The info above the pointy jar, top, right of center, talks about the Minoan world on the island of Crete. The info above the little round jar with all the handles, top right, talks about the Mycenaean civilization on mainland Greece.
Lots of ceramics, for so many different uses. I could easily fit into that largest jar. I wonder if it was for olive oil. (We saw some big olive oil jars in Italy in 2013, though maybe not as big as this one.)
I wish I'd done a better job of capturing the ID info on this stuff......
Etruscan spindle whorls. Vulci, tomb 66. Late 8th century BCE. It pleases me that I know how to use these tools.
The Romans used pins to hold their clothing together. Note that safety-pins are not a modern invention.....
The info below applies to the above....
Fibulae, bracelets, and glass beads (bottom right).
A closer look at the top left of the above. You can see the safety pins.......
Fibulae on the ends of this fancy chain. I wonder if hose two loose pieces of chain were just for jangling. Or what. And I wonder what the red circles are made from.
"Terracotta Votive Figurine, 5th/4th century B.C."
"This little figurine could have served as an inexpensive substitute for a live pig, and, as such, could have been either dedicated as a sanctuary votive or buried in a tomb."
It can't be seen here, but the maker's fingerprint is visible on this little cutie. That sort of thing gives me shivers -- so cool to see the marker's finger imprinted on something that has come down to us through the ages.......
I made this little tortoise when I was in jr. high. Wouldn't it be cool if someone found it in 2500 years, and wondered about my fingerprints?
"South Italian Greek unglazed griffin juglet." 4th century BCE. Cortona, Italy.
I've seen lots of vessels that are mostly animal heads, but I think this is the most delicate, with the narrowest neck.
The Romans were glass masters, and no mistake. Those handles!
Any time they don't say definitively where it's from, or when, I believe it was looted. They can tell a lot, from materials and techniques, but when tomb-robbers get it first, much (if not most) of the context is gone.
A small sample of the breadth and depth of the Penn Museum's Roman glass........
The image just above has 4, 5, 6, and the one above that has them plus 7 and 8.
Blows my mind that any glass has survived from ancient times, and that these super-fragile handles did.... Wow.
The next two are big, if I remember correctly. Maybe a foot in diameter?
Can you guess what this is?
Potters' wheel! I wonder how long it could turn without spinning it back up.....
I think "unstratified" is a euphemism for "dug up by looters." The looters only want things they can sell. They destroy all the context (what was next to an item, what was below it, what was above it), keep the shiny stuff, and leave stuff they don't want behind in the rubble.
Apparently a 3500-yr-old potters' wheel doesn't count as saleable.
Note that the museum is willing to specify the date for the bowl, which was clearly thrown on a potters' wheel. We conclude that there existed potters' wheels when the bowl was made, which makes it possible that this potters' wheel, from the same place as the bowl, was in existence when the bowl was made.
Kurdish doll. Syria. 19th century CE.
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