Mycenaean Pottery - Technology

Technology

Earliest form of the potter's wheel was developed in the Near East around 3500 B.C. This was then adopted by the people of Mesopotamia who later altered the performance of the wheel to make it faster. Around 2000 years later during the Late Helladic Period, Mycenae's adopted the wheel and made no alteration to the way it worked.

The idea behind the pottery wheel was to increase the production of pottery. This consisted of a circular platform, either made of baked clay, wood or terracotta. On the other side of the platform is a notch where a stationary point is connected to the underside. Theses wheels were turned by hand; the artist usually had an assistant that turned the wheel while he molds the clay.

Clay is dug from the ground, checked for impurities and placed on the wheel to be molded. Once the potter gets the shape he desires, the potter stops the wheel, allowing the access water to run of. The artist then spins it again to ensure the water is off then it is placed in a kiln. The kiln was usually a pit dug in the ground and heated by fire; these were estimated to reach a temperature of 950 degree Celsius (1,742 degree Fahrenheit). Later kilns were built above ground to be easier to maintain and ventilate. During the firing of the pottery, artists went through a three-phase firing in order to achieve the right colour (further reading).

Many historians question how Mycenaean potter's developed the technique of glossing their pottery. Some speculate that there is a "elite or a similar clay mineral in a weak solution" of water. This mixture is then applied to the pottery and placed in the kiln to set the surface. Art Historians suggest that the "black areas on Greek pots are neither pigment nor glaze but a slip of finely sifted clay that originally was of the same reddish clay used."

Considering the appearance of the pottery, many Mycenaean fragments of pottery that have been uncovered, has indicated that there is colour to the pottery. Much of this colouring comes from the clay itself; pigments are absorbed from the soil. Vourvatsi pots start off with a pink clay "due merely to long burial in the deep red soil of the Mesmogia. "The colours of the clay vary from white and reds to yellows and browns. The result of the pottery is due to the effects of the kiln; this ties in the three-phases of firing."

• Phase One: Oxidizing. Oxygen is added to the kiln, thus creates the slip and pot to turn red
• Phase Two: Reducing. The shutter in the kiln is closed, reducing the amount of oxygen the pottery receives, this causes both the slip and pot to turn black.
• Phase Three: Re-oxidizing. Oxygen is then released back into the kiln, causing the coarser material to turn red and the smother silica-laden slip to remain black.

Artists used a variety of tools to engrave designs and pictures onto the pottery. Most of the tools used were made up of stones, sticks, bones and thin metal picks. Artists used boar-hair brushes and feathers used to distribute the sifted clay evenly on the pottery.