Revealing the common ground: technological practice, intrusive shapes and hybrid pastes in the Kampos Group pottery of Crete

Summary

The dawn of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean is of undoubted importance. Whether we emphasise the crafting and consumption of copper or the appearance of whole assemblages of pottery outside of their stylistic "homeland" in the Central Cyclades, Early Bronze I (c. 3100-2600 BCE) has always been characterised as a time of change, featuring the movement of people, goods and ideas. In our haste to categorise, label and seek identities, we have perhaps lost some of the complexity and creativity involved in this web of contacts and transactions, of acceptance, resistance and the emergence of new practices.

The distinctive material culture set which we label the Kampos Group has caused interest by its appearance in specific settlements and contexts, mainly on the north coast Crete. Aided by an integrated programme of ceramic analysis, involving minero-petrographic, chemical and microstructural studies the apparently intrusive pottery is characterised, contextualising its operational sequence within Cretan ceramic practice. Through raw material choice, tempering practice, surface modification and firing, we consider aspects of itinerancy, hybridity of technological practice and identity in a ceramic world which is totally transformed by the time of Renfrew’s phase of ‘International Spirit’ in Early Bronze II.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Itinerant Matters and Hybrid Objects: Research on material transfers and contact products

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