APC Image: AK 1119: Middle Helladic fine and mattpainted ware. Most of the sherds of this group are wheelmade, usually small, and much finer both in fabric and decoration than the other mattpainted sherds. The clay has been carefully sifted. It is usually buff or greenish-yellow in color. The slip is the same color as the clay and it may be hard and polished or soft and powdery and rubs off easily. The paint is a black matt or dark reddish brown, which has been put on carefully and evenly. The patterns are curvilinear, including spirals, concentric circles, running quirks, wavy lines, etc. The great variety of floral designs and the strong Minoan influence which appears on sherds of this group at other sites are from a shallow basin (top row, left and second from left). The vase has a flat base, the sides spread widely outward to the shoulder which is very regular. Between the shoulder and the rim the decoration appears, a series of crosses and at intervals four parallel vertical lines. One fragment (top left) has a high handle which rises aboe the rim. The fragments on the bottom row (first two on the left) have a ribbed surface. The ridges are one or one and a half centimeters part. This ribbing may be in imitation of Minyan ware, but the ribbing is done in wide stbrown, which has been put on carefully and evenly. The patterns are curvilinear, including spirals, concentric circles, running quirks, wavy lines, etc. The great variety of floral designs and the strong Minoan influence which appears on sherds of this group at other sites are not apparent here. We have two sherds which show Melian influence (top row, second from right). Two other fragments of ware from a shallow basin (top row, left and second from left). The vase has a flat base, on the right in the bottom row.