burial contexts. The drum theory is unlikely as one would expect a drum to have holes around the edges so that the hide could be stretched across it. Furthermore, with many of the handles found on these objects, it would be very hard for the drummer to hold the artifact in the style suggested. Prehistoric mirrors often have decorated backs, but are usually made of reflective materials rather than ceramic, although proponents of the mirror theory suggest that filled with water or oil, these objects could function as mirrors. A 2009 study concluded, via experimentation, that the frying pans work effectively as mirrors when filled water or olive oil. The use of olive oil was found to be particularly effective, especially if the oil is darkened with pigment. Olive oil is generally believed to have been too rare and expensive to be used for this purpose in the early Cycladic period, though recent discoveries on the island of Keros of a large pyramid, complex plumbing systems, and highly advanced metallurgy suggest that olive oil may not have been as rare as was once believed. It remains undetermined if they served some symbolic or religious purpose, but their presence in graves suggest they could have. Given the frequent depiction of female genitalia, it has been suggested that they could have been receptacles for libations as part of some kind of fertility rite. A further possibility was raised by Christos Doumas in 1993, who suggested that they were used to process sea salt. Doumas connected the issue of trade and exchange of goods before the invention of money with this, proposing that salt might have served as a valuable material, while leaving no archaeologically detectable traces. See also Frying pan (Karlsruhe 75/11) Frying pan (NAMA 4974) Frying pan (Paros 2136) References Ancient Greek pot shapes Cycladic civilization Neolithic Greece Cycladic art