Terracottas of Neolithic period are all hand-made and rough. In Crete, though the figures can be dated earlier than 2000 B.C. are very few, they became very common between 2000 and 1550.

They were found from sanctuaries and sometimes from tombs. The figurines are hand-made and gaily coloured, though it seldom survive. Some figures are well proportioned, such as a male figure from a mountain-top sanctuary at Petsofa, he only wears a sheath, a belt and a dagger. Generally, Cretan Terracottas are the poor to be art, if compared with the faience figurines.

The sixteenth and fifteenth centuries are poorly represented by surviving terracottas in Greece and Crete. After the fourteenth century, the production of statuettes was started in Mycenae by the potters who made the vase. They have no resemblance whatever to the contemporary statuettes of bronze or ivory. The typical figurine is the standing female figure with the conical long skirt, a flat body and a crown-like spreading head dress.

There are three varieties in this "Mycenean dolly". Oldest is called phi-type(fig.1), since the shape resembles to Greek alphabet "phi". Next comes tau-type(fig.2), with folded arms. Finally, psi-type(fig.3) raise her arms. All of them are hand-made and painted by the brown glaze used for vase-painting.

Other than these figurines, many terracottas represented the chariot or animals were produced. It is difficult to define the purpose of these statuettes, for these were found from sanctuaries, tombs or private houses.

The production of terracotta figure see the decline after the fall of Mycenean civilization. In the ninth century, some pottery workshops in Athens or Boeotia produced terracottas, mainly animal figures. The body was made on the wheel and hand made head and limb were joined, then painted by the same way as painted pottery. However, the quantity of the production is still small.
Fig.1
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Fig.3