The Iron Age
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At the end of the Late Bronze Age, the upheavals that precipitated social collapse in the Aegean, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine and Egypt also reached Cyprus. In the Iron Age, urban society reemerged. The pottery of Iron Age Cyprus, unlike the pottery of the Cypriot Bronze Age, was mass produced in a standard range of shapes and wares. Potters often took considerably less care with their work, and as a result the finished products were more homogenous and frequently flawed in minor ways. Iron Age Cypriot pottery was none the less colorful and often elaborately painted with geometric or figural motifs. Intricate "Free-field" compositions graced juglets and jars; examples of some Free-field designs can be seen on the back wall of the case in the photo above. The figures show both realistic and fantastic patterns. Ubiquitous concentric circles were applied to jars, juglets, bowls and kraters using a multiple brush. Finer wares like plates, bowls and jugs were made on the fast wheel, while larger forms like amphoras, amphoroid kraters and pithoi were built with a combination of techniques: wheel throwing, hand coiling or molding.
 The "Free-field Style" is characterized by a large, elaborate central composition (human, plant or animal) in dark paint on a light background. Highlights were often added in red. The style, which began in the Cypro-Geometric and flourished in the Cypro-Archaic period, is unique to Cyprus. Jugs of this shape were often painted in the "Free-field Style." This one, an early example of the type, has swastikas, multiple chevrons and a pair of prophylactic eyes on its trefoil rim, but no central composition. If you look closely you will notice a series of dark lines on the side of the pot; these are an impression from the paint of another pot which was placed near or against this one in the kiln (pots were mass produced and fired in groups); the paint smudged off, leaving this "shadow" mark. |
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 This
vessel is an amphoroid krater, similar to some in the Transport display,
in terms of its form; its decoration is a matter of debate! If looked
at very closely, it is possible to see finely made decoration underneath
the rather sloppily applied wavy band, dots, and straight bands. It may
have been intended to be Bichrome Red with red, black, and white decoration,
which misfired and burned; the potter then redecorated it to be able to
sell the pot. There are also scholars who believe that the potters came
to intentionally overfire these vessels, then decorated them afterwards. |
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 This jug is decorated in a style known as Bichrome, which uses both red and black paint over a light base coat (slip). It originated in Phoenicia and was brought to Cyprus, where it became very popular and is another example of the strong Phoenician influence and presence on Cyprus during the Iron Age. The shape is extremely rounded, called "barrel-shaped," and the base is hardly present - some jugs of this shape need pot-stands to remain upright. You can see that the circular decoration is present here also, but this was done with a single brush, probably spinning the pot on the wheel as the circle was made. |
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 This is an example of White Painted Ware, with the typical diamond and net patterns and series of bands, and its form is a miniature amphoroid krater. There is another example of White Painted Ware in the Transport display; this one, however, is only about 15 inches high, whereas the other is almost two feet tall. You can see that this pot has collapsed a bit before or during firing; the rim is uneven, and it leans slightly toward one side. With the painted decoration on the base and its pedestaled form, it can be dated in the early Iron Age, probably in the first century (roughly 1050 - 950 BCE). |
This
type of decoration is known as Black on Red Ware, and the vessel is
an amphoriskos (a small amphora - see those in the Transport display
also). Black on Red decoration, once thought to have come from Phoenicia,
now seems to have been more widely produced on Cyprus. The small sets
of circles, called concentric circles, are very common in this ware,
and were made with a compass that had multiple brush heads; we often
see the indentation from the compass point. This vessel has a shiny
surface, as it was burnished (rubbed to a high polish with a hard object)
after it was fired.