Analysis of Minoan white pigments used on pottery fromKommos, Palaikastro, Mochlos and Knossos

Susan C. Ferrence a, Philip P. Betancourt a, Charles P. Swann b,*

a Department of Art History, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USAb Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA

Abstract

In order to elementally analyze the white paint from Bronze-Age Minoan pottery, sherds were sampled from four

archaeological sites located on the central to eastern parts of the island of Crete: Kommos, Palaikastro, Mochlos and

Knossos. PIXE analysis was performed at the University of Delaware. Results show a higher amount of Mg in the paint

on the Kommos sherds. Kommos is located on the south-central part of Crete and could have been involved in a larger

southern center of pottery production. One sherd from Palaikastro also showed an increased Mg content. It may have

been an import to that eastern location from the south-central area of Kommos. The Mg content in the white paint

could be an indication of pottery production location and, therefore, could help in determining trade relations. � 2002

Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 81.05.Mh

Keywords: Archaeometry; Pottery; Pigments; Kommos ware

1. Introduction

Previous analyses of Early Minoan III (�2200–2000 BC) and Middle Minoan (�2000–1700 BC)white pigments from Crete have revealed a com-plex situation in which several different substanceswere used for the ornament on pottery [1–7]. Thetechnological situation and the nature of thesepigments are still not fully understood. A highmagnesium paint has tentatively been identified astalc, and a high calcium paint has tentatively been

identified as calcium silicate. Aluminosilicates arealso used with admixed quartz. The distributionof these pigments around Crete is still notknown, but this paper begins to examine thatproblem by comparing samples from four Bronze-Age Minoan archaeological sites: Kommos, Pa-laikastro, Mochlos and Knossos.

Four to five Kamares Ware sherds from eachsite were tested with PIXE analysis. The Kommos,Palaikastro and Mochlos sherds range from theMiddle Minoan II to III time periods. The Knos-sos samples are dated to MM IA–IIB. This type offine pottery is typically decorated in a polychromefashion with a complete surface covering of darkslip and a patterned layer of red, orange and whitepaints added over the dark slip. Designs could be

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*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-302-831-1279; fax: +1-302-

831-1843.

E-mail address: swann@bartol.udel.edu (C.P. Swann).

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either abstract shapes or floral motifs. KamaresWare was the most popular style of pottery duringthe Middle Minoan era, and its production peakedduring the MM II time period.

The four sites involved in this investigation arelocated on the central to eastern part of the islandof Crete (Fig. 1). The palace of Knossos wasthe center of the Minoan world and it is locatedin north central Crete. Kommos, located on thesouth-central Cretan coastline, was possibly a har-bor town for the palace of Phaistos [7] and defi-nitely a gateway to the Mesara Plain. Day andWilson suggested that the Mesara Plain and itssurrounding hills were the primary location forKamares Ware production [12]. Mochlos lies onan island off the northern coast of Crete just eastof the Bay of Mirabello, approximately 60 kmfrom Knossos. The Minoan town of Palaikastro islocated on the far eastern Cretan coastline, about100 km from Knossos.

Noll [3–6] thoroughly investigated Minoanwhite pigments with a scanning electron micro-scope and suggested that the materials used weretalc (magnesium silicate) and calcium silicate. Hesuggested that the talc white paint was usedin palatial settings while the calcium silicate wasused in provincial workshops. Betancourt andSwann examined several sherds from Kommoswith PIXE analysis [7]. Their results concerningwhite pigments conflicted with Noll’s idea becauseboth types of white paints, magnesium-richand calcium-rich, were found at the same site,thereby contradicting the palatial versus provincialtheory.

2. PIXE measurements

Comments made in a recent paper [8] pertainingto the study of Minoan pottery slips apply to thispaper. These are: the use of in-air proton-inducedX-ray emission spectroscopy as an analytical toolfor the study of archaeological artifacts has beenemployed successfully since about 1975. With theadditional use of appropriate X-ray filters, the ob-servation of all the elements from sodium throughantimony and the heavier elements such as lead arepossible with good detection limits. The great ad-vantages of such a system include its basically non-destructive character, its multi-elemental nature,its good detection limits for most conditions, andits rapidity of data collection; the fact that PIXE isa technique for near-surface analysis is both apositive and negative characteristic dependingupon the intent of the study. In the present studyof the slip of ceramic vessels, this is a most im-portant consideration.

For the PIXE analysis in the present project,the in-air (helium) facility at the University ofDelaware has been employed. The characteristicsof this system are well described in the literature[9–11], and little more will be said in this regardexcept the following. Two measurements weremade, the first at a beam energy of 1.3 MeV withhelium flowing in the region of the beam extrac-tion hole, the sherd and the beryllium entrance ofthe cryostatically cooled Si (Li) X-ray detector andthe second at an energy of 2.0 MeV with a 5.7 mg/cm2 Al filter just prior to the Be window of thedetector. This filter allows for a much higher beam

Fig. 1. Map of Crete with sites discussed in the paper.

S.C. Ferrence et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 189 (2002) 364–368 365

current by strongly suppressing the intense lowenergy X-rays.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 2 is a reconstruction drawing of a MM IIangular cup with white decorations on a dark slip(T853) from Palaikastro. Fig. 3 shows a MM IIcup decorated with patterned orange and whitebands (T839), also from Palaikastro. Other sherdsfrom this site came from two additional MiddleMinoan cups and an offering table. The Kommossamples are from MM II to III, bridge-spoutedjars and other closed vessels. The Mochlos sherdsoriginated from MM II to III, conical and cari-

nated cups. The Knossos samples were MM IA,IIB cups, spouted vessels and an offering table.

The results of the PIXE analysis performed onthe white paints for these 17 vessels are shown inTable 1. Significantly, the data show a patterncreated by the quantities of calcium and magne-sium when compared across all four sites. Thisinformation is graphically shown in Figs. 4–7. Fig.4 shows the high concentration of Mg in com-parison to Ca found in the white paint on fivesherds from Kommos. The other three graphscollectively show the exact opposite trend. Whitepaint found on all sherds from Palaikastro,Mochlos and Knossos (except for one sherd from

Fig. 2. MM II angular cup with white decorations on dark slip

from Palaikastro (T853).

Fig. 3. MM II cup decorated with patterned orange and white

bands – Palaikastro (T839).

Table 1

Compound compositions in wt.% of white pigments for pottery sherds from Kommos (Ko), Palaikastro (Pk), Mochlos (Mo) and

Knossos (Kn)

Sherd # MgO CaO Al2O3 SiO2 Fe2O3

T104-Ko 30.44(0.18) 5.56(0.28) 2.54(0.49) 54.83(0.09) 4.23(0.54)

T122-Ko 25.66(0.20) 1.84(0.20) 6.97(0.10) 53.05(0.09) 7.28(0.76)

T146-Ko 27.57(0.22) 1.98(0.22) 6.48(0.11) 52.62(0.10) 7.15(0.80)

T162-Ko 34.75(0.13) 0.71(0.09) 3.16(0.07) 54.99(0.06) 3.56(0.30)

T207-Ko 29.55(0.21) 4.35(0.27) 4.96(0.11) 52.66(0.10) 5.12(0.77)

T831-Pk <0.54 16.14(0.07) 16.72(0.12) 52.60(0.11) 8.65(0.07)

T839-Pk 1.18(0.24) 16.38(0.07) 16.48(0.12) 55.77(0.11) 3.69(0.10)

T844-Pk 29.88(0.34) 2.74(0.37) 4.49(0.17) 51.24(0.16) 6.85(0.12)

T853-Pk 0.91(0.24) 8.10(0.05) 15.38(0.13) 53.08(0.12) 9.84(0.12)

T868-Mo 2.68(0.24) 26.30(0.09) 8.15(0.11) 40.48(0.12) 14.76(0.17)

T869-Mo 1.25(0.30) 21.47(0.11) 8.42(0.15) 48.89(0.17) 9.87(0.19)

T870-Mo 1.06(0.33) 27.03(0.15) 4.29(0.15) 23.30(0.17) 37.11(0.51)

T872-Mo 5.86(0.28) 17.55(0.09) 7.19(0.13) 55.48(0.15) 8.69(0.15)

T900-Kn 1.25(0.22) 27.63(0.10) 5.46(0.10) 33.29(0.10) 24.56(0.21)

T904-Kn 17.15(0.30) 5.41(0.06) 1.97(0.15) 50.40(0.16) 19.85(0.24)

T906-Kn 1.52(0.24) 21.27(0.09) 5.96(0.11) 37.54(0.12) 26.60(0.23)

T907-Kn 3.26(0.20) 46.92(0.13) 2.12(0.10) 30.84(0.11) 11.78(0.16)

Note: Only the elements important to this study are given; values or detection limits for 16 additional elements were actually observed.

366 S.C. Ferrence et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 189 (2002) 364–368

Palaikastro) has a high concentration of Ca inrelation to the Mg content. T844 from Palaikastroexhibits contents comparable to the Kommoswhite paint. T872 from Mochlos and T907 fromKnossos have a moderate amount of Mg, just over5%. This could be considered a third category ofMg content.

This study suggests that white paint used todecorate Middle Minoan pottery at Kommos hada high concentration of Mg in comparison to thethree other sites. Wilson and Day’s petrographicanalysis of MM IB–IIB pottery from Knossos [12]indicated that many of those MM vessels found at

Knossos actually originated in the Mesara Plain.As this paper suggests, high Mg concentrationin white paint could be another factor that canbe used to determine Minoan pottery productioncenters. One sherd from Palaikastro has a high Mgcontent in comparison to the other Palaikastrosamples. This sherd could possibly be an import tothat far eastern town from the south-central areaof Crete, which includes Kommos and the MesaraPlain. The two sherds with a moderate amount ofMg, one from Mochlos and the other fromKnossos could be evidence for another productionsite as well.

Fig. 4. Mg and Ca content of white paint on MM II–III sherds

from Kommos.

Fig. 5. Mg and Ca content of white paint on MM II sherds

from Palaikastro.

Fig. 6. Mg and Ca content of white paint on MM II–III sherds

from Mochlos.

Fig. 7. Mg and Ca content of white paint on MM IA, IIA and

IIB from Knossos.

S.C. Ferrence et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 189 (2002) 364–368 367

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Temple Universityand the Institute for Aegean Prehistory for thesupport provided in the course of this study.Thanks are also expressed to Joseph Shaw forproviding samples from Kommos, Sandy Mac-Gillivray and Hugh Sackett for providing samplesfrom Palaikastro, Jeff Soles and Evi Sikla forproviding samples from Mochlos and Eleni Hat-zaki and Sandy MacGillivray for providing sam-ples from Knossos. All analyzed sherds wereexported under permits issued by the Greek gov-ernment.

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