TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF LOW‐FIRED TERRACOTTA STATUES FROM AYIA IRINI, KEA

Abstract

The island of Kea (ancient Keos), one of the western Cyclades, lies off the coast of Attica opposite Makronisos and Lavrion. Its greatest natural asset is the enormous harbour at the northwest end, a protection for shipping that has afforded the island unique opportunities from very early times and was, no doubt, behind the choice of the little peninsula of Ayia Irini within the harbour as a site for settlement in the Early Bronze Age. Excavations began at Ayia Irini in 1960, continued in 1961, and from 1963 to 1968, with supplementary tests and soundings in the years 1969 to 1976. The work is under the direction of John L. Caskey* for the University of Cincinnati, under the aegis of the American School of Classical Studies. Results have surpassed expectations with the finding of a settlement that persisted from EB I1 well down to LH I11 times. Of great interest is the discovery of a sanctuary, built initially in the Middle Bronze Age, that continued as a place of worship at least into Hellenistic times. Among the finds from the building are large terracotta statues made of local clay. They represented dancing or standing female votaries; they stood in the sanctuary and may have been intended to show a perpetual liturgy in connection with the epiphany of a divinity. How many there were, we cannot say; their fragmentary condition precludes an accurate estimate of their original numbers, but it is safe to say that there were more than fifty-five. They range in size from 60 or 70 cm to a full life-size (Caskey 1982). Fragments of the statues were recovered from all over the temple, from depths of around 60cm below present sea-level up to very near the surface of today. They lay in the debris of the fallen building with pottery datable to LM IB/LH I1 and in accumulations of later times. Some fragments were built into walls and benches of later phases of the temple. But the place of finding is not the determining factor in the condition of the various pieces. The soil in which they lay was much the same throughout, and all were subject throughout the centuries of their burial to the inroads of the salty sea. With the exception of a few pieces, observable differences in quality and in the state of preservation seems attributable rather to initial firing than to anything else. The statues were made of very coarse clay. They were fired generally in an oxidising atmosphere, but the firing was not always consistent throughout. The making of such statues was no small achievement. Clearly a knowledge of the firing characteristics of coarse clays and the working of kilns necessary for a successful firing of large statues was well in hand at least by the opening years of the Late Bronze Age.