Name:	Cycladic Beak-Spouted Jug (Askos)
Picture:
Description:	H. 12cm, diam. 8.5cm. Mostly complete, some slight damage to the lip and only traces remain of the burnishing. Buff clay, covered with black slip and burnished to a high gloss. The mouth is leaf-shaped, the rim curving round into the strap-handle. The neck is thick, tapering outwards to join the globular body at a slight angle. Beneath the handle, the body is flatter -- less curved than the rest of the vessel. The base is not aligned correctly with the body, making the jug lean over a little to one side.
Date:	End of Early Cycladic II (Kastri group).
Discussion:	This type of vessel is found only in this period of the Early Cycladic. It seems to be a shape imported from the Troad. The end of Early Cycladic II was a period of upheaval in the Cyclades, when settlers from the northern islands and the Troad appeared. The shape is found across the Aegean and may have derived its unusual form from animal-skin vessels. Parallels include four examples in the Goulandris Museum, Athens, C. Doumas Cycladic Art, Ancient Sculpture and Painting from the N.P. Goulandris Collection (1983) p. 148, ills. 180, 181, 183; London British Museum A 330, J.L. Fitton Cycladic Art (1989) p. 62, fig. 80; Cambridge FM GR. 130.1902; J. Thimme & P. Getz-Preziosi Art and Culture of the Cyclades: Handb