The Late Minoan pottery

Abstract

The numerous pots found in the Gypsades cemetery are interesting both for their range in time and for the evidence they provide concerning the occupation of Knossos in the second half of the Late Minoan period. The earliest pots found, the L.M. IIIA vases, are the natural successors of the Palace Style at Knossos, and the Sub-Minoan vases are the precursors of the earliest pottery in the Fortetsa cemetery, where the ceramic development into Protogeometric may be followed. The Late Minoan pottery from the tombs amounted to thirty whole vases of twelve basic shapes. By far the most common vase was the stirrup jar, of which most examples belonged to the end of the L.M. IIIB period. Of the twelve examples in the collection six (VII. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) came from tomb VII, the latest tomb; with them were found the two belly-handled amphorae (VII. 1 and 2), which appear late both in Crete and on the mainland of Greece. Only one stirrup jar (I. 4) earlier than L.M. IIIB in date was found. None of the other shapes was represented by more than two vases. The absence from the cemetery of the tall-stemmed kylix and of the deep bowl, which are common in Mycenaean IIIC tombs of Mainland Greece, is noteworthy.