A ceramic compositional and socio-technological perspective on FN Late to EH II Late Geraki

Abstract

This PhD research investigates the FN Late to EH II Late ceramics of Geraki (3500-2200 B.C) from a compositional and socio-technological perspective. Geraki is a large, fortified settlement located at the inland of Laconia in southern Greece. The study focuses on the first periods of habitation of the settlement and investigates how patterns of interaction can be traced through the pottery. So far, investigations towards interaction have primarily focused on communities that are located in coastal areas and on islands, leaving the role of inland sites largely unexplored. The contrasting, inland perspective offered in this study therefore provides an important contribution to our understanding the diachronic developments of the social dynamics of interaction during the Final Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean. In this research, patterns of interaction are studied through an integrated macroscopic, petrographic and chemical ceramic analysis. This analysis has shed light on the composition and technological characteristics of the pottery and has, in relation to geological clay samples, provided insights into the provenance of the pottery and the production practices involved. The study has demonstrated that a large degree of continuity in ceramic composition and technology existed from FN Late to EH II Early, with significant changes occurring in EH II Late, both in terms of local production practices and in the scale and character of inter-community interactions. This knowledge has gained new information into the way objects, technological knowledge and ideas were exchanged, thereby shedding light on the changing scale and character of interaction within which the community of FN – EH II Late Geraki was engaged