Measuring Ceramic Change and Variability at Final Neolithic Diros

Summary

The southern Greek Final Neolithic period extends for over 1500 years, ca. 4700 – 3200 cal BC, but has resisted satisfactory subdivision in largely due to the lack of stratified excavations. Nevertheless most scholars follow Phelps’ 1975 division into an earlier and a later phase, each with distinct ceramic features, but this division combines data from many different regions, and finds from surface surveys or from poorly dated contexts.

A series of stratified radiocarbon dates from Ksagounaki, in both mortuary and domestic contexts, now allows us to construct a ceramic sequence for the middle four centuries of the FN period, ca. 4200-3800 cal BC, in which we can measure temporal variability of ceramic features. What is clear is that ceramic features formerly used to subdivide the FN in fact extend throughout the period.

As the occupation of Ksagounaki corresponds to one of the most intense periods of use of Alepotrypa Cave, our next step will be to correlate the two sequences to see whether we can detect variability in ceramic change based on the different contexts of open air and cave.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Long-Term Settlement Dynamics and Land Use on the Mani peninsula of Southern Greece

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