Out of the spout

What would have been poured from this spout? Normally, we would have to pull out the stopper that used to be there to prevent the contents from leaking out during transportation. After all, stirrup jars were commonly used to transport certain goods across the sea (See Van Damme 2019, ‘Stoppers, Transport Stirrup Jars and Wine Transport, 1450-1150 BC’, 93-117)). If this particular stirrup jar had a commercial purpose, the question arises what you would have seen inside after removing the stopper. We do not know what liquid was inside this particular stirrup jar, but we can tell you more about the content of stirrup jars in general. After all, these jars were commonly used to transport certain goods across the sea.

If you were to take a look in a stirrup jar, you would probably see wine or oil. These liquids were often transported in stirrup jars. We can deduce that by looking at the stains and sediment inside, as well as by looking at some mentions of oil in stirrup jars in Linear B texts.See Mountjoy 1993, Mycenaean pottery: an introduction, Oxford, 81. Yet, another suggestion is that octopus stirrup jars in particular were used to transport Mycenaean garum, ‘fish sauce’, across the sea (Fig. 19 and 20). This turns the octopuses and fish on these jars into labels. The ancients loved Mycenaean garum. This fish sauce was made from the entrails of several fish species. It was relatively fat and thick and rather salty in taste. The more luxurious variants took a long time to fabricate and were, consequently, very costly.For the wine and oil narrative, see Georgiou’s entry ‘Stirrup Jar’ in Bagnall, R.S. et all (eds.) 2013, The Encyclopedia of Ancient History Hoboken, 6396 and Mountjoy 1993, Mycenaean pottery: an introduction, Oxford, 123; for the fish sauce argument, see Rutter 1992, ‘Cultural Novelties in the Post-Palatial Aegean World: Indices of Vitality or Decline?’, 61-78; On garum production, see Aquerreta et al. 2001, ‘Use of exogenous enzymes to elaborate the Roman fish sauce ‘garum’’, 107-10.

Want to learn more about the trade of stirrup jars? Then go for the longread! Otherwise, join us in the final step of this tour, back on the bottom of the jar.