July–December 1936

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Tell El Amarna period, so, in spite of the Amarna connections I would divorce it from the Amenophis IV ring, and date it on Egyptian evidence to the end of the 2nd quarter of the 14th century. One piece is a 13th century imitation of L.H.III, and must be from still a later burial.

The latest date at which genuine Mycenaean material has been found with Egyptian objects, both in Egypt [handwritten: or] in Cyprus, is in the reign of Rameses II, [handwritten: 1296-1229 B.C.] There are several Egyptian finds, and there is tomb 22 at Kourion, badly dug by the British Museum, which contained a scarab of Rameses II. Only three pots are preserved, of which at least one, and probably two (the rhyton and the kylix) must be earlier. The third, a deep plate with an unbridged spout, agrees well with other evidence for the reign of Rameses II. During this reign in Egypt we find the first examples of a middle L.H.III type of false-necked jar, with high sides and a sharp shoulder angle. Also dated by Rameses II we get the first dated trace of 3-handled jar with a high narrow neck. Both of these first appear together in Cyprus at a time when the importation of Greek L.H.III is beginning to drop off and imitations are beginning to appear, particularly the kraters with horizontal handles and animal scenes in a poor style. In these same tombs (the side-chamber of tomb 18 at Enkomi: Swedish Cyprus Expedition, vol.1 is a good example) we find a type of shallow plate, sometimes on a high foot, decorated with wavy lines in applied white, which becomes very popular. The wavy lines in applied white is typical and seem to belong to a rather limited period. They too are found on the plate from Kourion, tomb 22, which contained the scarab of Rameses II; these must be contemporary, and since they all represent the first appearance in Cyprus of innovations dated in Egypt by Rameses II, I believe it safe to place the Enkomi tomb and several like it [handwritten: (Tomb 6; 1/6 or 19)] in the contemporary numbers here} during his reign. You will be very much interested to note that tomb 6 contains the first example of the deep bell-shaped bowl (with an elaborate guilloche), and a piece in the earliest panel style. On the basis of this and other comparative material I feel certain that both the bell-shaped bowls and the panel style with which they were so often decorated first appeared during the reign of Rameses II, during the middle fifty years of the 13th century.

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There are two points in all of this which are very significant for history, and which I wish to make central in my new terminology. The first is the great uniformity of the ware. Greece proper, Rhodes, Cyprus, Palestine, etc., are made in exactly the same way of precisely the same clay, and are decorated in the same style. I am certain that I can point out pieces painted by the same hand found in Gezer, Enkomi and Aegina, for example. I feel reasonably certain that at least the great bulk of this material was made in the same workshops and sent out all over the Aegean, much as Attic pottery was in the sixth and fifth centuries, and Roman and Hellenistic wares in their time. The other significant fact is the uniformity with which this Mycenaean ware ceases to be found at some time during the reign of Rameses II, the second. In Egypt the last finds of imported pottery date to his reign and some local false-necked jars) are also dated by him. In Cyprus the side-chamber of tomb 18 at Enkomi, which there is a excellent reason to place during his reign, also represents the very last stage of mass importation to the island; the local imitation has already begun. There are no sure dates in Syria or Palestine, but the style of the latest pieces found there tells the same story. It is not merely a question of chance, either, for the style of the pottery found, for instance in Cyprus, without accurate find records, tells the same tale. It is all early L.H.III. Apart from the pieces I noted, the panel style and the bell-shaped bowls are not to be found in collections of Mycenaean pottery from Cyprus.