The ancient inhabitants of Cyprus started producing pottery during the latter part of the Neolithic period, in the middle of the 5th millennium BC. Imagination and exuberance characterize the early and middle Bronze Age ceramics produced in Cyprus. The vases were handmade, as the wheel was only introduced around 2600 BC, richly decorated and with shapes based on zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures as well as composite vessel forms.Red polished ware made its appearance during the Early Cypriot I period, introduced by emigrants from Anatolia who settled in the island soon after the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. The surface was covered with red slip (a specially prepared clay solution) and burnished creating a lustrous appearance. The final colour of the vessel depended on the amount of iron oxide in the solution (more for red, less for black) and the temperature and condition of firing. Sometimes linear motifs, incised before firing, decorated the vessel. Lime, applied after firing, was used to fill the incisions and creating a contrast to the red background. By the end of the 3rd millennium into the beginning of the 1st potters started fashioning red polished ware with ornaments consisting of motifs- such as human figures, quadrupeds, birds, bucrania and snakes, in relief or in the round. In addition to flasks, jugs and bowls, some vessels featured applied animals and composite zoomorphs modelled in the round and in a few cases portrayed in actual scenes of activities such as ploughing, bread- making or grape-pressing.

Antiquities
Ancient Greek