Bamboula, Pottery classification

212 bis

Group B: coarse-tempered ware. The chief characteristic of this ware is a rough gritty fabric with much lime, sand and generally a temper of ground sherds or stones. It occurs, seemingly exclusively, in large piriform stirrup jars. The paint is crumbly and sively, in large piriform stirrup jars. The paint is not of really hard consistency, though it is, of the ware itself is not of really hard consistency, though it is, of course, rather thick and coarse looking. The degenerate octopus design is almost exclusively the decorative motif. Daniel originally classified the following pieces as Minoan, and apparently got some encouragement in this from Hutchinson. At best, however, it corresponds with LM IB and LM II, which are too early for the contexts they were found in. Later, Daniel changed the classification of the entire group to Mycenaean (cf. AJA 45, 1941,267) rightly enough, as they occur contemporaneously throughout the range of, and in connection with, the standard Mycenaean fabric. Moreover, there are virtually no other Minoan imports at Bamboula, whereas trade relations with the mainland of Greece are well documented. Examining the Nauplia Museum I noticed grave groups stored in the apotheke of the Nauplia Museum I noticed that coarse ware pots in general were few, but a few comparable to the Bamboula examples existed. It is, of course, understandable that this fabric was designed for commercial rather than funereal use; and, in fact, all the Bamboula examples are from the settlement, the Corinth Museum there are three or four enormous stirrup jars from Zygouries of ground sherd temper, corresponding dolosely in quality to the numerous specimens recovered at Bamboula.