Minyan ware

In the history of Aegean prehistoric archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann was the first person to coin the term "Minyan" after he discovered a distinct variety of dark-burnished pottery at Orchomenos (the mythical home of King Minyas). Some of his contemporaries referred to the pottery as "Orchomenos Ware". ==Origins==

At first, Alan Wace and Carl Blegen did not yet associate Minyan Ware with the "advent of the Greeks". Prior to 1960, Minyan Ware was often associated with northern invaders having destroyed Early Helladic culture (1900 BC) and introducing Middle Helladic culture into the Greek peninsula. However, John L. Caskey conducted excavations in Greece (i.e. Lerna) and definitively stated that Minyan Ware was in fact the direct descendant of the fine gray burnished pottery of Early Helladic III Tiryns culture. Caskey also found that the Black or Argive variety of Minyan Ware was an evolved version of the Early Helladic III "Dark slipped and burnished" pottery class. Therefore, Minyan Ware was present in Greece since between 2200 and 2150 BC. There is nothing particularly "northern" regarding the ceramic progenitors of Minyan Ware. The exception, however, entails the spread of Minyan Ware from central Greece to northeastern Peloponnese, which can be seen as "coming from the north" with respect to the Peloponnese. Currently, there is uncertainty as to how Minyan Ware arrived in central Greece or how it was indigenously developed. ==Forms and styles==

, MHIII, c. 1700-1600 BC Minyan Ware is a form of monochrome burnished pottery produced from extremely fine or moderately fine clay. Varieties of Minyan Ware entail Yellow, Red, Gray, and Black (or Argive). Gray Minyan Ware, specifically, has angular forms that may reflect copies of metallic prototypes. Minyan Ware from the Middle Helladic I period is decorated in the form of grooves on the upper shoulder of kantharoi and bowls. ==Areas of production==

Gray Minyan Ware is mostly found in central Greece and is also common in the Peloponnese during the Middle Helladic I and Middle Helladic II periods. ==Outside mainland Greece==

Crete Luca Girella made an overview of the wheel-made grey ware on Crete, and its history there. According to the author, the earliest and rather isolated find of Grey Minyan Ware on Crete is reported from a MM IA level at Knossos. It was probably an import from the mainland Greece. Yet, during the same period, a lot more Minoan artefacts were found in Greece. The Grey Ware on Crete, while present for a long time, was never widespread until the Mycenaean period, when there was even some local production of this ware at Kommos and Khania. Before the Mycenaean period, during the First Palace phase (the period of MM IB-IIB, 2000-1700 BC), Grey Minyan was not present on Crete. Instead, the Kamares Ware was quite popular, and functioned as a prestige good. Anatolian Grey Ware , Berlin Along the costal zone of western Anatolia, and on the islands nearby, the north-west Anatolian Grey Ware was produced, also under the Mycenaean influence. Some of the shapes of this ware, such as kraters, stirrup jars, and kylikes were inspired by the Mycenaean shapes. They were likely used in the Mycenaean-type banquet contexts. Pottery very similar to Grey Minyan Ware is known in Anatolia, dated around 14th–13th centuries BC. It has been suggested that "North-West Anatolian Grey Ware" should be used for this type of pottery. ==See also==