Neolithic Sherds from Thespiai

Abstract

N EAR the site of ancient Thespiai, on the south bank of the river Thespios opposite Eremokastro, there is a low mound which marks the place of a prehistoric settlement. As early as 1920 it was known to Professor C. W. Blegen, who first showed it to me. In recent years members of the American School have stopped there several times and have gathered samples of the fragmentary pottery that lies scattered over its whole surface. The piece illustrated on Plate 86 was picked up in October 1950 by Mr. Charles Fleischmann, who presented it to the School's study collection in Athens. This fragment, which measures about 0.065 m. by 0.08 m., comprises only a small part of the rim and side of the vessel, a jar or deep bowl, which was originally some 0.18 m. in diameter at the lip. The rim was folded over by the potter and pres'sed against the outer side to form a thick roll. The shoulder is gently convex. Light reddish-brown clay makes up the biscuit, which is firm and well baked. T'he surfaces, unslipped and incompletely burnished, are pitted here and there with minute cavities from which presumably bits of vegetable matter were burnt out in the firing. The top of the rim is decorated with short slanting lines which appear to have been impressed rather than incised. Imnmediately below, on the exterior, is a representation of a human face. The brows are heavy, ending at either side in projections that are almost hornlike. The forehead, where the brows meet, is unnaturally prominent and forms a sort of lug; the nose is disproportionately small. Eyes and mouth are formed by lumps of clay, deeply cut with horizontal slots and slightly worked. Bulbous eminences on either side of the mouth portray the cheeks. Below and to the left of the face (as we see it) traces of another plastic element are preserved: a ridge running almost horizontally, then curving downward and meeting some further bits of modelling near the break. These features may have been merely decorative (cf. Kunze, Orchomenos II, pl. XIV, 3a) or perhaps represented part of the human figure: one of a pair of arms coming in from the sides of the pot. For all its crudeness, the face has character and individuality. Its remarkable forehead and cheeks, the eyes so fashioned that the upper lids cast deep shadows, the narrow mouth with lips thrust forward and parted, all together produce an expression that is strange and arresting. How much of the total effect should be attributed to the deliberate intention of the artist, how much to chance and primitive