Handling handles: Local cups from Toumba tou Skourou, Cyprus, with a Cretan twist

Annette Højen Sørensen in Papadopoulos, A. (ed), Recent research and perspectives on the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, Talanta XLIV (2012) [2013]: 183-205.

Abstract

This is a study of a small group of pottery cups produced within a sphere of international connections. The hypothesis proposed here is that the local potters of Toumba tou Skourou were inspired by imported Minoan pottery and thus created their own hybrid cup-type. This hypothesis is in turn used to explain why nine cups found at Toumba tou Skourou appear to show a certain degree of Minoan influence, including the high vertical strap handles characteristic of the LM IA cups rather than the usual horizontally set wishbone or loop handles which are characteristic of LC pottery drinking vessels. The study is set within a chronological frame of Cyprus and Crete and the scope is to shed light on the outcome of the interaction between LB I Toumba tou Skourou and Crete.