bowl
- Museum number
- 1888,0927.13
- Description
-
Pottery bowl in Red Polished I-II (mottled) ware; hand-made; hemispherical bowl with flattened base and slightly incurving rim with small vertical pierced lug on the rim; mottled red-black polished finish.
- Production date
- 2300BC-2100BC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 10.30 centimetres
-
Height: 5 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This is an example of what is now generally termed Red Polished I-II mottled ware, specifically a later form with elements of EC II-early EC III according to Dr Giorgos Georgiou, department of Antiquities, Cyprus (email to Thomas Kiely, British Museum, 01/07/2014). Stewart (1962, 226-7) recognised it as a variant of the 'standard' north coast RP wares found in the centre and south of the island where it is the predominant RP type. Many examples, including small bowls, have been found at the settlement of Marki-Alonia (Frankel 2006, 105ff and esp. pp. 108-9 for small bowls) and also at the cemetery of Psematismenos- Trelloukkas on the south coast (Georgiou et al. 2011, 194ff with a discussion of the broader distribution of this type on pp. 202-3). The presence of this type in small quanities at the Vounous and Karmi sites is an important indicator of inter-island communications during the Early Cypriot period (Webb et al. 2009, 215-19). See Webb and Frankel 2013 for a broader discussion of this issue and regional variations in material culture, especially ceramics, at this time.
Bibliography:
Frankel D. 2006, Marki Alonia. An Early and Middle Bronze Age settlement in Cyprus. Excavations 1995-2000. SIMA CXXIII:2 (Sävedalen).
Georgiou G. et al. 2011, Psematismenos-Trelloukkas. An Early Bronze Age cemetery in Cyprus (Nicosia: Department of Antiquities).
Stewart J. 1962, 'The Early Cypriot Bronze Age', in The Swedish Cyprus Expedition Volume 1A (Lund: Swedish Cyprus Expedition), 205-401.
Webb J. and Frankel D. 2013, 'Cultural regionalism and divergent social trajectories in Early Bronze Age Cyprus', AJA 117/1, 59-81.
Webb J. et al. 2009, The Bronze Age cemeteries at Karmi Palealona and Lapatsa in Cyprus. Excavations by J.R.B. Stewart. SIMA CXXXVI (Sävedalen: P. Åström).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1888
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1888,0927.13
