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Mycenaean feasting on Tsoungiza at Ancient Nemea

Hesperia, Spring, 2004 by Mary K. Dabney, Paul Halstead, Patrick Thomas

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As would be expected in any settlement deposit, open shapes are more common in the EU 9 deposit than closed ones. Of the painted pottery, there is a higher percentage of open shapes in the EU 9 deposit than in EU 2 (LH IIIB1): 84.5% vs. 75.5%. In the larger and probably more representative deposits from Mycenae (the Atreus Bothros, Citadel House room 3, South House room 22, and Causeway deposits), the percentage of open painted vessels is typically around 60%. At Korakou, which as a small, nonpalatial site probably offers the best comparison to Tsoungiza, about 80% of the painted sherds are from open shapes.

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The unusual nature of the EU 9 deposit is indicated by the low frequency of patterned sherds and sherds with linear decoration, and the high incidence of solidly painted sherds (criterion 1, above). Fewer than 10% of the sherds from the EU 9 deposit bear a pattern, and only 21% have linear decoration. In no other published Mycenaean deposit of LH IIIA-B, with the possible exception of the LH IIB-IIIA1 strata from Asine, does the percentage of painted, patterned sherds fall below 20%. (24) For those deposits where most or all of the painted pottery was saved (Tsoungiza EU 2, Korakou, and Mycenae rooms 3 and 22, and the Causeway deposit), the percentage of patterned pottery typically amounts to 20-25%, and sherds with linear decoration typically comprise half or more of the total painted sherds. Because of the large number of kylikes, roughly 67% of the painted sherds in the EU 9 deposit are solidly painted. It can be argued that, in the absence of settlement groups of comparable date, these percentages relate more to chronology than function, but until additional LH IIIA2 (early) settlements are found, one must work with available evidence. (25)

As the labor-intensive practice of burnishing the surfaces of drinking cups declined during LH IIIA, the application of hard red paint to the surface might have served a similar aesthetic purpose by giving them a shinier, more metallic appearance, and would have lessened the porosity of body walls. One might speculate that the needs of public feasts such as those postulated here demanded greater quantities and more efficient production of drinking vessels, especially if the vessels were broken soon after being used.

The kylix is by far the most common painted shape in EU 9 (criterion 2). Although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between rims of solidly painted kylikes and those of stemmed bowls, painted kylikes certainly comprise no fewer than 50%, and possibly closer to 55%, of all painted sherds. By contrast, only 7.5% of the LH IIIB1 assemblage in EU 2 is made up of painted kylikes. The bulk of the painted kylikes in EU 9 belong to FS 264, the rounded kylix typical of LH IIIA2, and are solidly painted (Fig. 2); a substantial number of patterned kylikes are present as well, although there are at least 10 solidly painted kylikes for every patterned one. The kylix is also the form most prevalent among the unpainted sherds: 72% of diagnostic fineware sherds represent various kylix forms, mostly FS 267, the angular kylix, and the rounded kylix in both its deep (FS 264) and shallow (FS 266) variants (Fig. 3). When all unpainted features (e.g., rims, handles, bases) are taken into account, kylikes amount to over 55% of the diagnostic sherds. The percentage of unpainted vessels is less striking when compared to deposits with available statistics for unpainted ware: in the EU 2 deposit, 69% of the fine features belonged to kylix forms and 49.5% of diagnostic sherds; at Mycenae, in the Citadel House, room 3, Wardle notes that unpainted kylikes account for about half the total number of vessels represented in the unpainted pottery; in the South House, room 22, unpainted kylikes account for 62% of all unpainted features. (26)

Mycenaean feasting on Tsoungiza at Ancient Nemea

Hesperia, Spring, 2004 by Mary K. Dabney, Paul Halstead, Patrick Thomas

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