with grit inclusions is observed.465 Even though the Early Helladic pithoi were generally of coarse fabric with only rudimentary smoothing of the exterior, a pithos of finegrained red clay and decorated with bands was found at Eutresis.466 Early Helladic pithoi sherds from Aetos, Vasiliko, Malthi, Mila, Kastro and Meligala are all of coarse-grained clay with schist tempers.467 In a sample of 12 Early Helladic and Middle Helladic pithoi from Voidokoilia, and in pithoi sherds of the Early Helladic period from Papoulia and Kaminia in Pylia the use of chlorite schist as temper is observed.468 Korres describes the finds of pithoi sherds in the excavation at Voidokoilia, Pylia, as follows: ...Sherds of pithoid vases of porous brown clay with calcite inclusions, with quartz and slip coat on the inside. At other depths, other pithoi sherds with stone inclusions were found, all of the Early Helladic period. Another pithos with walls 7 cm. thick has clay with “stone inclusions” and black slip...469 Voidokoilia has yielded abundant pithoi sherds, among them many from burial pithoi. In the macroscopic examination of all, the 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467

Wiencke 1970, 94-110, fig. 19-30. Pullen 2000, 133, 142. Pullen 2000, 169. Runnels – Pullen – Langdom 1995, 16. Runnels – Pullen – Langdom 1995, 32, 69. Caskey 1957, 142-145. Goldman 1931. McDonald – Hope Simpson 1969, 140-141; McDonald – Hope Simpson 1964, 233-234. 468 Jones 1986, 218. 469 Korres 1983, 194-216.

excavator discerned ‘stone inclusions’. Indeed, one sherd is estimated to come from a pithos whose original height was about 1.80 m.470 Korres notes that the clay used for making vases and pithoi in the Neolithic and the Early Helladic period differs from the clay used in the Middle Helladic period. Specifically, for the Early Helladic period he remarks that ...for making sizeable vases, clay mixed with tiny crystals and other stone inclusions was used, so that it is more stable and more durable. In pithoi from the tumulus at Voidokoilia, grog temper was distinguished and their clay fabric differs from that of the pithoi from other parts of the settlement in the Early Helladic period. In several burial pithoi incomplete firing is observed and their fabric is characterized as extremely friable.471 Examination with X-ray diffraction and scanning electronic microscope of a sample of 12 sherds from pithoi of the Early and the Middle Helladic period, from Voidokoilia and the sites of Kaminia and Ai-Giannis near Pylos, showed that the initial clay must have been about the same for the pithoi from all three areas, even though a large quantity of calcite inclusions was observed in the Early Helladic sherds and of argillaceous minerals in the Middle Helladic ones. In general, the most widespread minerals in all the samples are silicon dioxide (SiO2) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Other minerals are feldspars, micaceous and argillaceous minerals, such as illite and kaolinite. It was also ascertained that the firing temperature in each area was about the same (firing temperatures below 750-800°C) and that there is no systematic differentiation between household pithoi and burial pithoi from Voidokoilia, apart from the addition of a large quantity of calcium carbonate inclusions to the clay body of the former. It is suggested that this was because calcite inclusions increase the permeability and the porosity of the clay fabric, making it more suitable for storing dry foodstuffs.472 Pithoi of the Early and the Middle Helladic period have been found at the site of Palamari on Syros. Parlama has noted differentiations in the clay fabric of sherds dated to different periods and that all the clays come from the surrounding area. The clay body is coarse-grained and contains conspicuous inclusions and tempers.473 In Middle Helladic levels at Lerna, pithoi of coarse-grained material were found.474 At Asine, the clay fabric of several burial pithoi of the Middle Helladic period is red and coarse-grained.475 In 1963 Matson collected 5,000 prehistoric sherds from 53 sites in the Prefecture of Messenia. The samples come from coastal sites, from Pylos as far as Gargalianoi, the environs of the Pamisos and Alpheios rivers, and streams in the northwest part of the Guld of Messenia, where a concentration of Mycenaean sites and the presence of accessible clay deposits suitable for making vases have been identified. Commenting on the pottery as a whole, Matson says that the Mycenaean vase-makers had access 470 471 472 473 474 475

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Korres 1982, 175, 150-169; Korres 1980b, 250-251. Korres 1988, 405, 411, 414. Photou – Maniatis – Philippakis 1980 (forthcoming). The information is from the excavator. Caskey 1957, 150. Frödin-Persson 1938, 280.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

to good-quality clays near the settlements, which were established in fertile areas with cultivable land, and the differentiation of the clay fabric of the sherds points to different sources of extraction of the clays.476 He believes that some categories of vases, such as kylikes and pithoi, may have been distributed regionally. Among the general observations from study of the sherds is the ascertainment that the ‘coarse-ware’ vases have thicker walls (6-12 mm.) than the ‘fine-ware’ (3-8 mm.). The pithoi have walls 1822 mm. thick and their clay fabric contains temper. From his detailed examination of thin-sections of numerous prehistoric sherds, Matson showed that inclusions of rocks and minerals as tempers are quite common throughout Messenia, but there are differences in the kinds. For example, muscovite is identified in the upper valley of the Pamisos river, oolithic chalcedony near the Gulf of Messenia and local variations of siltstone, argillaceous schist and sandstone.477 Red argillaceous schist was observed as a common temper in the fabric of sherds from pithoi and vases of large dimensions from various sites in Messenia. Pale brown to white sand, chlorite schist, siltstone and sandstone are the most frequent tempers used in the Late Bronze Age pottery from Messenia. Argillaceous schist was identified in sherds from 18 sites, siltstone and chlorite schist in sherds from 25 sites. In many sherds, all three materials are present. The sites of provenance of the sherds are concentrated to the northwest of Navarino, on the hillslopes close to the coast, from Longa as far as Rizomylo, and in the upper reaches of the Pamisos Valley, near Meligala, east and north of Zevgolatio and close to Diavolitsi. According to Matson, this means that the intentional use of a clay body with tempers of this type for making pithoi and other domestic vases in Mycenaean times was culturally delimited in these zones. Inclusions of siltstone were observed in many sherds from Malthi. It seems from examination of sherds of the Neolithic and the Late Helladic periods that various clay sources in different geological formations had been used.478 In most of the sherds from the site of Agios Ilias at Kalochori, Messenia, inclusions of siltstone were noted. A pithos sherd from this site has large inclusions above or close to the surface, indicating that the vase-makers added a quantity of temper also during a later stage of forming the vase, in order to strengthen the walls and to reduce shrinkage during drying.479 In Middle Helladic coarse-ware sherds from the site of Paliokastro at Longa, Messenia, the use of argillaceous schist was observed and in some cases the mixing of two tempers.480 A pithos sherd of the Middle Helladic-Late Helladic period from Argilovouno in Messenia has inclusions of red argillaceous schist, with a greater concentration close to the surface, as microscopic examination in thin section 476 477 478 479 480

Matson 1972, 200. Matson 1972, 201, 210-11. Matson 1972, 206. Matson1972, 208. Matson 1972, 209.

revealed.481 Moreover, as also in a pithos sherd from Vasiliko, chlorite schist, sandstone and clay were identified as tempers. Large sherds from a pithos made of reddish, coarsegrained clay and dating from the Early Helladic or the Middle Helladic period, were found at Loutro in Messenia. Middle Helladic pithoi sherds of reddish clay with grit were found at Kokla and Kastro.482 Late Helladic pithoi sherds of coarse-grained material (‘oatmeal ware’) were located at Agios Panteleimon, near Valla, at Palio Loutro, and of the Late Helladic IIB period at Aris in Messenia.483 Pithoi sherds of coarse-grained clay, of the Early Helladic and the Late Helladic period, have been recovered from Vryses, Agios Christophoros and Stomio at Philiatra, Agia Paraskevi in the area of Gargalianoi, Kamari, in the vicinity of Kopanaki, Glykorizi, Ano Kopanaki and Dorio. Pithoi sherds of coarse-grained clay with schist temper were identified at Aspra Litharia. The same applies to pithoi sherds of the Late Helladic period from Stenyklaro, Manganiako, Flasiadia, Valia, where a burial pithos was also found, Metaxada, Pyla, Stenosia, Kynigou and Mesopotamo in Messenia. Pithoi sherds with limestone or brown schist temper were identified at Vlachopoulo in Pylia. The same characteristics were observed also in pithoi sherds from Methoni, Agios Isidoros near Charokopio, Phalanthi, Agios Athanasios (Chrysokelaria), Pera, Vigla, Trikorpho in Pylia and Agios Floros, Thouria and Verga of Kalamata. This material is encountered at many sites and in pithoi sherds of the Middle Bronze Age.484 Brownish-red clay with grog temper is common for pithoi and smaller storage vases of the Middle Helladic III and Late Helladic II periods at several sites, such as Metaxada, the palace at Eglianos, Gargalianoi, Malthi, Nichoria, Koukounara, Tragana and Peristeria.485 The pithoi and jars from the palace at Eglianos resemble earlier ones, of the Late Helladic I and II period, found at Kakovatos, Tragana and Koukounara. The clay fabric of these vases contains mica, which, as the excavator points out, is an essential inclusion for large vases.486 In 12 Late Helladic sherds from palace at Eglianos, inclusions of red argillaceous schist were visible.487 Chemical or petrographic analyses of sherds from other Late Bronze Age vases from the palace at Eglianos have shown that in the cases of samples from pithoi and cooking vessels the clay is different. The fabric in thin-sections presents a different appearance in these categories of vases, which were generally fired at up to 1000°C. The clays are generally illitic alluvial deposits and in the area of Pylos the illites probably come from the erosion of flysch deposits. In materials of these categories, temper

481 Jones 1986, 223; Matson 1972, 209. 482 Hope-Simpson 1966, 113-131; McDonald – Hope-Simpson 1961, 235. 483 McDonald – Hope-Simpson 1969, 130-139, 145. 484 McDonald – Hope-Simpson 1969, 140-150, 172. 485 Davis – Alcock – Bennet – Lolos – Shelmerdine 1997, 441. 486 Blegen – Rawson 1966, 352. 487 Jones 1986, 218; Matson 1972, 201, 207.

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Mimika Giannopoulou

of clay and sandstone and schist, with mica content, is observed.488 Among the Late Helladic pithoi of Messenia, exceptionally interesting for its typology, technology and preservation is the intact pithos uncovered in room 7 of the Archive of the palace at Eglianos, which displays striking similaritities to the pithoi produced in the Gulf of Messenia in modern times.489 This pithos has thick walls and is made of clay in which the siltstone temper is visible to the naked eye (Pl. 77). Lolos, in his study of the Late Helladic I pottery of the southwest Peloponnese, notes that large storage vases and pithoi of coarse-grained or semi-coarse-grained fabric are present in LH I levels at all sites in Messenia, but in very fragmentary state.490 Lewis, with regard to the LH I pottery, remarks that different clays were used for vases of different uses and that only the clay used for pithoi has many and large inclusions.491 Mountjoy notes that storage vases and large basins of the Late Helladic IIIB period are made of coarse-grained clay with mineral inclusions. Such vases are known from Mycenae, Tiryns, Lefkandi, Korakou, Menelaion and Aigeira. The earliest appear in LH IIIB2, as at Tiryns.492 Petrographic analysis of a group of pithoi from the Iria shipwreck (ca 1200 BC) identified inclusions of volcanic stone, basalt and other rocks rich in feldspars. The consistency of the clay indicates mixing of different raw materials before the addition of the temper, which is usually sand. In one other group of pithoi, calcareous clays with inclusions of sand, siltstone, quart, etc., are observed. Pithoi sherds from Kommos in Crete and from Sardinia present the same technology in the mixing of the clay.493 Pithoi of the Early Minoan II period, at various sites in Crete, are made of coarse-grained material.494 The large EM IIB storage vases from Myrtos-Phournou Koryphi were made of relatively coarse-grained material.495 In general, petrographic analyses of material from Myrtos have shown different places of vase-making in this period, as well as imports of vases from the wider area, even of pithoi, which points also to the development of a mechanism of transporting goods, as well as to the variety in production between vase-makers in the Early Minoan period. At Thermi on Lesbos the pithoi of all periods are made of red coarse-grained clay.496 At Asine, sherds of large pithoi of the Late Helladic period, found on the Mycenaean road, are of very coarse-grained clay with grit inclusions, which in the opinion of FrödinPersson have been added intentionally in order to ensure better firing.497 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497

Galaty 1999, 65, 67. Blegen – Rawson 1966, 92. Lolos 1987, 372. Lewis 1983, 80-81. Mountjoy 1993, 92. Day 1999, 61. Christakis 2008, 12; Betancourt 1985, 48. Whitelaw – Day – Kiriatzi – Kilikoglou – Wilson 1997, 269. Lamb 1936, 92. Frödin-Persson 1938, 307.

At Toumba in Thessaloniki and at Assiros in the Late Bronze Age a different but stable clay body, usually coarse-grained, was used for each category of vases – pithoi, cooking vessels and smaller vases.498 The clay fabric of the pithoi contains inclusions of basic, ultrabasic and metamorphic rocks, or abraded plagioclasts. The last are associated with pithoi of small dimensions, the clay fabric of which resembles that of wide-mouthed cooking pots. The clay fabric of the rest of the pithoi displays diversity in the proportions of the various types of rocks it contains, as well as differentiation in the size of the inclusions, which is normally linked with the size of the vase. Nonetheless, clay bodies with an assortment of coarse rounded fragments of basic, ultrabasic and metamorphic rocks were used exclusively for large pithoi. Despite the use of materials from different sources, however, the procedure of preparing the clay body was common to all. The tempers observed exist in Thessaloniki, in the area above the Toumba settlement.499 Petrographic analysis of and observations on the making of Middle Bronze Age vases from Alambra in Cyprus clearly differentiated the clay used for large basins, one large storage amphora and the storage vases, which are made of volcanic clay mixed with calcareous materials.500 The fabric from such finds of Middle Bronze Age pithoi or jars in Cyprus is coarse-grained and fired at low temperatures, and contains small or large mineral inclusions. Petrographic analyses of 34 pithoi from 10 Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus confirm a differentiation in the inclusions and in the fabric, and three general categories are distinguished.501 Characteristic of the first category is a coarse-grained clay fabric with inclusions of quartz, chert and flint, usually calcareous. The second category has no calcareous inclusions but small inclusions of plagioclast monocrystalline quartz, lava, iron oxides and serpentine. The third category has a limy fabric containing planktonic material. Quartz, iron oxides and serpentine appear. It emerges from the analyses that the materials are of local provenance and in some cases there are inclusions of materials. The tempers are siltstones, quartz and sandstone, materials that exist in the wider geological zone of Paphos.502 On the basis of analyses of sherds of the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age from central southeast Europe, Anatolia, Serbia, Egypt and Jericho, three categories of clay fabrics have been distinguished: coarse-grained, semi-coarse-grained and fine-grained, on the criterion of the concentration and the size of the tempers and the inclusions observed in microscopic examination. The material was also divided into two large categories: vases made of non-limy clays, fired in a reducing atmosphere up to a temperature of 800°C, and vases made of limy clays, fired at a temperature of over 800°C. It was observed that the non-limy clays were used for coarse ware and, of course, from storage vases and pithoi.503 498 499 500 501 502 503

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Kiriatzi – Andreou – Dimitriadis – Kotsakis 1997, 363. Kiriatzi 2000, 185, 189-190. Barlow 1993/94, 85. Pilides 2000b, 170-171. Pilides 2000b, 172-175. Maniatis – Tite 1981, 73-74.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

4.2.

Historical times

In pithoi of the Submycenaean period (ca 1050 BC) from Nichoria in Pylia, the fabric is typically friable and fragile, of brownish-yellow clay with grit and generally many inclusions.504 In pithoi of the Geometric period (ca 800-750 BC), again from Nichoria, the excavators observe a coarse-grained clay body with visible temper (Pl. 78). In pithoi of very large dimensions the fabric is crumbly and incompletely fired.505 The same description is given also for some sherds of large Geometric pithoi, with walls 3.5 cm. thick, from Asine in the Argolid.506 The description applies likewise to pithoi sherds of the Classical period from Nichoria in Pylia.507 Pikoulas, commenting on the fabric of sherds from Archaic storage vases, notes that the clay is more or less the same in most examples and is characterized by numerous inclusions, a kind of flysch with extremely fine schist platelets.508 Boggess, in her study of Attic pithoi, ascertains the use of different kinds of clay in different periods and that the quantity of temper depends on the size of a vase and the thickness of its wall. In the early periods a variety of clays is observed and there are inclusions in the clay body, such as mica and sand, sometimes grit and pebbles. The use of tempers continues in the Geometric period, but not to the same degree as in the previous periods. Pithoi of the seventh century BC are made of less coarse-grained clay and display uniformity.509 Until the early fifth century BC, Attic pithoi were made of the same coarse-grained clay body as other domestic vessels. Later, the use of grog as temper is often detected. Pithoi from the Athenian Agora are made of fine-grained clay, very like that used for cooking pots, and their walls are thinner than those of pithoi of previous periods.510 In the fifth century BC, other kinds of clays and tempers were used for making pithoi, and in many cases these were the same as those used for making rooftiles. The clay body of such pithoi has few inclusions and is more poros. In general, the minerals encountered in Attic clay are quartz, feldspars, mica, schist, sand, grit, and it is not clear when these inclusions are tempers and when they occur naturally in the clay.511 In the pithoi uncovered in excavations at Pistyros, Emporeion of the Thasians, close to modern Plovdiv in Bulgaria, an appreciable number of flint and grit inclusions are visible in the clay fabric.512 During the fourth century BC, there was an increase in the production of durable pithoi, particularly in Athens and Corinth. Moreover, the porous fabric common in the early 504 McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 108, 202, 229, 254, 255256. 505 McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 90,108, fig. 1543, 3-154. 506 Frödin-Persson 1938, 330. 507 McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 350. 508 Pikoulas 1988, 18. 509 Boggess 1989, 94-95, 99. 510 Boggess 1989, 96. 511 Boggess 1989, 101-102. 512 Lazov 1999, 339-340.

examples was replaced by a finer-grained clay body with fewer inclusions.513 Burial pithoi of the fourth century BC and Hellenistic times from Eleia are made of red or light brown clay with grit and grog as tempers.514 Many sherds from large decorated pithoi were found in a house in ancient Corinth. Pithoi were made of coarsegrained red clay containing light-coloured and darkcoloured inclusions, which appear to be siltstone and little stones respectively. Analyses have shown that the same clay body as used for making pithoi was used also for rooftiles and coroplastic works.515 In pithoi of the fifteenth century AD and in Byzantine pithoi generally, the use of red clay with mica is observed.516 The fabric of sherds of the Byzantine Age from Nichoria in Pylia have large inclusions of gravel.517 5. Making techniques 5.1. Kinds of techniques The techniques of pottery-making have been classified by various Greek and foreign scholars on the basis of a diversity of criteria, for example, whether the vase is formed from one lump of clay or gradually with the addition of new parts, whether the vase is made by hand or on a wheel, whether the techniques are basic or secondary, whether the pressure applied to the clay is continuous or interrupted, and so on. It is clear from ethnographic observations of modern traditional potters all over the world that in most cases the making of a vase is a procedure that takes place in stages and is associated with the application of a combination of techniques.518 At a global level, a variety of techniques is observed, while characteristic in many chronological periods is the concurrent use in one place of many basic vase-making techniques.519 This fact makes it difficult –if not impossible sometimes– to recognize all the techniques employed in making a vase, since one stage in the procedure tends to cover the traces of the preceding one.520 The commonest methods used by ancient and modern potters to make a vase, and which are referred to in the Greek and international bibliography, are pinching, drawing, slab building, moulding, coil building and throwing on a wheel.521 In addition to these techniques there are some secondary techniques of working, such as scraping the surface (fettling) of a vase to smooth it, shaving to thin the walls and give the final shape, and direct pressure or, as Kotsakis puts it, making with ‘hammer and anvil’, which refers to the repeated beating of a surface with a hard tool.522 In the case of storage vases the last process was applied frequently, in 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522

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Cullen – Keller 1990, 199. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 359. Boggess 1970, 74. Bakirtzis 1989, 113. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 380. Shepard 1985, 55. Mahias 1993, 158; Boggess 1970, 73-78. Kiriatzi 2000, 53. Rice 1987, 125135; Bridgewater 1986, 58. Kiriatzi 2000, 59-61; Kotsakis 1983, 120.

Mimika Giannopoulou

combination with the technique of coil building and some support for forming curved bases or for thinning the walls. In each case, the choice of technique or the combination of techniques is always in conjunction with the size of the storage vase.523 5.2. Kinds of techniques with examples from archaeological and ethnographic researches in Greece and in other countries Here the techniques of coil building, slab building and throwing on a wheel, which were used from Antiquity in Greece and Cyprus for making large and small storage vases, will be discussed extensively. Reference will be made also to the use of a tournette or turntable, which must be a separate technique and not a sub-category of the wheel technique, since the motion and the manner of working on a manually-operated wheel differ considerably from the motion and the behaviour of the clay on the kick wheel. The use of the tournette is a basic technique for making large storage vases in one of the major production centres of pithoi in Crete. So, to the known categories of vasemaking techniques that involving the use of the tournette should be added. This has its own characteristics, not only in the making procedure but also in the organization of the workshop, which is dictated to a large degree – as has been noted already – by the needs of this technique. The tournette technique should not be confused with the slowwheel technique, as applied at Kornos in Cyprus, because the motion and the mechanism of working are different. The method of pinching and, primarily, of drawing was used in the initial stages of forming a large vase, which in continuation was made by coil building technique.524 With regard to the evolution of these techniques, Noble argues that the earliest method of forming a vase, used from the beginning of the Neolithic Age, is from a lump of clay. Later, this process was improved and developed into pinching technique.525 In the moulding technique, pieces of clay are pressed into a ready-made mould.526 Included in this technique is the kannabos technique described by Pollux, the application of which is speculated on by researchers but has not been identified with certainty in any ancient vase. 5.2.1.

Slab building

This technique is suitable for parallelogram shapes or for large cylindrical vases, and uses slabs of clay. The slabs are formed so as to have a flat surface or by patting out a lump of clay in the hands. The two slabs are joined together by pressing together the edges. This is considered a possible technique for making quite large ancient vases, even though it is difficult to identify.527 It is recognized only by traces at the joins of the vases, 523 524 525 526

Henrickson 1995, 554. Rice 1987, 125. Noble 1988, 20. For a description of the technique see Kiriatzi 2000, 55; Sinopoli 1991, 17; Rice 1987, 125-127; Shepard 1985, 54; Rye 1981, 81-83; Sayer 1990, 67. 527 Rye 1981, 71.

although in many cases it may be identified with the technique of coil building.528 Pilides has recognized the technique of slab building in some Late Bronze Age pithoi from Cyprus.529 This technique, in combination with forming on a slow wheel, was identified by Henrickson in pithoi dating from 900-700 BC at Gordion in Turkey.530 Slab building was the technique used for making cooking pots by women in parts of Thessaly (Pl. 79). It is also possible that it was used in the Masticochoria of Chios for making storage vases of all sizes, which are dated to the eighteenth century. All these vases have an uneven surface and flaws at the joins, while the various parts distinguished are rudimentarily worked (Pl. 80). This would not be the case if coil building technique had been used, since in this the potter makes smaller segments and so has better control of the clay body and the shape he wants to achieve. Last, the Chios vases are vary similar in surface and shape to storage vases that I saw being made by the technique of slab building, in southern India. 5.2.2. Coil building In the view of Rice, this was the commonest method for making large storage vases in Antiquity, as well as for many vases for other uses.531 Blandino argues that the technique of coil building is the most traditional vasemaking technique the world over. In northern Nigera, a kiln or even a house can be built of thin coils of clay.532 This technique presents many differentiations with regard to the way in which a vase is supported while being made, in the forming of the base, in the manner of placing the coils, and in the forming of the final shape of the vase. In Greece the technique of coil building in modern times is known from the workshops producing large storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia, Cyprus and Ainos. It is a technique applied to this day in many parts of the world, in regions of Africa, Asia and America, and is also used widely in contemporary ceramics and clay sculpture. In coil-building technique the wall of a vase is built of successive coils or rings of clay, which are placed on its perimeter. The potter forms the coils by rolling the clay between both hands or on a surface. Rice distinguishes the following sub-categories of coil-building technique: 1. Building a vase with single coils of clay, which occupy its entire perimeter and are placed separately one on top of the other (ring building). 2. Building a vase with single coils of clay, but in this case each coil covers part of the vase. In other words, one coil is not made by one ring of clay at once, but by several rings in segments (segmental coiling). 3. Building a vase by ‘coiling’ clay that is larger than its perimeter and is developed spirally, giving the impression of a continuous ‘coiling’ (spiral coiling). 528 529 530 531 532

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Sinopoli, 1991, 17; Rice 1987, 125; Rye 1981, 71-72. Pilides 2000b, 1. Henrickson1995, 564. Rice 1987, 128. Blandino 1984, 12, 22.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

The last technique is used for making the entire vase. The first and second techniques can be used either for making an entire vase or for completing a vase made by pinching, drawing, moulding or on the wheel.533 The advantage of ring building over spiral coiling is that in the first case a balance is kept at the edges, whereas in the application of spiral coils abrupt ends are created. These consequences are more obvious the bigger the coil.534 Gosselain, on the basis of her research in Cameroon, distinguishes nine subcategories of coil-building technique.535 It is extremely difficult to distinguish sub-categories in the technique of a vase once it is made. For this reason, Rye uses the blanket term coil building for all the ways of making referred to by Rice.536 The storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia, Cyprus and Ainos are made in the technique of Rice’s first subcategory, ring building. The coils are rolled in the hands, like macaroni, and are two or three times bigger than the desired thickness of the walls of the vase.537 The forming of the coils by working the clay between the hands or on a flat surface demands considerable skill and sound judgement, in order to achieve a uniform diameter. The length and the diameter of the coil depend on the size of the vase, the desired thickness of the wall, the plasticity of the clay and the talent of the vasemaker.538 According to Rye, coils vary in diameter from 5 to 10 mm. for fine-ware vases and 5 cm. or even more for vases with wall 2 to 3 cm. thick, which is the commonest thickness of wall in many large storage vases, ancient and modern. The length of the coil ranges from 10 cm. to 1 m. The longer the coil, the greater the skill required to create a uniform diameter.539 The thickness of the base of the vase has to match the diameter of the coil. Sand or grog was usually placed on the base of the vases made directly on the ground, to prevent the clay from sticking. In many places, such as the workshops at Phoini in Cyprus, in Africa and elsewhere, a disc or a basket or, more often, the base of an upturned vase was used for forming the lower part of a vase made by coil building, acting as supports or moulds, which could be rotated slightly.540 In Noble’s opinion, the forming of the base upon another fired base of a vase is the next stage in the evolution of the coil-building technique541. Whatever the case, the various forms of supports were used for forming convex or pointed bases and their use is not observed for vases with flat base (Pl. 81). Vittelli542 notes the use of supports in the making of Neolithic pottery, and Kiriatzi in the making of some Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki543. The coils forming the wall of the vase are usually placed slightly shifted towards the inside or the outside, 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543

Rice 1987, 127. Shepard 1985, 58. Gosselain 1994, 102. Rye 1981, 67. Rice 1987, 128. Shepard 1985, 57; Blandino 1984, 43. Rye 1981, 67. Spindel 1990, 54; Shepard 1985, 59. Noble 1965, 21. Vitelli 1984: 118-120. Kiriatzi 2000, 186.

depending on the desired shape and the size of the vase. In the case where the shape is formed during the making, this is done by differentiating the diameter of the coils, the exact positioning of the coils, the way in which they are drawn upwards, the use of a tool, and even the direction of rotation of the vase-maker around the vase being made544 (see chapter 4.V.1). After the placing of each coil, this is pinched and drawn up, so as to form the wall of the vase. With the aid of a sponge, the surface is smoothed and kept moist. In order to make a vase in segments, it is essential to leave enough time for drying between two coils. The clay of the coils should neither be completely dry nor very moist, in order to withstand the weight of the next coil. In this stage the clay should remain greenhard. It is difficult to ensure the uniform structure of the vase if it dries too much at the joins of the coils. It is possible for fractures to occur at the bonds during the regular drying to leatherhard. The join between two coils is one of the most difficult parts of the making procedure and demands particular care and attention, since loose bonds or bad bonds can cause problems that appear during drying or firing the vase.545 Great skill is required to achieve good bonds between coils and is an index of technical excellence and expertise on the part of the potter.546 Very important for achieving satisfactory joins between coils is to keep their ends damp and plastic.547 The join is more stable when it is oblique, since the surface of the join is larger and more pressure can be applied obliquely than vertically (shape), or when the two surfaces joined are rough.548 The technique of joins, particularly when applied in making large vases, demanded movement of the vase-maker’s whole body, as in order to fit and to work the joins he had to move continuously around the vase (see Chapter 4, V.1). The joins between coils can be left visible or they can be smoothed with the fingers or with the aid of a wooden tool or a stone.549 Frequently an applied ring of clay was attached to the outer surface, which at once supports the join perimeterically and is a decorative feature.550 More than any other vase-making technique, coil building depends on environmental conditions and specifically on the temperature and humidity prevailing in the places where it is practised, because of the essential time lapse for drying between each stage. For example, cold and damp increase the time required for interim drying, which can range from 30 minutes to one day, depending on the size of the vase551 (see also chapter 4,V.1). The humidity and the temperature of the workshop space in which the vases are made also play a role in the rate of working, because how quickly a vase-maker works depends on how quickly the clay dries.552 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552

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Dillingham 1992, 56. Sinopoli 1991, 17. Dillingham 1992, 57. Shepard 1985, 59. Shepard 1985, 58. Sinopoli 1991, 17; Rice 1987, 127. Kiriatzi 2000, 56. Arnold 1985, 65. Dillingham 1992, 56.

Mimika Giannopoulou

Last, vases made without using a potter’s wheel demand a longer period of time for the final drying, because their walls are generally thicker. The large storage vases made by coil-building technique have, as a rule, a large base, to ensure stability, while the walls around the base must be thicker than in the rest of the body of the vase (see chapter 4,V.1. for detailed description of the technique). Recognizing coil-building technique in archaeological material: 1. When coil-building technique has been executed successfully, very few marks of it are visible on the surface of vase. The commonest indications of the use of this technique are the fluctuating thickness of the vase wall, i.e. it may be twice as thick in some parts as in others, result of smoothing or shaving. Basically, the technique is recognized at the points of contact between the coils (Pl. 82), mainly in cases where the join was not successful and there are fractures or imperfect bonds at these points.553 2. Sometimes the shape and dimensions of a vase belie the fact that it was made without using a wheel. This is the case, for example, in vases with button finial on the base or vases of very large dimensions with a large proportion of temper in their clay fabric, which cannot be made on a slow wheel or a kick-wheel.554 Examples of coil-building technique of all periods in Greece

AINOS

In Noble’s view, coil-building technique derived from basketry, that is, the technique of making baskets with successive layers of reeds. It is argued that in ancient Athens, even after the introduction of the kick-wheel for making domestic pottery, such as cooking vessels, the technique of coil building continued in use for making large storage vases or pithoi.555 Vitelli, after macroscopic observation of some Neolithic sherds, noted that they had been made by coiling technique, and indeed are of careful workmanship, which means not only that the technique was known but also that it had been well tried in making vases.556 The same technique has been recognized in painted pottery from Sesklo.557 Sophronidou identifies coil-building technique in most of the Neolithic vases from Dispilio.558 Barlow states that it was used in the Middle Bronze Age for making closed and large vases at Alambra in Cyprus.559 In Coleman’s view it is possible that this technique was used for making the storage vases of the Late Neolithic period at Kephala on Kea.560 Galaty is confident that the LH IIIB pithoi in the area of Pylos were made in segments, presumably implying the technique of coil building.561 The Bronze Age 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561

Kiriatzi 2000, 56; Blandino 1984, 17-18; Rye 1981, 67. Blandino 1984, 17-18. Noble 1965, 20-21; Richter 1923, 26. Vitelli 1984, 118-120. Kotsakis 1983, 120. Sofronidou 2000, 176-177. Barlow 1993/94, 64. Coleman 1977, 9. Galaty 1999, 77.

coarse-ware vases in Messenia were made with strips of clay, that is coil-building technique, and their surface was then smoothed with a pebble.562 It is argued that in the Late Bronze Age in central Macedonia the large storage vases were made solely by coil-building technique or by a combination of this and pinching technique.563 The same is ascertained for the pithoi of various sizes at Toumba in Thessaloniki during the Late Bronze Age.564 Most of the Late Bronze Age pithoi on Cyprus were also made by coil-building technique.565 McDonald, Coulson and Rosser identified this technique with certainty in pithoi of the Geometric period from Nichoria in Pylia, at the points where the vases have broken and are obviously juncutions between coils566 (Pl. 83). Boggess is sure that this technique was used for making Mycenaean and Geometric pithoi,567 while it is also identified confidently as the technique for making the Archaic pithoi of Arcadia.568 Last, it has been recognized as the technique for making Classical pithoi on Thasos.569 Henrickson recognizes coil-building technique in Bronze Age pithoi from Godin Tepe in western Iran, as well as in pithoi of 900-700 BC and of the Hellenistic period from Gordion in Turkey.570 (Fig. 14) Green maintains that the coil-building technique has been used for making many Roman vases, among them storage vases of various dimensions.571 Hayes argues that Roman pithoi were made by coil-building technique and have a wheel-made rim.572 There is no detailed record of the technique and the stages followed in making pitharia at Ainos. From the fragmentary descriptions and macroscopic observation it is certain that this was coil-buildinging technique, although the particularities of it in this particular place have not been clarified. The pitharia of Ainos were made in four stages. The lower part was called glastri and must have been the base and the lower part of the vase. Upon this was placed the boli, which was the belly area, then the kioupi, the part from the belly to the base of the neck, and last the xecheiloma, that is the rim.573 It is certain too that in the course of making the vase, the various parts were tied by string, traces of which are visible of the surface of storage vases from Ainos. CYPRUS The pitharia-makers on Cyprus had a heap of clay in their workshops and supports upon which they formed the kofinia, a basin of water, the vakana, and a wooden tool 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573

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Matson 1972, 201; Lewis 1983, 80. Kiriatzi – Andreou – Dimitriadis – Kotsakis 1997, 363. Kiriatzi 2000, 185. Pilides 2000b, 103. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 108. Boggess 1989, 106. Personal communication and Pikoulas 1988, 18-19. Lazov 1999, 339-348. Henrickson 1995, 556-564. Green 1992, 48-49. Hayes 1997, 36. Bakirtzis 1989, 117.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

for forming the surface of the vase, the panistron. As the wall of the pithari was thick (over 3 cm.), several hours had to intervene between each addition of clay, in order for it to dry. The vase-maker could add only one ring of clay per day to each vase in the batch. Depending on the final height of the vases, as well as on weather conditions, it took 40 to 65 days to complete a batch of vases.574 The first day was devoted to forming the base of the vase, which was called kolos tou pithariou (backside of the pithari). For forming the base a deep basin was used, which was turned upside down and served as a mould. The breastlike protuberance was modelled by hand, by pinching the ball of clay. The base was then covered with fresh leaves from a tree, in order to dry evenly and gradually. By this method, the bases of several vases were made in parallel. On the second day, the base with its breast-like protuberance was removed from its mould, placed in a pit and fixed in place with slabs, and the building of the pithari with coils of clay began575 (Pl. 84). At the end of each coil, the Cypriot potters made a groove with their finger, in which the next coil was inserted. The coil was formed when the vase-maker smoothed the wall of the vase, with the hands placed crosswise, and then drew it up with his fingertips and, with the aid of a wooden tool and a damp cloth, flattened it again. Fresh leaves were again placed on the modelled part, which was left to dry. This entire procedure was repeated on the rest of the vases in the same batch. When the vase was so wide that it could not stand on the support, it was taken off this and placed on the ground576. Ropes or leather thongs were wound round each modelled part before the drying stage. On a Late Bronze Age pithos in Cyprus, traces of rope were detected on the body, at the widest point.577 The same tasks were repeated for as many days as it took to make a vase of this kind.578 One large pithari required about 400 kilos of clay and the making procedure lasted some two months.579 Frequently, a ring of clay was applied to the outside, to strengthen as well as to decorate the body.580 With the exception of the stage of forming the base, the procedure of making Cypriot pitharia was identical to that for making pithoi in the Gulf of Messenia. The similarities between the two workshops are not confined to matters of technology but extend to their form and organization. Examples from countries other than Greece: Prior to the introduction of the potter’s wheel to Spain, there was a long tradition of potters who made only large storage vases for liquid and solid products, which lives on to this day. 574 Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1995, 289. 575 Ionas 2000, 167; London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69; Pieridou 1980, 153-165. 576 Ionas 2000, 167; London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69. 577 Pilides 2000b, 101. 578 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69. 579 Pilides 2000β, 104. 580 Ionas 2000, 167; London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70; London 1991, 231.

The very large storage jars were called tinajas and the vase-makers tinajeros. Today, the usual sizes of vases ranges from a capacity of 480 kilos to about 1,000 kilos. In the past, however, vases of a capacity of up to approximately 9,600 kilos were made. These were perhaps the largest storage vases in the world.581 These vases were made by the coil-building technique, as follows: On a cylindrical wooden or clay support in the shape of a conical basin (bolo), the vase-maker placed a little sand, to prevent the fresh clay from sticking. He then rolled a thick coil 1.65 m. long, which he held wound round his neck and placed it in order to form the base, moving round and round the bolo. The base was left for one day to dry and was then smoothed with the hands or with a metal tool. After this the walls were formed with the aid of a pebble for the outside and a wooden tool for the inside surface. The modelled part was left for one day to dry, so that it could withstand the weight of the next coil. For a pithos of about 300 kilos capacity the potter used six large coils for the body and one coil for the rim. The vases of capacity about 8,000 kilos demanded 10 to 13 stages in the making. Of course, 30-40 vases were made concurrently, each one of them requiring two tonnes of clay for completion. The building of these large vases lasted eight to nine weeks, depending on the prevailing weather conditions.582 In many parts of South India, female and male potters made large cylindrical storage vases by the technique of coil building, directly on the ground (field observation 1996). In workshops making large storage vases in Japan, the technique of coil building was used but its application differs from one place to another. The base was made first and then the body of the vase, with coils 10 cm. in diameter. After positioning one or two coils and the time interval for drying, the shape was formed by beating the modelled part with a wooden tool and smoothing the surface with another wooden tool.583 At Babessi in Africa, men made storage vases by the technique of coil building.584 This technique was also used in Nigeria for making storage vases, by women, who moved round and round them placing the successive coils. At the point where the vase starts to slope inwards, the coiling is done from the outside inwards. The neck and the rim are smouthed with a wet washleather.585 In southeastern Nigeria, the vase-maker sits on the ground with his legs outstretched and a plank on them, on which he gives the final roll to the coils he has made with his hands. In the area of Tin in Nigeria, a cylindrical shape was formed first and the base was formed by beating the lower part of this over a mould. In many cases, the exact opposite takes place. At Illorin in southwestern Nigeria, home of the Yoruba tribe, the women potters are specialized in making 581 582 583 584 585

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Cabasa 1990, 44. Cabasa 1990, 47. Simpson – Kitto – Sodeoka 1979, 35. Argenuti 1999,13, 53. Cardew 1969, 88; Barley 1994, 24.

Mimika Giannopoulou

globular storage vases by coil-building technique and the use of mould for forming the base. They work 12 hours a day. The walls of the vases are beaten with a wooden tool during the forming process and the surface is smoothed with a cloth. An unusual technique in Zaire is the forming of the clay into a cylinder, which is turned upside down when the upper part is smooth and decorated. Here too the base is formed last, by beating.586 Techniques of this kind are used also by female potters making storage vases in the region of Burkina Faso in Cameroon.587 The base here is curved and formed inside a basin. The next morning, the modelled base is removed from the basin and is scraped and smoothed. It is then turned upside down and given its final form by beating with a piece of wood. The forming of the pot then proceeds with coil-building technique. The vase walls are smoothed with a pebble, after drying. In the case of large storage vases, the woman potter moves round and round the vase, and ties each built part with rope to consolidate it. The large vases at Amatenango del Valle in southern Mexico were made by women using coil-building technique. They were made indoors and the process lasted a few days. The vases were then put out in the sun to dry, after which they were fired for half an hour with dung and wood.588 At Acoma & Laguna an old vase is turned upside down and upon it the new base is formed. As soon as this new base has dried a little, it is removed from the mould and is placed inside another container full of sand, which is used as a wheel. The vase is formed with one hand and the container is turned with the other, thus functioning as a slow wheel. When the vases are completed they are left to dry. The walls are smoothed inside and outside using a maize stalk, and the coils are smoothed with a dry leaf. Last, the dry clay is burnished with a pebble.589 In Yemen, the technique of coil building is used for making many kinds of vases, among them storage vases of assorted sizes.590 The native Pueblo and Navajo potters in North America use the technique of coil building.591 In the past the Pueblo made pottery by the same method as all the native American tribes. The walls were thinned and formed using a tool.592 Contemporary native American potters use the technique of coil building for making large vases and sculptures.593 In Peru, many different techniques were used for making many kinds of vases. One of the basic techniques is coil building, in several variations, with which a wide variety of vases were made for domestic, decorative and religious uses.594 In the South Central Andes, slabs of clay were used for forming the base, and big thick coils for forming the rest of the body of the vase.595 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595

Blandino 1984, 43; Barley 1994, 24, 32. Barley 1994, 32. Sayer 1990, 67. Dillingham 1992, 54-56. Possey 1994. Shepard 1985, 58; Toulouse 1977; Hartman – Musial 1987. Frank – Harlow 1990,11-12. Peterson 1992,129. Arnold 1975, 189. Sillar 1997, 1; Ravines – Villiger 1987.

Peacock speculates on the use of coil-building technique for making vases in the first and second centuries AD in Great Britain. He argues that the vases made without using a wheel in that period echo a centuries-long tradition that starts much earlier.596 Vases made by coil-building techique and dating from all phases of the Middle Ages have been found in large quantities in Great Britain.597 5.2.3. Technique of the wheel In this technique a whole vase or part of a vase was made by the potter’s hands in combination with the continuous rotation of the potter’s wheel (Pl. 85). The use of rotating kinetic energy in forming a vase demands motive skills very different from the techniques in which neither a kick wheel or a hand-operated wheel is used. On the wheel vases can be formed from one lump of clay, or in parts, such as the cooking vessels of Siphnos and Crete, or, last, this technique can be combined with coil-building technique, as happened in the case of making storage vases. It is generally recognized that the potter’s wheel made its first appearance in the MM IB period.598 In the view of Boggess, the use of a wheel for making storage vases commenced at the beginning of the Archaic period.599 The small pithoi were made in one or more parts on the wheel and were then joined together. Richter and Noble maintain that the forming in parts of storage vases or or vases for special uses was common practice among Greek potters in the Classical period.600 In recent times, the making of storage vases of capacity up to 300 kilos on a kick wheel and in parts was frequent. Most of the workshops producing wheel-made vases in Greece also made storage vases. In these workshops storage vases of smaller size, of 8-200 kilos capacity, were made, usually of ovoid shape. Examples from Greece In Siphnos, the methiri, a pithari of 200 to 400 kilos capacity, was made as follows: first the lower piece of the vase was modelled, up to the lower part of the belly (Pl. 86-88). This piece was not made from just one lump of clay but by placing successive coils, here called zonaria (= sashes), while the wheel was at rest, and then forming it with the rotating movement of the wheel. At the end of the circumference of this piece a groove was formed, in order to attach the next piece, and the lower piece was then left to dry (Pl. 88). In many areas this lower piece of the vase was called glastri or phytema (Siphnos, Thasos, etc.). The next piece, which started from the lower part of the belly and ended at the level of the shoulders, was made in the same way (Pl. 89-90). The ending of this part was thinned slightly and a ridge formed for inserting in the groove of the previous piece (Pl. 91-92). When made, this piece too was left to dry for a short time. The two pieces were joined together on the wheel, initially by the potter pressing his fingers at the junction and subsequently by pressing with 596 597 598 599 600

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Peacock 1982, 82, 89. Blinkhorn 1997, 123; Blandino 1984, 17-18. Berg 2006, 189. Boggess 1989, 107. Noble 1965, 15; Richter 1923, 16.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

the hands and the rotating movement of the wheel (Pl. 9394). In this stage the vase-maker needed the assistance of another person. The neck was made by placing a coil and then forming it with the hands and the rotating movement of the wheel (Pl. 95). Applied rings were placed on the outside (Pl. 96-99). Begliti estimates that it took 60 kilos of clay to make a pithari of 200 kilos capacity. 601 The same method has been recorded for making storage vases of analogous capacity on Kythnos, Kalymnos, Kythera and Thasos, where the upper piece of the pithari was called kafasi.602 In the East Aegean, storage vases comprised four coils (zonaria) of 20 cm. At the junctions of the zonaria, applied rings 2-3 cm. thick were put on the outside. In Kalymnos it was said that it took three skoles, that is three days, to make a pithari.603 On Kythera and Kythnos the procedure was the same as on Siphnos and at the join between the two parts an applied band was placed on the outside, as well as two other bands on the body, one higher up and one lower down.604 Archaeologists have to be very careful in distinguishing wheel-made pottery in excavation material, given that the rilling on the inside of the wall of a vase is not the only secure element for diagnosing the technique. Other criteria must be taken into consideration, such as the orientation of the inclusions, etc.605 Examples from countries other than Greece The technique of piece building storage vases of small and large dimensions on the wheel is recorded by Hampe and Winter and by Couomo di Caprio in Apulia.606 In northern Caceres (Torre Joncila) in Spain, when pitharia are made on a kick wheel, these are made in combination with the technique of coil building.607 In Hebron, half an hour from Jerusalem, there was until a few years ago a village of potters who made many kinds of vases on the kick wheel, among them storage vases for water (jir). A jir was made in pieces and the process took five days. In workshops in Japan making large storage vases the technique of the kick wheel was also used, which in this case the wheel was rotated by another person and not by the vase-maker.608 In Korea the technique of coil building is used in combination with the kick wheel for making vases of large dimensions, the famous ongi. First the coils were rolled and then they were placed one by one and the desired shape was formed. For the clay to acquire the desired thickness, a flat wooden beater was used to beat the walls of the modelled vase.609 In Pakistan some potters use a combination of the technique of the wheel and of coils when making large vases. This 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609

Spathari-Begliti 1992, 149; Troulos 1991. Papadopoulos 1999, 68; Psaropoulou 1987/88, 18-20. Psaropoulou 1985, 18, 20. Psaropoulou 1990, 29. Berg 2006, 193; Kiriatzi 2000, 57. Hampe - Winter 1965, fig.26; Couomo di Caprio 1982, 76. Cabasa 1990, 48. Simpson – Kitto – Sodeoka 1979, 36. Adams 1986, 24.

is also the case in northwest India, where large vases required seven days to make, including the intervals for drying of the various parts. Climatic conditions in India make all the stages difficult because the high humidity lengthens the drying time between the making stages and increases the possibilities of distortion and cracking of the modelled vase. It also lengthens the final time of drying prior to firing.610 In India in general, all the techniques are encountered and indeed in some places three or four techniques together are used in making a vase, a different technique for each part of the vase.611 5.2.4. Technique with pivoted turntable or tournette Indications of the use of turntables or tournettes in pottery making in Crete exist from the Early Minoan II period (2900-2300 BC). By correlating heads of wheels found at 80 sites in Crete with recent ones, Chatzi-Vallianou argues that the trochi of Thrapsano is closest to the ancient turntable and perhaps ancestor of the kick wheel.612 The use of the tournette is mentioned as a technique for making the Archaic Naxian, Tenian and Boeotian relief pithoi,613 since observed macroscopically on the inside of these pithoi are are ridges or grooves which are considered to be due to traces left by the potter’s fingers while turning the wheel.614 In recent times use of the tournette is recorded in Greece only in the workshops producing storage vases at Thrapsano and Margarites in Crete.615 The main parts of the tournette, which in Crete was called trochi, are the disc, the head (kephalara) and the pivot (adrachti), a cylindrical axis of rotation with pointed finial, on which the disc rested (Pl. 100). The pitharia were not made directly on the ‘head’ but on a separate slab (plaka).616 The technique of making a vase on the trochi is not based on centring the lump of clay from which the final form will be developed, but on building with voloi (balls) of clay, as they were called here, which were placed in a succession of phases. Two men were needed to operate the tournette: the master potter who was making the vase on the head and the trocharis, who sat on the parastia and turned the trochi. In each phase of making there were specifice movements of the master-potter’s hands and special wooden tools were used to achieve the desired shape (Pl. 105). The first stage of making a pithari on the tournette is forming the base (batos), which is 1.5 cm. thick, and the phytema (Pl. 100). The next stage is called armegma (= ‘milking’) and is the placing of the volos on the base (Pl. 101). Before drawing up, the surface is always wetted with a sponge and then the coil is levelled. The next stage is placing the stomoseis (Pl. 102-103). However, before fitting to the wall of the previous phase, a string is tied round the perimeter of the modelled vase, to bear the weight of the next coil. 610 611 612 613 614 615 616

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Arnold 1985, 65. Mahias 1993, 160. Chatzi-Vallianou 1995, 489. Simantoni-Bournia 1990, 45-46. Simantoni Bournia 1990, 46, 121. Giannopoulou 1998a. For an analytical description of the technique see Giannopoulou 2002a, 163-165; Giannopoulou 1998a, 7-9; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 82-99.

Mimika Giannopoulou

This string is removed as soon as the drawing up begins. The coil is stuck by the under-master (sotomastoras) with a movement known as dysimo (= ‘dressing’) (Pl. 104). If sixteen coils are needed to complete a medium-size pithari, the first two constitute the base, the next three the stomosa, and with an equal number of coils follow the strongyli, the dreti and the great stomosa. The vase is completed with the forming of the mouth, from the 15th and 16th coils (Pls. 105-106), and the addition of the handles (Pl. 107). It takes about 12 hourse to make 12 to 16 pitharia.617 Examples from countries other than Greece At Mata del Guervo (Guenca) and Tamora in Spain, where the large storage vases, tinajas, were made by women, the coils were added as the vase being made was turning on a small manually-operated turntable.618 Various forms of hand-driven turntable, but different from the Cretan trochi, exist in southern India, as well as for making small vases (field observation). In Thailand the technique of making large storage vases is strikingly similar to that at Thrapsano in Crete. There are differentiations in the type of tournette, which in Thailand is placed in the ground and only the head is above ground. Also, this tournette does not have a horizontal handle for turning it. The rotating movement is achieved by the vase-maker’s assistant turning the head itself. Here too a cylindrical pitharia is built with coils and the surface is smoothed with a cloth. 5.2.5. Technique with slow wheel The technique with slow wheel includes making a vase on a support, usually wooden, which is turned by the potter with slow movements. Representative example of the application of this technique are the workshops at Kornos in Cyprus, which produced small vases. This technique is widespread in Albania,619 in many parts of Turkey, where modelling on a slow wheel is combined with coil building for making cooking pots and small storage vases,620 and in India. 6.

Surface treatment – Decoration

The surface treatment of a vase includes also tasks carried out immediately after modelling or in the leatherhard or dry stage. Aim of the surface treatment is to remove flaws that appear on the surface during modelling the vase, particularly by techniques not using the potter’s wheel. Types of surface treatment are smoothing, burnishing and slip coating.621 Some ancient storage vases were burnished, depending on their size and the proportion of temper in the clay body from which they were made. Burnishing was usually done with a pebble or a hard, smooth tool, and is observed on many ancient pithoi.622 617 618 619 620 621 622

Giannopoulou 2001a, 19. Cabasa 1990, 48. Onuzi 1988. Güner 1988, 53-54. Shepard 1985, 65-67. Kiriatzi 2000, 62; Boggess 1989, 117.

In workshops in Greece, large vases were smoothed by wiping their surface during the modelling procedure and lightly rubbing the surface with cloth or sponge after drying. An analogous procedure was probably followed on the Classical pithoi and the Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki,623 as well as on Roman vases.624 As a rule, storage vases, particularly those of large dimensions, have limited decoration. Exceptions are the storage vases of prehistoric times, in Crete, the Cyclades and elsewhere, the Archaic relief pithoi, the eighteenthcentury storage vases from Chios and an ensemble of pitharia from Crete, which are dated from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century and carry repeated motifs, executed by a cylindrical stamp, all over their body.625 The limited decoration on storage vases, an especially those of large dimensions, is explained by the fact that they were usually unseen, since they were placed for long periods in public and private storage spaces. Very often, moreover, the greater part or the whole of the body was buried in the ground. When storage vases carry decoration this is usually to the level of the shoulders, sometimes on the belly and rarely on the lower part of the vase. The dominant kinds of decoration on storage vases are: 1. Incised Incised decoration was executed using a pointed tool, normally wooden (Pls. 19, 108-109), the tip of a comb or even a single-pronged fork, as a rule before firing. The incised motifs range from geometric to pictorial compositions.626 Common motifs in this kind of decoration, on ancient and recent vases, are straight or zigzag lines, hatching, spirals, wavy and horizontal bands, herringbone, X-lines, oblique incisions on applied bands, etc.(Pl. 109). In vases from the workshops at Kornos on Cyprus, incised birds, flowers and ship motifs are encountered. Incised inscriptions as graffiti, made before firing, have been identified on pithoi from prehistoric times, defining use, provenance, contents etc. Characteristic examples are from Knossos, Archanes, Zakros, Phaistos and elsewhere.627 In all the centres producing storage vases, some potters incised on some pitharia the date of making, their own name or, rarely, the initials of the owner628 (Pl. 115) and in some cases in Cyprus wishes, proverbs etc.629 2. Impressed Impressed decoration is achieved by pressing various objects, such as stamps, seals, shells,630 the finger or a roller (Pl. 110), or roulette, on the damp or dry surface of a vase before firing. A very common motif of this category is finger impressions, that is the imprint left by the human finger when pressed on wet clay (Pl. 111). In some cases 623 624 625 626 627 628

Kiriatzi 2000, 187, Boggess 1989, 117. Green 1992, 48-49. Giannopoulou 2001a, 21. Christakis 2005, 36-37. Christakis 2005, 59. Giannopoulou 1998b, 199-208, London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70. 629 Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1995, 294. 630 Christakis 2005, 37.

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Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

the impressions were made on applied bands that had already been put in place, or directly on the body of the vase. Another kind of impressed decoration results from pressing a reed, with or without serrated end, which left small plain or serrated circle motifs (Pl. 204, 208). Flat and cylindrical stamps were used to decorate relief pithoi of the seventh century BC from Naxos.631 The use of stamps with the name of the maker or the owner has been observed on Hellenistic pithoi from various sites and on pithoi in large Roman workshops632 (Pl. 31). Before 1920, in all the workshops making large storage vases in Greece and Cyprus, except perhaps of Ainos, stamps were used, mainly cylindrical633 or similar to bread stamps.634 In the 1950s, in the same period as the vases ‘lost’ their utilitarian character, a greater disposition for decoration is observed (Pl. 114). 3. Applied Decoration with applied rope and raised bands, with finger impressions or oblique incisions, on the surface of the vase was the commonest practice on storage vases from prehistoric into modern times (Pls. 11, 13-15, 36, 59, 111, 135-140). In many cases the external applied rings also have a reinforcing and protective function, assist transportation while they played an important role in the making of the vases (Pl. 112). However, apart from this function it is obvious from the point of their placement on the vase, their thickness, etc., that they had also a decorative role, which is why they too were often decorated with incised and impressed motifs (Pl. 113). Characteristic examples of applied decoration are Cretan Bronze age pithoi635 and early relief pithoi of the Archaic period, which both were decorated with applied bands and applied pictorial representations.636 At Margarites in Crete the applied bands were called zonaria (= girdles) or tseroukla (= hoops) and were placed either at the junction of two coils or stomosoi or singly as indicators of capacity (over about 60 kilos) (Pl. 58). After 1930 they were placed in successive rows on the entire surface of the vase, in imitation of the Messenian vases, which affected the local production. 4. Painted Painted decoration apperars in some periods (Pl. 9), such as the painted pictorial representations on pithoi of the Middle Helladic period from Kolona on Aegina637 and of the MM II and LM period in Crete, with characteristic geometric patterns often compbined with others.638 It also occurs on pithoi of the Late Cycladic period from Akrotiri on Thera, and elsewhere. (Pl.12). The motifs on vases of this type were inspired by the plant and the marine world.639 631 632 633 634 635 636 637

Simantoni-Bournia 1990, 47. Green 1992, 48-49. Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1995, 290-291. London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70. Christakis 2005, 23-35. Christakis 2005, 36; Simantoni-Bournia 1990, 46. For a description of the technique see also Simantoni-Bournia 1990, 47; Vasileiou 2002, 122. 638 Christakis 2005, 38-43. 639 Hayes 1997, 36; Betancourt 1985.

5. Moulded The technique of applied decoration made in sprig moulds was used for most of the decoration on the Naxian relief pithoi of the seventh century BC, both for pictorial representations and ornamental motifs (Pl. 18). 7. Drying Drying is an important stage in the vase-making procedure, because through evaporation the water added to the clay and existing between its particles and the pores is expelled. In this stage flaws in the making or errors in the selection and preparation of the clay are revealed, since as the water evaporates the clay body shrinks and the formed vase is vulnerable to cracking. The usual cracks that appear during drying are in the base of the vase and at the joins between its parts.640 In general, for all kinds of vases and for all kinds of clays, gradual and uniform drying must be achieved in order to avoid cracking.641 After all, as has been said, the addition of tempers to the clay is due to this crucial process. A significant factor for the procedure and the duration of the drying stage is the climate in a particular area, in other words the humidity, the temperature and the wind direction. For example, the rate of evaporation increases as the temperature increases, while humidity weakens the walls of a formed vase after protracted drying.642 The length and the rate of the drying procedure depends also on the size and the shape of the vases – larger vases need a longer drying time than smaller ones –, the thickness of their walls and the composition and micro-structure of the clay body, that is on the minerals and tempers it contains. For example, smectite absorbs a large quantity of water and dries with difficulty. Thus, the time and the rate of drying differ appreciably between different vasemakers.643 In the indoor workshops producing storage vases (Gulf of Messenia, Cyprus) there were two stages in the drying procedure. Initially the vases were left to dry out inside the workshop for a few days, after which they were left in the open air for an interval of time, which depended on the factors mentioned above (Pl. 204). In general, it could take from 10 days to two months for large vases to dry.644 In the open-air workshops of Crete, the vases were left to dry on the tournettes and were turned around every once in a while, in the direction of the sun, so as to dry evenly. At Margarites in Crete, when the weather was cool, usually at the beginning of the vase-making period, burning charcoal was put inside the pitharia to speed up the drying procedure. The Cretan pitharia lost 22% of their weight during the drying procedure and their overall dimensions shrunk by 7%.645

640 641 642 643 644 645

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Rye 1981, 66. Arnold 1985, 61-62. Arnold 1985, 62-63; Arnold 1976, 97. Shepard 1985, 74; Arnold 1985, 62-63; Rye 1981, 65. Pilides 2000b, 104. Giannopoulou 2001a, 20.

Mimika Giannopoulou

8. Stacking the vases in the kiln The stacking of the dry vases in the kiln was called kaminiasma in the workshops in Greece. The vase-makers knew from experience that if the vases were not stacked correctly there was a risk of breakage during firing. The tight stacking of the kiln, in which one vase rested on top of another, could cause problems for the oxidation of organic and carbon compounds during the early stages of firing, especially when the kinds of clay used absorbed and retained carbon more easily than others.646 In general, in all the workshops in Greece and Cyprus the storage vases were placed with the rim downwards, between two holes in the floor of the firing chamber. In the interstices between the orderly stacked vases, small vases were placed. The stacking of storage vases in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia is described in detail in chapter 5 (see chapter 4,V.7). Presented here is the stacking of storage vases in the workshops of Crete and Cyprus. In Crete the leatherhard vases were carried to the kiln by the assistants of the master potter, who put their arms around them, one holding the wrist of the other. The master and the specialist craftsman in charge of stacking, the kaminaris, were inside the kiln, throwing a little earth, called the chalikia (= gravel), between the holes, in order to place the first row of pitharia. In this bottom row the pitharia were set upside down and taking care that their rim dim did not block the holes in the kiln floor. The kiln was stacked in circular movement, from the circumference to the middle. On the batos (= base) of the first pithari in the first row stood the base of the pithari in the second row, batos me batos (= base to base). The way in which the pitharia were delivered at the entrance to the firing chamber (kaminosa) depended on their position in the upper or the lower row, and they were held accordingly, either upright – with the base downwards – or inverted – with the rim downwards. When most of the pitharia were in place, the spaces between them were filled with smaller pitharia or other vases. The same stacking procedure was followed in Cyprus. When the kiln was fully stacked, the entrance was blocked with mudbricks and mortar. The upper part of the kiln was covered with zinc sheets, tiles and wasters (glastria). This procedure was called chalikoma. In Cyprus the upper part of some kilns was covered with fuel – wood and dung – and then tiles or metal sheets.647 In workshops producing large storage vases in Spain, the stacking of the kiln was supervised by the oldest potters, who had greater knowledge and experience. In general, it took 15 to 20 men to carry a very large pithari. They fixed ropes under the base of the vase and carried it on their shoulders. The vases were stacked in the kiln in exactly the same way as in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia.648 9. Fuel The fuel for firing vases was one of the basic raw materials in the vase-making process. Gathering it always demanded 646 Shepard 1985, 92. 647 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 64. 648 Cabasa 1990, 48.

time and effort. In the Near East and in Greece, from Antiquity to the present day, the sources of fuel were agricultural and industrial derivatives: wood, straw, dung, vine twigs, olive branches, olive pits, etc. It has been observed in archaeological and ethnographic researches that different kinds of fuel were used for different reasons.649 The burning time of a particular fuel depends on the quantity of volatile materials it contains, the presence of carbon and the form of ash it produces. The kind of fuel and the duration of the firing process influence oxidization. In each case, the quantity of oxygen in the firing atmosphere fluctuates each time fuel is added. Twigs burn faster and decrease the duration of oxidation.650 Certain kinds of fuel are better for generating a non-oxidizing atmosphere when firing in a bonfire or in an open pit. Wood is the most suitable fuel for achieving high firing temperatures and species of wood that produce flames and smoke were preferred.651In general, the fuel used for firing pottery must be dry, because steam can cause distortion of the vases.652 The commonest kinds of fuel used in workshops in Greece in recent times were bushes, olive twigs, thyme, wood, usually pine, particularly in Cyprus, while after 1950 sawdust and olive pits were added. Gathering the fuel was the responsibility of an assistant of the master potter and began a few days before firing was scheduled. Fuel was obtained from areas close to the workshops. The main tool used for cutting and gathering fuel was the skalida, a kind of hoe. Fuel was tied in bundles and carried by pack animals to the space outside the workshop, where it was spread out to dry. Each day about 35 bundles were brought to the workshop. At Phoini on Cyprus, 820 kilos of fuel were required for firing six large pitharia (see chapter 4,V.8. for the Gulf of Messenia). In most workshops the fuel was pushed into the fire pit with the dichouli a pronged iron tool with long wooden handle. The charcoal was removed from the fire pit with the gelberi, a kind of rake (Pl. 186). In Crete, three different tools were used: a short and wide wooden tool, the palami, and the phrigouni and the skapeti, which resembled the dichouli.653 10. Firing 10.1. General principles of pyrotechnology – Forms of firing Many specialists in technology argue that the most critical phase in making all types of vases is that of firing, that is the heating of the clay body and its final conversion into pottery. Firing determines the final appearance of vases, affecting the colour of the clay fabric, its physical properties, hardness, porosity, permeability, and so on.654 649 650 651 652 653 654

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Rye 1981, 104. Shepard 1985, 77, 82. Rye 1981, 104-105. Shepard 1985, 91. Psaropoulou 1987/88, 189, πιν.7. Rice 1987, 81; Kotsakis 1983, 135; Rye 1981, 96.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

The firing procedure demands knowledge and experience, since mistakes whilst it is in progress are irreversible and very often catastrophic. In general, the firing strategy is related directly to the kind of clay and its behaviour in each of the three stages of firing.655 Decisive factors in all forms of firing are the temperature, the firing atmosphere and the duration of the procedure.656 The resilience of a clay fabric also depends on the firing temperature. In general, vases fired at low temperatures, below 1000°C, are less durable than those fired at high temperatures. Recognition of the firing temperature does not bespeak a specific pyrotechnology, because of the wide range of possible temperatures that can be achieved with many different conditions and kinds of firing. According to Gosselain, the only parameter that might be considered a technological differentiation is the duration of exposure to certain temperatures. If this can be recognized in ancient vases, then it is possible to recognize different forms of pyrotechnology in archaeological material.657 Mishaps during firing may be due to the kind of clay, as well as to the vase-making technique. For example, if the clay has not been thoroughly cleaned of impurities and contains inclusions with a different degree of expansion from the rest of the clay body, this can cause fracturing. In vases made by coil-building technique, in those parts of the vase that have not been perfectly joined there may be trapped air, which expands during firing, causing fracturing and even shattering. Furthermore, in vases made by coil-building technique, in which the thickness of the walls is uneven and the degree of drying differs at various points, extra pressures may be exerted on the vase during firing, due to this difference. That is why in such vases the unsticking of parts, such as the base, etc., is sometimes observed.658 The basic forms of firing are in a bonfire or in a kiln.659 An intermediate form of firing is in an open pit, which is considered a development of firing in a bonfire.660 1. Firing in a bonfire Firing in a bonfire is the easiest method of firing pottery and many kinds of fuel can be used, such as dung, leaves, straw and wood.661 Climatic conditions play a particularly critical role in this method.662 In the bonfire it is difficult to control the firing atmosphere, which is in a continuous state of flux since it is affected directly and decisively by weather conditions and wind direction.663 The duration of firing in a bonfire can be very short, just 15-20 minutees, or as long as 7-8 hours, while the maximum temperature that can be achieved is 970°C and the minimum around 650°C.664 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664

Shepard 1985, 86. Kotsakis 1983, 136; Rye 1981, 81. Gosselain 1992b, 257. Shepard 1985, 91. Rye 1981, 98; Sinopoli 1991, 27. Rice 1987, 158; Wiencke 1970, 103. Arnold 1985, 219. Arnold 1976, 97. Arnold 1985, 213. Shepard 1985, 82.

Vases to be fired in a bonfire are placed on the ground. The fuel is packed below, around and above them, in a pile. The vase-makers can control the fuel supply and if more fuel is needed they add it during the firing process.665 The firing of a single vase, specifically one storage vase, by placing fuel – usually dung – inside it, is also included in this category of firing. 2. Firing in a pit In this method the vases and the fuel are placed together in the pit, which is then covered with stone or earth, if reducing conditions are desired. Firing in a pit is more effective than firing in a bonfire. It requires less fuel, the firing conditions are better controlled and higher temperatures can be reached.666 Some Late Bronze Age pottery from Macedonia is thought to have been fired in this way.667 3. Firing in a kiln Kilns allow higher firing temperatures to be reached, up to 1000-1300°C, and greater control of the firing atmosphere without appreciable loss of heat. It is important to protect the vases from direct contact with the fuel, if even firing is desired. Last, the stages of firing in the kiln are controlled by the gradual supply of fuel.668 10.2. Firing large storage vases Schliemann assumed that some prehistoric pithoi were fired by filling them with fuel.669 The refiring of 12 samples of pithoi, of the Early and the Middle Helladic period, from Voidokoilia and the sites of Kaminia and Agios Ioannis at Pylos, showed that the original firing temperature of the vases was lower than 750800°C. On the basis of this ascertainment and macroscopic observations (uneven firing), researchers are convinced that these vases had been fired in a bonfire.670 Matson also believes that storage vases of the Early and Middle Helladic periods throughout Messenia had been fired in a bonfire and not a kiln.671 It is estimated that Later Bronze Age pithoi were fired at temperatures between 900 and 1000°C. From study of the Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki and trial refirings it emerges that these were fired at temperatures from 700 to 850°C. It is also observed from comparison of the cores of cooking vessels, small storage vases and pithoi that the firing of the last was longer,672 the temperatures were usually higher and the firing conditions were oxidizing.673 It has been argued that many Roman vases made by coilbuilding technique had been fired in bonfires.674 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674

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Sinopoli 1991, 31; Rye 1981, 98. Sinopoli 1991, 31. Kiriatzi – Andreou – Dimitriadis – Kotsakis,1997, 364. Shepard 1985, 75; Rye 1981, 98. For analytical presentation of the stages in firing see Giannopoulou 2002, 178. Wiencke 1970, 103. Photou – Maniatis – Phillipakis 1980 (forthcoming). Matson 1972, 201. Lewis 1983, 170. Kiriatzi 2000, 190. Green 1992, 51.

Mimika Giannopoulou

This method has been recorded only from oral testimonies on firing storage vases on Chios in the eighteenth century. However, even if this were not the case, certainly these vases were fired in a bonfire, since traces of uneven and incomplete firing are visible on their surface, something not observed on vases that are fired in kilns. Many African potters making storage vases fire these in a bonfire, particularly in southwest Nigeria, where hundreds of vases are fired with wood and straw, at temperatures no higher than 650°C. In recent times, storage vases were fired in permanent kilns or in makeshift kilns that were pulled down after firing. There are no examples of such constructions in Greece in modern times. India is of interest for the existence and application of such practices. Boggess speculates that ancient Attic pithoi were fired in makeshift constructions of this kind, in which the storage vases were stacked with the fuel placed around them and were then covered with tiles and broken vases. According to the same researcher, Attic pithoi were fired at temperatures no higher than 800°C and in a mainly oxiding atmosphere.675 The pithoi from ancient Messene seem to have been fired at temperatures of 800 to 900°C and in oxidizing conditions, as is surmised from the trial refirings of this material, conducted by Evangelia Kiriatzi (see Appendix B). Pithoi produced in itinerant workshops in Cyprus and the large pithoi made in the Gulf of Messenia in the nineteenth century were fired in the same way. The potters knew empirically the stages of firing referred to above. The various stages were observed on the basis of changes in colour of the flame/smoke and the vases. The duration of firing and the quantity of fuel, which were calculated after the repeated burnings for each type of vases and kiln, were indicators for the firing process.676 It has been ascertained clearly that an even temperature must be maintained inside the kiln, in order to avoid fracturing and distortions of the vases. To this end, potters took measures to ensure even supply of the kiln by feeding the fire pit with fuel in all directions (see chapter 4,V 8.3). The role of climatic conditions had also been evaluated carefully by the vase-makers, who only lit the kiln on days of calm and when there was no likelihood of rain. A strong wind could cause uneven firing or loss of vases (see chapter.677 The duration of firing was directly dependent on the kind of kilns and the kind of clays. In Crete, where there were open kilns, firing lasted 5-8 hours, whereas in the closed kilns of the Gulf of Messenia it took 12-13 hours. In Crete, the firing of storage vases last 3-4 hours longer than the firing of smaller wheel-made vases in the same kilns.678 The firing procedure was linked also with supernatural powers and was accompanied by numerous superstitions. Thus, a kiln never operated on Sunday and during its operation it should not be approached by women or by men who had had sexual intercourse the previous night. 675 676 677 678

Boggess 1989, 119-120, 122. Shepard 1985, 81, 86. Shepard 1985, 91. Giannopoulou 2001a, 23.

In the open-air workshops of Crete, firing usually commenced in the late afternoon and there were three basic stages in the process: • The first was kindling the fire (pyroma), in which the fire pit (poros) of the kiln was supplied with fuel, usually olive twigs and thyme, gradually and in small quantities. Aim of this phase, known as water smoking, was the gradual drying of the vases, which are not resilient to abrupt changes in temperature. The stage of setting the fire lasted one and a half to two hours (Pl. 116). • The next stage, in which combustion was intensified (mesopyroma), lasted about two hours. A different kind of fuel is used, mainly prickly bushes (agarathies and astoivades). Care was taken to ensure uniform supply and the fuel was distributed in equal quantities over the whole area of the firing chamber. Towards the end of this stage the vases have started to mature, that is harden (Pl. 117). • A bout half an hour after the mesopyroma, the final stage commences, in which combustion reaches its peak with full intensification of feeding the kiln with fuel. At Phoini in Cyprus the firing of large storage vases lasted three days. The first and second stages lasted two days and the third stage was completed on the third day. In the third stage bricks were removed from the entrance to the kiln, to allow air currents to enter the interior.679 In other workshops producing smaller storage vases, again in Cyprus, firing in the kiln lasted eight hours, at a low and constant temperature. In the final phase the fuel supply was intensified continuously for two or three hours and the temperature is estimated to have reached 800 to 1000°C.680 In all workshops the sign that firing had been completed was the issue of white smoke from the top of the kiln. One of the commonest consequences of mishaps during firing is local acoloration, due to a vase coming into direct contact with the flame or soot falling on it. The grey core observed in the middle of many sherds is due to abrupt temperature change,681 to a prevailing reducing atmosphere close to the maximum temperature682 and to insufficient oxidation during cooling. Usually, vase-makers did not know the reasons for mishaps during firing and attributed them to supernatural causes.683 11. Cooling When the maximum or annealing temperature is reached during firing, it has to be maintained for some length of time so that all the reactions are completed. The duration and the atmosphere of cooling also have their effect on the final quality of the vases. The clay fabric usually cools in an oxidizing atmosphere. Sudden cooling causes 679 680 681 682 683

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Ionas 2000, 178. London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 64. Shepard 1985, 93. Kilikoglou – Maniatis 1993, 483. Shepard 1985, 92-93.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

fracturing or breakage of vases.684 Cooling requires from 24 hours to one week, depending on weather conditions. The temperature in the kiln must drop to 40°C before the vases are removed.685 In pottery-making in modern times, a few hours after firing has been completed, the embers were cleared out of the fire pit and the kiln was left to cool for from 8 to 24 hours.686 12. Removing the vases from the kiln and works on the surface of the vases When they vases had cooled they were removed from inside the kiln, after the entrance to the firing chamber had been demolished. Fired vases were removed first from the top part of open kilns and from the entrance of closed ones (Pl. 118). Treatment of the surface of vases after firing aimed at making the clay fabric impervious to liquids, because this was usually porous, due to the tempers. The commonest method of reducing porosity and waterproofing vases was to coat the inside with organic materials, such as beeswax and resin.687 Veleni identified resin in Hellenistic pithoi from Petres at Amyntaion, and Poulaki in corresponding vases from Komboloi.688 Resin was processed by dehydrating and dessicating it in the sun, so that it solidified.689 This method was widespread in workshops in recent times, but also in Antiquity, especially for pithoi intended for storing wine.690 Beeswax has been detected as a waterproofing material in Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki.

684 685 686 687 688 689 690

Sinopoli 1991, 29; Rye 1981, 110. Shepard 1985, 90; Rye 1981, 109. Giannopoulou 2001a, 23. Rice 1987, 163. Adam-Veleni 1998, 54; Poulaki 2004, 54. Adam-Veleni 1998, 54. Boggess 1989, 122.

Indeed, it is commented that produce stored in these must have been important, since this material is not easy to obtain.691 In many parts of Greece (Siphnos, Crete, Gulf of Messenia and elsewhere), pithoi intended for storing olive oil and wine were coated inside with beeswax, while those intended for storing resinated wine were coated with resin. From the Byzantine Age there is reference also to tarring (πίσσωμα), which is the coating of the inside of the heated vase with hot pitch or bitumen.692 This method was used in modern times at Phoini in Cyprus.693 The bitumen was heated in a special copper or clay vessel. Vinegar was added to the moulten bitumen and this mixture was then poured over the heated pithari.694 Boggess mentions also plaster as a material used for coating the inside of ancient pithoi intended for storing water or olive oil. The plaster was applied when the vase had cooled completely.695 In the Cretan workshops, the pitharia were filled with water, immediately after removing them from the kiln and while they were still hot. At Margarites in Crete, cracks after firing were repaired with a mixture of lime and olive oil.

691 692 693 694 695

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Roubou 2006. Bakirtzis 1989,119. London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70. Ionas 2000, 179. Boggess 1989, 122.

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CHAPTER 4

Ethno-Archaeological research in the region of Messenia 2. Excavations at ancient Messene

PART A. ANCIENT MESSENE

Excavations at Messene were begun in 1895 by the Archaeological Society at Athens and were conducted until 1974 by a succession of eminent archaeologists, among them Themistoklis Sofoulis and Anastasios Orlandos. Since 1987, systematic excavations at Messene have been ongoing under the direction of Petros Themelis, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Crete. In the course of Themelis’s investigations, two sanctuaries have been identified on the southwest slope of Ithome, one of Artemis Limnatis and the other dedicated to an unknown deity. The Arsinoe Fountain, north of the agora, the sanctuary of Demeter and the Dioskouroi, the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, between the Asklepieion and the sanctuary of Demeter, the north elevated wing of the Asklepieion with the hestiatoria, and the Augusteum (Sebasteion) have also been revealed. Furthermore, the earliest phases of the Asklepieion have been defined by excavation, on the east side, while in the wider area of the Asklepieion a Christian settlement and cemetery of the fifth-sixth century AD have been brought to light. South of the Asklepieion a public bathhouse or balneum (3rd-1st c. BC) has been excavated, while east of the Asklepieion rooms of a public building of Roman times, perhaps a library, with mosaic pavement and statues of Artemis (4th c. BC) and Hermes have been uncovered. Investigations were extended to the south of agora, with the systematic excavation and recent restoration of the stadium and the gymnasium of the city, the temenos of Herakles behind the west stoa, a Roman house north of the stadium, grave monuments, and so on. Rooms of as yet unspecified use have been revealed south of the Roman house.698 (Pl.120). Last, the Hierothysion, the theatre, the sanctuary of Demeter, the treasury (thesaurophylakion), the Klepshydra Fountain and the sanctuary of the river-god Acheloos, behind the cistern, have been uncovered. Themelis argues that Messene is one of the most important cities of Antiquity, in terms of size, form and preservation. It has not been built over by later settlements and is located in an unspoilt Mediterranean environment (Fig. 22). Messene is organized according to the Hippodamean system of urban planning (Pl. 119). From the surviving traces of the city walls, it is estimated that these ran for a length of 9.5 km. They are constructed of limestone quarried on Mount Ithome, on the summit of which stood the fortified acropolis and the sanctuary of Zeus Ithomata. Of the gates in the wall, the west one, the Arcadia Gate, survives. A construction of monumental dimensions and circular plan, this gate had two entrances, one leading to the agora of Messene and one leading towards Megalopolis. Two square towers abutting the main construction protected

1. Landmarks in the history of ancient Messene Ancient Messene lies to the northwest of the town of Kalamata, west of the village of Meligala and north of the present town of Messini, which is located on the northwest side of the Gulf of Messenia. The sanctuary of Zeus Ithomata on the summit of Mount Ithome was functioning fully in 800-700 BC, in which years the first sanctuary of Artemis Orthia was founded, as well as the sanctuary of Asklepios and Messene. The small urban centre existing in that period must have been called Ithome, which name was kept until the fourth century BC. In 369 BC, after the defeat of the Lacedaemonians in the battle of Leuktra (371 BC), Messene was founded on the lower slopes of Mount Ithome. It owes its name to the first mythical, pre-Dorian, queen of the region, Messene, who was worshipped as a deity. Immediately after the founding of the city, building of its walls commenced. In 362 BC, Messene was acknowledged as an independent city by all the Greek powers, excluding Sparta. In the ensuing years, Messene was involved in historical events in Greece, sometimes as an ally of the Athenians and sometimes of the Macedonians. It was occupied several times by the latter, participated in the conflicts between the Confederacies and enjoyed the favour of many Roman emperors, particularly of Nero (AD 67). Pausanias (2nd century AD) visited Messene whilst it was still a notable political and artistic centre. Impressed by its fortifications, he declares them better than those of Rhodes and Byzantion. He describes the Arsinoe Fountain, temples, statues, the Asklepieion with works by the sculptor Damophon, the Hierothysion, the portrait statue of Aristomenes, the stadium, the gymnasium, the theatre, the sanctuary of Serapis and Isis, the Klepshydra Fountain and the sanctuary of Zeus Ithomata.696 In AD 192-211, during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, pseudo-autonomous copper coins of Messene were minted. For the interval AD 212-394 there is no historical information, which fact points to the city’s decline. The latest levels of destruction and desertion of most of the buildings are dated to circa AD 360-370. Between the fifth and the seventh century AD, an Early Byzantine settlement was founded – and flourished – upon the ruins of the ancient city, remains of which have been found to the east of the Asklepieion, in the agora and southeast of the theatre, where an Early Byzantine basilica has been excavated.697 696 Themelis 1999b, 31. 697 For analytical chronology of Messene, see Themelis 1999a, 1935.

698 Petrakos 2002, 50.

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the outer entrance. To the right of the Arcadia Gate, two funerary monuments of the second and the third century AD have been excavated. Northwest of the Asklepieion is the badly destroyed theatre of the third-century BC, which, according to epigraphic testimonies, was used for mass assemblies of political character. Two spaces of a private residence of Late Hellenistic and Roman times have been revealed in the vicinity of the theatre, along the west side of a street. About 200 metres northwest of the Asklepieion and east of the theatre, traces of the stoa of the agora have been found. The stoa, 100 metres long and probably two-storeyed, delimited the north side of the agora (Pl. 119). West of this stoa, a large fountain building-nymphaeum has come to light. Over 40 metres in length, it is is identified as the Arsinoe Fountain, which was abandoned in the fourth century AD. The area of the fountain was resettled from the tenth century AD, as attested by abundant Byzantine ceramics and remnants of churches. The most conspicuous part of Messene, which according to the descriptions of Pausanias was a veritable museum of artworks, was the Asklepieion, hub of public life in the city and parallel to the adjacent agora. At the centre of the open space stands the Doric peripteral temple (6 x 12 columns), of dimensions 13.67 x 27.97 m., with pronaos, opisthodomos and large altar. In the east wing of the peristyle court are the small, roofed, theatre-like ekklesiasterion (A), the imposing propylon (B), the synhedrion or bouleuterion (Γ) and the hall of the archive of the secretary of the synhedroi (Γ-Γ). Along the west side is a series of rooms-oikoi, which housed statues of deities. The north wing of the Asklepieion is closed by a large bipartite construction accessible via a central monumental staircase, which has been identified as the Augusteum (Sebasteion) or Caesareum.699 The Asklepieion complex must have been built immediately after 215/214 BC, with the aim of projecting the Messenians as a special ethnos with deep roots in its Dorian past. Earlier phases date back to Archaic times (7th-6th century BC) and to the fourth century BC. To the northwest of the Asklepieion the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia has been excavated, and to the west of this the temenos of the sanctuary of Demeter and the Dioskouroi. A building of rectangular plan unearthed outside the south side of the Asklepieion has been identified as a balneum, a complex of Hellenistic bathhouses. The Hierothysion of the first century BC (Doric prostyle temple, mausoleum of an eminent Messenian) has been revealed in the same direction, while further south are the stadium and the gymnasium, which are part of the most impressively preserved building complex (Pl. 121). The north end of the stadium, the horseshoe-shaped sphendone, includes 18 cunei with 17 rows of seats, and staircases, and is surrounded by Doric stoas belonging to the gymnasium. A peristyle atrium in the Doric order, in the south part of the west stoa, has been identified as a palaestra. Inscribed pedestals, many ephebic lists and a temenos of Herakles and 699 For analytical presentation of the monuments see Themelis 1999a, 40-80.

Hermes were found behind the west stoa. A monumental four-columned Doric propylon, with an inscription from the reign of Augustus, led into the west stoa. In room XI of this stoa the funerary monument (K3) was brought to light, and further north of this a Π-shaped funerary monument (K1) with frieze and stone portal. The complex was at its zenith in the Hellenistic period. The Heroon, a Doric temple, is located on the south side of the stadium and is a funerary monument that belongs in the tradition of Asia Minor heroa-mausolea.700 On the site of the fountain of the present village of Mavromati stood the ancient Klepshydra Fountain, of monumental dimensions. Northeast of the village, a small Ionic temple has been revealed, which has been identified as belonging to the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis, while one other small temple has been found 300 m. northwest of it. On the highest peak of Ithome, east of the Voulkano monastery, are the foundations of the temple of Zeus Ithomata.701 Exhibited in the Museum of Ancient Messene, which is located at the entrance to the village of Mavromati, are several of the important finds from the excavations, mainly sculptures, such the Messene Hermes, the Doryphoros by Polykleitos, the statue of Artemis Laphria, sculptures linked with works by Damophon, figurines, plaques, etc. 3. Geological commentary on ancient Messene The argillaceous formations in the area of Messene and in the entire region of Messenia derive from sedimentary formations, and the clays are characterized as calcareous, which is consistent with these geological formations (Pl. 122).702 Matson, in surface surveys in the area of ancient Messene, located red shale, chloritic schist and claystone north of the Arcadia Gate and on the northwest slopes of Mount Ithome. Red shale was identified also to the south, along the west slope in the direction of Mavromati. These materials appear in areas of limestone, that is, in areas with geological formations closely comparable to those of Messene. The same materials have been identified in other parts of Messenia, such as Nichoria in Pylia, on the west coast of the Gulf of Messenia and in the upper Pamisos Valley, and have been used widely as tempers in prehistoric pottery at numerous sites in the region. Specifically, such tempers have been found in the category of pottery that researchers name ‘coarse ware’, which includes sherds of pithoi.703 The results of petrographic analyses of thin-sections of pottery fabrics from Messene confirm the use of finegrained mudstone-siltstone as temper in making storage vases (see Appendix B).

700 Themelis 1999a, 90-112. 701 Themelis 1999a, 113-119. 702 For the analytical geological commentary see Giannopoulou 2002a, 192-193. 703 Matson 1972, 201; Jones 1986, 216.

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4. Samples of storage vases from the excavation of ancient Messene 4.1. Provenance of samples Of the total of 63 sherds of storage vases, a very few sherds were recovered from the area of the Augusteum (2), the Hierothysion (1), the basilica (1), the balneum (2), the temple-like building (2), the Roman portico (1), the Athanasopoulos field (1) and the funerary monument K7 (2). Several come from the funerary monument K1 and its immediate environs (4), the area of the theatre (5) and the Roman house (5) (Pl. 120). Of the 38 sherds presented here, most sherds of storage vases were found in the area of the Asklepieion (9), the area of the gymnasium (8) and, mainly, the area of the stadium (11). Seven sherds of storage vases have no excavation context and are surface finds. Seven sherds are not from storage vases, although the possibility that the vases to which they belong were used for storage cannot be ruled out (see Appendix C, nos 1, 3, 18, 27). These sherds are included in the present study because it was ascertained that their fabric belongs in one category of pithoi fabrics. This offers crucial information on the production of storage vases and verifies the practice recorded in recent workshops, namely that the makers of storage vases also made other sizeable vases for special uses. One half pithos, which was placed as a wellhead, is preserved in situ in a room in the Roman house (see Appendix C, no. 21, Pls. 119-120). The fact that the majority of sherds were found in the area of the stadium and the gymnasium is explained by the function of these spaces as ‘schools’ for the Messenians, which justifies the use of storage vases to serve the needs of storing water and possibly foodstuffs or olive oil for the athletes, and so on. 4.2. Typology-description of samples of storage vases Of the total of 63 sherds, 46 are from mouths, 7 from bases, 8 from bodies and only 2 from handles. Of the total of 38 sherds subjected to petrographic analyses of thin-sections, 25 are from rims of (see Appendix C, nos 1, 2, 5, 7-9, 11-12, 14-15, 18, 20-21, 27-28, 32-36, 38, 4043), 7 from bases (see Appendix C, nos 4, 10, 17, 29-31, 39), 5 from bodies (see Appendix C, nos 6, 13, 16, 19, 37) and 1 from a handle (see Appendix C, no. 3). In macroscopic examination of the sherds three general categories of storage vases were distinguished on the criterion of their dimensions: 1. Sherds in which the thickness of the rim ranges from 2.5 to 5.2 cm. and the width of the rim from 5.5 to 8 cm. respectively (see Appendix C, nos 11,18, 20, 27, 36). 2. Sherds in which the thickness of the rim ranges from 5.7 to 8.5 cm. and the width of the rim from 5 to 12 cm. respectively (see Appendix C, nos 7-9, 12, 14, 15, 21, 32, 33, 38, 41-43). 3. Sherds in which the thickness of the rim ranges from 8.5 to 11.5 cm. and the width of the rim is approximately 10 cm. (see Appendix C, nos 5, 28, 34, 35, 40).

Drawings made of representative and sufficiently wellpreserved sherds of the three categories showed that in the first category the rim diameter ranges from 36 to 45 cm., in the second category between 52 and 56 cm., and in the third category between 60 and 68 cm. (Figs. 23-29, 25B). It should be noted a priori that no constancy was observed in the dimensions of the sherds. As is apparent also from the above measurements, there are in each category fluctuations in the diameter and the thickness of the rims, which are not indicative of differentiation in sizes. From macroscopic examination of the material in each category, no standardized sizes of storage vases emerge. In any case, standardization of vases made without the use of the potter’s wheel is difficult to achieve, as the amount of clay required for each size of vases cannot be estimated exactly, whereas this is feasible for wheel-made vases. The differentiation in dimensions is possibly linked with utilitarian needs, but primarily it reflects the fact that the behaviour of the potter when making the vase was not predetermined. Kiriatzi makes the same observation with respect to the making of Late Bronze Age pithoi recovered from the site of Toumba in Thessaloniki, while it is corroborated by ethnographic records and measurements of recent pithoi in all production centres in Greece and Cyprus.704 From macroscopic examination of all the samples, from the drawings and from the half pithos that survives in situ in the Roman house (see Appendix C, no. 21), it emerges that the overwhelming majority of sherds have an everted rim of triangular cross-section (Figs. 23, 24, 25B, 29) and on the basis of their dimensions belong to the first and second categories (see Appendix C, nos 5, 7, 12, 15, 2021, 28, 33, 36, 38, 41-42). Some sherds which have an everted rim squared on the outside belong to the third category, that is to storage vases of very large dimensions (see Appendix C, nos 8, 14, 34, 40, 43 and Figs. 26, 27). The external folding over and strengthening of the rim also ensures its stable width, which is the same as that of vases in the second category. Thus, the width of the rim does not seem to be proportionate to the rest of the dimensions of the vase but depends on the rim type. Characteristic is the absence of a neck or the very short neck of the storage vases at Messene, as is attested by the sherds preserving part of the body of the vase and in the surviving half pithos in the Roman house (see Appendix C, nos 7, 8, 9, 14). The base sherds, recorded on the criteria of their thickness (approximately 3 cm.) and their type, belong, with the exception of one (see Appendix C, no. 17), to storage vases of the second and third categories. All but one (see Appendix C, no. 17) are disc-shaped (see Appendix C, nos 10, 29, 30, 31 and Figs. 25A, 28) and their thickness varies slightly, which may be related to the size of the vases (see Appendix C, nos 10, 29, 30, 31, 39). One sherd is the bulky cylindrical protrusion of the base of a pithos and it is clear from its size and thickness that it belonged to a vase of very large dimensions (see Appendix C, no. 4). The body sherds (see Appendix C, nos 6, 13, 16, 19, 37) are almost all of the same thickness, 2.8-2.9 cm., with the 704 Kiriatzi 2000, 235; Blitzer 1990, 684-686.

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exception of one, which is 2.4 cm. thick. They perhaps belong to vases of the second and third categories, because the thickness of the wall changes when there is a notable change in the rest of the dimensions of the vase, which phenomenon is observed from the measurements of recent storage vases from the Gulf of Messsenia, as well as from the dimensions of ancient samples. From drawings made of some sherds, the rim diameter, the pithoi in the Roman house and the extant bases, it is deduced that the storage vases must have been ovoid with swollen belly, or imperfectly globular in shape. Many rims of triangular cross-section, from storage vases of all categories, have a deeply incised horizontal band at their base, which delimits the rim and the beginning of the shoulder (see Appendix C, nos: 9, 14, 41, 42). From the data presented so far, and on the basis of the precise calculation of the dimensions and their relation to the capacity of the recent vases from the Gulf of Messenia, it is not possible to estimate the capacity of these three categories of storage vases from ancient Messene. The capacity cannot be calculated from the rim diameter because there may be a big difference in rim diameter between vases of the same capacity. For example, in the vases made in the Gulf of Messenia in the nineteenth century, the following have been observed: 1. vases with rim diameter from 35 to 45 cm. and rim thickness 5-7 cm. were of about 150 kilos capacity. 2. vases with rim diameter from 45 to 52 cm. and rim thickness 6-9 cm. were of about 214-312 kilos capacity. 3. vases with rim diameter from 50 to 52 cm. and rim thickness 7-9 cm. were of about 365-445 kilos capacity. The storage vases produced in the Gulf of Messenia had rims of small diameter because they were intended for storing liquids. The storage vases from Thrapsano in Crete and from Chios, which were intended for storing liquid and solid foodstuffs, and were of the same capacities, differ significantly in their rim diameter (Pls. 59, 140). The vases from ancient Messene were also wide-mouthed, judging by the surviving half pithos in the Roman house, which was of no more than 300 kilos capacity and has a rim diameter of 52 cm. So, on the basis of the available data, accurate measurement of the capacity of the storage vases from ancient Messene is not feasible. 5. Macroscopic observations of the fabric, the decoration and the firing of the samples 5.1. Fabric Macroscopic observation of the fabric of the 38 pottery sherds from ancient Messene showed that the majority ranges between from 2.5.YR 6/8 Light Red and 5YR 6/6 Reddish Yellow on the Munsell Scale. The observation is confirmed by petrographic analyses of the sherds (see Appendix C). On the basis of their fabric, there is little difference between the clays in terms of their

mineralogical constitution, but in terms of the granulometry, the quantity of tempers, the relative proportions of quartzflint, quartz-mica, as well as the quantity of carbonaceous materials and the presence of microfossils. On the basis of these differences, two general groups of fabrics were distinguished: 1. Fabric with siltstone inclusions and fine clay body with silicates 2. Fabric with siltstone inclusions and fine clay body with silicates and carbonates (see Appendix B). Macroscopic examination of the fabric showed the existence of inclusions and tempers in the clay, such as grit, gravel, etc. In this particular case, the use of specific tempers belonging to forms of coarse-grained mudstonesiltstone with visible fissibility was observed. Matson has identified these tempers in the area of Messene and has noted their use also in vases of earlier periods from all over Messenia.705 The differences in fabric are associated more with vase size (see Appendix B). This is ascertained easily by macroscopic examination of the sherds, from which it is clear that the bigger the sherd (see Appendix C 1, nos 5, 8, 9, 14, 20, 28, 33, 34, 40, 43), which in the case of pithoi is proportionate to the final size, the larger the size and the higher the density of inclusions and tempers in the fabric. This is to be expected and is entirely consistent with the technological demands, that is, the behaviour of the clay body during the stages of making and drying the vase (see chapter 3.IV.2.). Boggess makes the same observation for the fabric of pithoi in relation to their size, with regard to the ancient Attic pithoi.706 This relation is observed also in the petrographic analyses of Late Bronze Age pithoi from Toumba in Thessaloniki.707 So, it emerged from macroscopic study of the material that in the three categories distinguished on the criterion of the dimensions of the sherds, the following are observed: • to the first category belong sherds whose fabric has small inclusions, • to the second category belong sherds whose fabric has dense inclusions with obvious use of tempers, • and to the third category belong sherds whose fabric has large inclusions and tempers, which dominate on the surface of the vases. In ancient Messene, the fabric of storage vases of very large dimensions is clearly different from the fabric of all the other categories of storage vases. What emerges, in conjunction also with the results of ethnographic research and, primarily, on the making of storage vases in the Gulf of Messenia, is that a wide variety of sizes of storage vases, of capacity 50 to 300 kilos, can be made from exactly the same clay body, which can be coarse-grained or fine-grained. This is not the case with storage vases of very large dimensions, whose capacity exceeds 500 kilos and which demand a specific clay body 705 Matson 1972, 201. 706 Boggess 1989, 95. 707 Kiriatzi 2000, 185.

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with many tempers, which is not essential in the rest (see also chapter 3.IV.2.). Study of thin-sections showed that sherds in group 1a, of fabric with fine clay body with very few silicates, do not belong to large storage vases; sherds in group 1b, of fabric with several silicates, belong to the second and third categories; and sherds in group 1c, of fabric with fine clay body presenting dense silicates, belong to the second and third categories. To group 2 belong sherds from the second and third categories (see Appendix A). The very few sherds that appear to date from early periods, such as those which are recorded as Geometric in the excavation archive (see Appendix C nos 3, 19), belong to groups 2A and 2B, in which is observed a small differentiation in the fabric, which appears to contain microfossils and micrite masses (see Appendix B). To group 2A belong also a sherd whose fabric is of different colour, which has not been dated securely, a base that may or may not belong to a pithos, and typical pithoi sherds that are the same as those of other groups (see Appendix B). This fact perhaps means that specific clay sources were used for long periods, a practice that is noted frequently in ethnographic research. The characterization of the fabric of the samples, as determined by petrographic analysis, as well as the kind of temper agree absolutely with the geological profile of the area of ancient Messene and reinforce the view that the vases from which the sherds originate were made there. The specific use of clays and tempers for the total of sherds means that a technological tradition of making storage vases had been crystallized, which must have begun from earlier periods and experimentations, something that is observed certainly with the expansion of the excavation in the part of the settlement with private houses and the finding of workshops. The use of specific tempers in making storage vases means that these vases were made by ‘professional’ potters, organized and experienced in the production of such vases. The minor differentiations in the clay body, which are observed frequently in archaeological samples from the same site and of the same date, may mean different vase-makers.708 Last, in the course of macroscopic examination of the samples, both of those from storage vases and those from wide-mouthed vases, floor bricks, etc., it was observed that the clay body of the storage vases of the first and second categories was the same as that of the other widemouthed vases and the bricks. This has been observed in archaeological material from many sites, that is, other sizeable vases, tiles and bricks can be included in the fabric of storage vases.709 Boggess ascertains from the analyses of Hellenistic pithoi from Corinth that they were made of the same material as used for making tiles and terracotta sculptures.710

708 Day 1988, 506. 709 Davis – Alcock – Bennet – Lolos – Shelmerdine 1997, 441; Barlow 1993/94, 85. 710 Boggess 1970, 78.

5.2. Technique of making - Decoration In ancient Messene the technique of coil building must have been used for making the storage vases of all categories. This assumption is documented by the way in which the rim breaks off from the neck or the base breaks off from the rest of the body, which closely resemble detached parts of vases made by this technique (see Appendix C, nos 5, 8, 12, 14, 31). Also, the very carefully formed rims seem to have been made of a thick coil which, after placement, was smoothed with the hands or with the aid of a tool, thus forming the exceptionally careful angles of the rim. Boggess proposes the use of coil-building technique or the combination of tournette technique and coil building for making the Hellenistic pithoi of Corinth, which, as we shall see below, closely resemble the pithoi of ancient Messene.711 However, the tournette was probably not used for making very large pithoi, since on the inside surface of no sherd were observed traces such as those usually left by the potter’s hands when forming the vases by the rotation of the turntable (see chapter 3.IV.4). In the case of the pithoi of Messene, some supports must have been used in the initial stages of forming the base of the very large pithoi. Supports were used frequently also in making very large pitharia in recent times, in the Gulf of Messenia, Cyprus and Ainos (see chapter 3, 5.2.2.). On all the samples of storage vases decoration is rare and where this exists it is incised and applied, and confined mainly to the body and the rim. Decorative motifs are linear, with incised horizontal wavy lines predominating (see Appendix C, nos 4, 6, 13, 16, 37). Some rims from storage vases of small dimensions often have two incised horizontal lines on the inside and the outside periphery, and sometimes a horizontal wavy band between these lines. Body sherds with thick wall, some of which are possibly from storage vases, carry applied decoration consisting of two or more fine applied horizontal bands with oblique incisions on the surface of the bands or pointillé ornaments between the incisions (see Appendix C, no. 19). It is obvious from the thickness and the fineness of the applied bands that their role was purely decorative (that is, they do not have the same function as the applied hoops on the storage vases from the Gulf of Messenia). This kind of decoration, as observed on sherds from ancient Messene, is encountered also on Archaic sherds of storage vases from Maliokampos/Malea in Arcadia.712 The rendering of the decoration on the body sherds collected is different, in terms of the size of the bands, the depth of the incisions and the number, which meants that the sherds come from different vases, which, in its turn, indicates that this is a mode of decoration that was usual and an established tactic in the making of such vases. This ornament, has been noted already, is the commonest on storage vases of all dimensions and of all periods, all over Greece (see chapters 2.III and 3.IV.6). Even the sherd from the body of a vase which according to the excavation label 711 Boggess 1970, 75. 712 Pikoulas 1988, fig. 77, 91, 1.

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may dated from the Geometric period, has a wide applied band with large oblique incisions (see Appendix C, no. 19). Because the number of body sherds that definitely come from pithoi is very small in relation to the number of rim sherds, and given that the undecorated bodies of coarseware vases are usually not recorded in excavations, most of the storage vases, and particularly those of large dimensions, must have been without decoration. 5.3

Firing

Trial refirings of the samples showed that, with very few exceptions, the vases had been fired in oxidizing conditions and at temperatures of 800-9000C (see Appendix B). Macroscopic examination of the sherds confirms the generally uniform firing of the vases in oxidizing conditions and only a few sherds have grey cores, due to incomplete oxidation of the fabric. Nonetheless, the surface of the sherds does not present uneven firing and the durability of the rim sherds, which are the most numerous to survive, bespeaks good firing conditions and high temperatures. From the above indications, in conjunction with the ascertainments regarding the choice of raw materials and the making technique, it is deduced that firing took place in a controlled environment, both in terms of conditions (oxidizing-reducing atmosphere) and of temperatures. This bolsters the view that the technology of producing storage vases in ancient Messene was quite sophisticated. The firing, which can be qualified as careful, can easily have taken place in updraft kilns or temporary constructions such as those recorded in ethnographic research, which were demolished after firing (see chapter 3.IV.10.). From the Hellenistic period, to which most of the sherds seem to date, we have from Messene very good examples of fine pottery, which means that vase-making workshops existed in the city, but these have yet to be located in archaeological investigations. 6. Dating of the samples The petrographic analyses were of no help in dating the sherds, as to the groups distinguished on the basis of differentiation in the fabric belong sherds of all categories, without any notable typological separation being observed on the criterion of different fabric. The half pithos found in situ as a wellhead in a room in the Roman house that has also Hellenistic phases of habitation, offers no clues to dating because this seems to be a second use of the vase and not the original one for which it was made. Examples of the use of a rim of a storage vase for the same function are recorded in ancient Athens from as early as the Archaic period.713 Also, the finding of sherds of storage vases together with pottery of various chronological periods is explained by the fact that most of the material comes from fill, as well as the undeniable fact of the longevity of use of storage vases and the conservatism characteristic of their typology and technology, as demonstrated by archaeological and ethnographic studies (see chapter 2.III). 713 Boggess 1989, 277.

Most of the sherds are dated to the Hellenistic periods, on the basis of the very few sherds of secure excavation context and their similarity to the rest, and on the basis of the following criteria: 1. The uniformity of the fabric in the greater proportion of the material and the use of the same tempers advocate the dating of the material to one period. Of course, this does not mean that specific tempers were not used over a long period of time and in different periods, something that has been ascertained by archaeological research, primarily for prehistoric times. It has been observed that in later periods, mainly in Boggess’s study of the ancient Attic pithoi, different kinds of clay bodies and tempers were used at different times.714 2. The typological similarity of the sherds, which is differentiated only on the basis of the size of the vases, also leads in the direction of the dating to one period. The shape of the storage vases of Messene, ovoid or imperfect globular, without neck, with rim of triangular crosssection and disc-shaped or pointed base as a rule, is in absolute agreement with the type of pithoi of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, which dominates also in Roman times.715 3. The closest parallel for the pithoi of Messene is the burial pithoi of the fourth century BC and of Hellenistic times from Eleia716 (Figs. 12-13). The pithoi of Messene present striking typological similarities in form with the Eleian pithoi, which are dated after the second half of the fourth century BC, and with those dated to the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third century BC (Fig. 13, d1, f and Fig. 12 a, b).717 The clay of the Eleian pithoi is light brown or red with visible tempers of grit and grog.718 The fabric of the sherds from ancient Messene has similar characteristics. 4. A Hellenistic pithos that was restored completely in a Hellenistic house at Corinth presents great similarities in form with most of the examples from ancient Messene (Fig. 31). The rim of the Corinth pithos and its cross-section, which is the same as most of the rims of pithoi from ancient Messene, is typical of pithoi dated after 400 BC but not so much after 200 BC.719 Characteristic too is the similarity in the existence of a horizontal incision around the base of the rim, which is pronounced on many pithoi sherds from ancient Messene. Boggess dates the Corinth pithos from the late fourth to the early second century BC.720 714 715 716 717 718 719 720

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Boggess 1989, 94. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 359; Boggess 1989, 299. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 351-362. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 357-358. Chatzi-Spiliopoulou 1991, 357-359. Boggess 1970, 75, pls 1-2. Boggess 1970, 75, fig.16.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages



5.

The sherds from Messene present similarities to the Corinth pithoi also in the clay body and, principally, in the use of the same tempers. The Corinth pithos is made of coarse-grained red clay and contains light and dark inclusions. The clay body seems to have inclusions of siltstone (dark inclusions) and gravel (light inclusions). Siltstone, as petrographic analyses have shown, is the temper of storage vases of ancient Messene. This similarity may be, of course, coincidental and cannot be evaluated for the present, because of the lack of more samples from both sites. Last, the Corinth pithos has on the upper part of the belly applied decoration of horizontal bands and a wavy band in the middle, a popular ornament that is rendered in the same manner in Messene on the decoration of the mouth of pithoi. Last, the Hellenistic period is a period of heyday for the city of Messene and of major public works, which justifies also the presence of products of advanced technology.

PART B. GULF OF MESSENIA I. GEOMORPHOLOGY – HISTORY 1. The physical environment 1.1. The position of Koroni and the wider area The Peloponnese forms three peninsulas in its south part. The westernmost peninsula belongs to the Prefecture of Messenia, identified with the district of Pylia and ends at Cape Akrita. The three main towns in this part are Pylos, Methoni and Koroni. Koroni is located at the entrance to the Gulf of Messenia, at a distance of 10 km. from Cape Akrita and 50 km. from the town of Kalamata, capital of the prefecture. It has a wonderful natural harbour, but no longer plays the important commercial role it had over the past five centuries (Pl. 123). Pylos and Methoni are situated on the west side of the peninsula and are lapped by the Ionian Sea. West of Koroni, on the road leading to Messini and Kalamata, at a distance of 4 to 10 km. respectively, are the villages of Charokopio, Petriades, Komboi and Vounaria, which are about 1,300 m. from the sea and were centres of vase-making for at least the last three hundred years. 1.2. Geomorphology In Messenia differences are observed in the terrain, the micro-climate, the soils, the water sources and the crops. However, none of these are a hindrance to exchanges of products and cultural osmosis. These differences favour the development of local autonomy. The geomorphology of the prefecture comprises mountains of mainly limestones and grey carbonaceous rocks, hills predominantly of flysch, plains of alluvial formations and coastal areas.721 721 Wright-Loy 1972, 40; Jones 1986, 216.

In general, Messenia consists of limestones, sandstones and schists. There are almost no metals in the region. Well-watered and with many springs, it is an ideal place for agriculture, which was also the case in the Classical period. Relevant studies have shown that in early historical times the inhabitants of Messenia exploited the local water sources and were involved in specialist cultivation. It emerges from studies of the prefecture that its geomorphology has not changed over the past 4,000 years.722 1.3. Flora and fauna The southwestern Peloponnese is a region of fertile soils and has a comparatively high percentage of cultivable land (Pl. 124). As today, in the past too agriculture was the cornerstone of the economy of Messenia, as related studies for the Late Bronze Age have demonstrated. Animal husbandry and fishing were secondary economic activities. According to statistical studies of the Greek State for 1960, the principal crops of Messenia were wheat, oats, maize, rice and barley, occupying 27.1% of the arable land. The second category in land use was olive cultivation, occupying 25% of the arable land.723 Messenia was in any case the premier producer of olive oil and edible olives in the Peloponnese (Pls. 125-126). Vegetables and fruits occupied 7.1% of the arable land, and cotton, pistachios, etc. 7.2%. The rest of the land in the prefecture was forests and pastures. The products exported from Messenia in recent centuries, and on which the local economy was based, were olive oil, olives, potatoes, tomatoes, melons, currants, citrons, wheat and sheep. In 1963 the population of the prefecture was 211,970 persons, within an area of 2,872 km.2, of which 147,564 (70%) was the rural population and occupied 1,276 km.2 of cultivable land (44% of the total). To this day, the mountainous areas of the prefecture are uninhabited. 2. History 2.1. Landmarks in the history of the area of Koroni Remnants of habitation from prehistoric times have been identified in the area of Koroni.724 From the Mycenaean tomb at Charokopio and other surface finds it is surmised that a notable settlement must have existed at Charokopio in the Mycenaean period.725 The onset of hostilities between Spartans and Messenians, in 743 BC, brought great unrest to the region.726 After the Third Messenian War (510-490 BC) Asine became part of the territory of Sparta, remaining so for several hundred years. Throughout the fifth century BC Pylos and Methone were operations bases serving the needs of Athenian defence, while Asine was basic operations base of the Spartans. In 369 BC ancient Korone was founded on the site of the present village of Petalidi, 25 km. to the south of the present town of Koroni, and the small city of Kolonides 722 723 724 725 726

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Wright-Loy 1972, 36-37; Van Wersch 1972, 179. Van Wersch 1972, 177-178. Lukermann 1972, 157. Hope-Simpson 1966, 125; Chadwick 1972, 100-116. Marantos 2000, 25-26; Papaxatzis 1991,157.

Mimika Giannopoulou

was founded near the present village of Vounaria and Agios Andreas, to which the sanctuary of Apollo Korythos at Longas was also subject.727 The Hellenistic and Roman periods were a time of prosperity for Messenia.728 In the fourth century AD Korone was an Episcopal See. During the fifth and sixth centuries AD there was movement of population from eastern Pylia to Asine and the inhabitants of Koroni settled in Asine, present town of Koroni, as a result of which the city changed its name again, from Asine to Koroni. It seems that by the ninth century AD the area was in a wretched state, due to Saracen raids.729 In 1204 Koroni was subjugated by the Franks and the town became the crossroad of the Mediterranean. It was pillaged by the Genoese in 1350, and from 1463 to 1479 was embroiled in the war against the Turks.730 In 1500 Koroni was taken by Bayazid II and many burghers left for Venice and the Ionian Islands. The Turks reconquered the region in 1534. Koroni was one of the four most important towns in the Morea. Its castle was one of the strongest fortifications in the Peloponnese and the mightiest in Messenia.731 In 1685, during Morosini’s campaign, the castle of Koroni was besieged and the city passed once more to Venetian rule. This ended finally in 1715, when the area and Koroni came under Ottoman sovereignty. Turkish troops retreated for good in 1830.732 2.2. The manmade environment in recent times Throughout the Byzantine Age, and particularly during the ninth and tenth centuries, Koroni was counted among the most important harbours of the Peloponnese and was a port of call for ships sailing from Western Europe, Constantinople and the Holy Land. The main products exported in this period were olive oil, wheat and wine733 (Pl. 124-126). In the thirteenth century the Venetians encouraged the replanting of olive trees and it is known from Venetian documents that in 1291 Koroni was a manufacturing centre. However, most important of all, during the first period of Venetian rule it was an entrepot port and centre of transit trade. Olive oil played a major role in trade in this period.734 In 1500, after the capture of the town by the Turks, the harbour continued to be as busy as ever, exporting olive oil, beeswax and wool.735 727 Papathanasopoulos-Papathanasopoulos 2000, 110. 728 Lazenby-Hope Simpson 1972, 96. 729 Papathanasopoulos–Papathanasopoulos 2000, 111; Marantos 2000, 31. 730 Nanetti 1999; Mompheratos 1914. 731 Bennet-Davis-Zarinebaf-Shahr 2000, 343-380; Marantos 2000, 41, 49-51; Papathanasopoulos –Papathanasopoulos 2000, 112-113, 115, Vakalopoulos 1974, 158, Papathanasopoulos 1963, 92-99. 732 Papathanasopoulos–Papathanasopoulos 2000, 111; Sfyroeras 1974, 142; Chasiotis 1974, 253-323. 733 Konti 2000, 40-41, 50. 734 Marantos 2000, 41-48; Papathanasopoulos – Papathanasopoulos 2001, 112; Lambropoulou-Panopoulou 2000, 59-87; Topping 1981, 33. 735 Papathanasopoulos-Papathanasopoulos 2000, 111; Vakalopoulos 1974, 158.

During the second period of Venetian rule Koroni was one of the administrative districts of the Morea, attracting new populations from the Ionian Islands and Crete. From the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth, the Peloponnese was primarily a currant-producing region and mercantile activity in the harbour of Koroni enjoyed its final heyday.736 Topping, from his study of Venetian documents, stresses that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a tremendous production of olive oil in Messenia737. Leake, who visited Koroni in the early nineteenth century, describes the great production of olive oil.738 In the same period, Chateubriand and Pouqueville also passed through Koroni on their travels, indeed the latter was struck by the ‘industrial’ development in the area and the fact that Koroni olives were exported all over the world.739 Documents of 1829740 refer to the trade and the customs house of Koroni, which continued to be one of the main harbours in the Peloponnese, while from relevant censuses741 it seems that in the mid-nineteenth century the population of the area was boosted in relation to the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century. During the nineteenth and until the mid-twentieth century, agriculture was the stable occupation of the area’s inhabitants, and currants and olives-olive oil were the staple products, although people were often involved in other trades too742 (Pl. 127). The commonest professionals were builders, potters, lantern-makers, basket-weavers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, woodcutters, tranters, saddlers, barbers, tailors and merchants. Many people were employed in trading caravans as muleteers, crisscrossing the region, as well as the rest of the Peloponnese, reaching even as far as Thessaly.743 3. Pottery 3.1. Vase-making activity in the region. Material remains Pottery production in Messenia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at least, was focused in the southern part and specifically in the area of Koroni. There were no pottery workshops in Koroni itself. These were located in the villages of Charokopio, Petriades, Komboi and Vounaria, which lay about 10 km. north of the town. The name Koronaian (Koronaiika), by which the handmade storage vases became famous throughout Greece, was due to the fact that nearby Koroni was the main port for the distribution and trade of the pottery produced. 736 Marantos 2000, 66; Velissariou 1991, 289-352; Belia 1978, 281288. 737 Topping 1981, 35. 738 Leake 1830, 435-138; Papathanasopoulos – Papathanasopoulos 2000, 116. 739 Pouqueville 1813, 198, 201. 740 Kremmydas 1987-1988, 231-237; Kremmydas 1972. 741 Panagoulias 1999, 384-438; Loukatos 1992, 16-19. 742 Van Wersch 1972, 177. Papathanasopoulos 2002, 105-144. 743 Chatziiosif 2002, 287-318; Pasagiotis 1997, 36; 48-49, Dokolas 1988, 81; Skouteropoulos 1969, 240-241; Pasagiotis 1995, 37-38; Blitzer 1990, 677-678.

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Not only did workshops making storage vases without using the wheel flourish, but also workshops making smaller vases on the kick-wheel and many workshops making rooftiles. The workshops producing wheel-made vases operated only in Vounaria and in none of the other villages. It is noteworthy that until 1940 Vounaria was the only place of pottery production recorded in the Prefecture of Messenia. During the 1940s, Siphnian vase-makers settled in Skala Messenias and in Kalamata. There is nothing unusual in the fact that workshops producing handmade storage vases existed only in the area of Koroni and that these supplied the entire prefecture. In Cyprus pitharia were made in just one place, Phoini, and in Crete likewise, at Thrapsano. Of course, in all these places the pitharades were itinerant, travelling to other areas in order to make pitharia there (see chapter 3,II.4) The villages of Charokopio, Aidini, Katiniades, Petriades and Vounaria are mentioned by these names from as early as 1700. Leake, in his account of his travels in the Morea, notes that the roads in the area of Koroni were particularly narrow and caused problems for the transport of vases, which were distributed mainly from the coastal areas.744 Pouqueville refers briefly to the vase-making activity in Vounaria and the unglazed earthenware pitchers that kept the water cold. He refers too to the export of wine from Methoni to Venice in vases, but does not specify the kind of vases, as well as to the storage of must in vases.745 The earliest reference to the large storage vases in the area is in the article by an Athenian columnist in the newspaper Aion, of 13 November 1838, which states the following: ‘In no other part of Greece are so many, durable and large pitharia made. They are exported to various parts of Greece and abroad. Four thousand items, small and large, are made, and they render a profit of 15,000 drachmas annually to the Municipality of Kollonidai. In addition, many Koronaian pithos-makers and potters travel periodically to other place, practising their profession, and from this the municipality had further profit. Furthermore, the local ships and muleteers benefit from this industry.’ The earliest epigraphic testimony is the date 1878, inscribed on a tzara in the collection of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery (Pl. 128). In 1892 Phillippson described the Neogene formations in the area of Vounaria-Kastellia-Koroni and noted that in Vounaria soap from olive oil was produced, and that storage vases and pitchers were made from the Neogene clays.746 In the matriculation certificate of a pupil from Charokopio, from the Grammar School of Koroni for the academic year 1894-1895, the occupation of the boy’s father is recorded as vase-maker (Pl. 129). Testimony of a schoolteacher who served in the area in 1912 mentions that the inhabitants of Charokopio were involved, in addition to agricultural works, with making clay vessels and excellent pitharia.747 By the early twentieth century these workshops had already ceased to produce storage vases of capacity greater

than 500 kilos, while the typology of the objects made had changed significantly. In July 1960, Hampe visited the area for a few days, studying the workshops producing wheel-made vases in Vounaria and the workshops producing storage vases in Petriades and Komboi. In his work on the pottery of Messenia he gives a brief description of the making procedure and comments that vase-making in the Gulf of Messenia was in a phase of decline.748 In July 1963, Matson toured the area, staying in the villages of Koroni for a short period and studying the making procedures, the raw materials, the workshops and the kilns. He maintains that despite the dearth of information on vase-making activity prior to the nineteenth century, in travellers’ texts, his surface surveys in the area indicate that this activity should be dated to earlier periods. In the 1930s Vounaria is reported as having 700 inhabitants, 40 of whom were potters producing wheel-made vases.749 In the 1980s, Blitzer, in her research on vase-making activity in the area, focused on the mode and the places of trade in pottery produced in the local workshops.750 In my own fieldwork throughout the Prefecture of Messenia, in the Peloponnese and in islands of the East Aegean, I have recorded many pitharia of capacity up to 800 kilos, which date from the nineteenth century or earlier (Pl. 130). During the twentieth century the usual kind of storage vases traded were the tzares of ovoid form and capacity of between 100 and 150 kilos. So, one of the questions of research was where were the large pitharia, of capacity over 400 kilos made, production of which ceased from the early twentieth century. The majority of informants did not know the answer to this question, as these vases had been etched in their consciousness as ‘ancient’. Nevertheless, three old people were found, two in Vounaria and one in Charokopio, who gave the same information in reply to this question. Nikolaos Tsikinis, today 93 years old, a former maker of tzares, remembered not only where but also how the pitharia of large size were made. His grandfather, who died in 1917, and his father made pitharia of up to 750 kilos capacity in Vounaria. Tsikinis speaks of four or five workshops making pitharia in Vounaria prior to 1900, in which period the price of a large pithari was 5 drachmas. He mentions that the kiln in which these vases were fired was larger than the rest and that it could hold five to ten pitharia. The diameter of the entrance to the kiln was 1.20 m. He recalls characteristically that in order to move the pitharia they were bound with hair ropes and planks were fixed to their side. It took four men to carry one large pithari, while when they wanted to transport it to the beach in order to load it on a caique, it was rolled by two men, one in front and one behind. Tsikinis was the last person to make tzares in Vounaria, in the 1920s. According to Blitzer’s research, up until 1930 there were five pitharia-makers (pitharades), 15 pitcher-makers (stamnades) and three tile-makers in Vounaria, 10

744 745 746 747

748 Hampe-Winter 1962, 47-54. 749 Matson 1972, 213-223; Psaropoulou 1987-88, 91-96. 750 Blitzer 1990, 675-711.

Topping 1972, 64-81; Leake 1830, 437. Pouqueville 1997, 173, Pouqueville 1813, 175, 207. Philippson 1892, 360-361; Matson 1972, 213. Pasagiotis 1997, 29; Skouteropoulos 1969, 240-241.

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pitharades in Charokopio, 15 pitharades in Komboi, and one tile-maker and 14 pitharades in Petriades.751 The present research recorded workshops, vase-makers and kilns for producing vases without using the wheel, from the early twentieth century into the 1940s. According to this record, in Petriades there were seven workshops with corresponding kilns, in Charokopio 12, in Komboi 11 and in Vounaria one.752 Of course, the potters were more numerous than the workshops and the kilns, given that in one workshop two pitharades may have worked together. In 1940, Charokopio and Petriades had a population of approximately 1,200 persons, of whom 30 were makers of tzares. In the same period Komboi had 300 inhabitants, of whom 15 were makers of tzares. Vase-making activity in the area, which began to dwindle in the 1930s, was rekindled for a short time during the German Occupation, when there were very few professional opportunities and barter trade was conducted on a wide scale for the last time. Most workshops stopped operating before 1940, while several closed in 1945. Essentially, the decline in vase-making activity in the region commenced in 1942. However, as inhabitants of the region remember, 1955 was the year that marked the beginning of the end for this activity, given that for the first time there was a large stock of unsold tzares. Their price was 120 drachmas a pair, but in that year they sold for even 60 drachmas a pair. In the 1960s the very few workshops still operating in the region closed down. In 1963, when Matson visited the region, and in 1966 Litsas, they found one workshop functioning at Komboi and one at Petriades753 (Pl. 131). In the same period, 10 workshops producing wheel-made vases operated at Vounaria, about one-third of those that operated during the First World War. The reasons for the decline and demise of vase-making activity in the Gulf of Messenia were mainly economic and social. The decline that began in the region from the 1940s was not unique in Greece, since in the same period many workshops closed in other vase-making centres, such as Nochia and Kentri in Crete, Rhodes, Lesbos, Siphnos and Thrace, as did individual workshops, in Andros, Syros and elsewhere. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of workshops in urban centres, such as Athens, Thessaloniki and Volos. In the region of the Gulf of Messenia, at Charokopio, Aidini, Komboi, Petriades, there remains of pottery kilns (mainly parts of the perforated floor of the kilns) still exist in fields and on hillslopes. Most times, the local people do not know to whom these kilns belonged or when they functioned (Pls. 132-133). Vases of all kinds can still be found in storerooms and courtyards of houses, old horsedriven olive oil presses and farms (Pl. 134). Sherds of all categories of storage vases, as well as of wheel-made vases, are scattered in fields, on the beaches of the region, in Koroni castle and in yard walls of houses and in deposits at Vounaria.754 751 752 753 754

Blitzer 1990, 678. Giannopoulou 1998b, 199-208. Matson 1972, 212; Litsas 1983, 249. Phanouriou 1986, 64-77.

Today there survive two half-ruined kilns at Vounaria, which belonged to a workshop producing wheel-made vases, one kiln at Petriades and two new kilns that were built in 1992 and 1993 respectively. In 1992-1993, Antonis Rembelos worked again, after 43 years, making tzares for the needs of the research project. 3.2

The profession of vase-maker

According to oral testimonies gathered in fieldwork all over Greece, learning the craft of vase-making was not confined only within a family circle. The know-how was not necessarily passed down from father to son, nor did vase-makers strive for their craft to be continued by their descendants. The profession of vase-maker in recent times, whether of wheel-made vases or of large storage vases made without using the wheel, was considered particularly difficult and onerous, without significant economic rewards, especially after the 1920s. According to oral testimonies, the profession of vase-maker was quite rewarding during the nineteenth century, good in the early twentieth century, but not sufficient for the upkeep of a family. The profession of pitharas-tzaras, was considered a good occupation in combination with agriculture. The same applied to the pitharades of Crete. The social and economic structures that had been imposed by the centuries of Ottoman rule created a series of serious problems in the formation of the Greek State, which were overcome with difficulty and brought political, economic and cultural instability throughout the nineteenth and in the first half of the twentieth century.755 Greece after 1830 was a rural region with sparse population and small urban centres, far from the echoes of the industrial revolution and badly destroyed in the War of Independence.756 The limited access to natural resources and the fragmentation of the markets in this period led to the thriving of itinerant professions, that is the seasonal migration of craftsmen in various sectors, such as builders, marble-carvers, whitewashers, coopers, icon-painters, comb-makers, metal-workers, etc. The increase in vase-making workshops in the late nineteenth century should not be combined only with the demand for pottery, which was no greater than before, but mainly with the quest, after the middle of the century, for new professional outlets, since agricultural tasks could not cover the subsistence needs of the majority of the population. In most cases, the landholding of a family sufficed for its needs and only in a few cases could it yield a surplus for trade. Although in the Gulf of Messenia the cultivation of the olive and the currant had been systematized in this same period, the means of processing the products were not modernized. For example, the crushing of the olive and the production of olive oil in horse-driven olive presses were extremely slow processes and with considerable losses. Involvement with making large storage vases without using the wheel, which was seasonal and did not presuppose permanent installation, was an option as a secondary occupation to boost the income. This was the case in 755 Bournova – Progoulakis 2002, 45. 756 Agriantoni 2002, 148.

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many parts of Greece, such as Crete and Siphnos.757 On the contrary, vase-makers producing wheel-made vases had permanent organized workshops that operated more months of the year because they had a larger volume of work, since the demand for everyday domestic vases was far greater than the demand for storage vases. The reason is obvious: pitharia, and storage vases in general, had a long life span because of the difficulty in moving them and their permanent placement in storage spaces. Household utilitarian vases, such as pitchers for water and wine, plates and bowls, on account of their frequent use and small size, were very easily broken and therefore had to be replaced. In the early twentieth century vase-making activity enjoyed a heyday in the area of Koroni and a large proportion of the population was involved in producing wheel-made vases and tiles. The commercial power of the Messenian vases continued to be great, although less than in the nineteenth century, at home and abroad. As a rule, learning the techniques of vase-making began at an early age and it was not certain that whoever desired to be involved with this craft would have, in the end, the necessary qualities. This was not a matter solely of correct teaching, but also of personal skill, given that vase-making is a craft whose basic tool is the human hands and their ability to model clay correctly. Therefore, it demands among other things some degree of natural talent. Those who did not succeed in becoming vase-makers became assistants to vase-makers and were involved with collecting the raw materials and firing the vases. They were the socalled atzamides. At no stage in the procedure of making storage vases did women participate, the opposite of the case in workshops producing wheel-made vases in Vounaria, where the women helped to glaze and to decorate the vases, and to stack them in the kiln. The volume and the size of the storage vases, and the absence of decoration, justify the exclusion of women from the production process. Also, Charokopio in particular was an urban centre in which women had an outstanding position and enjoyed particular respect, so that they were involved in work outside the home.758 The tasks in the workshops making storage vases without using the wheel commenced usually in April and ended in late October or early November, depending also on the weather conditions. The season of employment was exactly the same for the pitharades of Cyprus,759 as well as for those pitharades who were itinerant, especially after 1920, migrating from their homes to make storage vases in other regions. The workshops producing wheel-made vass in Vounaria began operating a little earlier and stopped later. All the informants agree that the life of the pitharades, especially prior to the Second World War, was one of great poverty. They repeat continuously that their diet was olive oil, bread and tomatoes, and this in the ‘good times’, as they say characteristically. 757 Spathari-Begliti 1992, 55-57, 193. 758 Pasagiotis 1997, 19-20. 759 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 52; London 2000, 103.

Before 1900 one pithari cost about 5 drachmas. The local daily wage at that time was about one drachma and one vika eikosara cost 20 lepta, one pithari of 300 kilos capacity sold for 10-15 drachmas, and one wooden barrel of 500 kilos capacity cost 50 drachmas.760 In 1910 the price of meat and of olive oil was up to 80 leptas per oka. The daily wage of an unspecialized labourer was 2 drachmas and 50 lepta, and of craftsmen (carpenters, builders, etc.) 5 drachmas.761 From the above data we conclude that the acquisition of a pithari represented a considerable monetary investment for a household and it was thus an object that was taken great care of and was difficult to replace (see chapter 2.II for ancient times). II. VASES MADE WITHOUT USING THE WHEEL IN MESSENIA IN RECENT TIMES 1. Storage vases The kinds of vases made without using a wheel in the workshops were: Pitharia: Vases ranging in capacity from 200 to about 1,000 kilos. They are very often called tzares. Vases of this type were made until the first decade of the twentieth century. They were not glazed (Pls. 135-138 and Figs. 32-33). The base was flat, the body globular without handles and without neck, and the rim was rolled, vertical outside and reinforced. Their dimensions ranged from 95 cm. to 1.30 m. in height, from 45 to 55 cm. in rim diameter and from 85 cm. to 1.28 m. in maximum diameter. They were intended for the storage mainly of olive oil, in houses, oil presses and soap factories. It was not uncommon to use them for storing wine, in which case the lid was sealed with clay. Pitharia were usually provided with a flat, circular clay lid, with strap handle, or with a wooden lid. The pitharia produced in the region of the Gulf of Messenia, in contrast to those made in the Cycladic islands, were never used for storing dry foodstuffs, because of the humidity that developed inside them.762 Very often pitharia were used for storing water, in which case they were placed below the waterspouts or gutters of the houses, to collect rainwater, which was kept pure by adding a little quicklime to it.763 Tzares: Storage vases that were the main kind traded during the twentieth century. The largest tzares were sometimes called also pitharia. A significant difference between the more recent tzares and those produced prior to the twentieth century is that the former were made of clay to which no temper had been added, except in very few cases. As a rule tzares were glazed, particularly those made after the 1920s (Pls. 139-141 and Fig. 34). Tzares dating from before the twentieth century and from 760 761 762 763

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its early years were of globular form and were not glazed. Those made in the workshops of the region after about 1920 were ovoid, with flat base, short neck and rolled reinforced rim. Very few have a rim of different type, usually everted. Their height ranges from 65 cm. to 1 m. the rim diameter from 30 to 45 cm., the maximum diameter from 55 to 95 cm. and the capacity from 100 to 250 okas (1 oka =1.27 kilos). The commonest capacity for tzares made after 1920 was 150-160 kilos. Tzares were used mainly for storing olive oil and water, as well as wine in some cases. Those intended for this last use had a special cylindrical spigot in the lower part, for affixing a tap.764 Bombakia: Small storage jars of ovoid form. They were always glazed inside (Pls. 142-143 and Fig. 35). Bombakia are a vase type encountered widely in the twentieth century and less so in early periods. According to Blitzer, it seems to have replaced the trichera pitharopoula (three-handled small pithari).765 They have a flat base, a rolled rim and were glazed inside. Their height ranges from 45 to 60 cm., the rim diameter is up to 25 cm. and the average maximum diameter is 35 cm. Their capacity is between 50 and 70 kilos. Bombakia were used for storing olive oil, olives, pickles and other foodstuffs. Limbes or limbakia:

2. Vases for other uses Pitharopoula: Vases with a hole at the bottom so that their contents could be emptied each time, without having to unload them from the pack animal (Pls 151-152 and Fig. 39). They are ovoid, with flat base, open rim and two handles, and were used for carrying water to the place where the clay was being prepared. Pitchers (stamnes): Globular vases with flat base, narrow neck and two handles, which were used for carrying water (Pl. 153 and Fig. 40). Fonts: In the course of fieldwork, two fonts were identified. These are vases with flaring wall, flat base, wide mouth and rim of triangular cross-section. One font was found in the cemetery at Vounaria and has no applied hoops on the outside, and the other in northern Messenia, in the village of Chrysova, in a church dated to 1881. This second font has three small holes on the periphery of the rim, in which candles were placed. These vases were not glazed and, according to oral testimonies, they were a special commission (Pls. 154-156). Patitiria:

Vases of the same shape and size as the bombakia, with a slightly wider mouth and always glazed inside. The difference between limbes/limbakia and bombakia is that no applied hoops were placed on the outside during the making of them (Pls 144-146 and Figs. 36-37). They were basically used for storing cheese.

Only one such vase was located at Komboi, inside a house whose owner remembered its function and that vases of this kind were specially commissioned (Pl. 157). It is a special wide-mouthed vase with a horizontal modelled groove on the inside, for steadying planks, and a cylindrical spout in the lower body through which the must from the trampled grapes flowed into another vessel.

Pitharopoula or three-handled stamnes:

Beehives:

Storage vases of globular form –those dated before the twentieth century– or ovoid form, the later ones. On the earlier pitharopoula the applied hoops on the outside are more widely spaced than on those made during the twentieth century (Pls. 147-150 and Fig. 38). The important differences between pitharopoula and other storage vases of small dimensions are the narrower rim and the handles, two or often three, set around the base of the neck. Pitharopoula were more widely diffused in the nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth century. The pitharopoulo was the only vase type that was always glazed inside. The dimensions and capacity are the same as those of bombakia and limbakia, while they also have a flat base and a rolled rim reinforced outside. They were used usually from storing salted foodstuffs. A variation of this vase was the three-handled stamna, which has an even narrower mouth, so that its shape resembles that of the pitcher (Pls. 147, 149). Otherwise, it has the same features but was intended for storing water.

Cylindrical vases with applied hoops on the outside. From corresponding vases of the same type in other parts of Greece, it is deduced that they must have been used as beehives. These particular vases were no longer in use in the twentieth century. Two were found in a house at Vounaria (Pl. 158).

764 Blitzer 1990, 686; Pasagiotis 1997, 38; Giannopoulou (forthcoming)c. 765 Blitzer 1990, 684-685.

Troughs: Open vases of ellipsoidal or ovoid form, used for washing clothes or feeding livestock. They were made mainly during the twentieth century (Pl. 159, Fig. 41). Mortars: Cylindrical vases of small dimensions, used for pounding/ pulverizing foodstuffs. It should be noted that secondary uses for tzares have also been recorded. When, for some reason, these vases no longer covered the needs for which they were made, or were in some way faulty, they were cut in two and used either as plantpots or as containers for copper sulphate, which was sprinkled on the vines, or as feeding troughs for livestock (Pls. 160-161). Tzares with pointed bases, as

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well as the bottom half of cut tzares with a hole in the base, were used as funnels in the large pitharia in the oilpressing installations. One such case was recorded in the old horse-driven oil press at Charokopio (Pl. 162). There is no reference to the use of such vases during the twentieth century. Sherds of tzares were frequently set on the top of yard walls, on roofs and used as fillers in makeshift walls (Pl. 163). From oral testimonies and other records, there is reference also to the making of a brazier, but this was not found during my research. Small storage vases with a hole drilled in the base were placed upside down on graves as a protective cover over the lamp or the candle.766

5.

produced in the twentieth. Moreover, because of their globular form, they appear to be easier to set in a space than the twentieth-century vases, which because of their ovoid form seem to to be more fragile and less balanced for transporting. The vases produced in the twentieth century, because of their ovoid form and narrow base, which were formed thus so that they could be bound with rope to the saddle of the pack animal, could be transported easily over long distances. Also, the ovoid form meant that more vases could be stacked in the kiln more easily than was the case with bulkier globular vases, which meant that a larger output was possible.

3. Macroscopic observations Several differences, both in materials and in morphology, are observed in the storage vases made in the workshops in the region of the Gulf of Messenia during the nineteenth century. 1. The shape of the storage vases of small dimensions and the tzares changed in the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century all storage vases, large and small, were globular or roughly ovoid in form, whereas in the twentieth they are ovoid. 2. The placement of applied hoops on the outside of storage vases is much rarer in the nineteenth century, whereas in the twentieth century the entire external surface of storage vases is covered by applied hoops. I believe that the reason for this change is articulated with the change in the mixture of raw materials in the clay body, and this will be discussed below in the section on making storage vases. 3. In the nineteenth century, temper (lepidi) was used in the clay body for all vases. This practice stopped shortly after 1910. The change is obvious in macroscopic examination of the vases, since in the earlier ones the temper is visible on the surface in the form of grit particles, whereas in those made in the twentieth century the fabric is very fine-grained. It is confirmed also by comparative examination of thin-sections of samples from vases made in the nineteenth and in the twentieth century (see Appendix B.3). This change facilitated the vase-making process, since by dispensing with one material the time required for obtaining the raw materials was reduced, because the temper was extracted a longer distance from the workshop than the rest of the clays. Furthermore, it demanded special processing before it was mixed with these and had to be handled differently in the vase-making process. 4. In macroscopic examination, the vases produced in the nineteenth century give the impression that they are ‘stronger’ and more durable than those

III. TYPES OF WORKSHOPS AND TOOLS – EQUIPMENT 1. Workshop spaces 1.1 Types of workshops – Form of production Both the workshops producing large storage vases without using the wheel and those producing wheel-made vases in the area of the Gulf of Messenia belong to the type of organized nucleated workshops. These workshops met all the preconditions for their classification as specialized, as well as production centres, since they were supplying the entire Peloponnese, and indeed most of Greece, with storage vases for at least three hundred years and operated with the same intensive rate of production until the 1930s. The production not only of storage vases but also of vases for other uses was highly standardized, both in shapes and sizes, decoration and technology. Also, as noted above, in each village –Vounaria, Komboi, Petriades, Charokopio– there were at least ten active workshops, while a large percentage of the population was involved with vase-making, either directly as potters or indirectly as assistants. One other form of specialization in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia was specialization in making specific vases by different techniques. The potters who made small vases on the kick-wheel had their workshops elsewhere in Vounaria and used another technology for their production, whereas the potters who made large storage vases without using the wheel had their workshops in Petriades, Charokopio and Komboi, and these were organized on a different basis. One further serious factor that determined the form and character of the workshops was the fact that vase-making was not the permanent occupation of the craftsmen, who were also farmers, cultivating principally olive trees and vines for currants. Very few of the potters were an exception to this rule and they began their involvement with making storage vases much earlier than the rest. Vase-making was a seasonal trade, practised mainly during the summer months, as it was largely dictated by climatic conditions.

766 Pasagiotis 1997, 48.

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1.2

The role of vase-making and of climatic conditions in the form of the workshops and the season of their operation

The vase-making technique and the climatic conditions that this demands for a successful outcome determine to a considerable degree the form of operation of a workshop, as well as the suitable season for the production process.767 As has been said already, the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia did not produce vases only for domestic consumption or for the needs of the local communities, but were large workshops whose output covered an increased demand for storage vases throughout Greece and even in other countries. The large dimensions of the storage vases, in conjunction with the large numbers in which they were produced, demanded large quantities of raw materials (clays and fuel) and large spaces for making and storing. This ruled out the possibility of using the potters’ houses for these tasks. In the production of storage vases without using the wheel, the conditions of temperature and humidity in the environment both outside and inside the workshop played a decisive role. The technique of coil building, which was used for making large storage vases in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia, demands gradual and sufficient drying of the modelled part to which the new coil of damp clay will be bonded in order to model the new part. Given that this is a laborious technique, the heat and the warm wind speed up the drying of the damp clay, and therefore the entire vase-making procedure. Ideal conditions are dry weather, sunshine and heat, so that the vases dry gradually and evenly, and losses during firing are avoided.768 The months of May and August, and the first fortnight of September were considered the best time for making storage vases, because the northwest wind that then prevails in the region is considered ideal. The worst wind was the north, because it caused fast drying of the clay, with the resultant drying of the outside of the vases at a faster rate than the inside, with consequent hazards of cracking and imperfect bonding of the fresh clay coil to the unevenly dried previous part. Indeed, cracking due to the north wind (vorias, anc. Boreas) was called vorisma. A very hot wind, such as the southwest (called livas in the region), which blows sporadically in July, can have the same adverse effects and on those days the potters were on the alert. Excessive humidity, which is typical of the region in wintertime, creates totally unsuitable conditions for vasemaking, not only because it slows down the procedure dramatically but also because it prevents the damp clay from drying, particularly in large vases with thick wall, however much time is allowed for this stage. In my view, the effect of climatic conditions on the procedure of making storage vases is the most important reason for the seasonal operation of the workshops. This view is boosted by the fact that many workshops producing wheel-made vases operated also during the winter months, given that the preconditions and the technique of throwing 767 Arnold 1976, 96. 768 Arnold 1976, 97.

vases on the wheel (direct modelling of an object from one lump of clay, etc.) differ radically from those for making a vase without using the wheel. Obtaining the clays was also difficult in rainy weather, both in the stage of extracting clay from the water-logged ground and in the stage of preparing and processing the clay body, which too demanded warm weather for the drying and beating of the clays in outdoor spaces, given the large quantities involved. Gathering and drying the fuel for the kiln, as well as the firing of the vases in brick-built kilns in the open air, were impossible in damp and cold weather. Given these constraints, the seasonal operation of the workshops was inevitable. In Crete, Cyprus and Ainos, major productions centres of storage vases, the workshops likewise operated seasonally. In Crete this was because they were open-air, due to the use of tournettes and the fact that pitharades were habitually itinerant.769 In Cyprus770 and Ainos it was because the technique of making vases from successive strips of clay and the conditions conducive to this were the same as those in the Gulf of Messenia. 1.3

Spaces for vase-making

The making of vases without using the wheel did not require a permanent workshop space. The seasonal character of the work, which lasted from spring until autumn, contributed to this. Nonetheless, it was essential to find a space with controlled conditions of temperature and humidity, because the technique of coil building requires a shaded environment. A suitable space for vasemaking should have few openings, so as to avoid creating drafts. In other words, illumination and ventilation must be controlled and limited. It is characteristic that elderly potters recalled that those vases that were made close to the doors and the windows of the workshop were finished earlier than the rest. So, ideal spaces for the functioning of these workshops were storerooms (single-space rectangular buildings) or oil presses that were not operating in this season, together with their surrounding outdoor space (Pl. 164 and Figs. 42-43). These ensured plenty of space in which an average of 80 small and large storage vases could be made concurrently.771 The oil presses were leased for the whole vase-making season and the potters paid the rent in kind, that is in vases. The going rate in the 1930s was two tzares from each firing, that is, about 40 tzares. There were also cases of monetary payment, which after 1925 was of the order of 1,000 to 1,500 drachmas. Given that the particular villages in which storage vases were produced had no more than five oil presses in all, the use of storerooms as workshops was more common (Pl. 165). In the open space that usually surrounded these installations, all the tasks associated with processing the raw materials and processing the clay took place, while it was here too that the finished vases were set to dry. For these tasks, two flat spaces (piatses) were formed, one for processing and 769 Giannopoulou 1998a, 5-7; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 20-22; Vogiatzoglou 1972, 9-14. 770 London 2000,103. 771 Giannopoulou 1995, 12-18; Blitzer 1990, 685.

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preparing the clay, and one for the drying of the vases. In the interior of the workshop, usually in one corner, a bench (tezaki) was built of mudbricks and clay. About 2 m. long and 1.5 m. wide, this was the space in which the clay was stored and wedged. Next to the tezaki there was always a broken tzara (misotzara) permanently full of water, for wetting the clay, and the sponge the potter used when making the vase. 2. Kilns 2.1. Kinds of kilns The kilns, called kaminia in the region, were the permanent installations of these workshops and were always close to them. Not every workshop had its own kiln and many vasemakers rented the kiln of another workshop. The rent for each firing was two tzares. In general, kilns were buildings with a long lifespan. Very often in interviews with elderly vase-makers they referred to kilns used continuously by three generations of potters. Given that permanent workshop spaces did not exist, in order to build a kiln a suitable privately-owned plot had to be found and an additional monetary investment made, because the construction and the subsequent maintenance and repair of a kiln after successive uses represented a significant outlay in relation to the short season of vasemaking activity. I believe that the basic reason for the phenomenon of renting a kiln is the seasonal nature of producing large storage vases, since in the same area and under the same socio-economic conditions, every workshop producing wheel-made vases in Vournaria, which was a permanent installation, also had its own kiln. The renting of kilns has been recorded only in the twentieth century, during which period, although there was a proliferation of workshops making large storage vases and an intensification of production, a tendency to economize on raw materials and investment of labour is observed. This was for economic reasons, namely that the production of storage vases did not secure autarky for the vase-makers. As has been said already, the consequence of this was the reduction in the stages of the vase-making procedure, the decrease in the range of vase types and the simplification of the typology of the vases. In my opinion, the inability of some vase-makers to have their own kiln should be included in this more general framework. The kilns were cylindrical or conical buildings, with conical crowning and one large doorway at the front (Pls. 166-168, Fig. 42). The shape of the pottery kilns in the area of the Gulf of Messenia is unique in the whole of Greece. Hampe likens it to the ancient Corinthian kiln.772 The kilns comprise two parts: one underground in which the fuel is placed, the fire pit, and one above ground in which the vases are stacked, the firing chamber (in general for kilns see chapter 3.III). Rice, in her study of updraft kilns, gives as an example a kiln at Vounaria, while Lewis likens these kilns to those of the Early Mycenaean period at Berbati and of the Classical period at Pylos.773 772 Hampe – Winter 1962, 48. 773 Rice 1987, 127; Lewis 1983, 169-170.

The overall height of the kilns in the area ranges from 4 m. to 5 m. Inside the fire pit, the overall height of which was about 1 m., one central clay pillar was constructed, to which other smaller ones were joined in chiastic arrangement, which formed vaults, about 15, supporting the rest of the building. The entrance to the fire pit, the stokehole (chosi) was semicircular, up to 60 cm. high and about 1 m. wide (Fig. 42). The firing chamber in which the vases were stacked was 2-2.5 m. high and 60 cm. wide, with an internal diameter in the lower part of 3-3.5 m. The elliptical entrance to the chamber was about 1 m. wide and 1.45 m. high. The walls were about 3 cm. thick. The conical crowning, called koukoula (hood), was up to 1.5 m. high and at the apex there was a vent or blowhole (xethymastra), 15 cm. in diameter, through which the hot air was drawn upwards (Pl. 169). For the same reason, another two vents of the same diameter were opened on the periphery of the cone. The floor of the firing chamber was perforated by phanouria (Fig. 42), that is, rows of holes 10-15 cm. in diameter, near the walls, and by three other rows of holes 8 cm. in diameter, mean number 50-75, in the rest of the floor, through which the currents of hot air circulated.774 The floor was about 30 cm. thick. The kilns for firing large pitharia were of the same type, but of larger dimensions (4-5 m. in diameter), while the kilns for firing wheel-made vases at Vounaria were of slightly smaller dimensions. 2.2. Constructing kilns. Construction materials Wind direction and atmospheric humidity in the immediate environs of the kiln were decisive factors in choosing the site on which to build a kiln. For this reason several kilns, particularly in the workshops producing wheel-made vases at Vounaria, were built into hillsides or strengthening walls were constructed around them (Pl. 170). The kilns were built by the vase-makers themselves, with the assistance of a mason specialized in constructions of this type. The kilns of the workshops in the region of the Gulf of Messenia – like the houses of the region too – were built of mudbricks, since there is no suitable building stone hereabouts. The mudbricks, known locally as plithres, were of exactly the same type as those used in Antiquity (see chapter 3.III), they were made from the same materials and in the same kind of moulds (Pl. 171). Kilns were constructed in several phases, since each part of the kiln demanded special treatment, as, for example, the support of the floor, the construction of the floor, the formation of the inward slope above the midpoint, and so on. The mudbricks were of different size for each building phase, in other words, for each part of the kiln, and were accordingly made in rectangular and square wooden moulds of different sizes (Pl. 172). For the lower part of the kiln, up to about mid-height, double-width bricks (diploplinthoi) of approximate dimensions 40 x 50 cm. were used (Pls. 172-174). The height of the kiln up to midpoint was equal to two tzares placed one on top of the 774 See also Blitzer 1990, 695-696; Matson 1972, 217-218; Hampe – Winter 1962, figs 18, 20, 21; Phanouriou 1986, 29-32.

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other. From above this point the kiln sloped inwards, which was achieved by using smaller mudbricks and changing the building method. In this phase single bricks were used, of approximate dimensions 25 x 25 cm., and the mason had to corbel them gradually inwards(Pls 175-177). The most difficult part in constructing a kiln was the support for the floor. This was formed when the vaults and the cylindrical supporting pier were formed inside the fire pit. The vaults were built upon wooden templates, with bricks of dimensions 25 x 25 cm. First, the pier was built at about the centre of the pit, with bricks measuring 40 x 50 cm., placed one above the other (Pl. 178). Placed at the top of them was one small mudbrick, upon which rested in radial arrangement a row of other bricks (kleidia), which in their turn supported lower mudbricks, two on each. The construction was supported in the walls in niches. The joining of the mudbricks formed an arch, the apex of which was higher than the central pier. Other mudbricks were inserted in the intervening voids, in order to reinforce the frame. The entire surface of the frame was then coated with a thick layer of clay. As the craftsman was smearing the clay, he was opening simultaneously, with a wooden cylinder, the ventilation holes (phanouria) in random arrangement (Pl. 179). In the underground part of the kiln, the fire pit, a passage about 3 m. long was created, so that the vase-maker could feed the kiln with fuel from a safe distance while firing was in process, especially in the final stages, when the temperature was very high. The kilns were always coated outside and inside with pisé, a mixture of clay and straw, which functioned as insulating material (Pls. 180-181). The straw helped the clay to stick better to the building, while it burnt during firing (Pl. 182). Very often potsherds were built into the walls to strengthen them. The outside of some kilns was decorated with apotropaic figures and the sign of the cross. On a kiln at Petriades, Hampe saw an olive branch, which, he was told, had been put there ‘for good luck’.775 2.3. Capacity of the kilns Most kilns were of the same capacity, except those for firing pitharia, which held five or six pitharia of 500 kilos capacity and ten pitharia of 400-500 kilos capacity. (Since 40 to 50 pitharia were made in one month, this means that the kiln operated five to ten times a month.) The other kilns held 40 to 45 tzares of 150 kilos capacity and 50 storage vases of smaller dimensions. In general, the capacity of the kilns was no more than 100 vases, small and large. 3. Tools 3.1. Tools for extracting and preparing the clay The tools for extracting and processing the clay were limited to the absolutely essential ones. Picks and shovels were used to collect the clays (Pl. 183). The clays were then loaded in two wicker baskets/panniers (pouria), on either side of the pack animal (Pl. 193). The bottom of the baskets had been cut away and was held in place by rope, 775 Hampe – Winter 1962, 54.

so that it could be removed each time and the clay emptied without needing to unload the pouria from the pack animal (Pl. 194). Water was carried in vases specially made for this purpose, the pitharopoula, which had an ovoid body and a flat base, an open mouth and two handles. These vases had a hole in the bottom, from which the bung was removed each time so as to empty the water without needing to unload the pack animal. Such vases have not been found in any other vase-making workshop in Greece (Pl. 195). For breaking up the clay a beater or mallet (kopana) was used, a common tool for this task in almost all the workshops in Greece (its name in most places in ‘kopanos’ and in Cyprus koupani776). The kopana was made of hard olive wood and had a slant of 30-35° (Pl. 199). Some of the clay was sieved in wooden sieves (koskina) with iron mesh of various sizes (Pl. 184). The clays were mixed with water in pitharia that had been cut in two in the middle, the kouroupes (Pl. 185). Before the twentieth century, special vases of the same name and in the shape of a cut pithari were made for this purpose. A cylindrical wooden pole, the styliari, was used for stirring and turning the clay in the kouroupes. 3.2. Tools for vase-making Principal tool for making storage vases without using the wheel is the human hands. This is the only technique in which the clay is shaped by the hands of the vase-maker, who has absolute control of the material. The only tools used by the vase-makers in the workshops producing storage vases without using the wheel were a fine flat sponge for smoothing and wetting the surface, and for soaking up water from the raw clay on the bottom of the vase as it was being made, and a fine cloth, which was used for the final modelling and smoothing of the applied hoops on the outside surface of the vase as it was being made. In this case, the technique of vase-making, the shape and the manner of trimming the outside surface of the vase determined absolutely the potter’s toolkit. The addition of the applied hoops abolished the need for further processing of the outside surface of the vase and, consequently, the possible tools used for this task. The very slow and gradual modelling of the vase allowed the potter a greater degree of control over the form he wished to give it, making the use of corresponding tools redundant. Such tools, of wood and in a range of shapes and sizes, the ribs (glyphides), are known from the pitharades of Thrapsano in Crete.777 There, the technique dictates a different behaviour, since the potters made one pithari in very little time (one day), due to the use of the tournette, which speeded up the procedure. So, for smoothing and giving the desired slope to the wall, a different rib was required. When the vases were leather hard, a piece of sackcloth was used to remove dust from the surface or to smooth away any small protrusions. This procedure always took 776 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 52. 777 Psaropoulou 1987-88, 189, pl. 4.

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place because the surface of the objects had to be as clean as possible in order to ensure that the glaze would adhere well.

calcite, also prevails in the earths with flysch. Such earths are rich in coarse-grained materials. Clay from flysch earths consists of illite, chlorite, kaolinite and paragonite.783

3.3. Tools for decorating and glazing

1.2. Kinds of clays

Given that the storage vases were not decorated as a rule, and even in the few case where they were this decoration was austere, the tools for this task were minimal. In the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia an ordinary reed with a serrated end was used for impressed decoration, as were the vase-maker’s fingers. Vases were stamped with clay stamps, usually rectangular with a small clay handle. To prepare the glaze, the lead, when supplied in solid form, was pulverized in large stone mortars using large iron balls as pestles.778 The vases were glazed by spreading the glaze mixture on the surfaces, using a pear-shaped gourd cut horizontally, the phtiala or phiala, which resembled a very deep ladle.

The basic categories of clays used in the vase-making workshops in the region of the Gulf of Messenia are lightcoloured, off-white/buff, since, as discussed above in the geological commentary, there is an abundance of such clays from the Pliocene. Moreover, these clays are easily accessible, especially in areas where there were workshops and red soils (Pls. 187-189). Buff clays were the basic ones used for making storage vases.784 However, red soil was also essential and was available in coastal areas (Pl. 188). When asked why they used red soil too, the vase-makers replied ‘to stiffen the clay, to bind well’. In the region, the raw material was called pilos (clay), choma (soil/earth), laspi (mud), glina and rarely argilos (clay). For the pitharia made during the nineteenth century and until about 1925, one more argillaceous material was collected, which was mixed with the clay as temper. This material was called ‘lepida’ and was obtained from areas much further away from the rest of the clay sources (Pls. 191-192). Lepida is a dark loose formation with quartz, micropsammitic materials and siltstone, which acquires slight plasticity on contact with water.785 The mixing two different clays for the clay body used in making storage vases is not unique to the region of the Gulf of Messenia (see chapter 3, IV.1,2). In the course of research in the region, samples were taken of the two basic clays and the temper that was added to the clay mixture for making large storage vases, from three different extraction sites in the area of Koroni. From these sites, which were pointed out to us by an elderly vase-maker, clay was taken for making storage vases. Light-coloured clays, from which the basic clay body was prepared, were extracted from Charokopio, Agios Vasileios at Komboi and Prophitis Ilias at Vounaria. Red clay was collected from Gargarou at Charokopio and Peroulia at Vounaria. Temper (lepida), was collected from Aidini near Charokopio (Pls. 191-192). Two samples of these clays were submitted for petrographic and mineralogical analysis (XRD): one sample of the light-coloured clay (Munsell 2.5Y, 7/3, sample GK 3818) and one of the brownish red clay (Munsell 7.5 YR, 5/6, sample KO 3819 (see Appendix A). The light-coloured clays are exceptionally fine-grained and become very plastic on contact with water. Whitish clay turns to yellowish red at temperatures of 700°C and 800-900°C. The red clays are sandier and are much less plastic on contact with water. The wide use of metamorphosed siltstone as temper has been identified in sherds of later historical periods from all over Messenia.786 Macroscopic observations of clays and the petrographic analyses of thin-sections are absolutely

3.4. Tools for firing The kiln was supplied with fuel, which was pushed through the stokehole into the firepit using a special tool, the dichouli, which was essentially a two-pronged iron fork affixed to a long wooden shaft. The fire was riddled using another iron tool, T-shaped with long shaft, the gelberi. The gelberi or a shovel was used to remove the embers from the firepit, as soon as the firing process was completed (Pl. 186). IV. RAW MATERIAL 1. Extracting clays and techniques of preparing the clay body 1.1. Clay deposits. Commentary The clay deposits in the Prefecture of Messenia are characteristically of light-coloured alluvial clays, frequently calcareous, located in lowland and coastal areas.779 As Matson has remarked, the clays of Messenia derive from the disintegration of limestones.780 Most of the clays are pale yellow or pale red. The categories of light-coloured clays, which are also the finest grained, are identified in prehistoric sherds from western Messenia and come from plains in the region. The clays of reddish shades are identified in coarse ware from the more mountainous parts of the region.781 The red clays are red soils resulting from the disintegration of various rocks and, in contrast to the red earth (terra rossa), cover large areas.782 In general, in red clay the silt fraction dominates, with a large percentage of sand in the form of feldspars and quartz grains. The silt fraction, fraction of sand with quartz and 778 Pasagiotis 1997, 43. 779 Gossens – Brackman – Louis 1990, 43-50; Yassoglou – Nobeli 1972. 780 Matson 1972, 201. 781 Jones 1986, 216, 859. 782 For analytical geological commentary on the area of Komboi see Koutsouveli 1987, 46, pl.14a.

783 784 785 786

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consistent with the characteristics of the argillaceous deposits presented (see Appendix B). In the majority of clay samples from various sites in the region, the same mineralogical constitution as in Matson’s analysis was observed.787 It is obvious from the mineralogical constitution of the clays that the lightcoloured clay was unsuitable for using alone to make large storage vases without the wheel, because of the high calcite content and the great plasticity of its texture after mixing with water (see chapter 3, IV.1.2). The red clay balanced the mixture of the clay body, as it contains very little calcite and high proportion of quartz, which is desirable for making storage vases without using the wheel. 1.3. Extraction sites of clays The sites from which clays were extracted were no more than 3 km. away from the workshop spaces, a one- or two-hour ride on a pack animal.788 A potter paid as rent for collecting clay from a privately owned landholding two tzares from each firing. The basic clay was taken from the locations of Kortzoglis, Merkouris, 1 km. outside Charokopio, and Agios Nikolaos at Petriades. The best and cleanest clay (that is, with the least inclusions) came from Vounaria, where there was a tunnel in the slopes of Prophitis Ilias hill. Red clay was obtained from Gargarou, a locality of Charokopio very close to the seashore. Lepidi was obtained from the localities of Aidini, Livadaki and Sklaviko, from hills west of Koroni, which lay about 8 km. from the workshops. After the Second World War, the clay deposits at the sites which had been exploited by vase-makers for years had been worked out and clay had to be brought from elsewhere. About two-thirds of the total amount required was obtained from sites near the town of Messini, 40 km. distant from the area of the workshops. 1.4. Extracting, selecting and transporting clays. Carrying water Very often tunnels were opened in hillsides, the so-called grottes, for extracting the clay. When a grotta pentrated to great depth and length, it was shored up by wooden props. The extraction of clays and their transportation to the workshop were tasks of the vase-maker’s assistants, the atzamides, whom he had taught to recognize the suitable clays (Pls. 190, 193, 196). The suitability of a clay was tested by placing a sample in the palm of the hand and mixing it with saliva, to confirm the plasticity and the purity from grit and conspicuous inclusions (Pl. 190). In the twentieth century, the suitable clay for making tzares and smaller storage vases had to be very plastic, to be ‘sticky’, in which case it was called glina or xygi. The clays were transported on pack animals, loaded with the pouria (Pls. 194-195). The making of six large pitharia or 50 tzares of 150 kilos capacity, demanded 36 trips to and

787 Matson 1972, 215. 788 Jones 1986, 872.

from the clay extraction site.789 Transporting clays in this way on pack animals is common in almost all the kinds of pottery workshops that operated in Greece.790 Each pouri held 50-60 kilos of clay, sufficient to make two tzares of 150 kilos capacity.791 In order to stack a kiln for firing, with 40-45 tzares and 35 smaller vases, 55 trips had to be made to and from the clay extraction site. Thus, it is only natural that the vase-makers, because of the large quantities of clay needed and and the primitive means of transport at their disposal, exploited to the extreme the nearby clay sources. Water was also carried by the atzamides on the pack animals, which were loaded with special vases for this task, the pitharopoula (Pls. 197-199). There were several fountains in all the villages at relatively close distance from the workshops. There was a fountain 1 km. outside the village of Komboi and likewise of Charokopio. 1.5. Processing the clays When the clays had been transported to the workshops they were spread out on a specially arranged level space, the piatsa, and left to dry for a short time. This procedure was speeded up by the atzamis walking between the heaps of clay earth and opening channels (Pl. 195). The clay was then beaten with the kopana (Pl. 200) and again left to dry well. It was then sieved to produce a fine powder, the bouchos, which was essential in the further mixing of the clays with water (Pl.201) This procedure was significantly different at Thrapsano, where the clay was trampled and kneaded most assiduously.792 In this procedure too, there are parallels between the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia and the procession of the clays at Phoini in Cyprus.793 1.6. Mixing clays – Preparing the clay In the workshops operating in the region during the nineteenth century and until around the middle of the twentieth, there were some minor differences in the procedure of preparing the clay body. The clay intended for making pitharia was placed in a kouroupa full of water (Pl. 202). The light-coloured clay was put in first. Not all vase-makers used the same ratio of the two clays. This was determined by the site of provenance of the clays because although clays were in their general characteristics the same, the depth and the exact spot of the extraction of a material determined also its exact properties and its possible differentiations from that from other sites. The purity of light-coloured clays, for example, was not the same everywhere, nor correspondingly the quality of the red clays. 789 Blitzer 1990, 680. 790 Giannopoulou 2001b, 371-378; Giannopoulou – Demesticha 1998, 46-51; Spathari-Begliti 1992; 120-126, Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 76. 791 Spathari mentions the same quantity of clay as needed to make on large pithari on the wheel, Spathari-Begliti 1992, 149 and Vogiatzoglou for making one Cretan pithari of 200 kilos capacity Vogiatzoglou 1972, 20. 792 Giannopoulou 1998a, 6-7; Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 76-81; Vogiatzoglou 1972, 19-22. 793 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 52.

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So, the general rule that all vase-makers observed was that the basic clays were the light-coloured, fine-grained clays, while the red clays were secondary yet nonetheless essential for reducing the excessive plasticity of the first. In general, red clays were mixed in a proportion of 10%. One other common ratio was two-thirds basic lightcoloured clay and one-third red clay. Regardless of the proportions in which the mixture was prepared, the result was the same, as demonstrated by microscopic examination of thin-sections of samples from Petriades and Vounaria, which have the same mineralogical constitution.794 In order for the clay to set, carefully-sieved clay (bouchos) was added. The mixing, or the dissolving (liosimo) and the stirring of the materials in the kouroupa lasted about two hours (Pls. 202-203). Very often the clay soaking in the kouroupa was transferred in tin cans and poured over a second kouroupa, which existed in several workshops. When the clay had been mixed very thoroughly, the temper (lepidochoma) was added. The ratio of clay to temper was 9 parts to 1 respectively.795 (Extra temper was added during the making of the base of the vases.) A few hours later, bouchos was sprinkled on the ground and the clay body was emptied in a pile and kneaded or pommelled by hand, by cutting clay from the sides and placing it on top (Pl.203). These movements were repeated many times over the whole pile of clay. The workshops in the Gulf of Messenia were the only ones in Greece where the clay was not pommelled by treading underfoot. In workshops producing wheel-made vases in general, including those in this particular region (Vounaria), the clay was pommelled by treading underfoot. According to Blitzer, the absence of this method for processing the clay for storage vases made without using the wheel is explained by the texture of the clay body, which is very soft and plastic, and does not require careful homogenization. The kneaded clay was laid on sacking and left to dry for a short while in the sun, so that some of the water content evaporated. Blitzer reports that the desired ratio of water to clay was one-third to two-thirds respectively.796 The dried clay was then moved to the shady indoor space of the workshop, where it was stored in a pithari or a large tin can, to keep it moist. Before each stage in the making of a vase, the clay was wedged and all foreign bodies were removed scholastically. The careful wedging of the lump of lay on the tezaki was very important, because all air contained in the clay particles had to be expelled and the moisture content of the clay evenly distributed, otherwise damage would occur during the making and the drying of the vases. Very often, in the course of making a vase, dung (gavalo) was added to the clay used for making the applied external hoops, in order to harden it and to increase the resilience of the ‘hoops’, which, as relief features, were more vulnerable to damage during transportation.

794 Matson 1972, 223. 795 Blitzer 1990, 682. 796 Blitzer 1990, 683.

V. MAKING VASES WITHOUT USING THE WHEEL 1. Stages of vase-making The description of the stages in vase-making, the dimensions and the time relate the modelling of a tzara of height 93 cm., with maximum diameter of rim 65 cm., diameter of base 25 cm. and capacity approximately 150 kilos. This size was selected because it was the commonest throughout the twentieth century. The technique of making the tzara belongs to the techniques of coil building, and specifically, on the basis of the classification of Rice and Sinopoli, to the technique of ring building, which is a subcategory of the technique of coil building.797 The vase-making procedure began in the afternoon, because in the morning of the same day the quantity of clay required for the first stages was prepared. (There was room on the tezaki for about 120 to 150 kilos of clay, which was sufficient for several days.) The first task performed before the vase-making procedure commenced was to mark out the workspace, that is, to calculate precisely the position that each vase would occupy and the distance that must be left between it and the rest. Given that many vases were made concurrently, 40-45 tzares of 150 kilos capacity and 30-40 storage vases of smaller size, the arrangement of the workspace was important, in order to ensure that the vase-maker had enough room to move round each vase. The vase-maker started this task by casting mounds of dry earth on the ground and measuring the distance between one mound and the next with the span of his open palm, so that parallel lines were formed, longitudinally and latitudinally, from 60 cm. to 1 m. apart, so forming a grid. The dry earth not only marked out of the workspace, but also, primarily, prevented the base of the vases from sticking directly to the floor of the workshop. The small vases were made in the interstices between, the ‘crossroads’ (stavromata) as they were called. The vase-maker’s first task was to wedge the quantity of clay to be used, on the tezaki, by cutting the piece of clay in the middle and patting it forcefully between his hands (Seq. 1-3). The mounds of earth were spread out and on each was thrown a mound of clay that was to form the base of the vase. This stage was called ‘flinging the bases’, because the clay was literally thrown from above, forming a small heap. (Seq.4-6). The vase-maker’s sole tools in all stages of making the vase were his hands and the flat sponge to keep the surface wet and smooth. When clay had been placed – flung – on all the outlines of the bases, the vase-maker went to each one and spread out the heap of clay by slapping it from above with his open palm, so forming the bottom of the vase. Then, with his right hand placed on the outside, he formed the wall of the bottom (Seq.6). When this task had been completed for all the bases, the modelling of the base of the vase began, with the placing of the first cylindrical roll/coil of clay (Seq. 7-10). Each cylindrical roll of clay, of about 6 cm. in diameter, was called a kollisi (coil) and 797 Rice 1987, 127; Sinopoli 1991, 66.

• 97 •

5

1 Seq. 1-2. Beating mud before modelling a coil. 1st day.

• 98 •

Seq. 6.

6

2

Forming the base.

Seq. 7.

7

3 Seq. 3.

Modelling a coil.

Wedging the clay body before modelling a coil.

Stages of the construction of a tzara. Komboi Messenia 1993.

Seq. 8.

8 Adding the first coil to the modelled base of a tzara.

4 Seq. 4-5. ‘Throwing the bases’.

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 99 •

Seq. 13.

13

Wetting the placed coil prior to drawing it out.

Seq. 9-10. Placing the first coil.

9

Seq. 14-16.

14

10

Drawing out the second coil.

15

Seq. 11.

11 Adding the second coil to the modelled base of a tzara. 2nd day.

16

Seq. 12.

12 Completing the joining of the second coil to the modelled base.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

17

21

Seq. 17-18. Wetting the walls before drawing the coil. 3d day.

22

18

19

23

Seq. 19-25. Drawing out and smoothing the second coil.

24

20

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 100 •

29

25

30

• 101 •

Modelled base left to dry.

Seq. 31-38. Smoothing the hoop.

31

Seq. 27.

Seq. 26.

Cleaning and smoothing the bottom with a sponge.

27

26

32

Seq. 28-30. Placing the first applied horizontal hoop (stefani). 3d day.

28

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

37

33

38

34

• 102 • Seq. 39-40. Modelled vases left to dry. Until the 6th coil. 5th day.

39

35

40

36

Mimika Giannopoulou

45

41 Seq. 41.

Wetting the wall of the vessel.

46

42 Seq. 42-48. Drawing up the 10th coil. 8th day.

47

43

48

44

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 103 •

53

Seq. 49-54. Smoothing the surface of the vessel.

49

54

50

• 104 • Seq. 56.

Seq. 55.

Removing stome from the clay.

56

52

55

51

Placing the 8th hoop.

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 105 •

Seq. 61-62. Wetting the coil.

61

Seq. 57-60. Placing the 11th coil. 9th day.

57

62

58

Seq. 63-64. Drawing up the 11th coil.

63

59

64

60

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

69

65 Seq. 65-72. Smoothing the 11th coil.

70

66

71

67

72

68

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 106 •

Seq. 78-79. Placing and smoothing the 10th hoop.

Seq. 77.

74

78

• 107 •

77

Modelled vessels left to dry.

73 Seq. 73-75. Drawing and smoothing the 11th coil.

79

75 Seq. 75-76. Placing the 10th hoop.

Seq. 80.

80

76

Half-way modelled vases left to dry.

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

86

Seq. 83-86. Drawing up the 15th coil. 12th day.

Seq. 81-82. Placing the 12th coil. 10th day.

85

82

81

• 108 • Seq. 87-88. Smoothing of the 15th coil.

87

83

88

84

Mimika Giannopoulou

93

Seq. 89-91. Smoothing of the 15th coil.

89

94

90

95

91

96

Seq. 92-96. Drawing up a coil.

92

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 109 •

101

Seq. 97-104. Drawing up a coil.

97

102

98

103

99

104

100

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 110 •

110 109

Seq. 105-112. Smoothing a coil.

105

106

111

107

112

108

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 111 •

117

Seq. 113-120. Smoothing a coil.

113

118

114

119

115

120

116

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 112 •

125

Seq. 121-126. Smoothing a coil.

121

126

122

• 113 • 128

124

Seq. 127-128. Placing a coil with the pressure exerted by the hand towards the inside of the vase. ‘Inverse’ coil. 18th day.

127

123

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

133

Seq. 129-136. Placing a coil with the pressure exerted by the hand towards the inside of the vase. ‘Inverse’ coil.

129

134

130

135

131

136

132

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 114 •

144 143 142 141

137

Seq. 137-14’. Smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

138

139

140

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 115 •

149

Seq. 145-150. Smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

145

150

146

• 116 • Seq. 151-152. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

151

147

152

148

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 117 •

Seq. 157-159. Smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

157

Seq. 153-156. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

153

158

154

159

155

Seq. 160. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

160

156

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

166

Seq. 162-166. Smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

Seq. 161. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

165

162

161

• 118 • 168 Seq. 168. Placing an ‘inverse’ coil.

Seq. 167. Testing the walls of the vessel.

164

167

163

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 119 •

Seq. 173-174. Wetting an ‘inverse’ coil.

173

Seq. 169-172. Placing an ‘inverse’ coil.

169

174

170

Seq. 175-176. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

175

171

176

172

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

181

Seq. 177-184. Drawing up and smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

177

182

178

183

179

184

180

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 120 •

192 191 190 189

Seq. 185-192. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

185

186

187

188

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 121 •

197

Seq. 193-197. Drawing up and smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

193

• 122 • 199 Seq. 199-200. Placing an ‘inverse’ coil.

Seq. 198. Placing a hoop.

195

198

194

200

196

Mimika Giannopoulou

205

Seq. 201-203. Placing an ‘inverse’ coil.

201

206

202

207

203

208

Seq. 204-208. Drawing up an ‘inverse’ coil.

204

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 123 •

• 124 •

Seq. 213-214. Placing an ‘inverse’ coil. 21th day.

213

Seq. 209-211. Smoothing an ‘inverse’ coil.

209

214

210

Seq. 215-216. Forming the coil in the neck of the vessel.

215

211

216

Seq. 212. Smoothing the hoop with a sponge.

212

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 125 •

Seq. 221-222. Smoothing the last hoop.

221

Seq. 217-220. Forming the neck.

217

222

218

Seq. 223-224. Placing of the last coil, the rim of the vessel. 27th day.

223

219

224

220

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

229

Seq. 225-229. Placing of the last coil, the rim of the vessel.

225

• 126 • Seq. 230-232.

230

226

Smoothing the rim.

231

227

232

228

Mimika Giannopoulou

• 127 •

Seq. 237. Vessels left to dry.

237

Seq. 233-236. Smoothing the rim of the vessel.

233

234

235

236

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

242

Seq. 238-244. Hand movements during smoothing a coil.

238

243

239

244

240

• 128 • Seq. 245-249. Repair actions and climate control.

245

241

Assorted movements and actions during the whole length of construction.

Mimika Giannopoulou

246

247

248

249

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 129 •

• 130 • 259

258

Seq. 250-295. Detailed sequence of events during the critical first stages of construction.

255

251

254

250

260

256

252

261

257

253

Mimika Giannopoulou

273 271 270

272

269 267

268 • 131 •

266

262

263

264

265

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

• 132 • 279

283

282

275

278

274

284

280

276

285

281

277

Mimika Giannopoulou

293 291

295 294

292 • 133 •

290

286

287

288

289

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

Mimika Giannopoulou

the entire procedure of placing it on the object was called kollima (coiling). The coil was two or three times thicker than the final thickness of the wall of the vase.798 (Seq.7) With his left hand placed on the inside of the vase being modelled, and the right hand holding the coil from outside, the vase-maker pressed gradually, with staccato movements on the edge of the bottom, so that the impressions of his hands were left on the clay of the coil (Seq. 9-12). Immediately afterwards, having wet the coil by squeezing water onto it from the sponge he always held in his left hand (Seq.13, 18), with the hands open and placed diagonally opposite, the left on the inside and the right on the outside of the vase, and moving always in a circle around the vase, he smoothed the coil, so forming the vertical wall of the base (Seq.14-26). After this task, he cleaned and smoothed the bottom with the sponge (Seq.26). The base was about 10 cm. high and 25-28 cm. in diameter. In all stages of making a vase and applying whatever movement was demanded, the vase-maker used his whole body, rotating around the vase (Seq. 250-295). Before the next coil could be added, the previous one had to dry sufficiently (Fig. 45 and Seq. 27). Supervision of the vases from here onwards was decisive, since the clay should neither dry out completely nor be very damp, so that the next coil bonded. The vase-makers aptly called this stage travigma (drawing off) and not stegnoma (drying). They paid special attention to the vases that were near doors and windows, which were opened and shut depending on the direction of the wind (Seq. 248-249). Very often, after each stage in the making process these vases were covered with cloths (Seq. 248) (London refers to the same practice for the pitharades of Cyprus799). As has been noted already, the time required for drying was determined always by the weather conditions, the orientation of the workshop and the humidity in the space. On average, the drying time between the bonding of two coils ranged from eight to ten hours. In the morning on the second day, the vase-maker added the second coil to all the vases being made in the same way. The tasks in this stage are wetting, bonding the coil, wetting, patting (Seq. 11-16), smoothing, cleaning the bottom with the sponge (Seq. 26) on all 40 vases. Wetting is important for the bonding of each new piece.800 The greater quantity of clay from the coil is directed to the outside of the wall, which means that each new coil overlaps by about one half the wall created by the previous coil. In the course of patting and smoothing, with the hands positioned diagonally opposite (Seq. 274-281), the vase-maker applies slight pressure to the wall to give it an outwards slope, while simultaneously drawing the clay of the wall slightly upwards, thus increasing the height of the wall (Seq. 262-273). In this stage the vase is of open shape with outward-sloping wall (Seq. 41). The time for adding and smoothing one coil, which increased the vase height by 1.5 cm., on all the vases being made, took between one and two hours, depending on 798 Rice 1987, 127; Sinopoli 1991, 66. 799 Giannopoulou 1995, 12-18; London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990,69. 800 Shepard 1985, 59.

the phase. As the vases became higher, the vase-maker’s movement around them became more difficult, as the space between them was significantly reduced. In this stage one movement that began after the third coil was not applied. This is called drawing up the coil and it was intended to make the wall thinner and higher. Drawing up also demanded a short interval of time for drying. This did not happen in this stage because the lower part of a large vase receives the weight of the rest of the body in the course of this slow and gradual ‘building’, and therefore had to be stronger, that is it had to have a thick wall. The third coil was added in the same way as the second, without drawing up of the clay. The new element after the addition of the third coil, its wetting and smoothing, was the placing of the first applied horizontal stephani (hoop), on the wall between the second and the third coil, which was already sufficientlydry (Fig. 45, Seq. 28-30). The hoop was not placed immediately after the smoothing of the coil, but after about two hours had elapsed for the drying of the wall (Seq. 27). The hoop was placed with a small strip of clay, which the vasemaker held in his right hand and pressed with staccato horizontal movements around the outside surface of the vase, while his left hand was placed simultaneously on the inside surface, for counter-balance, following the course of the right. The hoop looks like a zig-zag line of clay. After the placement of the hoop, the vase-maker wet the cloth with water from the sponge he held always in his left hand, and covered his right hand with the cloth. With his cloth-covered right hand and the left placed again on the inside, in a continuous movement this time the vasemaker smoothed the hoop. The placing and smoothing of all the hoops was a task that took less than one hour (Seq. 31-38). During these tasks, the vase-maker was mindful to remove from the clay any stones or undesirable inclusions that would cause problems during the drying and the firing of the vases (seq. 55, 245). The next coil was added in the same way as the previous coils, after 8-10 hours of drying had elapsed, and the vase was again left to dry for 8-12 hours (Fig. 46, Seq. 41-54). At this point the phase of drawing up the coil began, which considerably complicates the building process and the time demanded for drying. Drawing up began with the wetting of the wall of the vase, which had already dried considerably (seq. 41). In drawing up, the vase-maker’s right hand, with the index finger bent and the rest of the fingers slightly bent, was placed on the inside and the left hand, open, was placed on the outside for counter-support (Seq. 43-44). With the hands placed in this way, the vase-maker pressed the clay upwards and slightly outwards, in continuous circular movement in anticlockwise direction, leaving oblique ridges on the inside surface (Seq. 46-48). When drawing up was completed, which lasted about one hour, and the surface was wetted once again, the hands were placed diagonally opposite inside and outside, at once smoothing the surfaces of the vase (Seq. 49-53) and drawing them up slightly further (Seq. 54). Drawing

• 134 •

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up and smoothing increased the height of the vase being modelled by about 3 cm. Very often, and particularly in the succeeding stages in making the vase, the sponge was used also for smoothing the inside surface, while on the outside the right thumb touched the left thumb so that the vasemaker rested his hand exactly on the edge of the surface, removing from it protruding clay. With the hands placed in this way, during the circular movements the vase-maker made while smoothing, he gathered clay in his hands. After the bonding and drawing up of each coil, the height of the wall reached about 4.5 cm. The procedure of drawing up not only increased the height of the vase but also reduced the thickness of its wall. After about two hours had elapsed, a hoop was applied to the outside, in the way described above (Seq. 56). From here onwards, the hoops are placed on the lower part of the drawn-up coil, essentially on the surface of the previous coil, which was also the driest point at the bond between two coils (Seq. 75-79). At this stage, less time was required for drying, 5-8 hours, since the wall was now thinner and the clay had already dried once after the bonding of the coil and the interval for the drying of the coil (Seq. 57-72). The hoops were applied at the bonding of each coil up to and including the seventh, from which point it was possible to apply two hoops to each drawn-up coil, although this happened only two or three times during the vase-making process and at the level of the shoulder. In this case, one hoop was applied after smoothing the coil, and one after drawing up the coil (Seq. 78-79). The increased density of the hoops in about the middle of the vase is logical, since the most vulnerable area of large vases is the belly (Fig. 47-48, Seq. 80). When the vase had been modelled to about half of its final height and had reached its maximum diameter, the vase-maker’s task became more difficult, since the free space remaining between the vases, and in which he moved around them, was considerably reduced. At this stage the vase-maker had to be particularly careful in his movements and manipulations, in order to keep the balance in the form of the vase (Seq. 167). The same movements were repeated each day for about 90 vases: placing the coil (Seq. 81-82), wetting and smoothing, drying for 8-12 hours, drawing up (Seq. 8386) and drawing out the coil, and sometimes trimming of the coil (Seq. 99), wetting, smoothing (Seq. 105-126) the drawn-up coil (Seq. 87-104), drying for two hours, placing and smoothing the hoop, and drying again for 5-8 hours until the placing of the new coil. As a consequence of the need for the clay to dry before each stage in the making procedure, no more than two coils could be added in one day, even in the most favourable weather conditions. From the 10th to the 20th coil, the coil was drawn up by pressure exerted by the hands towards the inside of the vase (Seq. 127-136), because in these stages the wall of the vase slopes gradually inwards. As not all the vases dried at the same rate, because of the position of each vase in the workshop, the same tasks were not carried out on all the vases. The time given here for making a vase is the maximum, which means that some vases were finished earlier.

When the vases reached about half their height, after the placing of the 17th coil, the manner of placing the coils and drawing them up changed (Fig. 48, Seq. 137-150). This happened when the height of the vases had reached 55-60 cm. and their maximum diameter 60-65 cm. (Fig. 48-49, Seq. 137-144). As the coil was put in place, the vase-maker pressed the clay inside and outside with both his thumbs, bonding it to the surface of the previous coil, again in circular motion but this time with the hands in opposite direction and moving clockwise (Seq. 137). The coil, which from here onwards was called ‘inverse coil’, was smoothed in the same way as previously (Seq. 151166, 169-172). The drying time and the time required for applying the hoops were the same (Seq. 167). The coil was now drawn up with the bent fingers of the right hand placed on the outside of the vase and the left hand placed on the inside (Seq. 185-192). Pressure was now applied to the outside surface, where oblique ridges were created by the bent index finger of the right hand, which pressed the wall inwards (Seq. 191). From this stage onwards, the vase was given its maximum slope inwards, which demanded different manipulation and great care. For this reason, the procedure of drawing up took place twice, as a result of which the drawn-up coil in these stages was higher than in the previous ones (Seq. 193). Smoothing was carried out in parts. The lower part of the drawn-up coil was smoothed first and the upper part after, with the hands in the same position is in previous stages of drawing up (Seq. 194-196). This stage was particularly critical, because of the great height of the vase and of the new slope that had to be achieved progressively. Up to the height of 80-85 cm. the procedures of the ‘inverse coil’ and the new drawing up remained the same. From here onwards, and after the last hoop had been applied, the forming of the neck began (Seq. 198), which is a very delicate procedure. This is the point of the maximum slope inwards, while the thickness of the walls must be kept the same, about 12-14 mm. (Seq. 201-214). Moreover, the procedure of forming the neck (Seq. 215220) was particularly dangerous because if this were not strong and balanced it would collapse when the thickest of all the coils was added, that of the rim (Seq. 223-236). Consequently, the vase was completed with the placing of the ‘head’, that is, the rim, which was actually one coil of greater diameter than the rest. The diameter of the rim was up to 30 cm. It took 17-21 days to complete a tzara of 150 kilos capacity and up to 94 cm. high (Fig. 50, Seq. 237). London refers to the same stages, with only minor deviations, in making pitharia at Phoini on Cyprus801 (see chapter 3, IV.5.2.2). 2. Ways of rectifying flaws Whatever part of a vase was distorted after the modelling was supported with bricks (Seq. 255). Wherever there was a crack after the drying of a coil, usually at the bond between two coils, clay was added to cover it. The pitharades at 801 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69.

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Thrapsano in Crete did the same.802 In order to repair cracks that appeared during drying, they used a mixture of grog and animal fat. Rice also refers to the use of organic materials for rectifying flaws in the making procedure, as well as damage in firing.803 Before proceeding to individual remarks on the technology of making large storage vases by the technique of coil building, in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia, the vase-makers’ very good knowledge of the technique and its skilful handling should be pointed out. This is evident not only in the harmony and balance of the finished vases, but also by careful observation of the making procedure, during which a series of delicate manipulations in each stage is ascertained, which the vase-maker applied without second thought, being absolutely familiar with his material and confident of the results of each manipulation he made. In the course of making 90 storage vases, small and large, in the summer of 1993 in the Gulf of Messenia, there was not a single loss due to an error in the making procedure. All the estimates of the time need for the clay to dry were correct, all the manipulations and movements in the modelling procedure were accurate. And these from a vase-maker of advanced age and therefore less skilful and slower in his movements, who had not made tzares for at least 35 years. Indeed, the specific vase-maker was not one of the most renowned in the region, since oral testimonies name others as admired craftsmen. It seems that in the Gulf of Messenia the technique of making vases without using the wheel had been tried and tested over time and by the twentieth century many technical and practical issues had been resolved. The different placement of the hands in each stage, the different manipulations that were followed according to the height and the slope of the vase, the standardization of sizes and shapes, which presupposes precise calculations of the initial and the partial quantities of clay, are evidence of the very good management of the technique. In no other parts of Grece are large storage vases made by the same technique, which means, unfortunately, that there is no measure of comparison. The only storage vases which appear macroscopically to have been made by a similar technique are those made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the mastic-producing villages of Chios. However, in no cases do these display the perfection in form and execution of the vases from the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia (Pl. 45). The abolition of the use of temper, after the 1910s, which is linked directly with the decline in making large storage vases, in its turn the result of falling demand by the consumer public, also brought some changes in the procedure of making the vases. Among the first changes was the use of a more plastic clay body, that is the abolition of temper, whose main purpose was to prevent the sudden drying of the damp clay so that the modelled vase did not crack, especially when it was of large dimensions,

and to maintain the cohesion of the clay body, making it resilient to pressures. This was something the vase-makers knew and they had to find other ways of avoiding these undesirable consequences that would happen also in vases of smaller dimensions, although not on the same scale as in the making of pitharia. At the same time as the abolition of temper, a change is observed in the proportion of the two clays mixed to give the clay body. There is an increase in the proportion of red clay, which as coarser-grained and more ‘stable’ clay essentially plays the role of the temper, although not to the same degree. Also, as has been noted, a change is noted in the form of the storage vases, which from globular became ovoid, as well as in their morphological features, such as the number of applied horizontal hoops, which are far more on twentieth-century storage vases than on nineteenth-century ones, on which they are much further apart (Pl. 150). The abolition of making large storage vases, that is pitharia, with the consequent change of the mixture of the clay body and the prevailing of more plastic clays, affected the shape and the form of the vases as follows: 1. As noted in the description of the vase-making procedure, in order to place and bond a new coil, the clay of the previous one had to be sufficiently dry but not completely. In earlier times, this was controlled by the temper, which prevented sudden contraction and expansion of the clay body. Presumably it had been observed that the applied hoops provided additional reinforcement of the vase wall and internal moisture to the clay of the vase being modelled, which kept it in a stable state, preventing it from dehydrating before the addition of a new coil. So, the applied hoops play a basic role in the vase-making procedure and are not placed, as many researchers formerly believed, solely for aesthetic reasons or to protect the clay body. There is no doubt that the applied hoops are of importance in protecting the body of the vase during transportation, nevertheless many types of storage vases without applied external hoops exist. Furthermore, even in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia smaller storage vases without applied hoops were made, such as the limbakia. The need for adding applied hoops when making vases from more plastic clays arose when the vases were more than 50-60 cm. high. Thus, consequence of the use of plastic clays to make large storage jars was the increased density of applied hoops on the outside, which further supported the wall of the vase being made, keeping it damp and averting the physical tendencies of the clay body to collapse as the vase became higher and opened outwards. In other regions, such as Crete804 and Cyprus,805 the modelled parts of the vase were bound with rope in order to keep the clay in

802 Vallianos – Padouva 1986, 109. 803 Rice 1987, 127.

804 Vogiatzoglou 1972, 68-69. 805 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 69.

3. General remarks on the vase-making procedure

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2.

place, and applied relief rings were also added to the surface, especially at the point of bonding between two coils. Last, the hoops masked flaws in the making of a vase of large dimensions without using the wheel, since it was difficult to achieve absolute balance in shape and form. In general, plastic clay is unsuitable for making large vases of globular form, because it cannot resist the extreme pressures exerted, especially in the area of the belly. Vases of ovoid form are always more resilient and can withstand the pressures exerted during their making.

4. Techniques of decoration and thematic repertoire of decoration The decoration on the storage vases produced in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia, both in the nineteenth and the twentieth century, was austere and executed by simple means. In recent years the decoration of Cretan, Ainitan, Cyprio and Messenian storage vases, continuing a centuries-long decorative tradition, is characterized by austerity and repeated linear motifs. In the case of the Gulf of Messenia, one other reason for limiting the decoration to the neck zone was that in most groups of vases the body was covered with applied hoops. A common technique of decoration was impressed, achieved by pressing a reed with serrated end in the damp clay (Pls. 204, 209). Usually, three circles were impressed with the serrated end, in triangular arrangement. Wavy or straight relief bands with finger impressions and incisions are encountered only on the neck of pitharia dating from the nineteenth century.806 Quite popular and easy to execute was a kind of painted decoration in copper sulphate, prior to firing. A small sponge was dipped into the liquid and this dripped on the rim and neck of the vase, without creating a specific decorative motif. On some vases the year of making was written in copper sulphate. A very widespread technique of decoration on twentiethcentury vases, but rare on nineteenth-century ones, was stamped, which occurs on tzares, bombakia and limbes, but not on pitharia. The stamps were clay, rectangular or circular, and usually carried the name of the maker and the name of the village, and in rare cases the date of making (Pls. 205-209). The earliest known inscription of a date, 1878, is stamped on a tzara in the Collection of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery (Pl. 128). So, for example, stamped inscriptions such as ‘CharokopioChar. Kafkalas’, etc., are frequently encountered (Pl.209). Wooden stamps were used also by the pitharades of Cyprus, who often incised the date of making and the name of the maker or the owner of the pithari.807

806 Blitzer 1990, 685. 807 London – Egoumenidou – Karageorghis 1990, 70.

5. Glazing 5.1. Materials for glazing808 In general, glazing is the best way of limiting the porosity of the clay body.809 Among the commonest glazes, widely diffused from the Byzantine Age onwards, are lead glazes in which the proportion is 76% litharge, 20.5% silica and 3.5% argile trioxide.810 The raw material for preparing the glaze was litharge or minium, lead oxides, which are yellow or red in colour and were supplied by local merchants as powder in 50-kilo barrels. Litharge came from the Lavrion mines in Attica. Before 1930, litharge was not available as a powder but as metal, which the vase-makers describeds as ‘like gold’. It had to be pounded very carefully using a heavy stone as a pestle, in order to pulverize it into a powder (Pl. 212). A special local earth called pipini was mixed with the lead. Pipini was red and yellow, and was obtained from the locality of Memi, southwest of the town of Koroni, either from the ground surface or at shallow depth below it (Pls. 210-211). Matson collected samples of this material for laboratory analysis and in his brief description describes it as very fine-grained, becoming ‘floury’ in texture on contact with water. In microscopic analysis of wheelmade vases coated with red pipini, from Vournaria, quartz, grains of sandstone and feldspar were observed.811 In a sample of red pipini examined in the present research, tiny to crystalline quartz and chalcedony (SiO2), and abundant iron oxides and hydroxides, to which the material owes its colour, were identified among the constituents. Because glazed vases were fired directly (for reasons of economy), that is, they were fired once, pipini was the vitrifying element, while at the same time making the glaze harder and more durable, due to the feldspar content. Last, pipini also helped to reduce the abrupt thermal transformation of the glaze on the clay during firing. Red pipini when fired gives shades of red as the temperature increases, while yellow pipini gives pale shades. Glaze was applied to the inside surface of storage vases and to the outside of the rim, down to the level of the shoulder. 5.2. Preparing glaze The pipini was mixed with water several days priot to its use and care was taken to prevent contamination with foreign bodies. It was then strained carefully, to make sure there was no impurity that could cause problems during firing of the glaze, and then left to dry in the sun. It was then cut into slabs and stored in a shady place. The usual ratio in the mixture of the two constituents was 10 kilos of litharge and 4-5 kilos of pipini.812 Special attention was paid to its dilution in water, since the glaze should neither be too runny, because it would flake easily, or too viscous, because it woulr ‘blister’ during firing. 808 For analytical discussion of lead glazes and glazing see Giannopoulou 2002b, 201-215. 809 Rice 1987, 230. 810 Rhodes 1973, 75, 78-79; Rye 1981, 45. 811 Matson 1972, 216. 812 Matson 1972, 216.

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5.3 Glazing vases The storage vases produced in the Gulf of Messenia during the nineteenth century were not glazed, with the sole exception of the trichero pitharopoulo (three-handled small jar).813 Vases were glazed a few hours before they were stacked in the kiln. First the inside and the outside surface were wiped carefully to remove any dust or other particles. The glaze was applied to the leather-hard clay of the vases with the phtiales or phiales, specially lengthwise-cut gourds (Pl. 213). Glazing always began from the inside of the vases, the entire surface of which was coated with glaze applied with abrupt circular movements (Pl. 214). Next, two men turned the glazed vase upside down, so that it drained well (Pl. 215). Then, again with the phtiala and staccato movements, glaze was poured on the outside surface, down to the base of the neck (Pls. 216-217). The most viscous glaze was applied to the rim, which was the thickest part of the vase (Pls. 218-219). In the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia glazed storage vases were fired together with unglazed ones and only once (Pls. 220-222). This practice in the workshops producing storage vases was due not to ignorance of the need to fire glazed vases twice, but to other reasons: 1. The need to economize on the investment of time and labour, given that from the 1920s all the storage vases were glazed and twice the time and twice the fuel should be allotted to firing them. 2. As said before, labour was seasonal and the pace of production was therefore particularly intensive in order to meet the demand, which was concentrated only in the months in which vases were made. 3. Vase-making was not a profitable occupation, as all the living potters stress, especially after the 1930s, and it was probably not worthwhile making a further economic investment in the production process. 4. Glazing was not a traditional practice, since storage vases produced in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia were not glazed in the nineteenth century and so the procedure had not been established so as to become tradition. 6. Drying the vases. Carrying vases to the kiln After the vases were finished they had to remain inside the workshop for at least five or six days, until they were leather-hard, and then as long again outside (Pl. 204). It took 10 days for the larger pitharia to dry out inside the workshop and another 10 days in the open air.814 The vase-makers were well aware that the firing of the vases is connected directly with the stage of drying, and for this reason they paid great attention to it (see chapter 3, IV.7). 813 Blitzer 1990, 686. 814 Blitzer 1990, 685.

The vases were transported on pack animals to the area of the kiln, which, as noted already, was not always in proximity to the workshops. Two vases were loaded on each animal, one on either side, and were tied very carefully with hair ropes around the bottom and the neck, and secured to the saddle. This was a particularly critical procedure because the leather-hard vases were especially fragile. 7. Stacking the vases in the kiln The vases were stacked extremely carefully inside the kiln, in order to minimize damage during firing (see chapter 3, IV.8). It took two men to ‘embrace’ the tzares, holding them initially by the rim and the base (Pls. 223-225). They then rested them on the knee and turned them upside down, ‘hugging’ them tightly round the middle, each man holding the right wrist of the other. The vases were stacked rim downwards on the perforated floor of the kiln, upon setters (phtenades), that is, limestone slabs broken into small pieces (Pls. 226-228), which were converted to lime in the course of the firing process (the material left behind after these slabs were fired was used on the fields under cultivation). The largest vases were stacked in the first row, rim downwards and always placed between two holes in the floor. The setters should never cover the holes entirely. The rim of each vase rested on three phtenades. Pieces of refactory clay were placed between the tzares, so that they did not touch one another or the walls of the kiln. (Pls. 229-233). Glazed tzares were stacked in the second row, above the first ones (Pl. 234). The greater part of the rim of these rested on the setters that had been placed already on the bases of the previously stacked tzares and were supported on the wall of the kiln. Stacked upon the second row of tzares were the smaller storage vases, bombakia, limbakia and pitharopoula, with the base placed between the lower parts of the tzares in the second row. A kiln was never considered properly loaded if smaller vases were not stacked too, which essentially functioned as ‘wedges’ ensuring the better support of the larger vases and were called kavaloi’ (Pls. 229-230). With regard to this practice, the vase-makers of the Gulf of Messenia said that without the smaller vases ‘the kiln does not come together.’ Stacking the kiln took about four hours (Pls. 235-237). When it was completed, the doorway of the firing chamber was blocked with large mudbricks in the lower part and smaller ones in the upper, always leaving the archivolt free, in order to monitor the stages in firing (Pls. 238-242). After the doorway had been built, a cross was incised on the damp clay, the vase-makers made the sign of the cross over the kiln and stuck an olive branch on top of it. Given that the stage of firing is extremely critical for the successful outcome of the vase-makers’ efforts, it is only natural that they said a prayer and invoked the intervention of supreme powers for its success. It should be borne in mind too that for the vase-makers of old the firing

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process was a mysterious state, over which they had only partial control, in the absence of specific knowledge and pyrometers. 8. Firing 8.1. Kinds of fuel The thermal value of the fuel was particularly important and the choice of specific kinds must have been the result observation and experimentation over many years (chapter 3, IV.9). In all the workshops in the area of the Gulf of Messenia various bushes were preferred, such as lentisk, heathers and holm oak, sawdust, vine twigs and thing twigs of trees in general, while thick pieces of wood or logs were never used as fuel.815 Thin twigs burn quickly and generate long flames that are distributed better in the kiln. Lentisk and scrub/bushes in general were used in the first stage of firing, while thin twigs were used in the last. 8.2

Gathering the fuel

The fuel was gathered over long distances by the vasemaker’s assistants, known as klaritzides. It was transported by pack animals (Pls. 243-245). For the firing of a kiln holding 80 storage vases, large and small, an average of 30-40 loads of fuel were needed. Each load corresponded to 10 bundles of fuel, which means that about 350 bundles of fuel were required. The pack animal could be loaded with only one load each time, that is 10 bundles, each bundle weighing about 5 kilos, which means that each load weighed about 50 kilos. The overall quantity of fuel for firing a kiln was approximately 1,750 kilos. In order to collect this quantity, the pack animal had to make three or four trips a day. Usually two or three pack animals were recruited and the task was completed in four or five days. The fuel was transported to the environs of the kiln, where it was spread out in such a way as to dry sufficiently. Three to four days were allowed for the drying of the fuel prior to firing. 8.3. Stages in firing Firing was the final procedure in the production of all vases, and, of course, of storage vases made without using the wheel. Because this was a particularly critical procedure for the successful outcome of the vase-making process, various superstititions had developed around it. For example, no woman should approach the kiln whilst firing was in progress, while men, whether vase-makers or their assistants, should abstain from sexual intercourse before the firing of the vases. Windy days were avoided for operating the kiln. Firing always took place at night, for the following reasons: 1. The high daytime temperatures in the region during the season when the workshops were operating, in combination with the high temperatures that developed during firing, would cause considerable difficulties for this task. 2. It was easier to check the stages of firing at night, because the colour of the flame and smoke 815 Blitzer 1990, 69.

3.

issuing from the vents could be observed better in the dark. The vase-makers had no pyrometer for measuring the temperature, so flame and smoke were the indicators of the various stages in the firing procedure, which they had learnt to ‘read’, after long years of observations. Last, night was an unsuitable time for all the other tasks in vase-making or in the parallel agricultural activities of the potters, and thus the ideal time for the laborious and delicate procedure of firing.

The vase-makers themselves and one or two of their assistants took part in firing. One of them, at the beginning usually the vase-maker himself, stood in front of the stoke hole (chosi) of the fire pit and his assistants tossed fuel into the passage in this underground part of the kiln. At the beginning of firing, the fire was fed slowly so that the kiln warmed up and the remaining water in the structure of the clay body was expelled, a process that must take place gradually so as to avoid cracking of the vases. From observation of the firing of the vases made in the summer of 1993 it was ascertained that the vase-maker’s experience in calculating the temperature was very great, as was the knowledge of the behaviour of the vases in each stage of firing. Thus, vase-makers had observed that the vases were particularly vulnerable around 500-600°C, which is absolutely correct, since at about 500°C a clay vase is more fragile than when it is leather hard (see chapter 3, IV.10). From 600°C and above, feeding the fire with fuel was intensified, and care was taken that this was always gradual and uniform in three directions. The fuel was pushed into the firepit with the fork in three directions, right, left and middle, while concurrently they checked where combustion was not regular, in order to increase of decrease the feeding of fuel in that direction. The firing atmosphere was reducing and oxidizing (Pl. 246-249). Reduction, although not sought, was inevitable at the moments when a lot of wood was added and flames generated. When the flame died down and oxygen circulated in the form of atmospheric air, oxidizing combustion took place. That is why, ‘when the cheeks of the firing chamber turned white’, feeding the fire increased. In this phase the vases begin to turn red and the formation of the glaze, if there was an abrupt change in temperature this caused crazing of the glaze or its flaking, again because of change of the silica (Pl. 253). The oxidizing atmosphere in the firing process was recognized when the flame of the fire was white and smoke escaping from the vents in the kiln was white or grey. In a reducing phase the flame was bright red in the firing chamber and the issuing small was black (Pl. 247). In order to check the vases in various stages of firing, reeds were tossed into the firing chamber through the archivolt of the doorway, which flared up and so the vase-maker could get a better look at the glazed vases, which demanded a higher temperature. In the final stage of firing, thin twigs were fed into the fire, in order to maintain the temperature at about

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900 to 1050°C (Pls. 254-255). The same firing temperature has been recorded for storage vases at Thrapsano in Crete816 and Phoini in Cyprus.817 The firing process had been completed when clean white smoke issued from the vents in the upper part of the kiln, signifying that oxidation had been completed. For the clay bodies of these storage vases, oxidation was not completed at temperatures below 900°C (Pls. 256-257). Combustion was completed after 9-10 hours of continuous operation. From the trial refirings of sherd samples from pitharia of the area, it was ascertained that firing took place in oxidizing conditions and was of long duration, and that the temperatures reached in the kiln did not exceed 800900°C (see Appendix B). The timely stopping of feeding the kiln with fuel is decisive for the successful outcome of the firing process, because when the clay body exceeds its maturing point it melts and distorts. Mistakes in the firing process not only had a negative impact on the vases but also on the kiln itself. Both abrupt changes in temperature and continuous or not so carefully controlled combustion caused series mishaps, such as the distortion (volimoma) of the kiln, the subsidence of the floor of the firing chamber or the detachment of the coating from its walls. When glazed vases were also fired in the kiln, the final firing temperature was about 100°C. higher. Result of applying the glaze to unfired vases and firing them straight away was the poor adherence of glaze and clay fabric, a very frequent and obvious consequence of which was the flaking of the glaze (Pls. 220-222). Flaking of the glaze is very common in all categories of storage vases produced in the Gulf of Messenia, whereas it is most uncommon on the wheel-made vases from workshops in the area, for which the same glazing materials were used but the glazed vases were fired twice. 9.

Removing the vases from the kiln

When the firing process was completed, all the charcoal was removed from the fire pit. After this, the entrance to the pit was sealed with a door made of clay mixed with straw (Pls. 257-258). The archivolt of the doorway to the firing chamber, in which the vases were stacked, was built so that no air could enter and cause the vases to crack due to the sudden change in temperature. The kiln had to remain thus for at least 6-8 hours, so that it cooled gradually and to avoid damage to the vases due to the sudden change in temperature. When the kiln and its contents had cooled completely, the main doorway was demolished and the vases were removed carefully, starting from the top layers. The vases were then wet several times with water (see chapter 3, IV.11). Losses during the firing of storage vases ranged from 2 to 3%, that is, only a couple of tzares in each kiln load. Losses of pitharia were much smaller.818 In order to repair the lykoma, that is, the flaking of a piece 816 Vallianos - Padouva 1986, 115. 817 London-Egoumenidou-Karageorghis 1990, 64. 818 Blitzer 1990, 697.

of clay after firing, the vase-makers used a mixture of egg and grog. At Thrapsano, a mixture of flour and egg was used for the same purpose.819 VI. MIGRANT GROUPS The permanent seasonal workshops producing vases without using the wheel were not the only workshops operating in the region of the Gulf of Messenia. From at least the nineteenth century, the vase-makers of the region travelled also to other regions to make pitharia. For 1838 there is a relevant article of an Athenian newspaper columnist, who writes of the seasonal migration of makers of pitharia and makers of roof tiles from the region. The team comprised 3 to 12 men (usually 6-7), the assistants (atzamides) who were experienced in collecting the raw materials and firing the vases, and the master potter (mastoras) who made the vases. The mastoras formed the team and took care to select men he could trust and of proven ability. These teams of vase-makers were called tsourmata and were itinerant throughout almost the entire Peloponnese. Migration began in spring, usually mid-May, and lasted until early autumn, depending on weather conditions.820 The best-known installations of these itinerant teams were at Tarapsa, Elia (Fig. 51) and Levetsovo in Laconia, Phichtia and Lygourio at Argos, Kopanaki in Triphyllia, Krestaina in Ilia and Aigio in Achaia. These are all places in which there is still a strong presence of their products, and indeed of types that are now rare in the area of Koroni itself. These are also among the most productive olivegrowing regions in the Peloponnese, with a huge output of olive oil. Craftsmen from the region of the Gulf of Messenia had also travelled beyond the Peloponnese, and indeed outside Greece, in order to make pitharia. They are known to have gone to Apokorona in Crete, to Cyprus, Smyrna and the Lebanon.821 However, these were isolated cases. VII. TRADE - PRODUCTIVITY 1. Productivity In 1838, according to the data in the publication of an Athenian columnist, production was of the order of 4,000 vases, large and small. On the basis of the recorded number of workshops operating in the region from the early twentieth century to the 1960s, it is estimated that in various periods these reached thirty. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to define in which period they were operating concurrently. The only thing that can be documented is that the greatest number of workshops operated in the decade 1920-1930. It is calculated that each workshop made about eight firings in one vase-making season. Given the size of the kilns, which on average held 80-85 vases, large and small, it is calculated that each workshop produced some 6,4006,800 vases in each season. On the assumption that in the 819 Vallianos – Padouva 1987-88, 109 820 Psaropoulou 1988, 93. 821 Pasagiotis 1994, 12.

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1920s 20 of the 30 workshops that have been recorded on the basis of oral testimonies were operating concurrently, it is calculated that in one vase-making season the output reached 13,000 vases, large and small. 2. Trade of storage vases Blitzer, in her study of the production and trade of Koronian storage vases in the Aegean, notes that recent archaeological research on trade in the prehistoric Aegean, such as the excavation of the Kas shipwreck off the south coast of Anatolia, have concluded that large storage vases (pithoi) were transported by sea during the Bronze Age, together with other products, and were used as containers of cargo in maritime trade. Just as pithoi offer precious information on the nature of trade in the Bronze Age, so the extensive trade of large storage vases made in Koroni in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries document the dissemination of production and the commercial connections between the traditional Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean822 (Fig. 51, Pls. 259-260). Storage vases made in the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia were traded widely, together with other products, by ships and by overland caravans, the primary aim of which was to distribute Peloponnesian staples, such as olive oil, wool, silk, cheese, hides-leather, honey and so on. Widespread maritime trade of storage vases has been ascertained in Crete during the Middle and the Late Bronze Age.823 Blitzer considers the wide distribution of Koronian storage vases, as far as the Eastern Mediterranean in the mid-nineteenth and the twentieth century, as an excellent exemplar for understanding the mechanisms of trade in the Bronze Age. The pitharia and generally all the storage vases produced in the workshops of the Gulf of Messenia were exported all over Greece and to many countries beyond. As has been noted already, Koroni was a busy port and trading centre already in Byzantine times, and particularly during the First and the Second period of Venetian Rule, as well as throughout the eighteenth century with the presence of the French Army and of French merchants, who promoted their trade to the major European cities. On the other hand, the Peloponnese and Crete were the basic producers of olive oil in the Aegean in the latter years of the eighteenth century,824 trade in which product was very important for Greece as a whole. Thus, it was only natural that from a harbour as busy as that of Koroni, along with the rest of the products vases too were transported in the same directions, and from the nineteenth century at least there is clear evidence that they were transported by sea. In order to understand the largescale trade of Messenian vases to the rest of Greece, it should be borne in mind too that the pitharia-producing centres in Greece were, apart from the area of Koroni, Crete, which until the 1950s did not export storage vases outside the island, and Ainos in Thrace, which supplied primarily the islands of the East Aegean. In the rest of 822 Blitzer 1990, 675. 823 Day 1999, 63. 824 Blitzer 1990, 706.

Greece some workshops producing wheel-made vases, as in Siphnos, also made pitharia, but in limited number and of small capacity, which were not exported beyond the place of production. Last, pitharia from workshops in France and Italy, which are encounterd mainly in the Ionian Islands, were imported in limited number.825 It emerges from the above that during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at least, the Gulf of Messenia was the most important source of supply of storage vases for the whole of Greece. This has been documented by fieldwork almost all over Greece, where it has been noted that even in places where pitharia from Ainos or of local production or imported from other countries are encountered, such as in Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Corfu, Macedonia, Thessaly, Crete, the Cyclades, and so on, tzares or pitharia of Messenian provenance coexist in the same storerooms. To the factors that contributed to the diffusion of these objects should be added their great durability, which seems to have become known quickly in the places where they were promoted. Glazed tzares were also in high demand for storing olive oil and were purchased even in places where medium-size storage vases were produced, such as Siphnos. The wide trade of storage vases throughout the nineteenth century, now mainly conducted by Greek merchants, reflects the now autonomous craft-industrial production of vases and the new economic situation that was shaped by the trade in olive oil, the social and economic changes that took place in Greece during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also influenced vase-making. In the East Aegean, Koronaian vases were purchased by wealthy members of the emergent mercantile class, who could afford to import quality products, including pitharia, to their warehouses. In the nineteenth century, the globular Koronaian pithari was considered a valuable acquisition for a household.826 The pitharia made in the years around 1890-1910 were to be found in Messenia (Pl. 261), Sparta, Megalopolis, Tripoli, Albania, the Ionian Islands, Corinth, Patras, Athens, Kea, the Cyclades (Pl. 262), Crete, (Pl. 263), Volos, Thessaloniki, Constantinople (Istanbul), the Prince’s Islands, the East Aegean (Pls. 264-266), Smyrna, the Dodecanese, Ephesos, South Italy, Sicily, North Africa, Egypt, Cyprus and Palestine.827 Pitharia made after the 1920s were exported mainly to the Aegean islands, the Peloponnese and Central Greece. The port of Koroni began to decline as activity in the ports of Patras and Corinth increased. As olive cultivation was intensified in the rest of the Peloponnese, the region of Messenia lost its ‘monopoly’ in olive-oil production. Last, the decline in vase-making activity observed all over Greece after 1940 resulted also in the decline in trade.

825 Hampe – Winter 1965, pl.13. 826 Blitzer 1990, 707. 827 Blitzer 1990,704.

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CHAPTER 5

Evaluation of the archaeological and ethnographic data I. THE TECHNOLOGY OF MAKING STORAGE VASES DIACHRONICALLY 1. Evaluation of the making techniques The technique of coil building or coiling can be considered a very ancient technique worldwide for making many kinds of vases, as well as clay sculptures. In Greece and Cyprus the technique is identified in archaeological material of storage vases from prehistoric times828 and in all later periods.829 The technique of coil building will be evaluated in comparison with the techniques of slab building, of making vases on the tournette and of throwing on the kick wheel, since the techniques of pinching, drawing up and moulding cannot be used for making a whole large vase, even though one or more of them can be combined in many cases with the coil-building technique for making the base of vases. The kanabos technique, which can be classed in the mould technique, cannot be used for comparison as the only reference to it is in the Onomasticon of Pollux and it has not been identified as a technique of making storage vases in archaeological material, nor has it been recorded in any ethnographic study. Evaluation of the coil-building technique: 1. All kinds of clay can be used in the technique of coil building. For this reason it was applied already in the Neolithic Age, by vase-makers who were able to use any clay available in their area, which may not always have been clean.830 All kinds of clay cannot be used in the technique of throwing on a wheel,831 as clays with a high proportion of non-plastic matter (temper) cannot withstand the pressure of the rotating motion of the wheel and break up. Moreover, clays with a high proportion of nonplastic matter would cut the potter’s hands in the rapid forming on the wheel. Small storage vases were made on the wheel from the Late Bronze Age832 onwards and, of course, large ones too, but of plastic clays. 2. Vases of various shapes and sizes can be formed by coil building, with a precision of workmanship not possible in the other techniques.833 Birks notes characteristically that the technique of coil building exploits the plasticity of the clay to make pieces from which any form can be created,834 while as a technique it is subject less to exactitude than to the law of gravity. Furthermore, in 828 Sofronidou 2000, 176-177; Vitelli 1984, 118-120; Kotsakis 1983, 120; Kiriatzi 2000, 185; Pilides 2000b, 103. 829 Boggess 1989, 106; Bakirtzis 1989, 118. 830 Blandino 1998, 12. 831 Arnold 1985, 202. 832 Lewis 1983, 107; Kiriatzi 2000, 223-230; Tite 1999, 217. 833 Shepard 1985, 59. 834 Birks 1998, 69; Blandino 1998, 11-12; Barley 1994, 32.

contrast to throwing on the wheel, which is helped by centrifugal force, in coil-building technique the articulation of the vase with its form is of greater importance.835 The technique of slab building is suitable for making parallelogram shapes and large cylindrical vases. The technique of the tournette or manually-operated turntable can be used for making vases of various dimensions and sizes, with the exception perhaps of those of globular shape, which are controlled better by the gradual forming of the vase. 3. Coil-building technique offers the possibility of correcting an erroneous move, something that is not feasible on the wheel. Also, the successful execution of one move is not decisive for the next. Tournette technique offers the same possibility, although not to the same degree as coil building, as this too is based essentially on placing successive coils, which, however, are formed by the rotating motion of the tournette. 4. The application of coil-building technique does not demand special tools for forming the shapes and smoothing the formed surface, whereas throwing on the kick wheel and forming on the tournette require special tools. 5. It has been argued that learning the coil-building technique does not demand any special movement skills and that the movements needed are basically the same as everyday movements of the human body, whereas throwing on the wheel demands movements that are associated exclusively with this technique and are not common in other human activities.836 Study of the application of coil-building technique in the Gulf of Messenia revealed that the movements demanded of the vase-maker are indeed different from those of the vase-maker working on the kick wheel. However, the fact that they are different movements does not mean that they are simple everyday movements. In the Gulf of Messenia at least ten different manipulations were observed in making a vase by coil-building technique. These manipulations relate to different ways in which the potter places his hands, always in combination with the movement of his whole body around the vase. Furthermore, making a vase of large dimensions by coil-building technique demands great muscular power and dexterity, in order to control the large quantities of clay. The difference in manipulations does not make the coil-building technique easier, at least in the case of large vases. This is the reason why the potters who made vases by coil-building technique could not make 835 Birks 1998, 69. 836 Kiriatzi 2000, 221.

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vases by throwing on the wheel, and only a few potters producing wheel-made vases were capable of making vases by coil-building technique. 6. Prospective potters begin learning their craft with coil-building technique because it is considered more difficult than throwing on the wheel and is superior as an exercise in conjunction with the sense of form.837 7. The difficulty in coil-building technique lies in keeping the balance in the shapes of the vases, in keeping the uniformity in the thickness of the walls, in the points of joins between overlying parts and in the very good knowledge of the properties of the clay in all stages of its transformations, from wet to greenhard to dry.838 8. It has been argued that the techniques of coil building and slab building are ideal for domestic production because they do not demand full-time employment of the vase-maker, since quite long intervals for drying must elapse between the various phases. By contrast, the technique of throwing on the wheel demands fulltime employment, in order to achieve greater output, and is linked with the existence of a workshop and of a specialist craftsman.839 Observation of the application of coil-building technique in the Gulf of Messenia does not confirm this view. First, there is no predetermined drying time between the various phases in the vase-making procedure, since this depends on weather conditions, and so the continuous presence of the potter to oversee the vases is necessary. In one day, two and often three different stages in the making procedure are carried out, each lasting several hours. Furthermore, not all the vases dry at the same rate, which means that at regular intervals – even at night – the potter may add a part to only a few vases and then to a few others later, and so on. Last, in the free time between stages in the making of the vases, the potter has to prepare the clay needed for the next stages, given that large quantities of clay are required for making 40-50 storage vases concurrently. So, it becomes clear that coil-building technique can be characterized as a part-time and domestic type of production when the vases made are of small dimensions, but this is by no means the case for making vases of large dimensions. 9. Coil-building technique can be practised by one person, as the assistance of other men is required for extracting and transporting the raw materials, and for stacking the vases in the kiln and firing, but not on a permanent basis. In tournette technique at least two persons are involved in the vase-making procedure, one to turn the tournette and one to make the vase, as well as one to supply clay and rolled coils to the vase-maker. It takes two men to make large storage jars on the kickwheel, and specifically in the phase of joining together the two or more pieces. 10. Making storage vases by coil-building technique is slower than the technique of the tournette or of the 837 Cardew 1969, 87. 838 Shepard 1985, 59. 839 Tite 1999, 216.

kick-wheel (see below).840 Although this is recorded as a disadvantage of coil-building technique, it is in fact a superficial evaluation, given that the drying stages of the modelled parts are better controlled and the possibilities of internal fractures during firing and use of the vase are minimized. It is not fortuitous that the vases made in the Gulf of Messenia are considered the most durable and were imported even to Crete. Tournette technique, which was practised in an open space, did not permit gradual and even drying of the various stages, which the vase-makers were unable to control to a satisfactory degree. In the course of observing the technique in Crete, the craftsmen’s worries about drying, throughout the making procedure, were obvious. 11. Coil-building technique does not require permanent workshop spaces, since there is no need of equipment, in contrast to the technique of the kick-wheel and of the tournette. Thus, the monetary investment in this technique is less and only for the duration of the vasemaking procedure. 12. Making vases by coil-building technique is greatly influenced by climatic conditions, which is why it cannot be practised for a long season in the year. The same applies to tournette technique, which was practised in open-air spaces. In this sector the technique of the kick- wheel has greater advantages and is more time effective. 13. Coil-building technique can be used to make vases from many kinds of clay and which can be fired by any means (bonfire, kiln, etc.). On the contrary, wheelmade vases can only be made of fine-grained clays and it is better to be fired in a kiln under controlled firing conditions. It is apparent from the above evaluation that the technique of coil building for making storage vases is quite demanding and by no means primitive, since it can be used to make very hard and resilient vases of all dimensions and from all kinds of clays. These are obviously the reasons for its diachronic and global application in the majority of workshops producing storage vases. 2. Evaluation of the raw materials in relation to use, size and technology From the presentation of the archaeological and ethnographic data concerning the clay body of storage vases of different sizes, the following ascertainments are made: 1. The use of coarse-grained clays and, in many cases, the mixing of different clays is ascertained in the making of large storage vases in all periods.841 2. The use of tempers is ascertained in the making of large storage vases in all periods, without exception from this rule –at least from the published examples and the present research– in any region. 840 Arnold 1985, 202. 841 Boggess 1970; Pilides 2000 a,b; Matson 1972; Giannopoulou 2000a; Kilikoglou – Vekinis – Maniatis - Day 1998; 275, Sinopoli 1991, 15.

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3. 4.

5.

Almost all kinds of tempers were used already from prehistoric times, the commonest being calcites842 and siltstones.843 The same kinds of clays and tempers are not used always in all the regions.844 It emerges from study of the ancient material that there was never one fixed recipe for the clay body used in making storage vases, but continuous experimentation in different kinds of clays and tempers.845 The abolition or the reduction in the use of tempers affects morphological and technological traits of storage vases. Such a differentiation in the size of pithoi is observed in the archaeological material,846 while in the Gulf of Messenia the abolition of tempers in the early decades of the twentieth century, when the demand for and consequently the production of storage vases of over 400 kilos capacity ceased, brought a series of technological changes which are imprinted in the external features of the vases. Repercussion of these changes was a reduction in the hardness of the vases and, in conjunction with other factors, a decline in their popularity.

II. THE COMMON FRAMEWORK OF PRODUCTION OF STORAGE VASES The investment of labour in making storage vases concerns the time invested in all stages of making and the time demanded for learning the techniques of making, decorating, glazing and firing storage vases. Learning time is subjective because it depends on the abilities and the idiosyncrasy of each person with regard to learning in general, whatever the subject. Making storage vases demands specialist knowledge regarding the different raw materials, special muscular strengths, organization of workshops and production, as well as of distribution networks.847 In Greece, as in the rest of the world, it was quite common for more than one techniques of vase-making to coexist in the same place. With some of these techniques, vases of the same size and morphological characteristics could be made. In Greece, the techniques of coil building (Gulf of Messenia), the kick-wheel (Siphnos, Attica, etc.) and the tournette (Crete) were used for making storage vases in recent times. Even though the vase-makers in these regions each knew or had heard of the technique applied by the others, in no region was a technique abandoned and replaced by another. It has been ascertained in ethnographic research, in Greece and elsewhere, that at the moment of making a vase, the potters do not think about or decide on the technique. Their 842 Mari 2000, 24; Coleman 1977, 9. 843 Matson 1972, 210-211; Jones 1986, 223; Day 1999, 61; Pilides 2000b, 172-175. 844 Korres 1988, 411, 414. 845 Boggess 1989, 96. 846 Boggess 1989, 96. 847 Christakis 2005, 3.

movements are automatic, as they have been taught, which is why when the potters are asked to explain what they are doing they cannot do so, they can only show how they do it. At a more general level, technical choices appear as result of a traditional learning process.848 In field research in Crete and the Gulf of Messenia, when pitharades were asked about the time of learning the techniques they answered that apprenticeship always started at and early age and it was not taken for granted that everyone who tried to learn the craft would necessarily become a potter. In the area of Koroni, for example, there were, according to oral testimonies, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ craftsmen, whose talent was judged by the size of vase they could make, by the balance of the vase’s form and, last, by the execution of the firing procedure. So, on this point, in relation to the evaluation of the learning time, it should be stressed again that all the stages of production and not just the technique must be included. In the Gulf of Messenia, and in Crete too, informants mentioned cases of potters who were good at making pitharia but who were not good at firing the vases or at preparing the correct mixture of clays or the glaze. Given that storage vases, and specifically those of large dimensions, were made diachronically by coil building and by slab building, the investment of time in the application of the techniques is the greatest demanded in comparison with the rest of the techniques. Fieldwork has shown that in workshops producing wheel-made vases on Lesbos and Siphnos, one vase-maker at the wheel could make up to 10 storage vases of 150 kilos capacity in one day, that is, on average 200 vases a month. In the case of storage vases made by coil-building technique, 80 vases of 150 kilos capacity could be produced over a period of 20 to 25 days and 5 very large pitharia. With the tournette technique in Crete, about 150 vases were made over a period of 25 days. In this case, of course, the quantity of vases produced depends on their size, as smaller vases were also made by techniques not using the wheel, which certainly took less time and so the final numbers would be clearly different. The procedure of glazing was applied individually to large storage vases, for which reason it is considered here as a parameter affecting labour investment, but not universally for the total production of storage vases diachronically. The transporting of storage vases, again because of their size and weight, demanded the presence of more than two persons.849 Most researchers have concluded, from ethno-archaeological studies and excavations in closed assemblages, that when standardization is observed in the production of a group of vases this means that professional specialization also exists. However, this is not a hard and fast rule.850 The data of the present study show that in order to support the existence of specialist craftsmen the standardization of morphological characteristics of vases should be examined in relation to the technology of the vases. The example of 848 Gosselain 1998, 99, 91. 849 Kiriatzi 2000, 246. 850 Blackman-Stein-Vandiver 1993, 61; Bronitsky 1986, 211; Arnold 1991, 363, 367.

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the Medieval vases of Chios is proof of this claim, since the storage vases in all the villages of southern Chios display standardized morphological characteristics – same shapes, same decorative motifs – but their technology belies nonspecialist making. The workmanship of the vases is poor, with lack of balance and harmony in the shapes, their clay is crumbly, they break easily and they are unevenly fired. These technical characteristics are more important in defining a specialist or non-specialist production than the morphological ones. Also, there cannot be absolute standardization of vases made without the use of the wheel, since it is impossible to estimate exactly the amount of clay demanded for each size of vase, in order to achieve absolute uniformity in the shapes and the clay body, as can be done in workshops with potter’s wheel. In the course of fieldwork conducted by the author, it was observed that in most workshops with potter’s wheel the clay needed for each vase was calculated exactly and ready quantities (kavoules) for each vase were prepared. Even so, in the recent workshops making storage vases, in all regions, there were specific sizes, types and names of vases, which were related to specific demands of the market. Last, the potters’ desire to give their personal identity to the vases they were making is a parameter that should also be taken into account. Some archaeologists propose that during the Late Neolithic period cooking vessels and storage vases were made in the hinterland and should be linked with a household mode of production.851 Kiriatzi, in her study of the pottery from Toumba in Thessaloniki, argues that the production of pithoi reflects a considerable degree of specialization and demands more complex organization of the workshop space and production time.852 McDonald, Coulson and Rosser speak of the existence of potters specialized in making storage vases in the area of Nichoria, Pylia in the Late Bronze Age.853 For the Classical period, it is for granted the existence of pithoi workshops operating in parallel with workshops making vases on the wheel. The present study comes to the same conclusion for the Hellenistic pithoi from ancient Messene. The existence of specialist workshops making storage vases in the Byzantine Age (Γεωπ.[Cas. Bas.] VI, 3) is also taken for granted. For recent times, as discussed in chapter 3, there is full specialization in all the centres making storage vases in Greece and Cyprus, which are limited to specific regions in which there is a large number of workshops.854 Of course, the number of workshops making storage vases was never comparable to the number of workshops with potter’s wheel, given that the demand for and the consumption of large storage vases with a long lifespan was by no means the same as for the various kinds of wheel-made vases, which because of their size and their daily use were more fragile. Pitharia and cooking vessels are two categories of vases that present diachronically the greatest technological 851 852 853 854

Day – Wilson – Kiriatzi 1997, 275. Kiriatzi 2000, 255. McDonald – Coulson – Rosser 1983, 90. Pilides 2000a, 365; Galaty 1999, 77; Wiencke 1970, 103.

standardization in comparison with wheel-made vases, which fact reinforces the linking of their production to a smaller number of vase-makers. It should be clarified here that specialization in making storage vases does not rule out the making also, with the same materials and the same techniques, of other vases that can be subsumed to the same technological logic, such as large basins, sizeable vases for special uses (beehives, etc.). This hypothesis has been verified by the material from ancient Messene and by observations of various researchers and ethnographic parallels. III. DIACHRONIC ELEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF STORAGE VASES 1. Evaluation of ethnographic and archaeological data 1.1. Variable elements in production diachronically Among the aims of the present study of archaeological and ethnographic material relating to the issue of storage vases was to identify diachronic elements in the making of storage vases and, primarily, to ascertain which of these elements are variable and which are constant over time. The first ascertainment that emerges from the presentation of the material is the continuous and uninterrupted making of storage vases of various sizes from the Neolithic Age into the mid-twentieth century. Nonetheless, the presentation of the ascertainments will begin with the variable elements in the making of storage vases diachronically, which are: 1. The size and the shape of each vase As has been mentioned repeatedly, the size and the shape of storage vases differs in many periods, even though, as noted also in chapter 2, changes in types were slow and generally the production of storage vases is distinguished by conservatism in vase form. Nonetheless, both the shapes and the sizes were reproduced repeatedly, that is, in no period was a particular size or a particular shape abolished completely, and the differentiations appear mainly in individual features of the form of the vase, such as the diameter and cross-section of the rim, the shape of the neck and the base, the presence or absence of handles. The shape and the size of storage vases are variable elements because, above all, they are directly dependent on changes in use, storage practices, aesthetics and modes of trade. 2. The kinds of temper The kind and the quantity of temper that is added to the clay body of storage vases, and particularly those of large dimensions, differs from region to region, while in some regions it differs also from period to period. 3. The methods of firing The methods of firing differ. In prehistoric times, mainly in the Early Helladic and the Middle Helladic period, storage vases were fired in a bonfire, while in later periods a kiln or some temporary constructions must have been used, as emerges from the study, mainly macroscopic, of the ancient material.

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4. The decoration

2. Making techniques

Decoration is an element which in the case of storage vases can be considered a variable in various groups of vases, such as the relief pithoi, the pithoi in the palace of Knossos and at Thera, and the pithoi with figurative representations. The large category of domestic pithoi presents minor differentiations in the decoration in each period.

Coil building is one of the earliest techniques for making vases of all sizes and for all uses. It is confirmed as a vasemaking technique from the Neolithic Age into modern times. The technique of throwing on the wheel for making storage vases of specific sizes – small and medium – was also applied diachronically, at least from the Classical period, while it was certainly used during the Byzantine Age and in the recent times. It is argued that the tournette technique was applied in Crete in the Late Bronze Age.

5. The existence of stamps or inscriptions on the surface of storage vases Inscriptions, mainly of economic content, occur on pithoi of the Prehistoric, Classical and Hellenistic periods, while various inscriptions whose content has not been studied systematically have been noted on Byzantine and PostByzantine pithoi. Stamps or inscriptions with the names of the makers or the clients or the date of production are encountered on Messenian and Cretan pitharia of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 6. Secondary uses of pithoi The practise of burial in pithoi, which appears in the Bronze Age, continues in the Mycenaean and Submycenaean periods, throughout the Geometric and Archaic periods until the early fifth century BC, although the frequency of funerary use is not the same in all periods. 7. Special ritual uses The use of pithoi as votive offerings in sanctuaries is conformed from Archaic and Classical times. These uses of pithoi are variable because they are related to religious beliefs and worldviews, which are likewise variable in time and space. 8. Methods of waterproofing the inside surface of storage vases Of the methods of waterproofing, coating with resin, beeswax and pitch are the ones referred to in the texts – and which are verified by ethnographic research – for Byzantine and recent storage vases. Glazing is one method that is encountered certainly from Byzantine times onward as a technique of waterproofing the clay fabric of storage vases. 1.2. Constant elements in production diachronically

3. Addition of tempers to the clay body The addition of tempers to the clay bodies intended for making storage vases and indeed of large dimensions is ascertained in all periods. 4. Applied rings on the exterior Applied rings, with whatever function (for decoration, reinforcement, protection, construction), appear diachronically on the outside surface of storage vases, with differentiations, of course, in the points of application and the decoration or not with other ornaments. 5. Cost of acquisition The difficulty in acquiring a pithos, because of the high cost of purchase, is speculated on by excavators at various sites and of different periods. It is referred to in the texts of the Classical period, while in later times the cost of acquiring a pithos was high and it was considered an investment by the family. 6. Clay or stone lids The placing of a clay or stone lid on the mouth of a pithos begins from the Early Bronze Age and is customary in all later periods into modern times. 7. Hole in the base of pithoi The existence of a hole in the base of pithoi, possibly for the outflow of liquids, is known in prehistoric, Classical and Hellenistic examples, as well as in pithoi of recent times. 8. The use of pithoi as containers for transportation

1. Primary uses On the basis of archaeological data, the products and foodstuffs stored in pithoi in the Bronze Age, as well as in other periods, were olive oil, wine855, fruits, olives, salted meat and fish, nuts, butter, cheese, beans, honey, inorganic foodstuffs and cereals, etc. Dietary needs and the economy of each place always dictated the exact uses.

The use of pithoi as containers inside which small vases for sale were placed is observed in the Bronze Age, the Classical period and, of course, in recent times. 9. The use of pithoi in manufacturing activities The use of pithoi in manufacturing activities, such as working bronze, processing textiles and producing olive oil, is confirmed from the Bronze Age and in recent times in Cyprus, and from the Classical, Hellenistic and Modern periods in Greece.

855 Giannopoulou 2009, 153-173; Margaritis – Jones 2006; Doumas 1978.

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10. The use of pithoi for collecting water There are clear indications of the use of pithoi for collecting water, from the Classical period, the Hellenistic period, the Byzantine Age and modern times. 11. The use of pithoi as beehives The use of pithoi as beehives has been suggested for the Bronze Age and is certain from recent times. 12. The use of pithoi as wellheads Examples of the use of pithoi as wellheads are known from the Archaic and Classical periods, as well as from recent times. 13. The symbolic use of pithoi The symbolism in the use of pithoi in religious rituals and festivals, and their association with fertility, death and rebirth, are ascertained from the Bronze Age, are documented in textual sources and material remains of the Classical period, and continue to exist in recent times. 14. The multiple uses of pithoi The multiple uses of pithoi, their longevity and the difficulty of moving them are ascertained diachronically by all excavators and are not doubted by any researcher. 15. The placing of pithoi in the ground The practice of placing pithoi in the ground is encountered in all periods. 16. The repair of pithoi The use of lead clamps to repair broken pithoi, which are used subsequently for storing dry foodstuffs, is a practice identified in finds of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and continued in Byzantine and recent times. 17. The making of other vases of large dimensions It is concluded from archaeological and ethnoarchaeological studies that workshops producing storage vases also made a series of vases of large dimensions for special uses. From the preceding evaluation of the data presented mainly in chapter 2, but also in the entire thesis, it becomes clear that diachronically the constant elements in pithoi far outnumber the variable ones. The elements that change – size, decoration, special uses – are those linked more with economic, social and cultural changes. The elements that do not change are linked with the technology and the use of the vases, which change slowly and only when radical technological and socio-economic changes take place, such as the industrial and technological revolution in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Certainly it should be stressed at this point that although the general characteristics of the technology of pithoi (making techniques, ways of preparing the clay body, techniques of decoration, glazing and firing) may remain unchanged diachronically, this does not mean that in each period the degree of technical know-how and the execution

of techniques did not differ and was not dependent on the cultural particularities of each place and time. For example, the durability and the hardness of storage vases was not always the same, nor was the rendering of their morphological features. Consequently, the evaluation of the technology of pithoi remains in each period an issue for study, which demands a large number of samples from each period and from many sites, in order to extract secure results. From the material presented in this study and the very few other studies on storage vases, we can quite confidently remark that in periods of more general technological and cultural progress, such as the Classical period, there is a technological and aesthetic improvement in the making of pithoi, which starts from the Late Geometric and mainly the Archaic period. The prehistoric pithoi of careful workmanship and with elaborate decoration are associated with the palatial period in Crete, the Cycladic Culture and the heyday of the Mycenaean palaces in mainland Greece. The centres producing storage vases in recent times were located in areas with developed commercial activity and a rich agricultural economy (Gulf of Messenia, Crete, etc.), or in regions with a long tradition in making storage vases. 2. Ascertainments from ethnographic research Ethnographic research on the technology and the use of vases, and the organization of the production and distribution of storage vases in Greece and Cyprus, has been a valuable source for compiling a database of information on corresponding issues regarding storage vases in earlier periods. In recording all the procedures of making storage vases and the organization and operation of the workshops producing them, the following ascertainments were made: 1. Clear knowledge was gained of the technological characteristics of the age-old craft of vase-making, of coil-building technique and of the preconditions that the craft itself sets on the making procedure. The same applies to the technique of throwing vases on the kick-wheel. Both techniques, which were applied in recent times in the Gulf of Messenia and Crete, respectively, had reached a high degree of excellence in their execution, as is apparent from the complexity of the manipulations and the delicate balances that had to be kept (analytical description of the techniques in chapters 3 and 4), the resilience of the vase produced and the accomplished rendering of its morphological traits. This technical perfection was the result of the application of these techniques for centuries. 2. The technological choices made by the traditional potters are based on empirical understanding of the properties of the raw materials. Experience and experimentation are fundamental to this activity.856 Nevertheless, in all cases very good knowledge of the raw materials, that is of the kinds of clays suitable for making storage vases and of the tempers, is ascertained. 856 Whitbread 2001, 449.

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3. The application of coil-building technique for making large vases presupposes roofed but not permanent workshop spaces to ensure even drying of the parts made in the various stages. Likewise, the proximity of the kiln to the workshop is not essential, as is the case with the workshops in which vases are thrown on the wheel. In the case of tournette technique, the installing of the tournettes in large pits and the daily production of vases ready for firing demanded large workshop spaces, which were possibly more difficult to find in periods before the twentieth century, and so, in conjunction with the itinerant character of the workshops, these were open-air and the kiln was adjacent to them. In Cyprus, storage vases were even made in the potters’ houses, but in this case we are speaking about workshops with limited productivity in relation to those of the Gulf of Messenia and Crete. So, it becomes clear that the technique used each time and the degree of productivity determine in large part the form of the workshops. 4. Particularly characteristic of the techniques of making storage vases –principal among them being the possibility of applying them in any space– the difficulty of moving storage vases and the more general economic situation encouraged the seasonal migration of craftsmen to places away from their home. 5. Coil-building technique could be applied by just one man, whereas tournette technique required more than one man, as did the making of a large storage vase on the kick-wheel. For this reason, coil building was the most widely diffused technique even in recent times. 6. The harmonious coexistence of different vase-making techniques within a small geographical area was ascertained; throwing on the wheel and coil building in the Gulf of Messenia, Ainos and Cyprus, throwing on the wheel and tournette technique in Crete. This fact demonstrates that the techniques must be evaluated in relation to the vases made by them and not independently. Primarily, however, there are no primitive techniques. As far as coil-building technique is concerned, although it is evaluated as a primitive technique, in the case of the Gulf of Messenia it was proven that the most durable storage vases could be made by it. This is confirmed by the remarkable commercial success of Messenian storage vases in Greece and abroad. 7. Technology in making storage vases does not change easily Ethnographic research has shown the persistence of traditional techniques even in periods, such as the first half of the twentieth century, when there was dissemination of knowledge between vase-making centres. Interesting is the observation of imitation of morphological features of Messenian vases by Cretan potters after the 1920s. On the other hand, from the early twentieth century Messenian potters knew of tournette technique and its advantages in relation to the number of vases produced. However, not one Messenian vase-maker considered trying to learn any

other technique of vase-making or recipe for preparing the clay body, even though Messenians had travelled to Crete from the late nineteenth century. According to oral testimonies, this persistence in the technological tradition of their place was due not only to the fact that their technique produced vases in high demand and commercially successful, but also to the need to safeguard local traditions and practices as a special and distinctive characteristic. The fact that the making of storage vases in all forms of workshops was not of itself sufficient to ensure the economic subsistence of a household also played an important role; investing more time in learning new things, which probably would not alter this situation, was not worth the effort. 8. Centres making storage vases in modern times operated in regions with a flourishing rural economy (area of Koroni, Crete, Phoini in Cyprus, Ainos). Vases made in centres with a developed trading network enjoyed wide commercial distribution, as was the case in the Gulf of Messenia, which for hundreds of years was served by the busy port of Koroni. Thrapsano in Crete, by contrast, was a considerable distance from Herakleion, the main port, and because of this, combined with the difficulty of transporting the large vases, did not export vases outside the island. In any case, the market of Crete, one of the paramount agricultural regions of Greece, seems to have been sufficiently thriving to absorb the bulk of production. Phoini, far away from a harbour, situated in the mountainous but wine-producing area, served domestic needs of Cyprus. 9. Ascertained too from ethnographic studies is the full specialization in making storage vases, since, as has been said, they demanded special raw materials and techniques, and it was impossible for a potter of wheelmade vases to produce in parallel, by another technique, large storage vases. Specialization in these cases emerges more from technological parameters and not from the standardization of the vases, something that does not apply in the case of Chios. Standardization of storage vases emerges from the demand, which in its turn is determined by the specific storage needs of the societies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The needs again are determined by the economic and social parameters of each region. 10. The makers of large storage vases, especially those who were specialized in making only such vases were involved also with farming tasks and did not produce vases during the winter months. The relation of climatic conditions and production, which was presented in chapter 4 ΒIII1.2, played a decisive role regulatory role in this situation, as did the drop in market demand for storage vases in relation to wheel-made vases. 11. The size of the vases, the methods of making them, the absence of painted decoration, the difficulties of transporting vases to the selling venues, even in the wider environs of the workshops, precluded women from all procedures in the chaine operatoire of storage vases.

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13. In all the specialist workshops producing storage vases a series of sizeable vases for special use was also made, such as beehives, vats for dyeing textiles, fonts, vases used in wine-making, etc. 14. Changes in the demand for products, which resulted from socio-economic and cultural changes, had a direct effect on the production of vases, their morphological features and, in several cases, the technology. In the Gulf of Messenia, such changes led to the abolition of sizes and shapes. Indeed, in the same region glazing of vases was applied, even though it was an extra investment in the productive procedure, when only smaller vases were made of clay without temper. 15. No centre producing storage vases presents absolute uniformity in the procedure of making, firing and types of vases. Even in the cases of the Messenian and Cypriot workshops, which applied exactly the same technique of making and present similarities even in the technical terminology, the morphological features of the vases are totally different. In each place the vases resemble only the preceding types, for example, the Messenian vases resemble the Late Helladic ones of their region, the Cretan vases the Minoan ones, the Cypriot the corresponding Bronze Age Cypriot vases, and so on. Each place clove strictly to its tradition even in periods, such as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, far removed from the prehistoric era and far differently structured at all levels. 16. No new technique of making or firing has been applied in the recent workshops, which has not been identified in ancient storage vases. The sole new procedure introduced was glazing, which was, in any case, of limited scale. From the comparison of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological data on the technology of storage vases it emerges that the basic methods of making storage vases of large dimensions were known from very early periods. In the earliest period, the problems in the making procedure lie mainly in the pyrotechnology, which evolved more slowly than the other stages of production. Diachronically, there was always experimentation with raw materials, as well as differentiation in the typology and the technology of the vases, depending on the storage policy and the more general technological and cultural developments of each period. It seems also that, from the Bronze Age, making storage vases was a specialist activity involving a limited number of craftsmen and serving mainly utilitarian needs of societies, without experimenting significantly in the decoration of the vases. Care was taken of the aesthetic appearance and the technological excellence of storage vases in periods when these characteristics are distinctive of pottery as a whole (Late Helladic, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic). Changes in the sizes and the technology of vases take place in tandem with wider social and cultural changes. In general, the making of storage vases displays a conservatism in the development of types, which is associated more with the use of the vases, which until the early twentieth century was differentiated hardly at all.

Van der Leeuw and Pritchard argue that for a change to take place there has to be a possibility or an opportunity for this.857 Kingery maintains, in his relevant study, that the development of techniques in pottery and its raw materials is always an indicator of social change rather than a cause of this.858 He associates technological experimentations and changes in pottery with market demands, and claims that wider technological changes influenced the needs for new pottery, as in the fifteenth century when the revolution in metallurgy led to changes and new methods also in pottery, which used its products (aluminium oxides, etc.) for its own purposes, while ‘revolutions’ in architecture, in transport and communications, even in medicine. Last, the same scholar concludes that at a historical and an archaeological level pottery technology was evolving rapidly wherever an obvious need existed.859 However, the opposite can also happen, that is, because of wider technological and socio-economic changes certain needs were limited or replaced by new ones, or even abolished altogether. The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the Technological Revolution of the twentieth century caused a series of major economic, social and cultural changes which had a direct impact on people’s needs, habits and worldview. These changes affected also pottery and primarily domestic pottery, which all over Greece ceased to have a utilitarian role from the 1970s. However, generally speaking, from the 1960s most workshops stopped operating and by the 1980s, with the exception of about ten regions, the production of utilitarian pottery made by any technique had ceased throughout Greece and Cyprus. Indeed, the workshops making storage vases stopped production earlier than workshops for wheel-made vases, with first of all the workshops in the Gulf of Messenia, of which only two were still operating by the 1950s. Crete was an exception to this pattern, because the making of vases on a tournette did not cease completely. This is due in large part to the early development of tourism in the island and also the nature of the Cretans, who not only in vase-making have a particular attachment to tradition and to their past. At Thrapsano, where the making of storage vases continues, as well as in the case of wheel-made vases, the wooden hand-driven turntables became iron ones, most of the kilns became electric-powered and most of the shapes became ‘modern’. Koroni on the other hand, although it was always characterized as a rural region, had urban elements from early one, due to the protracted Venetian Occupation and the considerable mercantile activity, and even today the development of tourism is small in relation to other parts of the Peloponnese. Those vase-makers still alive in the Koroni area, when speaking of their old craft do not show the same nostalgia as is encountered at Thrapsano in Crete. In the research conducted in the Gulf of Messenia there were even problems in approaching these men, which was 857 Pritchard – Van der Leeuw 1984, 4. 858 Kingery 1984, 171. 859 Kingery 1984, 174.

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never the case in analogous research in Crete. The workshops making wheel-made pottery survived longer because of the kinds of vases they produced, because they attuned themselves more to the new circumstances by making decorative vases, clay sculptures and vases for everyday use to high specifications for the bourgeoisie in the towns. However, they did not keep the same technology in making these vases, since the more general modernization from the 1970s imposed electric-powered wheels, electricpowered kilns, electric-powered pug mills for wedging the clay, and so on. The serving of man’s storage needs by clay vases, which lasted for millennia, is now definitely a thing of the past and is an object of archaeological and ethnographic research (Pls. 266-279). From the ethnographic records it is obvious that study of the technology and in general of the pottery of any time and any place is incomplete if it does not examine the entire chaine operatoire for the creation of a product,which is characterized by a complexity of interactions and reciprocal influences of the various stages. Above all, however, it demonstrates that all human manipulations in the production of an artefact, conscious or unconscious, are affected in diverse ways by the immediate and the wider environment of the people. Fieldwork and laboratory research have shown that technical behaviours cannot be explained on the basis of purely materialistic criteria and are by no means as predictable as would appear.860

In this dissertation an attempt has been made, through an ethno-archaeological approach to the technology of storage vases, to demonstrate the need of a combinatory approach to issues of corresponding researches and, primarily, the necessity of incorporating the material remains of the past into the physical, social, economic, ideological, historical and symbolic environment in which they were created. This environment is determined by Nature and by Man. The differentiations and the changes that are imprinted in different periods on the material remains take place through complex relations that are difficult to distinguish and very often difficult to define, which can never be completely and absolutely revealed. The ethno-archaeological approach and the analytical techniques must aim at decoding these relations and at understanding them. In the end, aim of all the methodologies that archaeological research has applied at various times is to interpret and, finally, to reconstruct human action in the past, and through this to interpret and to define ourselves in the present. Every research project is a step in this direction and the truth of it is tried and tested daily by the overall progress of research.

860 Gosselain 1998, 90.

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APPENDIX A

Mineralogical and petrographic analyses of clay samples from the area of the Gulf of Messenia For the better understanding of modern potters’ choices, concerning raw materials, a small number of geological samples were selected from the Koroni area comprising raw materials known to have been used in modern times for the manufacture of large storage jars. The first (GK) referred to the buff clay and the second to the red one (KO) and they were collected from Charokopio and Aidini respectively.

XRD: It consists mainly of calcite (33%), quartz (3050%), illite, muscovite, chlorite, montmorillonite (10%), a few albite and very little of kaolinite (Table 1, Diagramme 1-3). Sample Ko Macroscopically: loose, microcrystalline, with reddish brown colour (7.5YR 5/6). Plant remains are visible (soil formation). Microscopically (Photo 2): rather loose clastic sediment with quartz-argillaceous sandstone composition, very porous and clastic, microsandstone texture. It consists of angular to subrounded clasts of quartz (up to 500 mm in size, mean size 100-200 mm) few clasts of feldspar, mainly albite, laths of muscovite and fragments of claystone, mudstone, microsandstone and chert (lithoclasts). The above clastic materials consolidated with red clay material, consisting of clay minerals, microcrystalline quartz and abundant iron hydroxides. XRD: it consists of quartz (more than 50%), calcite (7%), illite, muscovite (micas in total 15%), few chlorite, albite and montmorillonite (Table 1, Diagramme 4-6).

Methodology Thin sections of the samples were prepared and examined under the polarising microscope (OPTOLUX, II POLBK) for the petrographic characterisation of the selected materials.861 Furthermore the samples were analysed through XRD, for the identification of their mineral phases. An automatic diffractometer, SIEMENS D500, with a copper lamp and graphite monochromator was used. The determination of crystalline phases was carried out electronically using a JCPDS database. For the identification of the clay minerals, the samples were processed and subjected to X-ray and infra-red analysis (IR). Sample GK

CONCLUSIONS

Macroscopically: almost coherent, relatively friable, microcrystalline to stiff, homogeneous, light yellow in colour (2.5Y 7/3). White shell fragments are visible, up to 1-2 cm long. Microscopically (Photo 1): It comprises calcareous clay with silty to clayey texture. It consists of clastic quartz, calcite, rarely albite, of silt size, and micro-laths of muscovite and chlorite. It also contains occasional

1. Sample GK, which comes from the basic clay for making storage vases, corresponds to a calcareous clay of light yellow colour and with principal mineralogical components calcite, quartz and argillaceous minerals, chiefly illite. It presents siltstone to pelitic tissue with mineral magnitudes ranging from a few to 60 microns. 2. Sample KO, which comes from the clay that was added

Table 1. Mineralogical analyses of clay samples (XRD) Sample GK KO ○○○○○ ○○○○ ○○○ ○○ ○

Quartz ○○○○ ○○○○○

Calcite ○○○○ ○○

Feldspar ○○ ○○

Mica ○○○ ○○

Chlorite ○○ ○

Montmorillonite ○○ ○○

Kaolinite ○

Fe ○

Very large participation Large participation Moderate participation Small participation Very small participation in smaller proportion to the basic clay, corresponds to a quartzitic-argillic formation of reddish-brown colour and principal mineralogical components quartz and argillaceous minerals. It has a clastic and micropsammitic tissue with mineral magnitudes ranging from a few to about 500 microns.

microfossils and grains of iron hydroxides. All the above clastic materials are mixed and set in a matrix of clay minerals consisting of illite, chlorite and montmorillonite, microcrystalline quartz and calcite. 861 The analysis of the geological samples was carried out by Eleni Konstantinidou at the Institute of Geological and Metallurgical Research (IGME), Athens.

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3. The differences between the two samples lie in the macroscopic colour, the granulometry of the constituents and the mineralogical constitution.

a) to improve conditions of producing the vases, such as achieving low sinter points of the clay and consequently lower firing temperatures, and

4. The three differences correspond to parameters that are of great importance in pottery because, together with other properties of the raw material, they determine the quality of the final product. Basic aims of adding the reddish-brown clay KO in suitable quantity to the basic clay GK were:

Photo 1: Sample GK. Calcareous clay with silt to clayey texture. X5,1 Nickols.

b) to produce good-quality final products, that is, with improved properties such as increased durability, preservation of shape during drying and firing, reddish colour and limitation of shrinkage during drying and firing, to avoid cracks.

Photo 2: Sample KO. Clastic sediment with quartzargillaceous sandstone composition. X5,1 Nickols.

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Diagramme 1

Diagramme 2

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Diagramme 3

Diagramme 4

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Diagramme 5

Diagramme 6

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APPENDIX B

Petrographic analyses of stortage vessels from Ancient Messene and the area of the Gulf of Messenia Methodology

evidence for tempering. The clay paste preparation seems to be standardised concerning the addition and type of temper. In few cases, apart from tempering, evidence can be also seen for clay mixing. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to evaluate this evidence without any comparative analysis of, and experimental work (i.e. mixing, firing) on, the locally available raw materials.864 The composition of both the base clay and the tempering material is compatible with the local geology, rendering possible, if not probable, the local production of the studied vessels. More specifically, the composition of the base clay seems to reflect, at least partly, the use of raw materials derived mainly from the weathering and decomposition of carbonate sediments, namely limestones, that dominate in the wider area of ancient Messene. The city of ancient Messene itself is located on a hard Late Cretaceous limestone unit. A variety of different Jurassic and Triassic sedimentary rocks, including red shale, occur underneath the limestone and are exposed throughout the ancient city.865 Furthermore, most of the coarsewares, including pithoi, recovered from a number of prehistoric sites across Messenia correspond to similar fabrics tempered with red shale.866 The locally available raw materials for pithos production in the immediate area of the settlement, combined with evidence for the extensive use of the same fabrics for other types of containers but also bricks and tiles used in the buildings of ancient Messene, probably suggests the local production of the large storage vessels under study but also of all the other related products. In most cases, the initial colour of the samples matched the refiring colour while no significant colour variation was noticed on the surface of the vessels. Only a small number of samples (12, 20, 35 and 39) were found to have a grey core, while few of them (i.e. 7, 10, 17, 19, 37) had a light greyish brown core with merging boundaries. This evidence indicates a homogeneous oxidising atmosphere and a relatively long duration of firing. Temperatures, in most cases, ranged possibly from 700-750 to 900-950°C, as the observed optical activity of the matrix indicated. To attain homogeneous oxidising atmosphere during several hours of firing of large size vessels requires the use of some kind of firing construction, some type of kiln. As already mentioned, despite the overall technological and compositional homogeneity among the studied samples, some kind of variation was noticed, namely in fabric composition. It became obvious though, that at least part of this variation corresponded to the different temperatures, at which vessels of similar fabrics were fired, which had an immediate effect on the optical activity

The technique employed in the analysis of all the above pottery samples was petrographic analysis with thin sections. It was combined with refiring tests for a better understanding of the existing colour variation both in relation to fabric composition and firing conditions. Samples Total number of Samples: 43. Τhirty eight samples were selected, most of them corresponding to large storage vessels of the Hellenistic period. Moreover, five samples of modern storage vessels made in the broader area of Koron were also selected for analysis. Among the thirty-eight sherds selected for analysis, a yellowish brown fabric dominates, apart from four sherds with light brown fabric. In the Munsell colour chart,862 the fabric colour can be described as 2.5YR 6/8 Light Red to 5YR 6/6 Reddish Yellow. In all cases the fabric contains inclusions of similar types, red-brown angular fragments of various sizes, related mainly to mudstone or shale. The observed fabric variation among the selected samples concerned mainly the amount of inclusions which seemed to vary in relation to vessel size; the larger the vessel the more the inclusions included in the fabric. Microstructure863 Very few to few voids. Common meso and macro vughs with few meso and macro channels. The channel voids, in some cases, have a crude alignment parallel to the vessel surfaces. The voids are double to open spaced. Frequent presence of calcite lining or filling in voids. Groundmass Its colour varies from yellowish orange to red to dark brown or very dark grey in XP, and from brown to reddish brown to greyish brown in PPL. The groundmass appears optically active in half of the samples, while in the rest appears either moderately or slightly active and in two cases inactive. In most of the samples the groundmass is homogeneous, but there are some with darker and less optically active core. Comment The fabric of the Ancient Messene pottery samples seemed to reflect the tempering of a rather fine, red firing, base clay with angular fragments or red-brown shale or argillaceous schist. The obvious bimodal distribution of inclusion grain size, with the coarse fraction being dominated by angular shale fragments, the absence or limited presence of the latter fragments in the fine fraction and the significant variation in their frequency across the samples were considered as 862 Munsell, Soil Color Chart, Baltimore 1975. 863 For standards used in fabric description, see Whitbread 1995, 379396.

864 For an example of this approach, see Kiriatzi 2003. 865 Matson 1972, 201; Jones 1986, 216. 866 Matson 1972, 203-205; Galaty 1999, 49-70.

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of the clay matrix and its colour but also on the presence and state of carbonate material. This variation in firing temperature has not been possible to be related to any other factor concerning the fabric itself or other technological or morphological features of the vessels and it may reflect a lack in ability of attaining the same firing temperatures in each kiln firing or even within the same kiln load. Moreover, part of the variation in the frequency of coarseness of the fine fraction constituents could reflect mixing of similar materials in varied amounts. Finally, variation appears in the amount of tempering material added to the base clay. Three groups were defined on the basis of the frequency of the coarse fraction inclusions, mainly red-brown shale: Coarse fabric, 25-40% coarse inclusions: 6, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 19, 21, 34, 37, 38, 41, 43. Medium coarse fabric, 10-25% coarse inclusions: 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 39, 42.

Medium fine fabric, up to 7% coarse inclusions: 30, 31, 36, 40. There seems to be no correlation between the amount of inclusions added to the base clay and the composition or the coarseness of the latter or the initial firing temperature. It seems, though, possible that some correlation existed between the amount of temper and the thickness of the wall and, possibly, the size of the vessel, i.e. larger vessels had thicker walls and more heavily tempered fabrics. FABRIC GROUPS 1.

Mudstone-tempered fabric; matrix with silicate inclusions

There is some internal variation in the frequency and size of matrix inclusions.

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1a.

With rare silicate inclusions in the matrix Ancient Messene 1

Ancient Messene 2

Ancient Messene 11

Ancient Messene 12

Ancient Messene 18

Ancient Messene 33

Ancient Messene 38

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1b.

With rare silicate inclusions in the matrix Ancient Messene 7

Ancient Messene 20

Ancient Messene 21

Ancient Messene 30

Ancient Messene 34

Ancient Messene 39

Ancient Messene 40

Ancient Messene 43

• 162 •

Pithoi: Technology and history of storage vessels through the ages

1c.

With dense silicate inclusions in the matrix Ancient Messene 4

Ancient Messene 8

Ancient Messene 10

Ancient Messene 13

Ancient Messene 14

Ancient Messene 16

Ancient Messene 42

Composition: Coarse fraction (>60μ): angular mudstone fragments. Fine fraction (