Why were these containers made that way? Wouldn’t a flat base help avoid an extra stand? Or does it have something to do with collecting sediments at the pointed bottom?
I wondered the same thing.
Here's a link to the NYT about them:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EFDB1E3FF937A2575BC0A9679C8B63
Relevant quote:
". In fact, the long, pointed bottom of the typical amphora gave it an excellent shape for stacking against a ship's hull, according to Dr. Shelley Wachsmann, a nautical and biblical archaeologist at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University.
''If you visualize three or four amphorae next to each other with the sides touching, there is a hole in the middle where the circles meet,'' he explained. ''If they are stacked in layers, an amphora in the next layer would rest in that hole.'' "