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Crete and Italy in the Late Bronze Age III PeriodAuthor(s): Birgitta Pålsson HallagerSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Apr., 1985), pp. 293-305Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/504331Accessed: 07/04/2009 10:01

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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 important 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 material was thought useful in establishing early Italian

chronology and that of Europe in general, where My- cenaean pottery is not represented. The Aegean presence 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 decline 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 micenea 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 evidence of early contacts. His conclusions have, however, 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 usually 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 examples 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 considered 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 knowledge, 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 incised 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 parallels for shape and decoration at Grotta Pertosa near Polla and many comparable examples of decoration from sites throughout Italy; he ascribes an Alpine origin 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, although 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 central 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]


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 occurs 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 between 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 fibulae, 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 origin.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 excavated 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 appear 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 because 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 important 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 centers and it and its hinterland-Torre Castelluccia, Porto Perone and Satyrion-have often been called the site of a true Mycenaean colony.51 This hypothesis 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


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 excavations 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 parallel 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


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 represented on alabastra, cups, bowls and 3-handled piriform jars. Cf. bowl fragments from NW House, Knossos, alabastron from Pigi (LM IIIA:2); the closest 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


Taylour-Submycenaean or local ware, comparable 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 appears not to be the usual deep bowl, but rather a carinated 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 octopus 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 ornament 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 according 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, appears to be identical with the Scoglio flask. Evans argued 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 (supra n. 64); Popham (supra n. 67) 200, fig. 3.34 (Knossos); Kanta (supra n. 56) fig. 29.7 (Episkopi).

1985] 299

\amrh


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-pattern, dated to Myc. IIIC.

The sherd appears to be from a cup or bowl. Al-

though known in the Mycenaean repertoire, the pattern 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 fragments 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 includes 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 design 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 presence 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 occurs 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 within 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


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 example 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 stylized 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 workshop 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 especially popular with the Kydonian workshop and appears 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


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 identifiable 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 workshop of LM IIIB. As in the case of the Italian material, 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 workshop. 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


at Khania.96 In a floor deposit of late LM IIIB and early IIIC were two complete vessels: a jar and a carinated bowl, of handmade impasto ware.97 This type of pottery is at home in the Subapennine phase of central 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 identical 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 material in general finds parallels in southern Italy, especially 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 latter 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 comparable 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 belong 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 miniature 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-although 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 particular 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 handmade 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


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 probable 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 period-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 probably 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 thirteenth century, however, an indigenous metal industry 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 ingots 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 considered 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 identified on Sardinia.'29 On present knowledge, we cannot

say if the Knossian "ingots" were of Sardinian origin,'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


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 between Crete and Italy in the Late Bronze Age III period. 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 precise 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 burnished pottery? Or are they objects left behind by actual 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