Collection Item

From:UC Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

Name/TitleBowl

About this objectThis Bronze Age knob lug bowl was found in a pit-tomb near Nicosia in Cyprus, and is mostly intact. It is a hemispherical clay bowl with a slightly flattened base that has been covered in a dark red slip with some patches of black.

Vessels of this shape are often made by shaping around a gourd, another bowl or some other rounded object to give a regular shape. The knob lug is a small addition near the rim which acts as a handle or hanging point. The knob can be shaped around a stick or pierced to produce a hole used to hang the vessel. Knob-lug bowls were a common find in Bronze Age Cypriot sites. They were used as eating bowls, and hung away when not in use.

There is a fissure in the bowl to the right of the lug that occurred during firing and makes it unlikely that this bowl could be used. This lends support to the theory that bowls and other vessels found in tomb sites were made specifically for use in a funerary and burial context.

Date Made21st Century BC

PeriodEarly Cypriote

Place MadeCyprus

Place NotesExcavated from Ayia Paraskevi, tomb 11

Medium and MaterialsCeramic: Pottery

Style and IconographyCypriote

Style and IconographyRed polished II

TechniqueMolding (forming)

TechniqueGlazing (coating process)

TechniqueSlab method (pottery technique)

MeasurementsHeight 81mm; Diameter 142mm

Subject and Association KeywordsMourning customs

Subject and Association KeywordsFood history

Named CollectionThe James Logie Memorial Collection, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Credit LineDonated by the Melbourne University Cyprus Expedition, 1957.

Object TypeFood Service Vessels

Object number48.57

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved