Pyrgos (pottery style)

Refers to a pottery style found on Crete in the Late Neolithic and Early Minoan periods. It is characterized by a surface fired to a dark brown or black and burnished with a smooth pebble or wooden burnisher to produce a linear decoration. In its early phase, decoration was simple. In its later phases, decoration was more advanced, comprising horizontal or vertical burnished lines, zigzags, crosshatching, parallel lines, or solid areas of burnishing. It was made in various shapes, although it is especially noted for distinctive footed chalices.