Glossary Pottery and vessels
Lug
Also called: lugged
A small knob or tab of clay on the wall or rim of a vessel, used for gripping, for tying on a cover or, when pierced, for hanging.
Lugs are simpler than handles: a pinched or applied projection with no loop to put a finger through. They may be solid, horizontally or vertically pierced, or modelled into horns and animal heads. Pierced lugs could take a cord for hanging the pot or tying down a cover, and pairs of them are often set opposite each other.
They are common on Early and Middle Bronze Age Red Polished bowls. The deep bowls from the Vounous cemetery often have rim lugs, sometimes shaped as horns, and many tulip bowls have small lugs at the rim.
Related terms
- String-hole
A small hole pierced through a lug, rim or projection on a pot so it could be hung up or have a cover tied on with a cord.
- Relief decoration
Raised decoration on a pot, made by adding strips, pellets or modelled figures of clay to the surface or by pinching the wall outwards.
- Wishbone handle
A handle that rises above the rim of a bowl and splits into two prongs, like a wishbone, typical of Late Bronze Age Cypriot bowls.
Where it appears
- Tulip Bowls and Cult Vessels
- Bowls
- Vounous and Early Bronze Age Burial
- Red Polished Philia Ware
- Village Life in Early Bronze Age Cyprus
- Birds in Ancient Cyprus
- Dippers and Ladles
- Flasks
- Plain White Ware
- Red Polished Zoomorphic Vessels and Animal Figurines
- Triple Crossing Lines
- Types of Ware
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