ASSIROS - BRONZE AGE POTTERY: 1
The traditional local pottery which had been made in Macedonia since the Middle Bronze Age ( > 1600 BC) is hand made and burnished. It forms the majority of the fine pottery even after the introduction of Mycenaean types and is clearly ancestral to the . Destruction levels at Assiros contained many complete examples to illustrate the repertoire. Coarse ware for cooking vessels was even more common and the use of pithoi - large storage jars up to 1.5 in height and containing up to ** litres was commonplace. more
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Pottery with white or pink paste applied over coarse incised bands or triangles is the most typical decorated ware at Assiros, as it is in much of Central and Eastern Macedonia. Common shapes include the globular two handled jar decorated with spiral meander patterns and large four handled jars with pendent triangles. This kind of decoration has affinities to the north and east as far as the Danube Valley and shows the level of contact with cultural groups in that area. |
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INCISED AND PASTE FILLED JARS |
| Matt painted pottery is much rarer at Assiros and disappears almost completely with the introduction of Mycenaean types. This kind of pottery is much more common in the region to the west of the Axios river and in the uplands of Western Macedonia where it continues in use well into the Iron Age. The manganese based slip fires purple red regardless of firing conditions but never achieves the glossy surface of the iron oxide rich slips used for Mycenaean pottery. | |
| Mycenaean pottery reached Macedonia from LH I onwards at coastal sites such as Torone. `Local' manufacture only started around 1350 BC when influence from Southern Greece became regular. The Mycenaean pottery found at Assiros helps to date the different phases and illustrates the extent of Southern Greek influence in each. By 1200 BC imports from the south had almost entirely ceased and local workshops supplied these fine decorated wares to neighbouring communities. | |
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