BMCR 2009.05.21: Hemingway on Momigliano, Knossos Pottery Handbook: Neolithic and Bronze Age (Minoan). BSA Studies 14

Nicoletta Momigliano (ed.), Knossos Pottery Handbook: Neolithic and
Bronze Age (Minoan). BSA Studies 14.  London:  The British School at
Athens, 2007.  Pp. xv, 276; figs. 148; tables 34; pl. 1; CD.  ISBN
978-0-904887-55-6.  $170.00; L60.00.

Reviewed by Sean Hemingway, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
([email protected])
Word count:  3794 words
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Disclaimer: The reviewer has worked with several of the authors, most
notably J.A. MacGillivray but also E. Hatzaki and P. Tomkins, at
Palaikastro, another Minoan excavation on Crete sponsored by the
British School at Athens.

The Knossos Pottery Handbook: Neolithic and Bronze Age (Minoan) can be
seen as the prequel to the Knossos Pottery Handbook: Greek and Roman,
which appeared in 2001.[[1]]  As its title implies, the book covers a
vast time span from approximately 6500 to 1100 B.C.  By any measure it
is a significant achievement and the editor and authors are to be
commended for collectively bringing together in one volume the most
up-to-date presentation of the pottery produced at Knossos, the largest
and single most important archaeological site on Crete in the
prehistoric period. Some years ago an eminent British archaeologist
gave a lecture in New York on the Indo-European question and during the
discussion afterwards was asked how Crete fit into his theoretical
models.  He replied quite seriously that the problem with prehistoric
Crete was that there was too much information available.  At first
blush, the reader of this book may have a similar impression.  Taken as
a whole, the quantities and variety of pottery that were produced at
Knossos in the Neolithic and Bronze Age are staggering.  However, the
wealth of archaeological information that often renders the application
of even sophisticated theoretical models inadequate is precisely what
enables the kind of detailed ceramic analysis so carefully presented in
this book.  One must also keep in mind that this book is a reference
work and is not meant to be read from cover to cover.  It is aimed at
the pottery specialist and field archaeologist.  This reviewer would
not recommend it for general or even undergraduate level reading.  Its
greatest strength lies in its rigorous application of stratigraphic
sequencing to every period and its pottery, providing a clear and
traceable thread of history through this important site, which has been
the subject of study and excavation for more than a century.  In this
way, the reader can see how secure or in some cases how tenuously each
ceramic phase is tied to that which precedes it and that which follows.

The book consists of an introduction by the editor, Nicoletta
Momigliano, and six chapters written by specialists that are arranged
chronologically.  Momigliano stresses that this book is not a corpus of
all prehistoric pottery that has been found at Knossos but instead
focuses on local ceramic production. Momigliano provides a brief
overview of the history of excavation and ceramic sequencing at the
site beginning in 1878 under the direction of Minos Kalokairinos and
Sir Arthur Evans's historic and monumental research between 1900 and
1931, which culminated in his multi-volume work, The Palace of Minos at
Knossos.  Momigliano highlights the contributions of Evans's colleague,
Duncan MacKenzie, who was the first to phase Neolithic and Minoan
pottery each into three main stages, using the labels Lower, Middle and
Upper Neolithic and Early, Middle and Late Minoan consistently, a
scheme that Evans whole-heartedly endorsed.[[2]]  Together Evans and
MacKenzie further subdivided the Minoan phases into three sub-phases
(Early Minoan I, II, III, etc.) for a total of nine phases for the
Bronze Age. This tripartite Minoan classification system has remained
in use for the Knossian ceramic sequence to the present day and
Momigliano assesses some of its continuing problems at the site and
especially when applied in the broader context of other sites on the
island and in the Aegean.  After Evans, Arne Furumark made important
refinements to the later Knossian Bronze Age sequence in his monumental
study of Mycenaean pottery and Mycenaean chronology first published in
1941. Numerous additional campaigns of excavations at Knossos in the
second half of the twentieth century have sought to clarify the
Knossian ceramic sequence. Most notable among these are Sinclair Hood's
excavations along the Royal Road and in the palace in 1957-1961, which
yielded a wealth of important new stratified material, and the
excavations of the Minoan Unexplored Mansion by Popham and Sackett in
the 1960's and 1970's.

It is important to note that the present volume is not merely a
synthesis of what has already been published on Knossian pottery, as
one might presuppose from its slightly misleading title of handbook,
but is a new approach. The authors have formed a sequence of
representative pottery groups founded on stratigraphic and stylistic
observations that were initially determined without labels such as
Early Minoan IIB or Middle Minoan IA.  Each chapter adheres to a basic
presentation that begins with a brief introduction to the period and
the history of the scholarship. The main archaeological deposits for
each pottery group are listed and their contexts discussed. The
characteristics of the ceramic group are articulated through a
description of the most common fabrics, wares and their decoration, and
forms and their shapes; this constitutes the largest part of the text
in each chapter. The body chapters conclude with sections on the
relative chronology of the pottery group/ceramic phase and any
synchronizations that it has with ceramic deposits at other Cretan
sites as well as sites further afield in the Aegean and more generally
the Eastern Mediterranean region. The synchronizations are also listed
in useful tables that accompany each chapter.

There is not space in this review even to mention all of the different
kinds of pottery from Knossos discussed within the book.  Rather what
follows are some measured comments on the different chapters.  The
first chapter, by Peter Tompkins, covers the entire ceramic producing
Neolithic period (ca. 6500-3100 B.C.).  The period is defined as nine
strata which are divided into 9 pottery groups (Strata IX-VIII,
VII-VIB, VIA-V, IV, IIIB, IIIA, IIB, IIA, and IC).  Knossos occupies a
central place in our understanding of the Cretan Neolithic as its
earliest settlement precedes ceramic production, the Aceramic
Neolithic, and the site shows continuous occupation to the very end of
the Neolithic and into the Bronze Age.  This chapter presents an
excellent survey of this early period at Knossos and provides a sense
of the rich Knossian ceramic sequence.  In general the line drawings
throughout the book are of a high quality.  For a handbook, though, one
expects to see as many complete shapes represented as possible.  There
are just nine whole shapes illustrated for the entire Neolithic and all
appear as line drawings.  It would have been nice to have had some
photographs of whole vases as well.  In Betancourt's book on the
history of Minoan pottery, for example, there are three complete or
nearly complete pots from Middle Neolithic Knossos.[[3]]  None of these
is represented in Tompkins's drawings and one wonders how many other
shapes, which are carefully described in the text, could have been
illustrated.  This chapter is the only one to include a microscopic
analysis and presentation of the different fabrics used to make the
pottery.  Tompkins shows how the Knossos pottery sequence helps to
secure later Neolithic Cretan chronology and identifies a range of
imported pottery in the Knossos sequence, beginning with the very
earliest pottery producing levels, that allows the Knossos sequence to
be securely anchored to other Greek and Anatolian pottery sequences.
Tompkins's chapter ends with a discussion of the issue of
"Sub-Neolithic" pottery of the Early Minoan I period and concludes that
there is no longer any reason to think that the Early Minoan I period
begins any later than Early Cycladic I in the Cyclades, Early Helladic
I in Greece, or Early Bronze I in the East Aegean.  One gets the sense
that, given the very fragmentary nature of the material, our
understanding of this important early period will continue to evolve
with on-going adjustments and re-analysis of the pottery and this
chapter should be taken as the latest, not the last word, on this
subject.

Chapter two, entitled Early Prepalatial (EM I-EM II), by David E.
Wilson, is divided into four pottery groups: The EM I Well Group, the
West Court House Group, the North-East Magazines Group and the South
Front Group.  Sir Arthur Evans's excavations did not produce much
stratified evidence for the Early Minoan period despite extensive tests
that were undertaken between 1900 and 1908.  It was only in later tests
undertaken in the late 1950's and early 1960's by Sinclair Hood and
Gerald Cadogan that well-stratified Early Minoan layers were
identified.  Subsequent soundings by J.D. Evans and then Peter Warren
have enabled a refinement of the Early Minoan II period into EM IIA and
EM IIB. Part of the problem for understanding this early period is the
fact that much of the site is so heavily rebuilt in later periods that
these early layers are less accessible or heavily disturbed. The most
important deposit for understanding Early Minoan I ceramics at Knossos
is a deep fill in a well located in the north-east wing of the later
palace, which is one of twelve deposits excavated at the site that
Wilson defines as diagnostic for this period. Wilson does not see a
clear ceramic subdivision within the Early Minoan I period as has been
previously argued. There is strong continuity in pottery fabrics and
wares from Early Minoan I to Early Minoan IIA, represented by the West
Court House Group (Early Minoan IIA early) and the Northeast Magazine
Group (Early Minoan IIA late), when differences in forms and surface
decoration allow for period subdivisions. The Wiped and/or Washed Ware
is one characteristic ware of EM I that does not continue into EM IIA.
Burnished wares, the Dark-on-Light Ware, which becomes so
characteristic of Minoan pottery in later periods, and Red/Black
Slipped Ware, including Light-on-Dark, comprise much of the fine
pottery in addition to cooking and pithos wares. Perhaps not
surprisingly, the fundamental cooking vessels -- tripod cooking pots
and baking dishes -- begin in Prepalatial times and have a long history
in Minoan ceramics.  Wilson notes that there are no off-island ceramic
imports at Knossos in the Early Minoan I period but Cycladic pottery
does begin to appear in EM IIA contexts when imported pottery from East
Crete and the Mesara also appears at Knossos.  The EM IIB pottery
phase, defined as the South Front House Group, by contrast, does not
have many links across the island except for imported Vasiliki Ware,
which, however, is not common outside of eastern Crete.

Chapter three on the Late Prepalatial period, or Early Minoan
III-Middle Minoan IA, is written by Momigliano.  Momigliano describes
the EM III period at Knossos as a time of retrenchment and isolation,
continuing certain trends of the preceding EM IIB period and she sees
the Middle Minoan IA period as a time of recovery, growth, and
increasing contacts leading up to Protopalatial developments. Early
Minoan III and Middle Minoan IA are often linked together in
archaeological literature. The Early Minoan III ceramic phase has been
controversial because it is not represented at many sites, which were
destroyed and abandoned in EM IIB and not re-inhabited until MM IA or
later. However, Knossos is a site that was continuously occupied and
Momigliano is able to subdivide the period into EM III Early, the SFH
Foundation Trench Group, and EM III Late, the Upper East Well Group,
although as yet without detailed ceramic definitions of these
sub-phases. The EM III pottery phase is represented by 10 deposits with
a predominance of Light-on-Dark Ware. Knossian EM III pottery continues
to be handmade with a few exceptions suggesting the first attempts at
the use of the potter's wheel.  Barbotine Ware and Polychrome ware make
their first appearance but occur very rarely and NM suggests the latter
may be imported to Knossos at this time. The Middle Minoan IA ceramic
phase is called the House C/RRS Fill Group and only seven deposits are
assigned to this group. There is much continuity in terms of fabrics,
wares and forms from the EM III period and pottery generally continues
to be handmade. Major innovations of this ceramic phase are the
adoption of polychrome decoration and the appearance of new vessel
forms such as straight-sided and carinated cups.  As in the other
chapters throughout the book less attention is given to the coarse
wares and cooking wares.  This is largely due to their secondary or
non-treatment in earlier publications, and not because they do not
exist and cannot add to our understanding of diagnostic pottery
assemblages. Knossian imitations of Cycladic pottery appear in MM IA at
Knossos and recent excavations at Akrotiri on Thera have yielded a few
MM IA imports from Knossos.  A Knossian imported vase at Lapithos is
suggestive of the first clear Knossian contacts with Cyprus in the
Middle Minoan IA period.

The fourth chapter on Protopalatial (MM IB-MM IIIA) pottery is by J.A.
MacGillivray. This chapter is largely derived from MacGillivray's book
on this subject, and follows the typology terminology that he
establishes there.[[4]]  The author only discusses fine ware, deviating
from the schema established in the earlier, and later, chapters.  JAM
contends that in this period Knossos received exchanges, offerings and
tributes from a wide variety of sources but notes it is at present
difficult to distinguish between local products and imports. However,
the most important pottery of this period, Kamares Ware, named early on
after the cave on Mount Ida where large deposits were found, is one of
the most recognizable ceramics in the world and MacGillivray argues
that it was largely produced in the Knossos-Archanes region.  Its
high-quality, lustrous, black ground surface probably imitates the
black luster of oxidized silver and the sharp, crisp forms of many of
the shapes certainly look to metal prototypes.  In addition, intricate
red, orange, yellow, violet and white designs were applied on the dark
ground to produce a vivid polychrome effect.  This pottery required
considerable technical knowledge and skill to produce.  It was not for
every day use but likely featured in feasting rituals and other
celebrations.  MacGillivray suggests that Knossos was a center for
communal gatherings in this period, not a seat of worldly authority as
it would become later. Middle Minoan IB is termed the Early Chamber
Beneath the West Court Group and is represented by 15 deposits from
many different locations of the palace and town. For the first time
there is significant use of the potter's wheel and many more kinds of
pottery were produced than before, among them: Barbotine Ware, Shallow
Grooved Ware, Early Printed Ware, and greater varieties of
Light-on-Dark Ware, as well as the Polychrome or Kamares Ware.  The
Middle Minoan IIA ceramic phase is termed the Royal Pottery Stores
Group and is represented by 11 archaeological deposits.  A hallmark of
this phase is 'Egg-shell' Ware, with its exceptionally thin walls of
less than a millimeter, which must be the product of a specialized
workshop, and is the finest pottery of its time.  Another ceramic
innovation at Knossos in MM IIA is the creation of Stamped and
Impressed Ware and, more generally, the widespread adoption of the
potter's wheel. Knossian pottery of this period travels to the Near
East and has been found on Cyprus and in the Levant.  MacGillivray also
sees strong parallels in the silver ware found at To^d in Egypt with MM
IB and MM IIA Knossian ceramics.[[5]]  The Middle Minoan IIB ceramic
phase is termed the Trial KV Group and is the most difficult to define
stratigraphically at Knossos with only four archaeological contexts
listed.  Most characteristic of this phase is Precision Stamped Ware
and polychrome styles on cups and bridge-spouted jars. A good number of
contemporary pottery deposits in destruction layers at other sites on
the island have been identified and some Knossian pottery exports have
been found in the Levant and Egypt, notably at Tell el-Daba'a, where
Minoan style frescos also occur, and Abydos.  MacGillivray identifies
the MM IIIA ceramic phase at Knossos as the West and South Polychrome
Deposits Group represented by only six archaeological contexts.
MacGillivray now believes that the palace at Knossos was brought down
at the end of this period by a seismic event sometime after the
destruction of the palace at Phaistos.

The final two chapters of the book -- on the Neopalatial, Final
Palatial and Post Palatial pottery from Knossos -- are by Eleni
Hatzaki. The Neopalatial period at the site is divided into three
distinct destruction horizons: a MM IIIB seismic destruction, a second
seismic destruction associated with the Theran eruption in LM IA and a
fire destruction at the end of LM IB. Hatzaki argues that the emphasis
Popham placed on "type-fossils", specific vessels and types of
decorations produced and consumed within the span of a single ceramic
phase, does not work so well for the Neopalatial period (MM IIIB-LM IB)
since most Neopalatial vessel types and decorative motifs have longer
life spans, straddling more than one ceramic phase. Hatzaki elucidates
some other terminology issues: notably that in previous scholarship MM
IIIB, MM IIIB/LM IA transition, and early LM IA have been used to
describe the same thing.  Hatzaki does not see stratigraphic or
stylistic evidence to support subdivisions of the three main phases as
has sometimes been suggested before and as is sometimes possible at
other sites like Mochlos in the LM IB period.  Instead, Hatzaki
proposes a new revised sequence based on three main pottery groups.
The MM IIIB ceramic phase is identified as the KS 178 Group, named
after a deposit excavated by Colin MacDonald in the early 1990's.  It
is unfortunate, given the importance of this book, that Hatzaki was
unable to study the complete vases from the palace and acropolis houses
which are stored in the Herakleion Museum, but Hatzaki states that this
only prevented a more detailed discussion of fabrics and formation
techniques. One distinctive motif that begins in this phase is the use
of ripple decoration as a frieze on lustrous and non-lustrous
Dark-on-Light Ware. The LM IA ceramic phase is termed the Gypsades Well
(Upper Deposit) Group with 24 diagnostic archaeological contexts
listed.  This ceramic phase exhibits an increase in use of elaborate
decorative motifs, which seem to parallel developments in fresco
painting.  The reed style and its local variants applied on both fine
and coarse wares is a hallmark of this period and one of the main
features for distinguishing between MM IIIB and LM IA deposits.  The
so-called 'Jackson Pollack' or spray-painted style also appears to
begin in LM IA and is an example of another distinctive style that
continues into the next ceramic phase.  EH defines the LM IB ceramic
phase as the SEX North House Group.  One has to go to the index to
learn that SEX stands for Stratigraphical Museum Extension Site.
Hatzaki reports that, surprisingly, a detailed LM IB ceramic phase
remains slightly elusive at Knossos because of the relatively small
amount of published pottery. However, at a recent conference on LM IB
pottery held at the Danish Institute in Athens, Sinclair Hood presented
a wealth of unpublished pottery from destruction deposits along the
Royal Road.  When this material is published it will rectify the
situation considerably with a very wide range of pottery shapes and
styles as one expects would have been produced at this major palace
center during one of its renaissance periods. At present cross-island
synchronizations in the LM IB period are still largely defined by the
existence of a small group of open and closed vessels in fine buff clay
decorated in Marine and Alternating style of the Special Palatial
Tradition, the majority of which were probably produced in Knossian
potter's workshops.

The last chapter is devoted to the Final Palatial and Post Palatial
periods.  The Final Palatial period (LM II-LM IIIA2) witnesses the rise
of Knossian hegemony as the single functioning palace on Crete. The LM
II ceramic phase is called the MUM South Sector Group and with 25
archaeological contexts listed is clearly defined with extensive
assemblages. Hatzaki notes that the surface of the pottery is usually
less well preserved than those of the LM I and LM III periods. In terms
of pottery, links with mainland Greece in this period at Knossos are
based more on mainland inspired new ceramic shapes, such as the kylix,
trough-spouted jug and squat alabastron, than actual imports.  LM IIIA1
is defined as the Long Corridor Cists Group with 17 archaeological
deposits.  Hatzaki points out that the published pottery of this period
provides only part of the picture as it is a highly selective
representation of a restricted number of fine and mostly decorated
vases.  Among these though, the one-handled ledge-rimmed decorated cup
and the plain kylix have become 'type fossils' of this ceramic phase.
Floral and abstract motifs in Dark-on-Light Ware assume greater
prominence while marine themes become less popular. The LM IIIA2
ceramic phase is termed the MUM Pits 8, 10-11 Group.  An assemblage of
pottery in tomb <greek>Q</greek> at the Katsambas cemetery demonstrates
the co-existence of LM IIIA1 and LM IIIA2 stylistic features and
highlights the need to view assemblages in their entirety instead of
focusing on individual vessels.  Hatzaki reminds us that Popham's
palace destruction horizon is an event, not a ceramic phase.  It
occurred at a time when pottery with stylistic features of LM IIIA1 and
LM IIIA2 overlapped.  Hatzaki does not believe it is possible at
present to support the subdivision of LM IIIA2 into Early and Late as
Popham had argued but future research may shed light on this issue. The
LM IIIA2 ceramic phase at Knossos does not have many synchronisms with
other Cretan sites because there is so much regionalism in pottery
production coinciding with the vacuum caused by the destruction of the
palace at Knossos.  The best evidence for contacts between LM IIIA2
Crete and the eastern Mediterranean is at Kommos and only a few exports
from Crete to Cyprus, the Levant and Egypt are known.

The Post Palatial period is divided into three pottery groups: the
Makritikhos 'Kitchen' Group (LM IIIB Early), the MUM North Platform
Pits Group (LM IIIB Late), and the SEX Southern Half Group (LM IIIC
Early).  In the LM IIIB Early ceramic phase, there is generally a
decrease in Dark-on-Light Lustrous Ware with a much more limited
repertoire of motifs and a much greater predominance of plain wares,
which is a trend observed beyond Knossos at this time.  Hatzaki's
presentation of the LM IIIC Early ceramic phase is based only on
preliminary reports as the deposits of this phase have not yet been
fully published.  At present there is no evidence for an LM IIIC Late
ceramic phase at Knossos.  The Sub-Minoan pottery from the site is
essentially contemporary with the beginning of the Early Iron Age in
the rest of Greece. The CD attached to the back cover of the book
contains an additional 187 illustrations, many in color but of varying
quality, and forms an extremely useful supplement to the book.


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Notes:


1.   J.N. Coldstream, L.J. Eiring, and G. Forster, Knossos Pottery
Handbook: Greek and Roman, British School at Athens Studies 7, London,
2001.

2.   Momigliano has done considerable research on the MacKenzie --
Evans relationship.  See N. Momigliano, Duncan Mackenzie. A Cautious
Canny Highlander & the Palace of Minos at Knossos, Institute of
Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London,
London, 1999.

3.   Philip P. Betancourt, The History of Minoan Pottery, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, 1985, pl. 1a, c, f.

4.   J.A. MacGillivray, Knossos: Pottery Groups of the Old Palace
Period, British School at Athens Studies 5, London, 1998.

5.   On the To^d treasure, see now J. Aruz, et al., eds., Beyond
Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C., The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2008, pp. 65-69; see also p. 60,
catalogue no. 32 with color illustration, for the Kamares Ware
bridge-spouted jar from Byblos mentioned by JAM on p. 140.