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Petrological Examination of Coarse-ware Stirrup-jars from Mycenae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

J. A. Riley
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Extract

Elemental analysis of coarse-ware stirrup-jars from Thebes provided the first objective evidence for the movement of coarse wares in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. While the evidence of the optical emission spectrometry analysis indicates that stirrup-jars occur in several fabrics, the assignation of these fabrics to specific sources has been the subject of some debate, summarized and discussed in the light of fresh evidence by Catling and Jones but continued by McArthur.

It was to cast more light on the general questions that a large sample of stirrup-jars from Mycenae was analysed by petrological analysis. This method of analysis involves the identification of the rocks and minerals within the clay and relates them to geological sources most compatible with the archaeological evidence. Recent discussions of the method include Courtois, Peacock, and de Paepe.

With considerable help and collaboration from Dr. E. French and Lord William Taylour, and permission from the Greek Department of Antiquities, 37 samples were taken from stirrup jars from the House of the Wine Merchants (= HWM; dated LH IIIA/B), 25 from the House of the Oil Merchants (= HOM; dated to the end of LH IIIB1), and ten samples from stoppers found in the stirrup jars in the House of the Oil Merchants. The aim was to define the fabrics petrologically in order to relate these to the typology proposed by Haskell (this volume), and to suggest possible origins for them based on geological evidence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 76 , November 1981 , pp. 335 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1981

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References

1 Catling, H. W. and Millett, A., ‘A Study of the Inscribed Stirrup Jars from Thebes’, Archaeometry 8 (1965) 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Catling, H. W. and Jones, R. E., ‘A Reinvestigation of the Provenance of the Inscribed Stirrup Jars found at Thebes’, Archaeometry 19 (1977) 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 McArthur, J. T., ‘Inconsistencies in the Composition and Provenance Studies of the Inscribed Jars found at Thebes’, Archaeometry 20 (1978) 177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 L. Courtois, Examen au microscope pétrographique des céramiques archéologiques (Centre des Recherches Archéologiques, Notes et Monographies Techniques, 8).

5 Peacock, D. P. S. (ed.), Pottery and Early Commerce. Characterisation and Trade in Roman and later Ceramics (London).Google Scholar

6 de Paepe, P., ‘A Petrological Study of Coarse Wares from Thorikos, S.E. Attica (Greece)’, Miscellanea Graeca 2, 61.Google Scholar

Acknowledgements: This study is part of a wider petrological examination of Aegean Late Bronze Age pottery by the author in collaboration with Professor A. C. Renfrew and Dr. D. P. S. Peacock at the University of Southampton, and funded by the Science Research Council. I am grateful to Dr. E. French and Lord William Taylour for their collaboration and assistance, and to Dr. H. Haskell for consultation on his typology of the stirrup-jars. I have benefited from the use of petrological facilities in the Fitch Laboratory while visiting the Britis School, and am grateful to Dr. D. P. S. Peacock for his helpful comments on the text and on the thin sections.

7 Catling, H. W., Cherry, J., Jones, R. E., and Killen, J. T., BSA 75 (1980).Google Scholar

8 Creutzburg, N. et al. ,General Geologic Map of Greece, Crete Island, 1: 200,000, (Institute of Geological and Mining Research, Athens).Google Scholar

9 Riley, J. A., Peacock, D. P. S., and Renfrew, A. C., ‘The Petrological Characterisation of Ceramics from the eastern Mediterranean Region’, Revue d'archéometrie (1980) 4.Google Scholar