Despite common limits of in situ pXRF analyses, the extensive number of figures analysed and the original data treatment that we performed pioneered the first scientific analyses of the pigments from rock painting sites in the Erongo Mountains. It relies on extensive pXRF analyses of thirty-five figures from eight rock art sites of the area. Our in situ study aimed at identifying the diversity of pigments and alterations of some rock paintings in the northwestern. Although numerous studies investigated their distribution, style and possible meaning, few is known about the materials used to perform these paintings. Namibia is one of the southern African countries hosting the richest rock art heritage, with thousands of rock paintings. it is possible to reach a clearer understanding of how and why this specialised vase form originated and developed within a broader historical context. The two distinct but interwoven aspects of ceramic analysis, form and decoration, are considered in conjunction with the vase's function and the wider issue of provenance. The controversial issue of the production centres of the chariot kraters is addressed, reviewing both the archaeological and scientific evidence. The functional relationship of form and decoration, and its symbolic significance, is also considered. The find contexts are the primary evidence for the exploration of the function of the amphoroid krater this is supplemented by analysis of the character of the shape and comparative use of analogous shapes. The design analysis supplies the framework for an examination of two interconnected subjects: the stylistic and chronological development of the decoration, and the identification of individual painters. The design element analysis provides a standardised descriptive vocabulary, which expresses the complexity, structure and range of variation of the scenes. A new method of design classification is proposed for the chariot scenes.

The typological development of the form is discussed and some refinements made to the existing classification. Study of the origin of the vase form indicates that the Mycenaean form was derived from the Minoan clay amphoroid krater, which was itself indebted to a metal prototype. The date of the introduction of the chariot krater, and the related questions of when both the amphoroid krater form and pictorial decoration in general first appear, is established. The chronological discussion considers the available stratigraphic and contextual information, which provides the basis for finer typological subdivisions of the material. The focal point of this study is the distinctive group of Mycenaean clay vases known as chariot kraters, that is: amphoroid kraters decorated with scenes of chariot processions, which were produced in tihe 14th and 13th cent. It sees the graterвЂ™s prime function and symbolic significance shift from a use in Early Iron Age вЂHomericвЂ™ hospitality to becoming a tool in the increasingly complex cuisines associated with the Archaic and Classical banquet вЂ“ an indicator of evolving Mediterranean commensality with no less of an international horizon, but a commensality that involved interaction and shared consumption beyond the narrowly sympotic. A more plausible scenario, it is argued, arises from the well-attested association of graters with cheese and other primarily culinary commodities. Yet a closer look at the evidence for spiced wine and the use of graters casts serious doubt on assumptions of a widespread practice of adding вЂspicesвЂ™ to wine during the Greek symposion and of the use of graters or tripod grinding bowls for such a purpose in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world. Interpretations of metal graters and pottery tripod bowls as Leitfossils of a trans-Mediterranean вЂorientalizingвЂ™ culture of spiced-wine consumption have of late become a staple of scholarship on sympotic banqueting, shaping our perception of ancient wine-drinking and its role in cross-cultural interaction in the first half of the first millennium BC.

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