Vessel

Argaric society

The pottery repertoir consists of eight main shapes, which are almost invariably repeated throughout the 700 years of the argaric society. Top quality pieces used to be finished all in the same way: polished to even the texture and appearance of the surface, application of a reducing firing that provided the characteristic dark colour, and almost no decorative motifs. Thus, pottery is the greatest exponent of the predominant standardization of the society of El Argar. There is every indication that the state organisation rejected any symbolic expressions other than the established ones. The finding of very few almost invisible decoration motifs, which were made by changing the direction and intensity of the polishing traces, points to the existence of some areas that resisted the establishment.

Pottery production was made on two levels: on the first one, they made rough vessels with a poor technique; on the second level, more specialized, they made mass production of a range of top quality pottery. In the overal, they met the needs for storage vessels, distribution vessels, pots and dinner services.

The bottom sections of the pieces were made in moulds, to which they added stripes until completing the vessel. The use of moulds contributed to increasing the production and standardizing the vessels. Next, they polished the surface with the help of a stone tool, in order to get a metal shine. Once dried, the vessels were fired in simple kilns, where a low oxygen atmosphere providad them with the dark surface characteristic of the Argar pottery.

Material: Clay
Dimensions: Height 21,50 cm; Maximum diameter 24,50 cm; Mouth diameter 15,30 cm; Edge: Thickness 0,40 cm
Provenance: Fuente Álamo, Cuevas de Almanzora (Almería)
Excavation, Schubart, Hermanfrid