Existing comment:
Early Cycladic I
Beaker, 3000-2800 BC
Cords were threaded through the lugs of this beaker to make it easier to carry. About three hundred examples of Cycladic beakers are known.
Stone Vessels of the Cyclades:
Most surviving Cycladic stone vessels have been found in graves, but prior to burial they may have been used in everyday life. The largest vessels are several feet tall and were probably made by striking excess material from a block of stone and then shaping it with abrasives; the interiors may have been hollowed out by turning the vessels on lathes and using an abrasive powder such as sand or crushed obsidian or quartz.
Cycladic Figures:
Some 95 percent of Cycladic figures are of women, typically with arms crossed over chests, knees slightly bent, and heads upturned. Modern scholars have yet to determine the significance of these figures for their makers; some suggest that they are idols or images of supplicants. Though the figures are often exhibited in museums upright (as if on tiptoe), they were designed to recline rather than stand upright. |