Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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.

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