Kamares ware
As Kamares - style pottery is called a style from the early palatial period of Crete ( 1900 BC to 1650 BC).
Features of Kamares style are linear motifs that are painted on matte black background with white and red color and is therefore also known as polychrome style. The style is typical of the so-called eggshell goods, ie thin-walled pottery of the Cretan- Minoan period. The Kamares style was throughout the eastern Mediterranean to Egypt extremely popular as Chinese porcelain in the 18th century modern. The Kamares style was named after its place of discovery as such, because above the village of Kamares, archaeologists discovered in the northern Kamares Cave finds this ceramic.
Periodization
Kamareskeramik there were during the entire time Mittelminoischen (MM, from about 2100 BC to about 1600 BC) and was mainly found during archaeological excavations in Central Crete.
At MM IA (2100-1900 BC) at the same time joined with the slowly rotating potter's wheel for the first time, the new ceramic type on. The ground was covered with shiny black varnish to imitate metal. The painting was done with bright colors, first being used White and Indian red. Were also used Cinnabar, cherry and Kermes At later times. Orange - red was applied only in earlier times. The color scheme was likely influenced by light veined black breccia, a stone that is often used in the manufacture of vessels. Common patterns were garlands and spirals, but look very stiff.
While MM IB (1900-1800 BC), the same motifs were popular, but more realistic. The potter's art reached in this and the following period peaked and it was first published in the eggshell goods. Some vessels are so wrinkled and shaped as if they were made of metal and are harvested with imaginative applications ( Barbotine ) as spines and bumps provided combined with fine polychrome painting.
The transition to MM II A ( first half of the 18th century BC) is fluid and does not delineate exactly temporally. At this time the vivid illustrations and color scheme were refined. A hallmark of this era are stamped reliefs to imitate metal vessels.
The introduction of fast rotating potter's wheel to MM II B ( second half of the 18th century BC) marked the end of the relief decoration. Recognizable is the new technique to elliptical stripe on the bottom of the vessel that arose as the vessel of the rotating disk was truncated. In vases, which have been generated on the slowly rotating potter's wheel, the strips are less curved. The handle has now been otherwise secured while the handle started previously in the wall of the vessel, they have now been placed on the surface. The patterns were highly stylized, still appeared the first realistic depictions of flowers on. First appear an octopus on a shard from the Kamares Cave. Hallmark of the era are composed of leaves and flowers ribbons and rows of red slices. These motifs appear to be influenced by the murals, where they were originally at the beam ends at the red discs. From the palaces of central Crete vessels still come with straps made of crescents and spiral rings.
After the destruction of the old palaces appeared to MM III A (1700-1650 BC), new vase shapes that were influenced probably by metal receptacles of the Hyksos in Egypt, such as ostrich eggs with spout and feet made of faience or metal. Many Libationsgefäße had the likeness of a bull's head and generally there was a tendency to leaner and higher vases. The ornaments were painted with transparent white or mottled to mimic painted white dots in stone on purple tinted base. Leaves snails remained a popular motif.
While MM III B (1650-1600 BC) came the break in Kamares style, which eventually means to an end. Apparently influenced by mural appear reeds and grasses and in the background rocks and vegetation on the ceramics. Larger animals and humans have been omitted, unlike the frescoes, only marine animals and birds appeared on the vessels. Whether this was due to religious, economic or aesthetic reasons is unknown.
Archaeological exploration
Shards of Kamares ware ( type MM II B) were first discovered in 1885 by the archaeologist Edouard Naville in ancient tombs near the Egyptian resort Izbat Al Khatanah. In the tombs he found scarabs from the 12th and 13th dynasty. A scarab bearing the throne name of pharaoh Sobekhotep IV. 1887/8 acquired Naville by locals more shards in Kamares style, that were excavated at Tell el- Yahudiya.
Flinders Petrie encountered in the excavation season in 1889/90 in a pile of rubble in al - Lahun on shards of the same type. Petrie suspected on the basis of the find circumstances that the ceramic must date from the time of Sesostris II. He also found pottery that imitated Kamares ware and appeared to be Egyptian Urspruchs. His assumption that the pottery was originally from the Aegean area, was later confirmed. The findings of Kamareskeramik in Egypt provide important evidence for dating the Mittelminoischen time dar.
1890 received the Ephor of Crete Josef Hatzidakis by a farmer from Kamares pottery shards of pottery, which he had collected in the Kamares Cave. Antonio Taramelli visited in 1894 as the first scientist to the cave and turned on initial investigations. 1913 led Richard MacGillivray Dawkins and Max LW Laistner systematic excavations and found many more Kamaresgefäße. After this the site where the style was eventually called. The finest specimens of Kamares - style were found in the palaces of Knossos and Phaistos, especially in.