Madi Cooper

CL CV 201
January 30th, 2016
Minoan and Mycenaean Artifacts Found in the British Museum
The large selection of artifacts from the Minoan and Mycenaean times at the
British Museum struck me dumb. The vast span of artifacts that had been recovered was
incredible, as well as the high level at which they have been preserved. The museum
displayed Minoan artifacts found in the palace of Knossos, as well as various other
places in Crete, and Mycenaean artifacts found in Greece, and the Greek islands.
I found all of the artifacts impressive, but what caught my eye the most was the
two bronze knives with ivory handles and the plain pottery cup covered in black slip.
The two knives were dated back to approximately 1200 BC, in the Mycenaean
times. They were found at Kolophon, in Asia Minor. They were different in size and in
approximate shape, but the same in design. I am so incredibly impressed by the state
that these artifacts are in! These proved to me that these early civilizations werent so
different from us after all, they had the same needs and goals that we still have today.
They needed to provide themselves with food, they needed to hunt.
The plain pottery cup was found at Knossos and dated back to sometime between
2000 and 1850 BC. I am unsure what the title means by black slip, but I would assume
it is either a type of paint used to decorate the cup, or some sort of grime that collected
on it over the near four thousand years it was underground. This caught my eye because
it is exactly like the coffee cups we use today! It looks like something you might buy at
Anthropologie.

I am interested to learn more about these ancient civilizations and to learn how
we have progressed over the years away from this, as well as how similar we are and will
always be.