A Story: The Making of Ancient Cypriot Pottery

Let us travel back in time to an unspecified period in ancient Cyprus, and use our knowledge of traditional Cypriot pottery making from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with scientific analyses of ancient Cypriot pottery to go on a journey through the process of making vessels from raw clay to the final product. Note that unlike many other articles we write, this one will take some liberties and make some assumptions about this process based on the available evidence, and should not be treated as a fully accurate historical account, though significant ethnoarcheological and archeological effort has been made to make this as accurate as possible.

An Unforging Hill

Coercing his lazy horse up the steep and thorny part of the hillside in blistering heat was not Kinyras's idea of a good summers day. While sometimes it may be unclear where he would need to be, this time he knew exactly what the best spot was, making the journey feel longer and less adventerous, more of a boring arduous task that needed doing. While he muttered and thought of how he should have agreed to be an apprentice to his fathers wood-working shop, well tucked away from the summers heat, he had trekked a good few hundred meters up the hill, and finally, he arrived.

He could even see where he last dug what seemed now like only a short while ago, the lack of rain had left it in pretty much the same condition as it had been when he last left. He tied his horse to a nearby tree, removed the small cart like contraption that always served him well, even if it did amuse his wife. He started to feel the dirt, trying to understand where the large tree had dug it's roots. The best clay, bereft of stones and annoying to filter out impurities, was often located at this hard to dig spot. After a while he made the decision to begin digging, he removed the outer layer that had been baked hard by the sun, and soon found the soft clay beneath. As he worked the clay loose he again wished he had taken up his fathers offer.

His cart soon began to fill, although he knew he couldn't fill it fully without risking his horse.

Sifting Through Dirt

Iphigenia could soon see the cart coming down the hill, not a moment too late. Kinyras, his energy drained and beaten by the work, dropped off the cart and took his horse to rest and drink. Iphigenia felt the clay, trying to understand the quality and what kind of work would be required to turn this dirt into a useable product. It was of relatively good quality, but would still require sifting.

She began removing any larger debris by hand, a task that was important to do well. Smaller pieces of debris could for now stay in place. Iphigenia then grabbed a large make-shift tool that she had made from a large branch with many leaves still attached, and mercilessly began to beat the clay she had now placed on the ground in a small mound. This process would break up the clay which had hardened in the sun into a smaller more uniform size. While this was done outdoors to avoid getting any indoor areas too dirty, it was done under a small roof to avoid the sun drying out the clay any further. This resulting clay was then placed into a sieve, to remove the previously left debris.

The Co-operative Workshop