Composite vessel
Composite vessel
This peculiar vessel in the prolific category of Red-Polished Ware –the most distinctive pottery style in Early Bronze Age Cyprus– consists of four con-joined hemispherical bowls, held together in the middle by a handle reinforced with a horizontal bar. Their surface is decorated with incised rectilinear and zigzag bands. Numerous vessels of this type have been found in the Bellapais-Vounous cemetery in northern Cyprus. In some cases the handle was crowned by a plank figurine. It is not clear whether this is a kind of religious symbolism or simply an example of the inventiveness and playfulness of the Early Cypriot potter. According to some researchers, the vase should be identified as a kernos, a type of vessel used for the placement of offerings in cult places or graves.