Chapter 10 - Stone Vases, Metalware, and Miscellaneous

Summary

As with the figurines, marble vases mostly come from burials: they too form part of the set of prestige goods interred with the deceased. The commonest type from the beginning of the Early Cycladic (EC) is the ‘kandyli’ (the name is borrowed from the hanging oil lamps in Orthodox churches); these vessels can vary from 7 to 37 cm in height with a tall narrow neck, rounded belly in the shape of a sea urchin, and a small conical foot (AE1, fig. 85). Pierced horizontal lugs permit its suspension. The function is unclear; the interior is often very shallow, which makes it an unlikely drinking vessel (Getz-Gentle 1996, 38). Tall beakers have their precursors in stone or clay in the Final Neolithic period (Figure 5.2); now, though, they have a flat base and their lateral suspension lugs are less angular than in the Neolithic (AE1, fig. 86).