The pottery of ancient Cyprus starts during the Neolithic period.
Throughout the ages, Cypriot ceramics demonstrate many connections with cultures from around the Mediterranean.
During the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, it is especially imaginative in shape and decoration. There are also many early terracotta figurines that were produced depicting female figures.
The typo-chronology of Cypriot pottery for the Iron Age was established by Einar Gjerstad based on material excavated by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Gjerstad divided the Iron Age into three periods, the Cypro-Geometric (1050-750 BC), the Cypro-Archaic (750-480 BC) and the Cypro-Classical (480-310 BC), which are in turn subdivided, the CG I-III, the CA I-II and the CC I-II, each period corresponds to one pottery Type, with a total of seven, Types I-VII. The exact dates of the chronology of Gjerstad have been slightly revised following more current research. The typochronology is explained in his main work Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV, 2. The Cypro-geometric, Cypro-archaic and Cypro-classical Periods (1948)[1] with further remarks made in the article Pottery Types, Cypro-Geometric to Cypro-Classical (1960).[2]
The earliest widely used ceramics during the 5th millennium BC are of the Dark Faced Burnished Ware type.[3]
This ceramic technique was followed by the following techniques:
During the Iron Age the pottery was "colorful and often elaborately painted with geometric or figural motifs. Intricate 'Free-field' compositions graced juglets and jars. Ubiquitous concentric circles were applied to jars, juglets, bowls and kraters using multiple brushes. Finer wares like plates, bowls and jugs were made on the fast wheel, while larger forms like amphoras, amphoroid kraters and pithoi were built with a combination of techniques: wheel throwing, hand coiling or molding."[8]
^Gjerstad, Einar (1948). Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV, 2. The Cypro-geometric, Cypro-archaic and Cypro-classical Periods. Stockholm: Swedish Cyprus Expedition.
^Gjerstad, Einar (1960). "Pottery Types, Cypro-Geometric to Cypro-Classical". Opuscula Atheniensia. 7 (7): 105–122.
^Joanne Clarke. Insularity and identity in prehistoric Cyprus, in : Le néolithique de Chypre: actes du colloque international organisé par le Département des antiquités de Chypre et l'École française d'Athènes, Nicosie, 17–19 mai 2001. École Française d’Athènes, Athens.
^Flourentzos, P. (1996). A Guide to the Larnaca District Museum. Ministry of Communications and Works - Department of Antiquities. p. 6. ISBN978-9963-36-425-1. by P. Flourentzos, author and Curator of Archaeological Museums and Surveys in Cyprus.
^Stewart, J.R., Dikaios, P. (1972). "Part 1A". The Swedish Cyprus Expedition:The Stone Age and The Early Bronze Age in Cyprus. Vol. IV. Lund. p. 202.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ abFlourentzos, P. (1996). A Guide to the Larnaca District Museum. Ministry of Communications and Works - Department of Antiquities. p. 21. ISBN978-9963-36-425-1.