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. 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.