Bottle of the Kampos Style

As the potter's wheel was not yet in use in this period, this terracotta bottle was shaped by hand from coils or slabs of clay and fired in a kiln. The vessel was burnished before firing, giving it a shiny, compacted surface and making it less porous. It would have been used to hold liquids such as oil or wine. The large, incised, tubular lugs on its shoulder were probably used to suspend the bottle. Serving a variety of practical daily functions, many of these utilitarian vases also accompanied the deceased in graves.The pottery and other material culture in the Cyclades have been systematically organized into a series of cultures or groups, each named after a specific island or site. The shape of this bottle with its globular body and narrow neck, now broken, is characteristic of the pottery produced by Cycladic artists known as the Kampos type (2800-2700 B.C.), named after an Early Cycladic cemetery on the island of Paros. Like earlier Cycladic pottery, terracotta vases of this period were decorated with geometric designs incised into the vessel's surface that were filled with a white chalky substance to contrast with the darker surface of the pottery. The chevron patterns and vertical lines covering the exterior of this vessel may imitate the woven texture of basketry.