The Bronze Age of Greece

Identify: Piriform vessel (bottle)

Material: Clay

Date + Location: (EBA) Early Cycladic I/II + Cyclades

Other: Perfume oil export container, Cycladic trade

Identify: Frying pan from Chalandriani

Material: Clay

Date + Location: (EBA) EC II + Chalandriani (Cyclades)

Other: No fire, reference to ocean/fertility/wealth, used as mirror/salt/tambourine/incense

Identify: Marble male figurine of “special form”: the harp player

Material: Marble

Date + Location: (EBA) EC II + Cyclades

Other: Traces of color, used for festivals/religious purposes (fertility)

Identify: Zoomorphic (bird-shaped) pottery vessel

Material: Clay

Date + Location: (EBA) EM I/II + Hagia Photia (Crete)

Other: Interest in nature=inspiration to mimic forms

Identify: Steatite pyxis

Material: Stone

Date + Location: (EBA) EM III + Mochlos (Cyclades)

Other: Cretan influence, used for jewelry, maximum decoration

Identify: Bichrome pottery vessel

Material: Clay

Date + Location: MC + Thera (Cyclades)

Other: Pomegranate is not native = Lebanon, Akrotiri was a trade location, biochrome = black + red on white

Identify: Bronze dagger with gilded hilt

Material: Bronze, wood, gold

Date + Location: MBA + Quartier Mu, Malia (Crete)

Other: Not intended for combat but for status and authority

Identify: Alabaster rhyton in the form of a lioness’ head

Material: Alabaster

Date + Location: LM I + Knossos

Other: People drank from this during ceremonies, room was meant for political and religious purposes

Identify: Ivory statuette of the Palaikastro Kouros

Material: Ivory, rock crystal, gold, and serpentine

Date + Location: LM I + Palaikastro, Crete

Other: Cult statue, destroyed by fire, Egyptian influence

Identify: Ivory pyxis from the House of the Lady with the Ivory

Material: Ivory

Date + Location: LM IB + Pyxis, Mochlos

Other: Found in house with trees inside, heavy nature inspiration (trees)

Identify: Bronze inlaid dagger with a feline hunting ducks in a Nilotic landscape 

Material: Bronze

Date + Location: LH I + Grave Circle A, Mycenae

Other: Relation to death gifts, evidence of eastern influence

Identify: The ostrich-egg rhyton

Material: Ostrich egg, faience, wood, and gold

Date + Location: 16th Century b.c. + Mycenae

Identify: Gold jewelry (hair rings)

Material: Gold

Date + Location: 17th/16th century + Mycenae

Other: Found in Shaft Grave, show wealth and status

Identify: Painted ceiling, Palace of Amenhotep III

Material: Plaster and pigments

Date + Location: 14th century b.c. + Malkata

Other: Used for royal and ceremonial functions, Egyptians had a strong sense of Aegean cities