Joseph W. Shaw, Aleydis Van De Moortel, Peter M. Day & Vassilis Kilikoglou. A Late Minoan Iron Age ceramic kiln in south-central Crete: function and pottery production.
Brodie, Neil
(Hesperia Supplement 30). xi + 172 pages, 66 figures, 16 tables.
2001. n.p.: American School of Classical Studies at Athens;
0-87661-530-2 paperback.
The work of Aegean prehistorians rarely figures in the grand
narratives of archaeological theory and method, and this is a shame
because in some areas they have been remarkably innovative. Nowhere is
this more apparent than in the field of ceramic analysis, and
particularly in the application of scientific techniques. The
integration of scientific with standard stylistic and typological
methods has proved a fruitful union that has allowed questions asked of
pottery to move beyond culture and chronology to more complex issues of
technology and its social, political and economic contexts. The approach
is exemplified by this study of a Minoan kiln discovered at Kommos.
The site of Kommos, on the south-central coast of Crete, has been
excavated by the University of Toronto under the directorship of the
senior author (Shaw) since 1976. It is a multi-period site, but it is
probably fair to say that interest has centred upon the remains of a
medium sized Minoan (c. 1900-1250 BC) town. The subject of this
monograph is a kiln that was discovered in 1993 in the south stoa of the
large Building T of Neopalatial date, just to the south of the town. It
is a cross-draft kiln of a type known from other Neo-palatial sites on
Crete and was found surrounded by a large dump of something like 450 kg
of broken pottery, which is thought to be waste from the kiln.
The core of the book consists of three chapters written
respectively by Shaw (excavation), van Moortel (macroscopic study of
ceramics) and Day & Kilikoglou (scientific study of ceramics). There
are also a short introduction and conclusion written jointly by all
authors, and a reconstruction of the kiln and its mode of operation.
The dating of the kiln to mid-late Minoan IA will prove
controversial. The associated light-on-dark decorated pottery would more
conventionally be dated to Middle Minoan III, but the authors are aware
of this and take 13 pages to set out their argument, which is based on
stylistic analysis of Kommos pottery and its associations.
The presence of reconstructable pots in the excavated remains of
kilns shows that its final load was not removed after firing. The
reasons for this are not clear but analysis of joins in the broken
material recovered from the kiln channels has provided some idea of how
the vessels were stacked for firing. The load was comprised largely of
small conical cups, with a smaller number of other open and closed
shapes. Vessels of the same type seem to have been placed close to one
another. The pots recovered from the kiln are everyday serving and
storage wares. There was no evidence for firing of cooking wares. The
range of shapes and wares found in the kiln was reproduced in the dump.
Fifty-seven sherds were chosen for scientific analysis. Scanning
electron microscope examination of vitrification microstructures showed
that during a single firing the thermal environment of the kiln could
vary considerably, with maximum temperatures registered on individual
sherds falling in the range 750 [degrees] -1080 [degrees] C. There was
also a correlation between the firing temperature and decoration of
vessels. This points to a sophisticated understanding and control of
firing conditions within the kiln, and the authors suggest that this
technical knowledge allowed pots to be selectively placed according to
the maximum temperature required. Fabric analysis by petrography showed
that in general the smaller pots had finer fabrics and that all raw
materials used were available in a 5 km radius of the site. The sherds
were also analysed by neutron activation analysis to provide a chemical
control group that, together with information obtained from the hand
specimen and petrographic analyses, will allow the precise
identification of pottery fired at the kiln when it is discovered at
other contemporary sites throughout Crete.
If the study has a failing it is that the results of the scientific
analyses are not always related back to the visible characteristics of
the sherd material. For example, the fabric categories used for the
macroscopic description are not compared to those derived from
petrography. Perhaps it was not possible. This is a minor point,
however, because, as the authors themselves point out, the real value of
this study has been to characterise the product of a single kiln and, in
so doing, provide a strong foundation for future studies of ceramic
distribution and consumption.
NEIL BRODIE
McDonald Institute for Archaeological
Research, University of Cambridge
