Stone vase, known as a kandila

The Early Bronze Age inhabitants of the Cyclades used their local supplies of fine white marble to make both figurines and a variety of stone vases. This particular shape, with its sea-urchin-shaped body and conical neck and foot, was common in the first (Grotta-Pelos) phase of their culture, between about 3200 and 2800 BC. Hundreds of examples survive, and are called kandila (lamps) by the modern islanders, because of a supposed resemblance to the sanctuary lamps in Greek churches. The original use of the kandila is not known, but they must have been labour-intensive to produce. It is remarkable to consider that they were made at a time when metals were hardly available in the islands, and tools were made of such materials as stone, wood or bone. Kandiles were more likely to have had a special, perhaps ritual, purpose, rather than an everyday function. They range in size from about seven to about thirty-seven centimetres in height. They are often very heavy, as they were not fully hollowed and the internal space is relatively small.