Crafting Choices: Neolithic – Early Helladic II Ceramic Production and Distribution, Midea, Mainland Greece

Summary

Forming part of a broader programme of macroscopic, petrographic, SEM, and NAA analysis of ceramics from Mainland Greece, this paper focuses on the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze II sequence at the site of Midea in the Argolid.

Through investigating the technological variability present at Midea, our results suggest significant differences, and continuity, in technological choices over time. Most notable is the decline of grog temper between the Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. This is accompanied by the increased dominance of a sandstone-low grade metamorphic fabric believed to originate in the area around Asine but which appears to have been widely distributed throughout the NE Peloponnese.

These results indicate a fundamental shift in the way potters approached their craft between the end of the Neolithic and the early stages of the Bronze Age. Significant changes not only in specific technological choices but also in the scale of production and exchange, suggest the emergence of particular production areas and increased interaction between communities over time.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Advances in the Method and Application of Ceramic Petrography: International Perspectives on Key Archaeological Questions Part II

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