Mechanical Evolution of the Cypriot Amphora

Cypriot basket handle amphorae were storage jars used across the ancient Mediterranean, and their shape shifted over time through four recognizable types. This project asks what those design changes did mechanically: how the handle and body geometry affected the way the vessels held up under load, and whether that helps explain a pattern archaeologists keep finding, whole handles that survive intact while the vessel around them has broken apart.

The project models the four amphora types with finite element analysis and compares how stress builds in each, including how the jars press against one another when stacked the way they would have been in a ship's hold. Alongside the simulations, I laid out a set of physical experiments on replica amphorae, from handle pull tests to material tests on the fired clay, to check the models against real breakage.

I lead this project and the upcoming publication on how the basket handle amphora evolved. I drive the simulation work and designed the experimental plan we will use to validate it.