Cypriot Bowls & Plates, a brief history
Alexis Drakopoulos
Alexis Drakopoulos is a Greek Cypriot Machine Learning Engineer working in Financial Crimes. He is passionate about Archeology and making it accessible to everyone. About Me.
Bowls are common to all cultures, a simple shape that can be hand or wheel made in large quantities, can hold liquids and solids in an efficient manner and is comfortable to hold and store. Bowls have been used since the first colonization of Ancient Cyprus, in this article we explore them from the early Bronze all the way to the late Archaic.
January 4, 2024
Archeology, Ceramics, History
Before diving into examples of bowls and plates, it would be nice to define what they actually are. Desmond Morris defines a bowl as
Pre-Pottery Neolithic Bowls
Diabase bowl with spout
This bowl, made of a local, hard, gray stone called diabase, is characteristic of the kinds of...
Neolithic Cypriots circa 5000 BC produced stone wares such as bowls from a stone referred to as diabase. Other artefacts were made out of diabase but the neolithic sadly did not leave many artefacts behind.
Ceramic Neolithic & Chalcolithic Bowls
Flanged-base Tray
A Neolithic Ceramic Flanged-base tray from kissonerga-Mylouthkia building 152.
The Neolithic II, around 4500 BC, also referred to as the Sotira phase after an ancient site near the southern coast of the island, introduced some of the first known pottery to the island. [1] The site was likely inhabited newcomers, who brought with them skills to produce various novel goods including primitive types of pottery. [2]
The Early Bronze Age
Bronze Age Cyprus was spectacular in terms of pottery, the weird creativity behind burial pottery is just incredible to observe.
Terracotta bowl
Hemispherical bowl with elaborate incised decoration. H. 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm); diameter 4 3/16 in....
The Middle Bronze Age
The Late Bronze Age
Cypro-Geometric Bowls
Large Shallow Dishes/Plates
Terracotta plate with horned handles
Overall: 1 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. (4.5 x 21.6 cm)
One of the most popular plate types, and one of which I am actively searching to add to my collection, is one with intricate patterns on its base, usually including thick and large concentric
Cypro-Archaic Bowls
References
- DIKAIOS, P., Angel, J. L., Stekelis, M., Zeuner, F. E., Ellis, A. G., & Dance, S. P. (1961). Sotira: A Neolithic Settlement in Cyprus. University of Pennsylvania Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv4t810g
- Doron Boness, Joanne Clarke & Yuval Goren (2015) Ceramic Neolithic pottery in Cyprus—origin, technology and possible implications for social structure and identity, Levant, 47:3, 233-254, DOI: 10.1080/00758914.2015.1105480