Early-Middle Bronze Age Flashcards
Name the three geographical regions and cultures.
Cycladic- Aegan Islands
Minoan- center on island of Crete
Helladic- centre of mainland Greece
Identification
7 points
Cycladic Figurine
* 39.1cm Folded-arm figurine that depicts a female (breasts, pubic region, slight bulge on belly)
* Originates from Keros-Syros group in Cyclades, Early Bronze Age
* Marble
* Displays the use of incised lines
* Traces of paint: zigzags/stripes on body, dots/stripes on face, and jewelry
* Unknown function; could be fertility figure, image of deceased, or toy
* Looters started hunting for them and forgeries were made
Identification
6 points
Frying-Pan Vessel
* 28cm and made of Teracotta
* Found in Chalandriani cemetry on Syros, from Early Bronze Age
* Incised and stamped lines are pressed into clay before firing
* Ships are surrounded by concentric circles and lines, small fish in front of ship
* No practical function, not used in homes
* Decorative disc, maybe for funerary
Identification
Landscape and Bird Fresco
* Found in House Delta 2, Akrotiri
* Late Cycladic period
* True fresco technique of a rocky landscape scene with irregular bands of red, yellow, and blue
* Lilies in groups of 2-3 flowers, and flying swallows
What are the two kinds of frescoes?
True fresco, paint applied to wet plaster
Dry fresco, paint applied with binder to dried plaster
Who is Sir Arthur Evans
- 19th century British archaeologist
- Curator at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
- Excavated Knoss and reconstructed parts of it
- Named the culture “Minoans” after after mythical King Minos
Descirbe Minoan culture
- Trade networts with Egypt, Near East/Mesopotamia, Mainland Greece, Cyclades
- Import and export of luxury goods: copper, gold, silver, ivory, manufactored goods, artowrks
- Influenced settlements on Thera and cyclades
- Undecipered writing systems: Heirglyphic and Linear A
Describe the Minoan Palatial phases
- Protopalatial (1900-1750 BCE): establishment of earliest palaces and their destruction by earthquake
- Neopalatial (1750-1490 BCE): Rebuilding of new palaces
Identification
Kamares Ware Jug
* Symmetrical image of concentric circles, polychrome colours (white, red, yellow)
* Found in Phaistos from Middle Minoan Period (Propolatial)
* Black slip background
* Wide body, one handle, most likely for pouring liquids
* Mouth is almost beak-like making the jug potentially depict a bird
Identification
Snake Goddess
* 11 5/8” figurine
* Made using faience (teracotta glazed with crushed quartz) to have glass like sheen, technique likely from Egypt
* 1/3 found in repositories of the Palace of Knosses, from Middle-Late Minoan
* Restoration was done on its head and left arm below elbow
* Could be depicting a snake goddess, fertility goddess, or priestess
Identification
Palaikastro Kouros
* 20 1/4” statuette
* Found in Palaikastro, eastern Crete from Late Minoan
* Kouros= male youth
* Made of chryselephantine (rare material that is combination of gold and ivory; hippo ivory fitted with wooden dowels, grey serpentine stone, gold leaf, and rock crystals on eyes)
* Black residue from fire in palace
* Can be of a youthful male god, Cretan Zues?
Identification
Palace Style Vessel
* Found in Palaikastro from late Minoan
* For special palace tradition
* Has dark slip design (dark on light background) of marine style (octopus)
* Pilgrim’s flask, has large body to contain lots of liquid w/ narrow mouth to drink and cork
Identification
Gold Cup
* 1/2 found in Vapheio, Lakonia (mainland Greece), Inside Helladic tholos tomb as grave good, from Late Minoan
* Contains a repousse (hammered out image to make raised relief/coming-out image)
* Scene is a longe haired youth man (kouros) holding rope tethered to a bull’s back leg, at a rocky landscape with a large tree
