Transition, production and standardization in Minoan ceramics : a view from neopalatial mochlos / Kellee Ann Barnard.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Barnard, Kellee Ann.

Contributor:

Betancourt, Philip P., 1936- advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Ancient history.

Ancient history--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Ancient history.

Ancient history--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xii, 493 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

2001.

Summary:

The goal of this study is to analyze and publish an important Minoan pottery deposit from Mochlos in eastern Crete. The "Plateia deposit" comes from part the Neopalatial settlement's system of streets and open spaces (plateia) that were used continuously throughout the period. Because debris collected or was discarded in the street, it was regularly repaved with crushed stones at least 11 times during its history, creating multiple distinct stratigraphic layers. Beneath the nearly 1 m. depth of cumulative street Levels dating from the Middle Minoan III/LM Ia Transitional to the Late Minoan (LM) Ib periods, the floor of a house built in the Middle Minoan (MM) III period and destroyed by fire was discovered.

The wealth of pottery from this deposit (over 15,000 sherds and fragmentary vessels) is thus separated into 13 discrete chronological layers spanning virtually the entire Neopalatial period from beginning to end. The deposit is highly significant in several ways: (1) Few other Minoan deposits, and almost none from the eastern part of the island, can be securely dated to the earlier phases of the Neopalatial (MM III, MM III/LM Ia Transitional, and even LM Ia) period. Those that do are often widely mixed with materials of other periods or displaced by the large-scale later Neopalatial (LM Ib) strata that overlay them. (2) The Plateia deposit stands basically alone in encompassing unbroken strata of all Neopalatial phases layered securely one of top of another. (3) This microstratification allows examination, not just of the general aspects of Neopalatial pottery, but of the specific progression in styles over time.

The goals of the study are: (1) To publish in detail this unique ceramic deposit which will stand as a solid reference for all subsequent examinations into Neopalatial pottery chronology. (2) To set out a typology of shapes, fabrics and decorative styles with the aim of displaying the detailed changes over short periods of time. (3) To determine what information the deposit may yield concerning relative and absolute chronologies, how pottery production methods may have changed throughout the period and what this may mean in terms of social structure.

Notes:

Adviser: Philip P. Betancourt.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Ancient History) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 3003589.

OCLC:

244971414