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Fingerprints on Early Minoan pottery: a pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Keith Branigan ,
Yiannis Papadatos  and
Douglas Wynn
Keith Branigan
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
Yiannis Papadatos
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
Douglas Wynn
Affiliation:
South Yorkshire Police
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Abstract

A pilot project was carried out to assess the frequency of surviving fingerprints on Early Minoan pottery and to assess the quality of the prints. Two pottery assemblages, from the Ayia Kyriaki tholos and Myrtos Fournou Korifi settlement, were examined. Almost fifty sherds/vessels (out of nearly 20,000) were found to carry a total of 154 prints, but the majority were of poor quality. Of the thirty clear prints, however, fourteen had five or more ridge characteristics, including one example with as many as twelve. It is suggested that kiln assemblages might yield both more and better preserved prints.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 97 , November 2002 , pp. 49 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2002

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References

1 The project was carried out with the permission of the Greek Ministry of Culture; we are grateful to the Directors of the Iraklion and Ayios Nikolaos museums for enabling us to study the material, and to the staff of the British School in Athens and at Knossos for their support. We are grateful to Ericsson, INSTAP for providing a grant to undertake this project, to the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology for financial support.

2 Badè, W. F., A Manual of Excavation in the Near East (Berkeley, 1934), 34Google Scholar.

3 Åström, P., Excavations at Kalopsidha and Ayios Iakovos in Cyprus (SIMA 2: Lund, 1966), 127–8, 142Google Scholar; id., ‘Finger-prints on Cypriote Bronze Age pottery’, Proc 1st International Cyprological Congress (Nicosia, 1972), 1–3; id. and S. A. Ericsson, Fingerprints and Archaeology (SIMA 28, Göteborg, 1980).

4 Pers. comm. We are grateful tojulie Hruby for discussing her work with us: her work is focussed rather more on the study of populations than individuals.

5 Blackmail, D. J. and Branigan, K., ‘The excavation of an Early Bronze Age tholos tomb at Ayia Kyriaki, Ayiofarango, Southern Crete’, BSA 77 (1982), 1–57Google Scholar.

6 Warren, P., Myrtos: An Early Bronze Age Settlement in Crete (BSA Supp. 7; London, 1972Google Scholar).

7 Whitelaw, T., Day, P., Kiriatzi, E., Kilikoglou, V. and Wilson, D., ‘Ceramic traditions at EM.IIB Myrtos, Fournou Korifi’, in Laffineur, R. and Betancourt, P. P. (eds), TEXNH: Craftsmen, Craftswomen, and Craftmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age (Aegaeum 16; Liège and Austin, 1997), 265–74Google Scholar.