Crete and Italy in the Late Bronze Age III Period

Author(s): Birgitta Plsson Hallager

Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Apr., 1985), pp. 293-305
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/504331
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Crete and
Italy
in the Late Bronze
Age
III
Period*
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
(P1. 38)
Abstract
The connections between Crete and
Italy
in the Late
Bronze
Age
III
period
have
long
been
disregarded.
This
article
attempts
to correct the situation. Given the finds
we have at
present,
Minoan metals
appear
to have
played
no
major
role in
Italy,
while Italian metal
objects
were desired
by
Cretans. Two
major
areas with
"Myce-
naean"
pottery-Scoglio
del Tonno and Sardinia-are
given
closer
study,
because
they
were
probably
once im-
portant emporia
and
they
have rich ceramic material. In
both areas the
presence
of Minoan
pottery
can be demon-
strated,
and the
products
of the local
Kydonian workshop
of West Crete are identified on Sardinia. Taken with the
Italian
pottery
found on
Crete,
it is clear that intercon-
nections existed between the two areas. Crete offered
luxury goods
in
exchange
for needed raw
materials,
mainly European
and Sardinian metals and some fin-
ished
products.
The
problem
of connections between the
Aegean
and
Italy
in the Late Bronze
Age
has been
part
of the
debate about
European-Aegean
interaction since its
beginning,
because
Mycenaean
sherds were found in
southern
Italy early
in this
century.
This ceramic ma-
terial was
thought
useful in
establishing early
Italian
chronology
and that of
Europe
in
general,
where
My-
cenaean
pottery
is not
represented.
The
Aegean pres-
ence in
Italy
has been assessed
by Taylour,
and more
recently by
Biancofiore and
Vagnetti.1
Bronzes have
also
figured
in the
discussion,
although they
occur in
smaller numbers and the
types
are limited in
variety.
Recent excavations in both
Italy
and Crete have
brought
to
light
much
new,
relevant material which
needs to be assessed. The results of this work cast
doubt on two basic
assumptions: 1)
Crete was in de-
cline after the
period
of the
palaces
and so
Myce-
naeans controlled
trade; 2)
hence
only Mycenaeans
were involved with
Italy.
*
This article was
originally presented
as a lecture at
Bryn
Mawr
College
and New York
University
in October 1984. I want
to thank Dr. lannis Tzedakis for
permission
to use
photographs
and
drawings
of the
unpublished
LM III material from the Greek-
Swedish Excavations at Khania in West Crete. The
drawings
are
made
by
the author unless otherwise stated. The
parallels
for the
Cretan ceramic material do not
pretend
to be exhaustive.
1
W.
Taylour, Mycenaean Pottery
in
Italy
and
Adjacent
Areas
(Cambridge 1958;
hereafter
Taylour);
F.
Biancofiore, Civilta mice-
nea nell'Italia meridionale2 (Rome
1967; hereafter
Biancofiore);
L.
Vagnetti, "Mycenaean Imports
in Central
Italy," Appendix
2 in E.
Peruzzi, Mycenaeans
in
Early
Latium
(Incunabula Graeca
75,
CRETAN METALS IN ITALY
Branigan
was
among
the first to advocate contact
between Crete and
Italy
in the
Early
Bronze
Age.
He
argued
that tin and silver were
imported
to Crete
from the western
Mediterranean,
one of the clues to
this connection
being
the silver
daggers
from Kouma-
sa in the Mesara
plain (no
Cretan material occurs in
Italy
at this
time).2
He
recognized
them as northern
Italian knives of the Remedello
type and,
with several
other artifacts found on
Crete,
designated
them as evi-
dence of
early
contacts. His conclusions
have,
how-
ever,
been
disputed.3
During
the Old Palace Period of the Middle
Bronze
Age
there
was,
as far as we
know,
no direct
contact,
and there
apparently
was little in the New
Palace Period. Four sherds of LM
I/II
date have
been found at
Lipari.4
Even if some of the 110 sherds
of this
period
called
Mycenaean
and found in
Italy
are in fact
Cretan,
the main
support
for interaction
comes from
myth:
witness the
story
of the Minoan ex-
pedition
to
Sicily, King
Minos'
painful
death there
and the Minoan
ship
that went to southern
Italy.5
In the LM III
period (roughly
1400-1100
B.C.),
the
archaeological
evidence for contact becomes more
plentiful.
Metal artifacts are not the best sources of
information,
as few of
certifiably Aegean origin
have
been found in
Italy. Harding explained
this lack:
"Tools and
implements
have not often been found as
items of trade in the Bronze
Age Aegean. They
have
intrinsic value as
metals,
it is
true,
but
they
are usu-
ally heavy
and
bulky
and most
susceptible
of
adoption
to local needs
by
local smiths."6 He
does, however,
see
knives as an
exception,
and cites four
Aegean
exam-
ples
found at
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
Torre Santa
Sabina,
Rome
1980)
151-66.
2
K.
Branigan
"Prehistoric Relations between
Italy
and the Ae-
gean,"
BPI
1966, 97-108, esp.
108.
3
For
example,
L.
Barfield,
"Two Italian Halberds and the
Question
of the Earliest
European Halberds," Origini 3
(1969)
67-83; C. Renfrew and R.
Whitehouse,
"The
Copper Age
of Pen-
insular
Italy,"
BSA 69
(1974)
368-79.
4
Taylour
47-48.
5
The
legends
are summarized
by T.J. Dunbabin, BSR 16
(1948)1-10.
6
A.
Harding, "Mycenaean
Greece and
Europe:
The Evidence
of Bronze Tools and
Implements,"
PPS 41
(1975)
183.
293
American
Journal of Archaeology
89
(1985)
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
Ill. 1. Sites in
Italy
and
Sicily
mentioned in text: 1. Fondo
Paviani;
2.
Frattesina;
3. Treazzano di
Monsampolo;
4.
Coppa Nevigata;
5.
Toppo Daguzzo;
6. Torre S.
Sabina;
7. S. Cosimo
d'Ora;
8. Torre
Castelluccia;
9.
Satyrion;
10. Porto
Perone;
11.
Scoglio
del
Tonno;
12.
Termitito;
13.
Broglio
di
Trebisacce;
14.
Vivara;
15.
Thapsos;
16.
Matrensa;
17. Cozzo del
Pantano;
18.
Pantalica;
19.
Orosei;
20.
Antigori;
21. Domu s'Orku
Grotta Pertosa and Fucino.7 The first three are of
Sandars' class la of
Aegean knives,
and that from
Grotta Pertosa is
paralleled
in the Dictaean Cave.
The fourth knife was later shown
by
Peroni to be an
Italian
type.8
Matthaus
accepts only
the knife from
Scoglio
del Tonno as an
import,
and labels the others
products
of cultural influence.9 Class la knives are
not
highly localized, although
their
origin appears
to
be in Crete with use as
early
as EM
III/MM
I
(cf.
a
7
Harding (supra
n.
6)
196.
8
V.B.
Peroni,
Die Messer in Italien
(Prahistorische
Bronze-
funde
11.2,
Munich
1976)
54-55.
9
H.
Matthaus,
"Italien und Griechenland in der
ausgehenden
Bronzezeit," JdI
95
(1980)
130.
10
N.K.
Sandars,
"The
Antiquity
of the
One-edged
Bronze Knife
in the
Aegean,"
PPS 21
(1955) 176-77, 176, fig.
1.5.
1
Sandars
(supra
n.
10)
177.
12 E.
Macnamara,
"A
Group
of Bronzes from Surbo: New Evi-
dence for
Aegean
Contacts with
Apulia during Mycenaean
IIIB
and
C,"
PPS 36
(1970)
241-60.
13
K.
Branigan,
"The Surbo Bronzes-Some
Observations,"
PPS
38
(1972)
276-85.
14
A. Evans,
The Prehistoric Tombs
of
Knossos
(London 1906)
84, fig.
94.
knife from Porti in the
Mesara,'?
but
by
the Late
Bronze
Age they
are distributed
widely throughout
the
Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus
and the Levant."1 The
Scoglio
knife could have come from Crete as well as
any
other
part
of the eastern Mediterranean.
Swords do not
provide compelling evidence,
either.
The Surbo
sword,
from a hoard found near Lecce in
Apulia, belongs
to Sandars'
type
F of
Aegean
swords.
Macnamara sees the closest
parallel
in a hoard found
at Diakata and dates the Surbo hoard
accordingly
to
LH IIIC.'2
Branigan
finds a LH IIIB sword from
Kos closer and
places
the Surbo hoard in IIIB.13
About 20
examples
of the
type
F sword are known
from the
Aegean;
most of them come from
Crete,
and
the earliest datable one was found in Tomb 95 at Za-
pher Papoura,
Knossos,
in LM IIIA:2 context.'4
The
Surbo sword could bear witness to Cretan-Italian
contact,
not
necessarily Mycenaean.
Several miniature swords have been found in Sic-
ily.15 They
and the Modica
daggers,'6 although
the
latter are from a Pantalica II
hoard,
are
generally
con-
sidered to have their ultimate
inspiration
in
type
F
swords,
with their
T-shaped
hilt. Swords from
Thap-
sos,
Cozzo del
Pantano, Plemirion,
Matrensa and
Dessueri resemble Sandars'
type
A swords.'7 Sandars
herself
rejected
these swords as
imports-but
that
from Plemirion could be one. Two swords found at
Caldare have been
compared
to a sword from Tomb
44 at
Zapher Papoura (LM IIIA)'8;
the latter is
viewed
by
Sandars as a derivative survival of the
type
A
sword,19
which
probably
had a Minoan
origin.
Al-
though
the Caldare swords are most
likely indigenous,
they
share with both the Knossos sword and the other
Sicilian swords the
peculiarity
of
being early types
in a
later context. Evans wanted these swords to
testify
to
the Sicilian
expedition
of
King
Minos which was
closely
connected with the
collapse
of his
empire,20
but
it would
probably
be more
accurate,
on current know-
ledge,
to
speak only
of a certain influence.
Combs-one from Plemirion and two from
Lipa-
ri21-bear decoration
foreign
in the western Mediter-
15
Macnamara
(supra
n.
12)
245 and n. 9.
16
L. Bernab6
Brea, Sicily before
the Greeks
(London 1966) 181,
fig. 43d, h;
A.M. Bietti
Sestieri,
"The Metal
Industry
of Conti-
nental
Italy,
13th to the 1lth
Century B.C.,
and its Connections
with the
Aegean,"
PPS 39
(1973)
406 and
fig. 22.3-4;
Macnamara
(supra
n.
12)
245 and n. 9.
17
N.K.
Sandars,
"The First
Aegean
Swords and their
Ancestry,"
AJA
65
(1961)
26.
18
Taylour
71 and n.
10;
for the Caldare
swords,
see I Micenei in
Italia
(Taranto 1967) 22, pl. 15.61-62;
Evans
(supra
n.
14) 107,
fig.
111.
19
Sandars
(supra
n.
17)
26.
20
Evans
(supra
n.
14)
108-109.
21
H.-G.
Buchholz, "Agaische
Funde und Kultureinflusse in den
Randgebieten
des
Mittelmeers,"
AA
1974, 351, fig.
19a-c.
294
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
ranean,
but
frequent
in the
Aegean.
One of the combs
from
Lipari
is of a
type commonly
used in second mil-
lennium Crete.22 A
gold plaque (only
2 cm.
high)
in
the form of a woman with a
typical
Minoan flounced
skirt is said to come from
Sardinia,23
but there is no
precise
information about its
findspot
or date. This
piece
could be Minoan.
ITALIAN METALS IN CRETE
The most famous
examples
of Italian metals are
the six Peschiera
daggers,
five of which were found
in the Dictaean Cave and one in Tomb 86 at
Zapher
Papoura24-all
from contexts which cannot be
closely
dated. The
Zapher Papoura
tomb was
looted,
but the
cemetery
was in use from LM II to sometime in LM
IIIB;
the Dictaean Cave
daggers
are
generally
dated
to LM III. The
type
is
probably
northern Italian and
has
representatives
at
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
Torre Ca-
stelluccia and
Pantalica,
sites
apparently
well known
to
Aegean
seafarers.25
Several
types
of knives are relevant here.26 The
stop ridge
knife is found at the Dictaean
Cave,
Phai-
stos and Knossos.27
According
to
Warren,
the Knos-
sian
example
was found in a LM IIIC context in the
Stratigraphical
Museum excavations and is of the
Matrei
type
of the northern
Italian/Alpine region.
The knife from the Dictaean Cave is dated to LM III.
Sandars would rather consider the knife from Phai-
stos a local
production
because of the decoration in-
cised on
it,
which she takes to be a nautilus.28 Mat-
thaus
agrees
with
Sandars,
but at the same time
stresses the Italian influence on its
shape.29
Harding
states that Cretan knives with a curved
back
certainly
resemble some Italian and
Alpine
knives, yet
he concluded that the curved back is
too
general
a trait to
assign
to it a
particular origin.
Milojcic preferred
to see a definite middle
European
influence.30
Two knives with incised semicircles were found
22
Buchholz
(supra
n.
21)
352.
23
A.
Furtwangler
and G.
Loschcke, Mykenische
Vasen
(Berlin
1886) 48, fig.
27.
24
A
map
and full references to
findspots
are in Matthaus
(supra
n.
9)
122 n. 61 and
fig.
11.
25
The
daggers
discussed here
belong
to Peroni's
Group
A: R.
Peroni,
"Zur
Gruppierung mitteleuropaischer Griffzungendolche
der
spaten Bronzezeit,"
Badische Fundberichte 20
(1956)
69-92.
Findspots
for
Group
A
daggers
are
given
on
pp.
82-83.
26
For a full
discussion,
see
Harding (supra
n.
6)
197-99.
27
Dictaean Cave:
J. Boardman,
The Cretan Collection in Oxford
(Oxford 1961) 18,
22 and
fig. 6B;
Knossos: P.
Warren, JHS-AR
1982-83, 71,
83
figs. 50-51;
Phaistos: V.
Milojcic, "Einige
'mittel-
europaische' Fremdlinge
auf
Kreta,"
RGZM 2
(1955) 156, fig.
1.13.
28
Sandars
(supra
n.
10)
185.
29
Matthaus
(supra
n.
9)
131.
in the Dictaean Cave.31
Harding
finds the closest
par-
allels for
shape
and decoration at Grotta Pertosa near
Polla and
many comparable examples
of decoration
from sites
throughout Italy;
he ascribes an
Alpine
ori-
gin
to the
type.32
Some
Aegean
sherds have been
found at
Polla,
but semicircles are well known
designs
on Crete and there is no firm evidence one
way
or the
other.
A knife with
upturned tip
from the Dictaean
Cave33
compares
well with four knives found in Sic-
ily. Harding
concludes that a connection is more than
likely.34
From the Dictaean cave and
Karphi
are
knives,
sometimes with a twisted
handle,
and coiled ter-
minal.35 The
type,
called Fontana di
Papa
in
Italy,
is
poorly
dated. One from
Castelgandolfo
should be
more or less
contemporary
with that from
Karphi,36
and could date to LM IIIC as well as to Subminoan.
A razor from
Tylissos
has been
recognized
as an
Italian
product,
with
parallels
with the Peschiera
type, ranging through Scoglio
del
Tonno,
Torre Ca-
stelluccia,
Pantalica and Grotta
Pertosa,
all four sites
where the
type developed
in the thirteenth
century
and with clear evidence for
Aegean
contacts.37
Fibulae deserve a brief remark. In
general,
schol-
ars
agree
that
they originated
outside
Greece,
but
there the consensus ends. The
simple
and advanced
violin bow fibulae occur in a few
places
on
Crete,
al-
though usually
in
poor
or late
(Subminoan
or Proto-
geometric)
contexts. The advanced
type
found at
Mallia
is, however,
exceptional
in that it can be dated
to the LM
IIIB/C
transition. Both violin bow
types
could have been introduced via
Italy,38
as could the
two-piece
and
multiple-loop fibulae;
the last two have
been considered
proof
of the contact between
Italy-
Sicily
and Crete.39 The
multiple-loop
fibula is a rare
type,
with
Aegean representatives only
in the Dic-
taean Cave and on
Kephallenia.
It is
basically
a cen-
tral
European type (with only
a
single example
from
30
Harding (supra
n.
6) 197; Milojcic
(supra
n.
27)
156.
31 Boardman
(supra
n.
27)
20
fig. 4.69,
22
fig.
6C.
32
Harding (supra
n.
6)
199.
33
Milojcic (supra
n.
27)
155
fig.
1.4.
34
Harding (supra
n.
6)
199.
35 Dictaean Cave: Boardman
(supra
n.
27) 21, fig. 5.72-73, pl.
10; Karphi:
BSA 38
(1937-38) 116, pl.
28.2 nos.
510, 540, 645,
687.
36 Matthaus
(supra
n.
9)
132-33.
37
First
recognized by Milojcic (supra
n.
27) 164, fig. 3.13;
dis-
cussed
by
Matthaus
(supra
n.
9)
116.
38 For a discussion of the
simple
and advanced violin-bow
fibulae,
see V.R.d'A.
Desborough,
The Last
Mycenaeans
and their Succes-
sors (Oxford 1964)
54-57.
39
Desborough (supra
n.
38)
70. The Italian or Sicilian
origin
suggested by Desborough
is
unfortunately
not
defined,
and no
sup-
porting
references are
given.
295
1985]
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
northern
Italy).40 Two-piece
fibulae are
post-Minoan
in Crete.4'
The lanceolate
spearhead
is another central Eu-
ropean
invention
which, according
to
Bouzek,
found
its
way through Italy
to the
Aegean.42
In
Crete,
it oc-
curs at Mouliana and
Phaistos,
with an
example
of
Cretan
provenance
in the Ashmolean collection.43
Catling
divides the
spearheads
in two
classes,
the
Mouliana and the
Kephallenia.
While the Cretan
versions
belong
to the Mouliana
class,
several of the
Kephallenia
class are found in
Illyria
and
Epirus
and
on the Ionian islands.
They,
and the
multiple-loop
fibula,
no doubt came to mainland Greece and Crete
by way
of the Adriatic.44
Boardman attributed an Italian
origin
to two beads
from the Dictaean
Cave,45
and various
pins
have been
brought
into the debate. It would be
premature
to dis-
cuss either of these
classes,
since the
question
of their
origins
and affiliations is still
complex
and unclear.
To sum
up,
we can conclude that metal artifacts
were not desired or needed as
imports
in
Italy.
A
knife,
a few
swords,
a comb and a
gold
sheet could
represent
almost
anything
from
gifts
to lost
goods.
Italian metals in Crete
are, however,
more numerous
and varied in
type.
The main evidence comes from the
Dictaean
Cave,
Knossos and
Karphi,
all in central
Crete. As for the rest of the
island,
we must await the
publication
of a number of LM III
tombs,
all said to
be rich in metals.
Might
there be a connection be-
tween the Cretan finds from
Italy
and the lack of raw
materials for
making
them on Crete? The first Italian
metals on Crete
appear
in the thirteenth
century,
as
attested
by
the Peschiera
daggers
and some fibulae
(cf.
Zapher Papoura
and
Mallia),
but the main
period
of
importation
was the twelfth
century,
as shown
by
the
spearheads, knives,
and
probably
some fibulae and
the razor from
Tylissos.
40
Dictaean Cave: Boardman
(supra
n.
27) 36, fig.
16A. For a
map showing
the distribution of violin-bow and
multiple-loop
fi-
bulae,
see
J. Bouzek,
"Bronze
Age
Greece and the Balkans: Prob-
lems of
Migrations,"
in R.A. Crossland and A. Birchall
eds.,
Bronze
Age Migrations
in the
Aegean (London 1973) 175, fig.
15.2.
41
Boardman
(supra
n.
27) 36, fig.
16.162.
42
Bouzek
(supra
n.
40)
172.
43
All three are discussed
by
H.W.
Catling,
"Late Minoan Vases
and Bronzes in
Oxford,"
BSA 63
(1968)
105-107.
44
It should not be excluded that the
Tyrrhenian
Sea was also
used in the 12th c. even if no
large ports
have
yet
been recorded. A
spearhead belonging
to the Mouliana class is
reported
from Elba:
Bietti Sestieri
(supra
n.
16) 422,
n. 150.
45 Boardman
(supra
n.
27)
75.
46
Taylour 192-93, maps
1 and 2.
47
Biancofiore 57-59.
48
L.
Vagnetti ed., Magna
Grecia e mondo miceneo. Nuovi docu-
MINOAN POTTERY IN ITALY
When
Taylour
wrote in
1958,
15 sites in
Italy
had
produced
about 700 sherds of
Aegean
Bronze
Age
ori-
gin.46
Biancofiore added more evidence in 1963.47 In
1982,
the number of sites was
up
to
54-mainly,
as
before,
in southern
Italy, primarily
in
Apulia.48
New
are
many
sherds from
Broglio
di Trebisacce in Cala-
bria and Termitito in Basilicata.
Lipari
and
Sicily
continue to be well
represented,
and a few sherds have
been found in Latium. Now on the list are northern
Italy (Frattesina
and Fondo
Paviani)
and
Sardinia,
where more than 100
Aegean
vessels have been exca-
vated at
Nuraghe Antigori.49
Outstanding among
the 54
reported findspots
are
Scoglio
del Tonno and
vicinity, Broglio
di
Trebisacce,
Lipari, Thapsos
and Vivara.
Lipari
and Vivara
ap-
pear
to have been the
goals
of the first
Aegean
visitors
in LBA
I/II,
while all five sites were
frequented
in
LH
IIIA/B. During
IIIB and
C,
Termitito and Sar-
dinia were new
goals,
and of the five
Thapsos
and Vi-
vara decline. This
group
of sites is
outstanding
be-
cause contact seems to have been
continuous,
in con-
trast with the other sites where it is indicated for
only
a short
period
or
by only
a few sherds. The first five
sites, together
with Termitito and Sardinia in
IIIB/C,
might
then be viewed as
major
distribution
centers,
and the others as
participating
in an internal Italian
trading system.50
The
major
centers are thus most im-
portant
to
study,
because it is
through
them that the
imported
material can be traced back to the
Aegean.
Scoglio
del Tonno can serve as an
example,
because
it is the
largest (as
far as we
know)
of the
major
cen-
ters and it and its hinterland-Torre
Castelluccia,
Porto Perone and
Satyrion-have
often been called
the site of a true
Mycenaean colony.51
This
hypothe-
sis derives from the amount of
Mycenaean pottery
found there and from the
presence
of local imitations
of
Mycenaean figurines,
besides
imported
ones.52
menti
(XXII Convegno
di studi sulla
Magna Grecia, Taranto
1982;
hereafter
Magna Grecia).
49
M.L. Ferrarese
Ceruti,
"Ceramica micenea in
Sardegna (noti-
zia
preliminare),"
Rivista di scienze
preistoriche
34
(1979)
243-53.
50
The connections of the
Aegean pottery
at the coastal sites
point
to a seaborne trade. No
large
scale
exchanges
with the inland areas
can be discerned: S.
Marinatos,
"The Minoan and
Mycenaean
Civ-
ilization and its Influence on the Mediterranean and on
Europe,"
Atti del VI
Congresso
Internazionale delle Scienze Preistoriche e
Protoistoriche 1
(Rome 1965)
161-76.
51
Originally presented by Taylour (128),
the idea is
quoted
in
almost
every
book and article on the
subject
since. The latest occur-
rences,
to
my knowledge,
are in D.H.
Trump,
The
Prehistory of
the
Mediterranean
(London 1980)
195 and R.R.
Holloway, Italy
and
the
Aegean
3000-700 B.C.
(Louvain-la-Neuve 1981)
91.
52
Taylour pls.
13.22-25.
296
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
Taylour
noted
many
similarities between the
pottery
at
Scoglio
del Tonno and that found on
Rhodes,
and
even admitted the
probability
of a Rhodian
colony
at
the
site;
he also
recognized Cypriot
elements in the
ceramics.53 He
mitigated
the force of this statement
by
pointing
out that
"[t]he Mycenaean pottery
in
Sicily
has been
thought
to be Rhodian
by
most Italian ar-
chaeologists
... no doubt due to their
familiarity
with
the material from their own excavations in Rhodes."54
It is not remarkable that
Cyprus
and Rhodes were
invoked in the 1950s as sources of the eastern Medi-
terranean wares found in
Italy,
because
Furumark,
the standard reference for
comparanda,
used
Cypriot
and Rhodian material
extensively.55 Taylour's
results
are, however,
still taken as
valid, despite
the
many
ex-
cavations and
publications
of the
past
several
decades,
many
of which deal with LM III material.56
Popham
has said: "We are now in a much better
position
to
recognise
a Minoan
pot
when we see
one,
though
there still exist considerable areas of doubt."57
With this
encouragement,
I shall re-examine some of
the
pottery
from the Taranto
region published by
Taylour.
1.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from
cup
or
kylix.
Taylour-parallels
in Attica and at
Enkomi,
dated
Myc.
IIIB.
Design-a quirk, frequent
in LM III Crete on
cups/bowls, kylikes
and vessels of closed
shapes;
known in LM IIIA from the Little Palace and the
Royal
Villa at
Knossos,
but most common in
early
IIIB,
as at Khania
(pl. 38, fig. 1).58
2.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from
cup
or
kylix.
Taylour-Myc. IIIA,
with no further
parallels
or
references.
Parallels
can, however,
be found in all
parts
of
Crete
by
LM IIIB.59
3 Taylour 128,
131.
54
Taylour
65.
55 A.
Furumark, Mycenaean Pottery
1-2
(Stockholm 1941).
56 M.
Popham,
The Last
Days of
the Palace at Knossos
(SIMA 5,
Lund
1964);
and "Some Late Minoan III
Pottery
from
Crete,"
BSA 60
(1965) 316-42;
I.
Tzedakis,
"L'atelier de
ceramique post-
palatiale
a
Kyd6nia,"
BCH 93
(1969) 396-418;
M.
Popham,
The
Destruction
of
the Palace at Knossos
(SIMA 12, Goteborg 1970);
A.
Kanta,
The Late Minoan III Period in Crete. A
Survey of Sites,
Pottery
and their Distribution
(SIMA 58, Goteborg 1980).
57
M.
Popham,
"Connections between Crete and
Cyprus
between
1300-1100
B.C.,"
in Acts
of
the International
Archaeological Sym-
posium
"The Relations between
Cyprus
and Crete ca. 2000-500
B.C."
(Nicosia 1979)
178.
58
Taylour pl.
12.6 and 101 no.
88; Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56)
figs. 43c,
11 a.
59
Taylour pl.
12.8 and 88 no.
29;
L.H. Sackett and M.
Popham,
"Excavations at Palaikastro
VI,"
BSA 60
(1965) 288, fig. 9t;
Tze-
dakis
(supra
n.
56) 407, pl.
2 lower
right;
I. Tzedakis and A.
Kanta,
Kao-TAAt
Xavtiv
1966
(Incunabula Graeca
66,
Rome
1978) fig.
3.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from
cup
or
kylix.
Taylour-Myc.
IIIB or C.
Design-a
derivative form of the foliate
band;
found on closed and
open
vessels-cf. an alabastron
from
Episkopi,
East Crete
(LM IIIB),
and a
stirrup
jar
in the Ashmolean Museum. At
Khania,
on
cups
and
bowls,
either
repeated
in frames or in a
single
row
(pl. 38, fig. 2)
as at
Scoglio.60
4.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from
cup.
Taylour-Myc.
IIIA or
B, paralleled
at
Troy
and
on a
mug
or tankard from
lalysos.
Design-parallel chevrons; frequent
on
cups
of
IIIA
(several
from
Knossos, Royal
Villa and Little
Palace)
and IIIB
(fragments
from Khania settlement
and a
complete cup
from the
cemetery).61
5.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from bowl.
Taylour-Myc.
IIIB or
C,
design
of vertical
paral-
lel chevrons
fairly
common on
stirrup jars
and less so
on bowls.
Wardle-frequent design
on bowls as
well,
cf.
IIIB:1
context at
Mycenae.
Also a common
design
on Crete at the same
time,
and known in IIIA at
Knossos,
SE
House,62
so a
My-
cenaean or Minoan source cannot be
distinguished.
6.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd.
Taylour-familiar type
of
Myc.
IIIA or B
kylix.
Could
equally
well be from a
bowl, simple design
of rim and
body
bands used in Crete
especially
in LM
IIIA:1. Cf.
examples
from Khania
(pl. 38, fig. 3).63
7.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from
large
vessel.
Taylour-Myc. IIIB, design unique.
Vagnetti-part
of an
amphoroid krater, paralleled
in 8th
Magazine
and S
Propylon
at Knossos. LM
IIIA.64
8.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherds from krater with
stylized
sacral
ivy design.
2.5. A bowl from the Greek-Swedish excavations will be
published
in I. Tzedakis and E.
Hallager,
"The Greek-Swedish Excavations
at
Kastelli,
Khania 1980 and
1981,"
AAA 16
(1983) fig.
9
right;
also JHS-AR 1980-81,
47
fig.
92b.
60
Taylour
12.3 and 104 no.
100;
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) fig.
61.8
(Episkopi); Catling (supra
n.
43) 121, fig. 5.29, pl.
29b
(Ashmolean
Museum).
61
Taylour pl.
12.7 and 94 no. 56;
Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
14b
(Royal Villa)
and
pl.
43c
(Little Palace);
Tzedakis
(supra
n.
56) 406, fig.
27.
62
Taylour pl.
12.10 and 103 no.
93;
K.A.
Wardle,
"A
Group
of
Late Helladic IIIB:1
Pottery
from
Mycenae,"
BSA 64
(1969) 275,
fig. 6.44; Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
22a.
63
Taylour pl.
12.4 and 100 no. 85.
64
Taylour pl.
12.22 and 102 no.
91;
L.
Vagnetti,
"Ceramiche del
Tardo Minoico III rinvenute in
Italia," in Studi in onore di Salva-
tore Maria
Puglisi
(in
press).
L.
Vagnetti
has
kindly
informed me
that this
article,
written in
1983,
will be
published
in
1985; Pop-
ham 1970
(supra
n.
56) 107, fig. 13.68, pl.
8a.
1985]
297
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
11. Porto
Perone,
sherd from closed vessel.
Taylour-Myc. IIIC,
closest
parallels
from Kar-
pathos
and
Ialysos.
The former was in close contact
with Crete
throughout
the
LBA;
if the vessel was
not in fact made on
Crete,
it was made under Cretan
influence.
Design-quirk pattern
which
(see supra
no.
1)
has
many parallels
on
open
and closed vessels in Crete
(cf.
a Khania sherd of
early
LM
IIIB,
ill.
3a).
A similar
sherd found at
Satyrion (dated
to
Myc.
IIIC
by
Bian-
cofiore) (ill.
3b)
is close to a rim
fragment
from Kha-
nia (ill. 3c).69
12. Porto
Perone,
sherd from bowl with
zigzag design.
Ill.
2.
Khania,
wall
fragment
of a LM IIIB bowl
Taylour-Myc.
IIIB or
C,
no close
parallels
in Ae-
gean,
but cf. Ras Shamra and
Troy.
Biancofiore-design
is double row of
running spi-
rals,
cf. Furumark's
catalogue
as
Myc.
IIIA:2.
Design-more likely stylized
sacral
ivy;
found on
cups
and bowls from LM IIIA contexts at Knossos
(Little Palace,
NW House and area of the
Cowboy
Fresco);
IIIB stratum at Khania
(ill. 2).
Same
design
on a
jug
from Termitito.65
9.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherds from bowl or krater.
Taylour-Myc. IIIB; design (double
row of linked
spirals)
rare in LH III.
Pattern
is, however,
common in LM III: cf. LM
IIIA and B
examples
from NE
pits
at
Knossos,
on
open
and closed
shapes
from Khania
(pl. 38, fig. 4),
and
piriform jar
from Sklavoi.66 The
design
is one of
those deemed
by Popham among
the most
frequent
in
LM IIIB at Knossos.67
10.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
sherd from 3-handled
jar.
Taylour-Myc. IIIC, design (panel
with
wavy
lines)
not
normally
used on
Mycenaean jars, although
popular
on bowls.
Design quite
common in LM
IIIB,
so far
repre-
sented on
alabastra, cups,
bowls and 3-handled
piri-
form
jars.
Cf. bowl
fragments
from NW
House,
Knossos,
alabastron from
Pigi (LM IIIA:2);
the clos-
est
parallel
is a 3-handled
jar
from
Sklavoi,
Farmako-
kefalo
(LM IIIB).68
65
Taylour pl. 13.1,
2 and 102 no.
92;
these two sherds are now
glued together
with another
fragment published by Biancofiore, pl.
16.72. See the restoration in
Magna
Grecia
pls.
13.6 and 14.5. Bian-
cofiore
70, pl. 24.160-61; Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
26b
(area
of the
Cowboy Fresco), pl.
37f
(NW House), pl.
43e
(Little Palace);
Termitito:
Magna
Grecia
pl.
19
top.
The motif is found on some of
the LM IIIA:2 material from a rubbish
pit
above the
Unexplored
Mansion at Knossos:
Popham (supra
n.
57) 183, fig. 4.17,
18.
66
Taylour pl. 13.3,
5 and 98 no.
73; Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56)
pi.
28d
(NE Pits);
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) fig.
74.3
(Sklavoi,
Farmakokephalo).
67
M.
Popham,
"Late Minoan IIIB
Pottery
from
Knossos,"
BSA
f IK
Z
^^^^^^^^ ~
*^^
^^^^^^
b
11. 3. a. closed vessel from Khania. LM
IIIB:1;
b.
jar
fragment
from
Satyrion. Myc. IIIC;
c.
jar fragment
from
Khania,
LM IIIB.
(After
Biancofiore
pl.
31.258. No
measurements
given)
65
(1970) 198, fig.
2.16.
68
Taylour pi.
13.13 and 106 no.
107,
with another sherd
added,
Biancofiore
pl. 16.73;
I.
Tzedakis,
Deltion 24
(1969)
Chron.
pl.
443d
(Pigi); Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
39e
(NW House);
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) figs. 76.1,
104.3
(Sklavoi, Farmakokefalo).
The motif is found
among
the LM IIIA:2 material from Knossos:
Popham (supra
n.
57) 183, fig.
4.42.
69
Taylour pi.
14.21 and 139 no. 3. For contact between
Karpa-
thos and
Crete,
see E.M.
Melas,
"Minoan and
Mycenaean
Settle-
ment in Kasos and
Karpathos,"
BICS 30
(1983) 53-61; Biancofiore
pi.
31.258
(Satyrion sherd).
298
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
Taylour-Submycenaean
or local
ware, compara-
ble to bowl found in
Granary
at
Mycenae.
Biancofiore-Protogeometric.
This
type
of bowl with a
simple zigzag design
has a
wide distribution
throughout
the
Aegean
at the end of
the
LBA,
so location of its source is difficult. It
ap-
pears
not to be the usual
deep bowl,
but rather a cari-
nated
one,
with the carination at the first
body
band.
This
particular shape
has a close
parallel
at
Foinikia,
central
Crete,
in LM IIIB.70
13. Torre
Castelluccia,
sherd.
Taylour-Myc.
IIIC
kylix.
Vagnetti-cup, parallels
in LM IIIB Knossos.
The
pattern
of
alternating
arcs is common in Crete
in LM IIIA-B.71
14. Torre
Castelluccia,
sherd of a
kylix
or
possibly
a
cup.
Taylour-Myc.
IIIC.
The
wavy
line
motif, probably inspired by
the ten-
tacles of the
stylized octopus,
is
mainly
known on
cups
and bowls in LM IIIB when the whole
stylized
octo-
pus
was used on
larger vessels,
but a few
examples
occur in LM IIIC. One sherd with this
design
comes
from the NE
Angle
at
Knossos,
another from the Un-
explored
Mansion
(LM IIIB),
and several
cups
and
bowls from Khania
(pl. 38, fig. 5).72
15. Torre
Castelluccia,
bowl sherd.
Taylour-Submycenaean
or local
ware,
closest
parallel
for
design
on
mug
from Palaikastro.
Many
other
examples exist, e.g.,
those from Amni-
sos,
the
Unexplored
Mansion and
Khania,
all of LM
IIIB date.73
The
following
sherds
published by
Biancofiore also
have
parallels
in Crete.
16.
Scoglio
del
Tonno, stirrup jar, Myc.
IIIC.
The
piece
looks Minoan to me and should be dated
in LM IIIB. I have not
yet
found
any
exact
parallels,
but the manner in which the handle area is outlined
and the
sketchy design
fit well with the taste of Mi-
noan
potters;
cf. a
stirrup jar
from
Itanos,
East
Crete.74
17.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
stirrup jar,
dated
Myc.
IIIC
by
Biancofiore
despite
his notation that the
design
is Fu-
rumark's
disintegrated quirk
of the IIIB
period.
70
Taylour pl.
14.23 and 141 no.
12;
Biancofiore
pl. 36.1;
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) pl.
13.1
(Foinikia).
71
Taylour pl.
15.10 and 147 no. 14;
Vagnetti (supra
n.
64); Pop-
ham
(supra
n.
67) fig.
2.8.
72
Taylour pl.
15.11 and 147 no.
16; Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56)
pl.
27e
(NE Angle, Knossos);
M.
Popham,
The Minoan Unex-
plored
Mansion at Knossos (in
press) pls. 127a,
18 b.
73
Taylour pl.
15.16 and 149 no.
23;
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) pl.
14.10
(Amnisos); Popham (supra
n.
72) pls. 127a,
181b
(Unex-
Ill. 4.
Khania,
two
cup/bowl fragments.
LM IIIB
Taylour-motif appears mainly
as
subsidiary
or-
nament on eastern Mediterranean
Myc.
IIIB vases.
The
design
is known in Crete in LM IIIB
(cf.
cups/bowls
from
Khania,
ill.
4).75
18.
Scoglio
del
Tonno, kylix fragment, Myc.
IIIB.
Furumark identified it as a
deep cup
and dated it to
Myc.
IIIC:1 without
adducing
close
parallels
for the
design.
The
type
is
obviously
of Minoan
origin, frequent
in
LM
IIIB,
and was
recognized
as such
by Vagnetti,
who cited similar
pieces
from Knossos and
Episkopi.76
19.
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
flask of
globular type
accord-
ing
to
Taylour;
dated to
Myc.
IIIA
by Taylour
and
Biancofiore.
Known also as the Minoan
flask,
it is a
purely
Mi-
noan
type, starting
in MM
II-IIIA,
flourishing
in
LM I and
continuing
into LM IIIA. In
IIIA, globular
flasks were
spread throughout
the
Mycenaean
world.
An
example
from
Zapher Papoura,
Tomb
76, ap-
pears
to be identical with the
Scoglio
flask. Evans ar-
gued
that
clay
flasks of this
type
were rare in Crete
and concluded that the
Zapher Papoura
flask was an
import
from
Cyprus. Popham
followed Evans and
dated it to LH
IIIA,
but the
type
is
perhaps
not so
rare.
Popham
mentions several
examples
from the
Palace of Knossos
itself,
and at
Kastelli, Khania,
about 20 sherds from different flasks have been found.
At least one of these Minoan flasks was
"exported"
to
Maroni in
Cyprus.
It is thus most
probable
that the
Zapher Papoura
flask is a Minoan
product.
The de-
plored Mansion);
Tzedakis and Kanta
(supra
n.
59) fig. 2.2, pl.
8.14
(Khania).
74
Biancofiore
pl. 11.125;
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) pl. 69.1,2 (Itanos).
75 Biancofiore
pl. 11.126, 52; published
in
drawing by Taylour,
111,
fig.
12.
76 Biancofiore
pl. 15.142, 52;
A. Furumark in
Dragma.
M.P.
Nilsson ... dedicatum
(Lund 1939) 469-71, fig. 12; Vagnetti (su-
pra
n.
64); Popham (supra
n.
67) 200, fig.
3.34
(Knossos);
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) fig.
29.7
(Episkopi).
1985]
299
\amrh
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
sign-concentric
circles-occurs on another Minoan
flask found in a chamber tomb at Stavromenos in
West Crete. It is dated to LM IIIB
by
the excavator
Alexiou,
but considered to be a Minoan
product
of
LM IIIA:2
by
Tzedakis. The
Scoglio
flask could
very
well be an
export
from Crete.77
20. Porto
Perone,
small wall
fragment
with
N-pat-
tern,
dated to
Myc.
IIIC.
The sherd
appears
to be from a
cup
or bowl. Al-
though
known in the
Mycenaean repertoire,
the
pat-
tern was also used in
Crete, mainly
on
cups
and
bowls. Cf. a shallow
cup
from the
Unexplored
Man-
sion
(LM IIIA:2),
and an
example
from the SE
House and SE Stairs at Knossos of the same date. It is
most
popular
in West Crete in LM
IIIB;
see the
frag-
ments from the settlement and a
complete cup
from
the
cemetery
at Khania.78
Ill. 5.
Khania,
coarse
amphora.
LM IIIB
77 Biancofiore
pl. 17.76, 50;
shown in
fragments by Taylour, pi.
11.27, 29, 31,
88 no. 26. On Minoan flasks: I.
Tzedakis,
"Minoan
Globular
Flasks,"
BSA 66
(1971) 363-68;
Evans
(supra
n.
14) 78,
123, fig.
117
(Tomb 76, Zapher Papoura); Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl. 10f (Zapher Papoura)
and 76
(sherds
from
Palace);
Tzeda-
kis
1971,
364
(Maroni),
367 and
pl. 65f, g (Stavromenos).
78 Biancofiore
pl. 29.243, 57; Popham (supra
n.
57) 182, fig.
3.4
(Unexplored Mansion); Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
22c
(SE
House and SE
Stairs);
Tzedakis
(supra
n.
56) 406, fig. 26, pl.
2.
79 Biancofiore
pl. 28.221;
Tzedakis and Kanta
(supra
n.
59) fig.
21. Porto
Perone, amphora, Myc.
IIIB.
Two identical vessels exist at Khania and are dated
to LM IIIB (ill. 5).79
Therefore,
of the 110
Mycenaean
III sherds from
Scoglio
del Tonno
published by Taylour,
12-or
11%-can be
recognized
as Minoan. If one also in-
cludes the sherds he
published
from Porto Perone and
Torre
Castelluccia,
13%
(17
of
128)
are of
probable
Cretan
origin.
The
published
sherds are
likely
the
most
diagnostic
ones.
Many unpublished
ones have
only
bands of
paint,
and are
virtually impossible
to
place.80
There are also
many
with
spiral
motifs,
a de-
sign
at home in both the
Mycenaean
and the Minoan
spheres
and difficult to isolate. The number 13% is
not then
absolute,
but it
surely
is sufficient to
suggest
that the
hypothesis
of a Rhodian
colony
at
Scoglio
del
Tonno should be re-examined.81
Rather than
envisioning
colonists from an island
far
distant,
in Mediterranean
terms,
from
Italy,
I
think we should see an
open marketplace
or some
kind of distribution center for all
Aegean
seafarers.
There is no doubt that Minoan
products
were
among
those
exchanged.
The evidence for a Minoan
presence
in the area of Taranto is consistent with that
recently
advanced for other
parts
of the Mediterranean82-the
Cyclades, Cyprus,83
the Levant and
Egypt.84
Minoan
interaction with
Italy
was
not, however,
confined to
this
region alone,
as a
glance
at material from other
sites shows.
MINOAN POTTERY IN SARDINIA
As a second area of
investigation,
I have chosen
Sardinia. The island was
basically
terra
incognita
for
the
Aegean
Bronze
Age
until
recently, yet
the
pres-
ence of
copper
oxhide
ingots
occasioned comment
about
possible
connections. I examined some of the
available material in Taranto in 1982 and found that
it includes what are
clearly
Minoan sherds. A few
could be traced
directly
to the local
workshop
at Kha-
nia. The
largest
concentration of
Aegean pottery
oc-
curs at
Nuraghe Antigori,
near
Cagliari
on the south
coast,
where several hundred sherds have been discov-
ered85;
virtually
all of them come from one
place
with-
in the site. I also studied the two sherds from
Nuraghe
24.1.
80
Taylour
124-25.
81 For a definition of a
colony,
see K.
Branigan,
"Minoan Colo-
nies,"
BSA 76
(1981)
23-33.
82
Kanta
(supra
n.
56)
294-313.
83
V.
Karageorghis,
Excavations at Kition 1
(Nicosia 1974)
38-41; Popham (supra
n.
57)
178-91.
84
V.
Hankey, "Crete, Cyprus
and the South-Eastern Mediterra-
nean,
1400-1200
B.C.,"
in Acts
(supra
n.
57)
144-57.
85
Ferrarese Ceruti
(supra
n.
49)
243-53.
300
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
I
I -
I
I
J
I
I
I
I ,
o
I.'
Ill. 6.
Khania, upper part
of a
stirrup jar.
LM IIIB
Domu s'Orku and the five from clandestine
digs
in the
area of Orosei.86
1.
Antigori, pithos fragment.87
Found in stratum
13,
the level
immediately
above the first settlement on the
site,
one of
purely
local character.
Vagnetti-from
a
pithos
of a
type
common in LM
IIIB
Crete;
cf. an
example
from
Samonas,
a
village
in
West Crete.88
It is
impossible
to
say
whether the
pithos
was trans-
ported
from Crete to Sardinia or was made
by
a Mi-
noan
potter
at the site. Whatever the answer
is,
it is
clear that Minoans
and/or
their
products
were
among
the first visitors to
Antigori.
2.
Antigori
level
13,
body fragment
from a
stirrup jar
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.8).
The decoration of
evenly
spaced
bands on the
squat body
is
peculiarly
Minoan
and is used in the
Kydonian workshop
and elsewhere
on Crete
mainly
in IIIB. Cf.
examples
from
Kamares,
Episkopi,
Kalo
Khorio,
Stamnioi and
Rethymnon.
The
type
is also known from
Cyprus-with
one ex-
ample
from Kition and two from Enkomi-and from
a
cemetery
in
Beirut,
in contexts
contemporary
with
LM IIIB.89
3.
Antigori,
sherd from
stirrup jar
like no. 2
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.7).
The sherds could come from the
same
vessel,
although
the stratum is not
given
for no.
3. From the
upper part
of a vessel decorated with
styl-
ized sea shells
(between
handles and between handles
and
spout).
Cf. an
incomplete
LM IIIB
parallel
found at Khania
(ill. 6).
4.
Antigori,
sherd from bowl
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.1).
86
Magna
Grecia
167-76, pls.
59-65
(Nuraghe Antigori);
177-79, pls. 64.10-12,
66
(Nuraghe
Domu
s'Orku); 186-87, pi.
69
(Orosei area).
87
Magna
Grecia
pl.
61 lower left.
88
Vagnetti (supra
n.
64);
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) pi.
87.7
(Samonas).
89
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) pl. 60.7,
8
(Episkopi), pi. 64.4,
5
(Kalo
Shape, design
and
clay
conform with those of the
Ky-
donian
workshop.
The
major products
of this work-
shop
were
cups
and
bowls,
but the
repertoire
also in-
cluded all the standard
shapes,
such as
kylikes, mugs,
tankards,
incense
burners, kraters, feeding
bottles and
the
popular
small
stirrup jars.
The
potters,
who also
developed
new
shapes
and invented variations on old
designs,
used a whitish
clay,
lustrous
yellow slip
and
red
paint,
the last
turning
brown when
thickly ap-
plied.
Cf. a bowl from
Kastelli, Khania,
which is close
to the
Antigori
bowl.90
5.
Antigori,
two
fragments
of a
large, open
vessel
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.3a, b).
Cf. similar vessels from
Khania (ill. 7).
The
spiral
motif
is,
as mentioned
above,
too common to
permit
localization of its
source,
and the
Antigori
sherd is
quite
small.
6.
Antigori,
sherd of
open
vessel with
stylized octopus
design (Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.4).
The
design
is
espe-
cially popular
with the
Kydonian workshop
and
ap-
pears
most
commonly
on small
stirrup jars, although
Ill. 7.
Khania, part
of a closed vessel. LM IIIA
Khorio, Goula), pl. 26.6,
7
(Stamnioi), pl. 49.4,
5
(Kamares), pi.
86.8,
9
(Rethymnon), pls. 100.5,
6 and
101.1,
2
(Enkomi); Popham
(supra
n.
57) 179, fig.
1.5
(Kition); Hankey (supra
n.
84) 149, fig.
2.9
(Beirut).
90
On the local
Kydonian workshop,
see Tzedakis
(supra
n.
56).
For a
parallel,
see Tzedakis
(supra
n.
68) pl.
435b.
X
8
-1 -- -M
1985]
301
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
it is also found on
open
vessels like
kraters, amphoroid
kraters,
jars, amphoras
and
globular spouted jars,
the
last a
shape peculiar
to the
Kydonian workshop
(ill.
8). Any
of these
shapes
could have been the source of
the
Antigori
sherd.91
7.
Antigori,
sherd of a
neck/spout
of a
jug (Magna
Grecia
pl. 63.10).
Cf. a close
parallel
in a
Kydonian
jug
from the
cemetery; comparable pieces
also come
from the town.92
8.
Antigori,
sherd from the shoulder of a
jug (Magna
Grecia
pl. 64.6).
Not local
Kydonian,
but known from
other LM
IIIB:2/IIIC
levels.93
The sherds found at
Nuraghe
Domu s'Orku are too
undetailed for definite attribution. One could come
from a closed vessel
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 64,
no.
10),
and
two others
(nos.
11 and
12)
from a
jug;
the vessels from
which
they
come could be
Mycenaean
or
Minoan,
as
could the
remaining
sherds from
Antigori.
Only
five sherds were found in the area of
Orosei,
and we do not know if
they
come from as
many
as five
different vessels. No. 4
(Magna
Grecia
pl. 69)
is made
of the white
clay
used
by
the
Kydonian workshop,
but
the sherd is too small to draw
parallels-it
is said to
come from a closed vessel. No. 1 is the
only
identi-
fiable
piece:
a is a rim
fragment
and b is
part
of a
Ill. 9.
Khania,
rim
fragment
of a krater. LM IIIB
handle,
both from a krater dated to
Myc.
IIIB:2.
From Khania is a similar
fragment
from a krater with
what
appears
to be the same
design
(ill. 9).
The
filling
ornament consists of
iris,
but the main
design
is debat-
able. On the Sardinian
krater,
it is restored as tri-
curved arches with iris as a
filling motif,
but it could
also be
part
of a
spiral.
The
running spiral
with iris as
fillers is a well known
design
in LM IIIA
Crete,
when
it was used on both
open
and closed vessels. Cf. a
jug
from the N Foundations at
Knossos,
a similar
jug
in
the Herakleion Museum and a bowl
fragment
from
the Little Palace. The Khania krater bears a late IIIB
variation of the same motif. It cannot be
precluded
that the krater
fragment
could also have had its
origin
in
Crete, perhaps
at Khania.94
Thus,
ten sherds of
thirty-four published
from Sar-
dinia
(ca. 30%)
can be
recognized
as Minoan and at
least four of these attributed to the
Kydonian
work-
shop
of LM IIIB. As in the case of the Italian mate-
rial,
these numbers cannot be taken as absolute since I
have studied
only
the
published
finds
(27
out of 200
from
Antigori).
The
preliminary
statistics indicate
nonetheless that Minoans had a share in the Sardi-
nian market. The
designation
of
Mycenaeans
in
Italy
should be revised to include
Cretans,
as well as other
inhabitants of the
Aegean
area.95
Ill.
8.
Khania, globular spouted jar.
Local
Kydonian
work-
shop.
LM IIIB.
(Drawing Margareta Sjoblom)
91
An
amphoroid
krater with
octopus design
will be
published by
Tzedakis and
Hallager (supra
n.
59) fig.
10.
92
Y.
Papapostolou,
Deltion 29
(1973-74)
Chron.
pl.
697
a, b;
F.
Matz
ed., Forschungen aufKreta
1942
(Berlin 1951) pl.
56.2.
93
Warren
(supra
n.
27)
79
fig.
42
right.
94
Popham
1970
(supra
n.
56) pl.
29c
(N Foundations), pl.
46m
(HM N.70), pl.
42a
(Little Palace).
95
The
heterogeneous
sherds found both at
Scoglio
del Tonno and
ITALIAN POTTERY IN CRETE
The finds of
Kydonian
wares in the western Medi-
terranean are consistent with the evidence for Italians
on Sardinia cannot of course be
simply
divided into
Mycenaean
and
Minoan
groups.
In
Sardinia,
for
example,
four sherds can be
ascribed to the local
Kydonian workshop
of West
Crete,
but six
other sherds are from other
parts
of Crete still not identifiable. Ob-
viously
within both areas the so-called
Mycenaean
sherds can be
traced in the same
way
to different
workshops.
There is no reason
to believe that
Mycenaean
material should form a
homogeneous
group
and the Minoan should not.
302
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
at Khania.96 In a floor
deposit
of late LM IIIB and
early
IIIC were two
complete
vessels: a
jar
and a cari-
nated
bowl,
of handmade
impasto
ware.97 This
type
of
pottery
is at home in the
Subapennine phase
of cen-
tral and southern
Italy,
dated to the thirteenth and
twelfth centuries
by
Peroni and
equated
with his
"Bronzo Recente." The carinated bowl from Khania
is
paralleled
at
Scoglio,
Porto
Perone, Satyrion,
Bro-
glio
di
Trebisacce,
and Termitito.98 An almost identi-
cal bowl was found at Lefkandi and dated to
Myc.
IIIC.99
Most of the Italian
pottery
at Khania comes from
trash
pits
rather than floor
deposits.
A handle found
in such a
pit
has
parallels
at
Coppa Nevigata
on the
Adriatic
coast,
Treazzano di
Monsampolo
and
Lipa-
ri.'00
A "situla" has relatives at
Toppo Daguzzo
in
Basilicata, as well as in Latium.101 The Khania ma-
terial in
general
finds
parallels
in southern
Italy,
es-
pecially
in
Apulia
and
Basilicata; see, e.g.,
a rim
fragment
of a
jar
decorated with a raised band. Iden-
tical
jars
are found at Porto Perone and
Broglio
di
Trebisacce.102
The bulk of the Italian material found at Khania
consists of carinated bowls and
jars,
some of the lat-
ter decorated with
plain
or
patterned
bands. Of the
approximately
100 sherds of Italian fabric found in
the Greek-Swedish excavations at
Khania,
78% are
from late
IIIB-early
IIIC
levels;
14% derive from a
house
destroyed
in
early
IIIB. A tentative recon-
struction of a
jar
from this house is
closely compara-
ble to vessels from
Satyrion
and Torre Castelluc-
cia,'03
as well as to one from a
Myc.
IIIB well fill in
the Athenian
Agora.
04
Along
with the handmade Italian
ware,
we found a
quantity
of
plain
wheelmade
gray ware,'05
95% of
which came from the rubbish
pits.
This ware is
very
much like the handmade
variety-low
fired with
gray
core and
gray-to-black surface,
usually
burnished.
96
Previously
discussed
by
B. Palsson
Hallager,
"A New Social
Class in Late Bronze
Age
Crete:
Foreign
Traders in
Khania,"
in
Minoan
Society (Bristol 1983) 111-19;
and "Italians in Late
Bronze
Age Khania,"
Atti XXII
Convegno
di Studi sulla
Magna
Grecia
(Taranto
in
press).
97 Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) fig. la,
b.
98
Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96)
n. 4. For further reference
to the floor
deposit,
see E.
Hallager,
"The Greek-Swedish Excava-
tions at
Khania,"
in
Proceedings of
the
Fifth
International
Cretolog-
ical
Symposium (Herakleion
in
press) esp.
n. 61.
99
M.
Popham
and E.
Milburn, "The Late Helladic IIIC
Pottery
of
Xeropolis (Lefkandi):
A
Summary,"
BSA 66
(1971) 338, fig.
3.7
and n. 8.
100 Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) fig.
2b and n. 5; for
Lipari,
see, e.g.,
Bernab6 Brea
(supra
n.
16) 133, fig.
29 middle
right.
101
Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) figs. 2a, 5a,
and n. 3.
102
Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) fig.
5b.
103
Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) fig. 4,
and n. 6.
104
Palsson
Hallager
1983
(supra
n.
96)
112 and n. 5.
Unfortunately,
we have no
complete
or restorable
vases of this
type,
but most of the sherds seem to be-
long
to
cups
and bowls with rim diameters of 10-15
cm.;
bases are raised or
ring.
Some have a rounded
profile
and several are carinated.
They
look like min-
iature versions of the handmade carinated
cup
with
highslung handle.'06 Since
shapes
and fabric relate
the wheelmade and handmade
types,
I would
argue
that
they
were both made
by
the same
people,
Italians
who translated their
indigenous
ceramic
type-al-
though they
did not abandon it-when
they
learned
about the wheel. The finds at Khania of
typical
Mi-
noan/Mycenaean kylikes
in wheelmade
gray
ware-
the
only
local
shape adopted-and
the
tendency
to
make small vases
congenial
with Minoan tradition
may
therefore be
suggestive
of
production
for a
partic-
ular market.
In
Italy
the wheelmade
gray ware,
unusual
among
the otherwise
homogeneous
handmade
pottery,
has
been found at
Broglio
di Trebisacce with Minoan and
Mycenaean
sherds in Late Bronze
Age
levels.107
Among
the
published
gray
ware
pieces
are the same
types
of rounded and carinated
cups
with raised base
and
highslung
handle as were found at Khania. Ber-
gonzi
and Cardarelli believed that the
Broglio
sherds
were
locally made,108
and found other
examples
of the
same
gray
ware
among
material
previously
excavated
at other sites.109 The
geographical
distribution of the
gray
ware so far known is
virtually
confined to the
Gulf of Taranto:
Broglio
di
Trebisacce,
Scoglio
del
Tonno,
Porto
Perone, Satyrion
and Torre Castelluc-
cia. The last four are near Taranto and all have Ae-
gean
connections. One
fragment
of
gray
ware is also
reported
from
Lipari.
Italian ware in Crete also occurs at
Ayia Pelagia,
Tylissos,
Knossos1
0
and
Kommos,11
with the hand-
made burnished ware at the first three sites and both
handmade and wheelmade wares at Kommos. Unlike
105 Palson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) figs. 3, 5c,
d.
106 Palsson
Hallager,
Atti
(supra
n.
96) fig.
5c.1-2.
107
G.
Bergonzi
and A.
Cardarelli,
"Due
produzioni dell'artigia-
nato
specializzato,"
Richerche sulla
protostoria
della Sibaritide 1
(Naples 1982) 94-102, figs. 17-19, and vol.
2, 63-77, figs. 11-17;
for the
Mycenaean sherds,
see L.
Vagnetti,
"I frammenti
micenei,"
vol.
1, 119-28,
and "Ceramica micenea e ceramica
dipinta
dell'Eta
del
Bronzo," vol.
2, 99-113; for the
Mycenaean
sherds in
Broglio,
see
Vagnetti (supra
n.
64).
108
Bergonzi
and Cardarelli
(supra
n.
107)
64.
109
Earlier considered to be
Minyan
ware:
Bergonzi
and Carda-
relli
(supra
n.
107)
64.
110
I am most
grateful
to A. Kanta and S. Hood for
kindly giving
me
permission
to mention the handmade burnished ware found at
Ayia Pelagia
and
Knossos,
in late IIIB and
early
IIIC contexts
respectively.
'1 J.W. Shaw, "Excavations at Kommos
(Crete)
during 1981,"
Hesperia
51
(1982) 193,
n. 86 and "Excavations at Kommos
(Crete) during 1982-1983,"
Hesperia
53
(1984)
278.
1985] 303
BIRGITTA PALSSON HALLAGER
metals,
which seem to have been wanted
by
the Cre-
tans,
the Italian
pottery
is hard to understand as an
import prized
for its
beauty,
as Minoan and
Myce-
naean
pottery may
have been in
Italy.
It seems
proba-
ble that the vessels were
brought
to Crete
by
Italian
traders,
and that some Italians took
up
residence at
Khania and other
sites,
and
produced pottery.
Thus,
we can
postulate
Italian movement in the
Mediterranean,
but did Minoans also venture to
Italy?
The
general
view of Crete in the LM III
pe-
riod-that of an island in slow decline-does not fit
with the extensive evidence for Minoan
goods
in an
area from the Levant to
Italy,
even as far as the Adria-
tic coast and Sardinia. It is
unlikely
that Minoans no
longer
knew how to sail in LM III.112 At the 280 sites
with LM III
remains,
there is considerable
proof
for
widespread
contacts-mainland
goods,
but also am-
ber and northern metal
artifacts, Cypriot
and
Syrian
pottery,
and
Egyptian
scarabs. 13 The Minoans
prob-
ably
offered in the
foreign marketplace
the same lux-
ury
items for which
they
were known in the New Pal-
ace Period-oil and wine as the
large stirrup jars
tes-
tify, perfumed
oil in
large
inscribed and smaller stir-
rup jars,
and textiles. A
larger proportion
of the Lin-
ear B tablets from Knossos refer to
sheep"14
and in
Minoan art we have evidence of their
creativity
in
weaving.
Several sites for murex
dyeing
have been
discovered in
Crete,5s
but the nature of the
product
may
have
encouraged importation-12,000
Branda-
ris shells
yield only
1.5
g.
of
purple dye,
about
enough
to
dye
the
edge
of a
garment.
16
Significantly,
the Ta-
ranto
region
is an
important
source of murex.
'17
Although
the murex
may
have been one reason for
entering
into trade with
Italy,
the need for metals
would have
provided
even
stronger
motivation. Crete
has no
good
sources of
copper
and none at all of
tin,
yet
the fourteenth-thirteenth
century graves clearly
show that the raw materials for
making
bronze were
available to the Minoans. In the fourteenth
century,
112
Stated
already by
Kanta
(supra
n.
56)
313.
113
Kanta
(supra
n.
56)
314-16.
114
J.T. Killen,
"The Wool
Industry
of Crete in the Late Bronze
Age,"
BSA 59
(1964)
1-15.
115
D.S.
Reese,
"Industrial
Exploitation
of Murex Shells:
Purple
Dye
and Lime Production at Sidi
Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice),"
Libyan
Studies
1979-80,
82.
116
Reese
(supra
n.
115)
83.
17
Reese
(supra
n.
115)
82.
118
Bietti Sestieri
(supra
n.
16)
408.
119
North of this
area,
toward the center of
Sardinia,
lies an even
larger
metalliferous
deposit,
Funtana
Raminosa;
see Ferrarese Ce-
ruti in
Magna Grecia,
171. On this
deposit
and other metals in
Sardinia, including tin,
see Lo Schiavo et
al.,
below
pp.
316-18.
120
J.D. Muhly,
"The Nature of Trade in the LBA Eastern Medi-
terranean: The
Organization
of the Metals Trade and the Role of
Cyprus,"
in
J.D. Muhly,
R. Maddin and V.
Karageorghis eds.,
Early Metallurgy
in
Cyprus
4000-500 B.C.
(Nicosia 1983)
the Po
Valley probably
functioned as the link between
the
Aegean
and
Europe;
central and southern
Italy
did not have a
developed
metal
industry
at this time as
finds like the Peschiera
daggers
indicate. In the thir-
teenth
century, however,
an
indigenous
metal indus-
try grew up
in the
south,"18 just
at the time when the
Minoans became most active in the area.
Sardinia,
with its rich
deposits
of
copper,
was a
port
of call for
the
Cretans, including people
from
Khania,
as the
pottery
from
Antigori
and the Orosei area shows.
Near
Antigori
are
copper mines,
and tin has even
been
reported
in an area not far removed.119 The in-
gots
found on the island are well known and it is not
impossible
that
they
were made of local
copper.
But
"the evidence for a local metal
industry, utilizing
local
resources,
is
certainly
most
impressive."'20
The
complete copper ingots
found in Crete are con-
sidered to
belong
to the fifteenth
century B.C.,'21
but
there is evidence that
they
also were used later. At
Kommos two LM IIIA
ingot fragments
were found
with materials
relating
to
metalworking,
one of them
in a secure LM IIIA:2 floor
deposit.122
The most im-
pressive confirmation, however,
is
given by
the Knos-
sos tablets.123 One
sign, *167,
has been
accepted
as
the
depiction
of an
ingot'24
and from two tablets
where it occurs with numbers we learn that at least 70
ingots
were
registered.'25
The
ingots
themselves
might
have been stored with the tablets in the
upper
story
of the West
Wing.126
One small
ingot fragment
was
reported
from the
Long
Corridor-but from an
uncertain context.127 The
ingot sign
on the tablets is
similar to the
shape
of Buchholz'
Type 2,
Vier-
zungenbarren,'28
and this
type
is the
only
one identi-
fied on Sardinia.'29 On
present knowledge,
we cannot
say
if the Knossian
"ingots"
were of Sardinian ori-
gin,'30
but we know that some kind of relation existed
between the two
islands,
at least in the thirteenth
century.
There is no evidence to indicate that Sardi-
nian
copper
was not used
by
the Minoans.
261-62.
121
H.-G.
Buchholz,
"Keftiubarren und Erzhandel im zweiten
vorchristlichen
Jahrtausend,"
PZ 37
(1959)
1-40.
122
I am most
grateful
to Harriet Blitzer for
allowing
me to men-
tion this
important
find.
123
This information on the tablets I owe to Erik
Hallager.
124
F. Vandenabeele and
J.-P. Olivier,
Les
ideogrammes
archeolo-
giques
du Lineaire B
(Etudes
Cretoises
24,
Paris
1979)
151-54.
125 KN Oa 730 and Oa 733:
J. Chadwick, J.
Killen and
J.-P.
Olivier,
The Knossos Tablets 4
(Cambridge 1971)
256.
126 E.
Hallager,
The
Mycenaean
Palace at Knossos
(Medelshavs-
museet Memoir
1,
Stockholm
1977)
73.
127
A.
Evans,
PM 2.2.624 and n. 6.
128
Buchholz
(supra
n.
121)
1-8 and
fig.
2.
129
Buchholz
(supra
n.
121)
38-39.
130
But one
ingot
of Sardinian
type
is
reported
to have been found
in Crete: M.
Guido,
Sardinia
(London
and New York
1969)
110-11, unfortunately
without information on its
findspot.
304
[AJA
89
CRETE AND ITALY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE III PERIOD
Minoan involvement in western markets
persisted
into the twelfth and eleventh centuries. In the twelfth
century,
the ceramic evidence in
Italy
diminished in
quantity,
but Italian metal
objects
in Crete increased.
Most of the handmade Italian ware
belongs
to this
period,
so
perhaps
the Italians
gradually
took over the
active
aspects
of trade. Even in the disturbed climate
of the eleventh
century,
contact continued. Italian
knives were found at
Karphi,131
and some bronze
cups, inspired by
Cretan
models,
were buried in a
hoard at Coste del Marano in Latium.132
CONCLUSION
It is clear that some kind of relations existed be-
tween Crete and
Italy
in the Late Bronze
Age
III
pe-
riod. Italian metal
objects
and
pottery
in Crete and
Minoan
pottery
in
Italy
document an
exchange.
Two
important areas-Scoglio
del Tonno and Sardinia-
evidently
received Minoan
goods,
as did other sites
such as San Cosimo
d'Oria, Broglio
di Trebisacce and
Milena,
which have been discussed elsewhere.133
Contact was most intensive in the thirteenth and
twelfth
centuries, although
a full
restudy
of all the
Aegean
material found in
Italy might
allow more
pre-
cise determinations. Metals and murex are
possible
attractions for the
Minoans,
and other
products,
the
nature of which we can
only
surmise
now,
must also
have been involved. More difficult to
interpret
are
Italian ceramics found on Crete. Are
they
the result of
an actual trade in the
goods they contained,
or a dem-
onstration of an unusual taste for handmade bur-
nished
pottery?
Or are
they objects
left behind
by
ac-
tual Italian
settlers, traders,
or even mercenaries?
Much more research and excavation are
necessary
to
resolve these
questions.
0STER0GADE
4
DK-8200 ARHUS N
DENMARK
131
Discussed
supra
n. 35. 133
Kanta
(supra
n.
56) 307; Vagnetti (supra
n.
64);
and in Ri-
132
Matthaus
(supra
n.
9) 110;
for the
dating
of the
hoard,
see cerche sulla
protostoria
della Sibaritide 2
(Naples 1982) 99-113;
Bietti Sestieri
(supra
n. 16) 393.
Magna
Grecia 128-29.
1985]
305
PLATE
38
HALLAGER
U
U
U
FIG. i.
Khania,
LM IIIB bowl
U
i
t
FIG. 2.
Khania, cups
and bowls.
Above,
a
cup
found in a
pit
dated
to LM
IIIA:2/IIIB:I. Below, LM IIIB bowls
FIG.
4. Khania,
sherds from two LM IIIA:2 vessels
FIG.
3. Khania,
LM IIIA:
I cups
or bowls FIG.
5. Khania, cup/bowl fragments.
LM
IIIB:I
rts