An Awful Lot of Trouble

So here is the aryballos I'm working with at the Arizona State Museum. It got fancy pictures taken.

My original thought is that it is a late Proto-Corinthian aryballos dated to about 650-630 BCE. Much like this late Proto-Corinthian aryballos.

Note the similar shape, and the scale pattern. Also if you were to turn it slightly, to see the handle, you would see vertical stripes on both.

But wait... What is this?

And this one?

Both of these also bear striking resemblances to my piece at the museum. The first is classified as Etrusco-Corinthian and the second as Italo-Corinthian. And what does this mean for my piece? Is is still Proto-Corinthian? What is Etrusco-Corinthian and Italo-Corinthian?

Etrusco-Corinthian pottery is pottery that resembles and was inspired by Corinthian pottery, but was made in Etruria, possibly by Etruscans.
This is the same for Italo-Corinthian, except its Italy, not just Etruria, which is a part of Italy (if you didn't know).

This means that I have no idea what to call my piece, other than an aryballos, because it is unmistakably that shape. I have a lot more work to do. Luckily I'll be doing an independent study on it, so I'll be getting some credit for it. I also have a meeting tomorrow with yet another archaeologist who specializes in Italy. So more news to follow. Until then, this little mystery is driving me crazy.

Aryballos Update

So this little thing is gonna help me get into grad school.
Why?
Because it is an unpublished and excellent example of Corinthian pottery.
The key word here is unpublished. As in no one has ever written about this particular piece. Mostly because its been languishing away in a store room of a museum that specializes in South Western artifacts. But nonetheless, that fact makes it interesting. Donated back in the 1900s, mislabeled because of where it came from, this piece has an interesting history. What is most interesting is that it is labeled as coming from Pompeii, which I suspect is why they decided it was Roman.
Even more interesting is that it really could have come from Pompeii, just not Roman Pompeii. Pompeii is not just a Roman city, it has a much longer history than that. Before the Romans the Etruscans decided it was also a great place to be. And very interesting about the Etruscans was that they really liked these little Corinthian aryballoi (plural for aryballos). Could this little piece have found its way through trade?
So back to how this is going to help me get into grad school.
Well, I'm not the only one who finds this piece interesting. Since I'm working on relabeling it, I've been consulting with my Greek archaeology professor. She thinks its a great project, and that it would make a great paper. In fact, she's wanting me to publish on it. And a publishing credit on a grad school application, makes me highly desirable. Because its rare. Its just not something that undergrads usually do, frankly we're too busy with regular school to work on side projects. Its possible that I can do an independent study, but I think by the time that rolls around I'll have done most of the work already. So there you go, volunteering can pay off.