Princeton Cyprus Expedition

The fabric of this vessel is a calcareous clay with red ochre, which I once
thought instead was red jasper. During excavations at Polis Chrysochous,
specifically at the Iron Age sanctuary site of Polis-Peristeries, I noticed
that many sherds have large red (hard) chunks as inclusions. These large red
inclusions occur in several different wares (Plain Light, Heavy Coarse, White
Painted, and Bichrome are the main ones). To the naked eye these resembled
chunks of red jasper. Similar inclusions were noted in sherds from many time
periods, not just the Iron Age material, found in the Polis Pyrgos
Archaeological Survey Project (PAP) (see e.g., Smith 2014). These inclusions
were examined by Costas Xenophontos through three examples presented to him in
photographs by the director of the PAP (Xenophontos 2014). He thinks that the
inclusions are not jasper, but are red ochre in a calcareous clay body. Further
petrographic study is needed to determine the precise make-up of this fabric.
It is interesting that this fabric is characteristic of the Chrysochou Valley
on Cyprus through time.