Ancient Modern: When artifacts don't look out of date

Minoan artisans were pretty creative

One of the things that often surprises people about Minoan pottery is how modern a lot of it looks. It doesn’t look out of date, out of place - much of it looks like something you’d find in a high-end pottery shop these days, stuff you might want to use to decorate your 21st century house.

Which is interesting, considering that the Minoan style of ceramics pretty much disappeared with the destruction of the Minoan cities in around 1450-1350 BCE (not the eruption of Thera, which happened in around 1625 BCE, but the destruction of the Minoan cities by the Mycenaeans or their hired mercenaries). After that came the chaos of the Late Bronze Age collapse, then a couple of centuries later, Hellenic culture starts up, with all the ancient-looking ceramic vessels that people are used to seeing in museums and history books.

Consider, for instance, these Kamares ware loop-handled cups. They all date to 1800-1700 BCE.

They look like modern teacups or coffee mugs and like nothing else in the ancient world. So much so that the flabbergasted archaeologists called them “teacups” for lack of a better term. [Side note: The Minoans didn’t have black tea, or coffee, for that matter. Substances they may have consumed from their “teacups” include water, herb tea, milk, beer, mead, wine, and soup.]

Those containers pictured at the top of this post are Minoan ceramics as well, pottery containers designed to look like fabric or soft basketry with rope handles. Bronze Age trompe-l'œil! I’ve explored this unique type of vessel in today’s Minoan Path blog post: Hard and Soft: Minoan Basket-Style Ceramics.

Minoan potters also created some interesting 3D styles, including some that were clearly meant as display pieces and not ordinary kitchenware or ritual ware. Like this one:

I wrote a series of articles about the 3D elements of Minoan pottery. If that interests you, I recommend you start with this one. You’ll find not just bumps and loops but also flowers and seashells, and even jars and pitchers shaped like animals.

And although these vessels can be found in museums, none of them would look out of place in a modern setting. Which makes for an interesting challenge when we’re imagining what Minoan homes, shrines, and temples looked like when they were active and fully furnished 3500 or more years ago.

I have to wonder how Minoan pottery would have continued to advance if their civilization hadn’t been cut short so many millennia ago.

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About Laura Perry

I'm an author, artist, and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. I'm also the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne's Tribe, a worldwide inclusive Minoan spiritual tradition. My spiritual practice includes spirit work and herbalism through the lens of lifelong animism. I write Pagan / polytheist non-fiction and fiction across several different subjects and genres. I'm currently working on an illustrated book of modern Minoan myths and a Minoan entry in the Moon Books Pantheons series. I’m also an avid gardener and living history demonstrator.