Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Imagine unlocking the secrets of ancient Greece with today’s cutting-edge technology. At the University of Cincinnati, Classics researcher and Assistant Professor Florence Gaignerot-Driessen is doing just that. Leading an archaeological project at Anavlochos on Crete, she delves into the mysteries of clay fragments found high atop a mountain. These artifacts, known as “the ladies of Anavlochos,” are all female figures embedded in the bedrock’s crevices.
Using a resin reproduction of a Bronze Age figurine, UC Assistant Professor Florence Gaignerot-Driessen will make clay molds to learn more about the ancient production process. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
The question arises: were these terracottas broken intentionally or by accident? Their ritual placement on a mountaintop with stunning views suggests a deeper significance. The climb to this vantage point may be challenging, but as Gaignerot-Driessen notes, “The view is just incredible.”
To unravel these mysteries further, she employs modern engineering resins alongside state-of-the-art 3D scanning and printing technology to recreate ancient molds and figurines. This innovative approach promises to shed light on how these items were mass-produced for ancient Greek audiences.
Researchers have yet to identify the workshop where these ancient ceramics originated. However, the figurines and their strategic placement in the crevices of the bedrock offer valuable insights into their historical context and significance.
Assistant Professor Florence Gaignerot-Driessen is using innovative methods to unlock the secrets of ancient mass production in Crete. She is working in UC’s Ceramics Lab to reproduce figurines like those she and her international archaeology team have uncovered in Crete. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
“They were produced with little care,” Gaignerot-Driessen said. “They had little intrinsic value as they were produced from clay rather than precious materials like metal or ivory. They were modest offerings. So you didn’t need to be a rich or important person to buy your little figurine to deposit.”
Gaignerot-Driessen worked with Sabine Sorin from the French National Center for Scientific Research to create 3D models of the figurines. She also collaborated with UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning to reproduce the figurines at the college’s Rapid Prototyping Center using its 3D printers. In the college’s ceramics lab, she uses clay to make new molds of the figurines, trying to rediscover the steps and methods of mass production from three millennia ago.
Anavlochos was inhabited from 1200 to 650 B.C., while the figurines discovered there date from 900 B.C. to 350 B.C. This indicates that many of these artifacts were placed in the area after the settlement was abandoned. To study this, Sorin employed advanced techniques like photogrammetry and lasergrammetry to develop detailed 3D models of the landscape, pinpointing where pottery fragments were located within rock crevices. These simulations allowed researchers to understand how these pieces might have been inserted into such spaces.
The pottery collection included plaques depicting mythological creatures such as the sphinx—a fascinating being with a woman’s head and a lion’s winged body. Additionally, they uncovered figures representing women dressed in traditional attire, featuring large decorative hats known as polos and cloaks called epiblema worn over belted dresses.
“It’s a typical representation of a feminine figure in the seventh century B.C. They wear a long dress with a decoration imitating the weave of the fabric,” she said.
The style of plaques found at Anavlochos demonstrates Near Eastern influences on Greek culture.
“We know that in the seventh century, imported objects arrived to Crete from the Near East. And immigrant craftsmen also came from the Near East,” she said.
UC Classics students will use locally sourced clays in Crete to make figurines from molds created with the help of UC’s Rapid Prototyping Center in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Archaeologists and historians can only speculate about the significance of rituals that might have taken place there.
“We don’t have any written text about these practices. But they may have been rites of initiation or passage for women: daughters and mothers,” she said in a press release.
“Perhaps, they were offering these terracotta votives to a deity to protect themselves,” she said. “The devotees perhaps were mothers and young maidens in the process of reaching one of these important points in their lives.”
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“This is experimental archaeology,” she said. “We try to reconstruct ancient techniques.”Nicholas Germann from UC’s Rapid Prototyping Center calls this collaboration a novel blend of ancient and modern methods. “It’s amazing,” he said, “recreating lost ceramic techniques while observing degradation.”
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
