Ancient artifacts

Retrieved from the rubbish

My sister-in-law rescued these two items from the rubbish left out on the street.  I'm glad she did.  My mother-in-law used a  basket like this for collecting the olives.  The other paddle-like object is actually used for beating carpets.  I have never seen one before though my sister-in-law told me they used to have one.

It is a short, wide paddle, made out of wood.  The thing that surprised me was the weight of it.  It must have weighed at least two kilos.  Beating a carpet with that must have been very hard work.

  This, called a  'kouralou', used to be made on the loom, as shown below.  I have one my m-in-law made but it is hidden away so these pics are from the www.  

Long and shorter versions of these were put down on the floors in the wintertime and cleaned in the spring.  They have recently come back into fashion but are rather light and very easy to trip over.

This a bronze/copper vessel also retrieved from the rubbish, this time by my husband.  It is extremely heavy and made from two different metals.  I'm not sure what it would have been used for but it would make a great fruit bowl.

This portable tray was used to carry glasses of water, cups of greek coffee from the small cafenion nearby to shops and offices.  You called out over the road or made a quick phone call with your order and a few minutes later a young lad would come running in with your coffee and maybe another cup for a visitor to your place of business.  We bought this years ago for K.  He used to sit on the wall outside with his cronies in the evening and we would take out a coffee or an ouzo for them.

I doubt you'll find these on sale anywhere now and they are certainly no longer in use on this island.  Now you  get your take-away coffee in a plastic glass and if your visitor wants a coffee he goes and gets his own.

This wooden trough was used by my m-in-law to knead her weekly bread dough.  She used to keep it under the bed along with pillowcases of homemade noodles and dried oregano.  I retrieved it intending to use it for the same purpose but it ended up hanging on the wall.

  

Pithari - giant clay pot                                                                

A big clay pot once used by my inlaws, this time to store the olive oil that was used in the house.  It is about a metre tall. By the time I came along they had moved along to modern stainless steel drums which held a larger amount of olive oil for the growing family.

An oil scoop.

My inlaws used a shell like this to scoop the oil out of the clay pot and into a glass bottle for use in the kitchen.  I think my sis-in-law still has the original shell in her stainless steel oil tank.  It must be over 50 years old now.  This is one given to us by a friend who is a diver.   It needed a long time before the creature inside dried up and stopped stinking.

The shell is the perfect size and shape for a scoop.  It is quite easy to hold, floats on the top of the oil and has a nice flow which does not spill all over the place.