I vasi con marchio a rivielo da Haghia Triada protopalaziale

Giorgia Baldacci Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente XC (2013) [2015]: 159-173

Abstract

This paper deals with a group of protopalatial (MM IB – MM IIB) vessels found at the site of Hagia Triada, all bearing a mark on the bottom. The complete study of all the pottery recovered during the systematic investigation of the protopalatial levels of the site, carried out by La Rosa from 1978 to 2011, has led to the identification of 9 vases or fragments characterized by a mark, in the form of a low relief left by the upper, removable part of the potter’s wheel (the so-called bat). Such marks are present only on a few vases, both open and closed sha¬pes with a semicoarse fabric. Sometimes they include motifs very close to those found at Hagia Triada, as well as on similar vessels from the nearby palatial site of Phaistos and Kommos. In the present paper, the marks are not considered per se, but within the framework of a technological, typological and contextual analysis of the vessels involved. On the basis of such analysis it is argued that the marks must be interpreted as potter’s marks and that they were related to a controlled process of production of the vases.