Why is there still so much Ancient Greek pottery in pretty good condition when most other objects from that era didn’t survive?
In: 7442
Pottery does not rot or rust. There is not enough rain there for water or mold to destroy it.
Such a great question! My news feed just showed me that some Greek (or Roman?) artifacts were taken from The Met. There was a bust of a “Greek Youth” that looked like it could have been created days ago.
But I suppose marble is a rock. Still – it amazes me that we still find this stuff.
They made a lot of pottery. Most of that pottery was destroyed but since they made so much the small portion that survived seems like a lot. Also pottery/ceramics don’t really oxidize like metals or rot like wood so they last a very long time in good condition.
Keep in mind, greece, rome and northern africa used pottery to store and trade things like olive oil, wine, etc. on industrial scales. In fact, the Roman republic and empire (which included greece) produced hundreds of millions of amphora (clay pots) for trade and they are probably the most common finds at any archeological site. It would be like future humans digging up our plastic bottles in 1000 years and wondering why they don’t find as many iphones.
Pottery of any sort is one of the most durable materials known to man. We’ve got pots that are a *lot* older than the classical Greek period. Also, pottery was frequently used as a grave good, so you’ve got a super-durable material that’s being intentionally (carefully!) buried and left alone. Finally, finding a truly intact one is pretty exceptional. If you look closely, you’ll find that most (maybe all) of those pots were excavated in pieces and then reconstructed.
Go look up the Portland Vase. It’s a *glass* vase from the first century that somehow remained basically intact until a drunken ~~English~~ British twit threw a statue at the case it was stored in, shattering it completely, in 1845.
Wood rots, brass corrodes, bugs and bacteria eat cloth, paper is weak to all 3 of those conditions. Ceramics and marble don’t have these problems. They can erode. But once it gets buried in some way or placed out of the rain that becomes a non issue. Since the Greek didn’t have plastic, 90% or more of the stuff created by them is made from one of those materials listed.
The Mediterranean was criss-crossed by small cargo boats that stayed in sight of the coastline, such as the Phoenicians. many of these were fully laden and sank in waters that were less than 100 feet deep, and not far from shore.
Wine, olive oil, opium paste, copper ingots, etc…
There’s also a long history in Europe of viewing classical Greek civilization as the height of Western culture and prizing its art and objects as status symbols. Many pieces in museums have provenances that stretch back hundreds or thousands of years through chains of rich European collectors.
Maybe survivorship bias.
The ancient Greek pottery that survived, survived. Probably only the better stuff survived for a while. Probably only the best of the best survived for an extremely long time.
Well, it’s been a long time. An extremely long time. What currently exists now may not be representative of typical stuff at the time way back then since we are probably only seeing the best of the best.
Here’s my perspective living in Cyprus —
There is a lot of it. They were used for pretty much everything. There’s so much that everytime they start a big building site, they have to stop because they come across some ancient relics.
Our museums are so full that we have no where to put them. Most of it is in storage. I actually have two ancient pottery jugs sitting in my TV cabinet that the museum gave out. I can’t sell them obviously because they’re numbered but yeah, that’s how much there is.
There are tons of pot shards for a number of reasons: 1) pottery was/is very common 2) it is very durable and doesn’t really degrade. It just breaks. 3) pottery breaks and is thrown away, archaeologists find a lot of stuff in ancient trash heaps.
Specific to Greece – they were exceptional potters and the really good stuff is particularly strong and beautiful.
Further, glass was not as widespread as pottery, and metal was frequently recycled.
Latest Answers