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Some Manufacturing Processes in a Knossian Stone Vase Workshop

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Extract

Studies previously conducted by Warren into this group of material, which was found in some of the cists within Magazine XIII of the Palace at Knossos, and considered to belong to a gypsum worker's atelier dating to LM II-IIIa, were concentrated especially on establishing the position of the workshop in the broader perspective of the Minoan stone vase-making industry. I now examine in greater detail one area of study that Warren commented upon — the technical procedures of construction that were employed (with particular reference to the vases), with the intention of building up more accurate information about the tool kits than has hitherto been available.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1980

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References

1 Warren, P. M.BSA lxii (1967) 195ffGoogle Scholar; to whom go thanks for encouraging this work. I would also like to thank Dr. H. W. Catling for reading the text and suggesting improvements, and J. Rogers for the drawings on Fig. 4. Abbreviations, in addition to those used in BSA, are as follows:

Les Outils Deshayes, J.Les Outils de Bronze, de l'Indus au Danube (Paris 1960)Google Scholar, two volumes.

PTK Evans, A.The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos”. Arehaeotogia lix (1905) 39 Iff.Google Scholar

MSI' Warren, P.M.Minoan Stone Vases (Cambridge 1969).Google Scholar

2 I am inclined to add some five pieces from Box 550, which contains material from the first cist, to Warren's total –BSA lxii (1967) 195. Compare his pl. 40 for illustration of a representative cross-section of the material.

3 Retaining Warren, 's terminology BSA lxii (1967) 196 and pl. 40b above.Google Scholar

4 Warren, BSA lxii (1967) 196 n. 5Google Scholar deals with this point. However, comparable material (in condition, manner of working, and stone type) does occur elsewhere in the environs of the Palace e.g. Box 1607 from the SSW House in an LM I–III context, according to E. Eccles, M. Money-Coutts and J.D.S. Pendlebury, Knossos. Dating of the Pottery in the Stratigraphical Museum 11, 17. The Magazine XIII group may, thus, merely reflect the contents of a particular rubbish bin that somehow found its way into the cists.

5 These ‘emphasised’ lines are often those marking the interior profile of the vessel.

6 Alternatively, the debris here assembled may represent the waste from a particular worker, whose responsibility it was to cut out the interiors only. Such a practice would have important implications for the organisation of the labour force in the workshop, were it ever possible to confirm this point.

7 Note two pieces in which over-zealous removal of the interior has left a pock-marked pattern on the bottom where the chisel-corner has penetrated too deeply, lifting out chips as a result (PLATE 11c).

8 Typical abrading powders can be made from quartz sand, pumice and emery; polishing agents include red ochre.

9 As reference to Les Outils i will demonstrate (there being no entry for such tools); even outside the Aegean they are no commoner, being said not to appear in Egypt before the Graeco-Roman period, cf. W. M. F. Petrie Tools and Weapons 60.

10 Tongs and tweezers are the nearest tools to this class of object, and though both exist about this time in Crete, they rely on manual compression of the naturally springy metal for their operation and thus cannot be fixed open: e.g. Tongs: Zakro (HM 3080 and 3081), Building north of the Harbour Road. MM III–LM Piaton, I. N.Praktika (1970) 214 and pl. 338a.Google Scholar Note the second (pl. 338a, right) type where the separate arms have been mechanically joined at the ends. Tweezers: Knossos, Sanatorium Tomb 1. LM II. M.S.F. Hood and P. de Jong BSA xlvii (1952) 265.1(12).

11 eg. Mallia, Quartier Z, House γ(Room xv). LM la. Deshayes, J. and Dessenne, A.Études Crétoises xi 70 and pl. xx 2.Google Scholar bottom. Gournia (HM 569). MM III-LM I probably. Hawes, H.B.Gournia 34 and pl. IV. 18.Google Scholar

12 Bronze (or conceivably work-hardened copper) is preferred to obsidian, not on the grounds of hardness — for obsidian is 5–6 on the Mohs scale, copper 2½-3 and gypsun 2, but rather because of its strength. The brittleness of obsidian will not allow it to withstand for long the strains imposed by twisting or levering. A single-edged knife would be preferable to a double-edged, as this arrangement enables pressure to be applied to the back of the blade by the hand when cutting is in progress.

13 There is no lack of Minoan knives. A history of the single-edged blade has been compiled by Sanders, N. K.PPS xxi (1955) 174ffGoogle Scholar, from which one might select as a typical example of the likely calibre used by a craftsman that from Knossos, Zafer Papoura Tomb 1. LM IIIa. PTK 22. Id and fig. 15.

14 The details of the argument underlying this statement can be found in Casson, S.The Technique of Early Greek Sculpture (1933) 192–4Google Scholar and fig. 72.

15 Deshayes records this fact with a justifiable sense of surprise, Les Outils i 110, though his catalogue in vol. ii 52–3 is slender (1½ pages) in contrast with the comparable one for chisels (15 pages).

16 e.g. Mallia, Quartier Δ House β MM III-LM Demargne, I.P. and de Santerre, H. G.Études Crétoises ix 60 and pl. xxix. 2261Google Scholar: which example has a straight cutting edge. Knossos, Minoan levels of the Unexplored Mansion. LM II. H. W. Catling and R. E. Jones Archaeometry 19 (1) 61 and fig. 1.9: which example has a curved cutting edge, and is the equivalent to Casson's bull nosed chisel.

17 Discussion on these matters makes up the bulk of Warren's BSA article, and I have no reason to argue with him on any point.

18 Noted by Warren, BSA lxii (1967) 196 and 199.Google Scholar

19 On the face of it, this seems a natural and sensible order of progression, but it did not apply to the Egyptian artisans if Quibell's comments can be taken as they stand — quoted by Lucas, A. and Harris, J. R.Ancient Egyptian Materials am Industries (1962) 423.Google Scholar

20 Though some sort of rotary action was required to piero lugs and make holes for suspension or closing purposes Compare MSV Types 23a, 33, and 37a - all shallow and oper profiled vessels, which shapes are readily achieved without thi use of a drill.

21 MSV 61, for use on an amphora from Avdhou in removal of interior, and 6 with P. 12 for details of exterio decoration on the alabastra from the Throne Room a Knossos.

22 This is a difficult point to substantiate, but the apparent lack of concern at the number of vessels being lost (surely more than would have resulted with a drill?) might be argued to indicate a ‘cheap’ product.

23 Chapouthier, F., Demargne, P. and Dessenne, A.Études Crétoises xii 57 and pl. xliii.Google Scholar

24 MSV 60, for a lamp from the Royal Road at Knossos; a bowl from Mochlos, MSV 161 and P. 268; and sundry unpublished potential pieces in the Stratigraphical Museum at Knossos.

25 MSV 61 and P.322, for large amphorae from the East Wing, the so-called Lapidary's Workshop, at Knossos.

26 On the use and manufacture of these enigmatic objects, see Iakovides, S., BSA lxxiii (1977) 113ff.Google Scholar