Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:00:36.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Surface treatment of Neolithic vessels from Macedonia and Thrace1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Paraskevi Yiouni
Affiliation:
Kavala Museum

Abstract

This article examines the methods of surface treatment of the Neolithic vessels from northern Greece. The work is based on the study of a large sample of ceramics, covering the whole span of the Neolithic, from Macedonia and Thrace. Macroscopic study of the material was complemented by microscopic examination (SEM and petrographic analysis) and retiring tests. The results are compared with data from other technological analyses of Neolithic vessels from northern Greece. Apart from identifying, in some cases for the first time, methods of surface treatment and materials used by the potters of these regions, the present study considers the changes in surface treatment and firing techniques through time.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 A more detailed description of the decorated Neolithic vessels can be found in Νεολιθική Μακεδονία and in Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Gh., ‘Κεραμεική Μακεδονία-Θράκη’, in Papathanasopoulos, G. A. (ed.), Νεολιθικός Πολιτισμόσ στην Ελλάδα (Athens, 1996), 112–17Google Scholar.

3 Comparisons with other regions have resulted in a confusing terminology: the earliest levels in central, eastern Macedonia and Thrace are designated ‘MN’ in Balkan terms but ‘late MN/early LN’ according to Thessalian terminology. For discussion on this see Demoule, J.-P., ‘Problèmes chrono-culturels du Néolithique de Grèce du Nord’, in La Thessalie: quinze ans de reserches archéologiques, 1975–1990. Bilans et perspectives: Actes du Collogue International, 17–22 avril 1990 (Lyon, 1990), 7990Google Scholar; Andreou, S., Fotiadis, M., and Kotsakis, K., ‘Review of Aegean prehistory V: the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Northern Greece’, AJA 100 (1996), 537–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Another recent review of the Greek Neolithic is that by Demoule, J.-P. and Perlès, C., ‘The Greek Neolithic: a new review’, Journal of World Prehistory, 7 (1993), 355416CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Yiouni, P., ‘The Pottery from Nea Nikomedeia in its Balkan Context’ (Ph.D. diss. University of London, 1991Google Scholar); ead., Technological analysis of the Neolithic pottery from Makri’, BCH 119 (1995), 607–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yiouni 1996; Yiouni, P., Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Ch., and Ploumis, P., ‘Τεχνολογική ανάλιση της Νεολιθικής κεραμεικής Προμαχώνοσ Topolnitsa’, AEMTh 8 (Thessaloniki, 1994), 343–8Google Scholar; Tsirtsoni, Z. and Yiouni, P., ‘Neolithic cooking vessels from Dikili Tash (Eastern Macedonia, Greece): a technological and functional approach’, paper presented at the 5th European meeting on ancient ceramics. Athens, 1999Google Scholar (in press).

5 Courtois, L. C., ‘Dikili Tash: La céramiquc de l'Âge du Bronze. Aperçu technologique’, in Huot, J. L., Yon, M., and Calvet, Y. (eds), De l'Indus aux Balkans: recueil à la mémoire de J. Deshayes (Paris, 1985), 99105Google Scholar; ead., in press; Gardner 1980; ead., Graphite painted ceramics’, Archaeology, 32. 4 (1979), 1823Google Scholar; K. Sikalidis et al.; Kalogirou 1995; ead., ‘Pottery production and craft specialization in Neolithic Greece’, in TEXNH: Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age (Aegaeum 16; Liège, 1997), 1116Google Scholar; Kessissoglou and Mirtsou 1997.

6 Rye, O. S., Pottery Technology: Principles and Reconstruction (Washington, DC, 1981), 146Google Scholar. For more details on coating see Gibson, A. and Woods, A., Prehistoric Pottery for the Archaeologist (Leicester, 1990Google Scholar).

7 Yiouni 1996, table 4. 2.

8 Ibid. 65.

9 Freestone, I., ‘The nature of surface gloss’, Bulletin of the Experimental Firing Group, 3 (19841985), 64Google Scholar.

10 Gardner 1980, 122.

11 Sikalidis et al. 228, fig. 17. It should be pointed out, however, that XRD is not the most suitable method for this type of analysis.

12 Ibid. 229.

13 Farnsworth, M. and Simmons, I., ‘Colouring agents for Greek glazes’, AJA 67 (1963), 391CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kilikoglou, V. and Maniatis, Y., ‘Technological study of Neolithic ceramics from Tharrounia and Psachna’, in Sampson, A., Σκοτεινή Θαρρουνίων το σπήλαιο ο οικισμός και το νεκροταφείο (Athens, 1993), 439Google Scholar.

14 Noble, J. V., The Techniques of Painted Attic Pottery (NewYork, 1965Google Scholar).

15 Kalogirou 1995, 114.

16 Vitelli, K. D., Franchthi Neolithic Pottery, i: Classification and Ceramic Phases 1 and 2 (Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece, 8; Bloomington, Ind., and Indianopolis, 1993Google Scholar).

17 Schneider, G., Knoll, H., Gallis, K., and Demoule, J.-P., ‘Transition entre les cultures Néolithiques de Sesklo et de Dimini: recherches minéralogiques, chimiques et technologiques sur les céramiques et les argiles’, BCH 115 (1991), 164Google Scholar.

18 Keighley 1986; Grammenos 1997; Aslanis, I., Η Προϊστορία της Μακεδονιάσ (Athens, 1992Google Scholar).

19 Tsirtsoni, Z., ‘Les poteries du début du Néolithique récent en Macédoine: 1 Les types de réceptions’, BCH 124 (2000, in press), fig. 4, first rowCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 Aloupi, E. and Maniatis, Y., ‘Investigation of the technology of manufacture of local LBA Thcran pottery: the body and the paint’, in Hardy, D. A., Doumas, C. G., Sakellarakis, J. A., and Warren, P. M. (eds), Thera and the Aegean World, iii (London, 1990), 459–69; Jones 1986, 765Google Scholar.

21 See e.g. the vessel depicted in Seferiades, M., ‘Dikili Tash: Introduction à la Préhistoire de la Macédoine Orientale’, BCH 107 (1983), fig. 22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 This vessel is depicted in Tsirtsoni 2000 (n. 19), fig. 4, second row, right.

23 Jones 1986, 765.

24 Kalogirou 1995, 111–12.

25 Grammenos 1997, table 1; Keighley 1986, 358; Evans 1986, table 12. 1.

26 Hellström, P., Paradeisos: A Late Neolithic Settlement in Aegean Thrace (Stockholm, 1987)Google Scholar; Bakalakis, G. and Sakellariou, A., Paradimi (Mainz, 1981)Google Scholar; Efstratiou, N., ‘Νεότερες ενδείξεις για την προϊστορική εγκατάσταση στη Θράκη’, AEMTh 5 (1991), 425–37Google Scholar.

27 Grammenos 1997, 43 fig. 30. 460–2.

28 Gardner 1980, 109.

29 Kessissoglou and Mirtsou 1997, table 1. The analytical methods employed arc X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis (DTA).

30 Gardner 1980, 123; Courtois in press.

31 Kessissoglou and Mirtsou 1997, table 1, XRD and DTA.

32 M. H. Wijnen, ‘The Early Neolithic Servia V’, in Ridley, G. and Wardle, K. A., ‘Rescue excavations at Servia 1971–1973: a preliminary report’, BSA 74 (1979), 85250, at 189–94Google Scholar; for Dimitra and Vasilika see Grammenos, D., Νεολιθικές ἐρευνες στην Κεντρική και Ανατολική Μακεδονία (Athens, 1991Google Scholar), pls. a, c; D. Urem-Kotsou, ‘Η κεραμεική Θέρμησ’, in Grammenos, D., ‘Ανασκαφή Νεολιθικού οικισμού Θέρυμης ανασκαφική περίοδοσ 1989’, Εκ ΚρήτηςΜακεδονικά, 28 (19911992), 381501, at 394–407Google Scholar.

33 Yiouni 1996, 86.

34 Ridley, G. and Wardle, K. A., ‘Rescue excavations at Servia 1971–1973: a preliminary report’, BSA 74 (1979), 85250Google Scholar; Kalogirou 1995, 145, 151.

35 Grammenos 1997.

36 Gardner 1980, 109.

38 Keighley 1986, 352–3; Kessissoglou and Mirtsou 1997.

39 Malamidou, D., ‘Ανασκαφή στον προϊστορικό οικσμό Κρυονέρι Ν. Κερδυλλίων’, AEMTh 11 (1997), 509–19Google Scholar.

40 Evans 1986, fig. 12. 8. 1–2; Grammenos 1997, 39, pls. 6–9, 29–32.

41 These sections were studied by T. C. Darvill, ‘A petrological study of pottery from Dimitra, eastern Macedonia’, in Grammenos 1997, 80–3. Dr Grammenos very kindly permitted me to examine them.

42 High percentages of K greatly enhance the surface coating's glossiness, durability, and adherence to the body: Freestone (n. 9).

43 Yiouni 1996, 66, table 2.

44 Gibson and Woods (n. 6), fig. 132; Middleton, A. P., ‘Technological investigation of the coatings on some “haematite-coated” pottery from Southern England’, Archaeometry, 29 (1987), 250–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 Thin sectioning of the sherd was not possible since it is part of a reference collection. For French's surveys see French, D. H., Index of Prehistoric sites in Central Macedonia (Athens, 1967Google Scholar, privately circulated); id., ‘Pottery distributions and geographical regions of Macedonia’, Zbornik Narodnog Muzeja, 6 (1970), 5–19.

46 Kalogirou 1995, 119.

47 Heurtley 1939, part iii, fig. 22.

48 Keighley 1986, 358.

49 Gardner 1980, 128.

50 Heurtley 1939, 74; Keighley 1986, 358.

51 Kalogirou 1995, 119–20.

52 Gardner 1980, 128.

53 Courtois in press.

54 Shepard, A. O., Ceramics for the Archaeologist (Washington, DC, 1976)Google Scholar.

55 For more information see Letsch, J. and Noll, W., ‘Mineralogie und Technik der frühen Keramiken Thessaliens’, Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, 147 (1983), 109–46Google Scholar; Schneider, G., Knoll, H., Gallis, K., and Demoule, J.-P., ‘Transition entre les cultures néolithiques de Sesklo et de Dimini: Recherches minéralogiques, chimiques et technologiques sur les céramiques et les argiles’, BCH 115 (1991), 164Google Scholar; K. D. Vitelli, ‘Experimental approaches to Thessalian Neolithic ceramics: gray ware and ceramic color’, in La Thessalie (n. 3), 143–6.

56 Letch and Noll 1983 (n. 55), 141.

57 Vitelli 1994 (n. 55), 146.

58 Schneider et al. 1991 (n. 55), 43.

59 See, however, Courtois 1985 (n. 5).

60 Jones 1985, 768, table 9.6 a.

61 For grey-lustre and grey-channelled ware see Keighley 1986, 366. For graphite-painted and graphite-excised ware see Evans 1986; Demoule, J.-P., ‘Néolithique et chalcolithique de Macédoine: un état des questions’, Αρχαια Μακεδονία, v. 1 (Thessaloniki, 1993), 373–89Google Scholar.

62 Bakalakis and Sakellariou (n. 26); Efstratiou (n. 26).

63 Heurtley 1939, part iii, 155 nn. 128 9, 158 n. 133.

64 Gardner 1980, 124; Evans 1986, 397.

65 Gardner 1979 (n. 5), 22–3.

66 Frierman, J., ‘The Balkan graphite ware’, in Renfrew, C., Problems in European Prehistory (Edinburgh, 1979Google Scholar).

67 Maniatis, Y. and Tite, M. S., ‘Technological examination of Neolithic Bronze Age pottery from central and southeast Europe and from the Near East’, JAS 8 (1981), 59–7Google Scholar. The analytical method is SEM analysis.

68 Kessissoglou and Mirtsou 1997, 89, table 1.

69 Maniatis and Tite 1981 (n. 67), 61.

70 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, C., Todorova, H., Aslanis, Y., Bojadžiev, J., Konstandopoulou, F., Vajsov, I., and Valla, M., ‘Προμαϰώνας-Topolnitsa: Νεολιθικὀς οικισμόσ Ελληνοβουλγαρικών συνόρων’, AEMTh 10A (1996), 745–67Google Scholar, fig. 16.

71 Ibid. 753.

72 Grabska-Kulova, M., ‘Neolitische bemalte Keramik aus der Siedlung Damjanica im mittleren Strumatal’, Saarbrucker Studien und Materialien sur Altertumskunde, 2 (1993), 121–55Google Scholar; Pernicheva, L., ‘Prehistoric cultures in the middle Struma valley: Neolithic and Eneolithic’, in Bailey, D. W. and Panayotov, I. (eds), Prehistoric Bulgaria (Los Angeles, 1995), 99140Google Scholar.

73 H. Wagner and R. Graf, ‘Untersuchung keramischer Bemalung an ausgewählten Scherben aus Damjanica’, in Grabska-Kulova 1993 (n. 72), 153–5. The analytical method employed is mass spectrometry.

74 Yiouni et al. 1998 (n. 4).

75 The sherd was originally incorporated in Dimitra's brown-on-buff category: Grammenos 1997, 306, plate 20. 306.

76 Heurtley 1931, p. 74 n. 1.

77 Ridley and Wardle 1979 (n. 34), 216, figs. 13 and 65.

78 Rye 1981 (n. 6), 98.

79 Rice, P. M., Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook (Chicago, 1987), 156 and 158Google Scholar.

80 Shepard 1976 (n. 54), 216–17.

81 Rye 1981 (n. 6), 98.

82 Malamidou 1997 (n. 39), pl. 5.

83 Vitelli 1994 (n. 55).

84 Demoule 1993 (n. 51); Grammenos 1997; Gardner 1980, 117.

85 Evans 1986, fig. 12. 8. 1–2, 12. 9, 12. 10. 4; Grammenos 1997, p. 39, pls. 6–9, 30–2;

86 For more detailed discussion on temper and the rate of shrinkage see Vitelli, K. D., ‘Greek Neolithic pottery by experiment’, in Rice, P. (ed.), Pots and Potters (Los Angeles, 1984), 124Google Scholar.

87 Rye 1981 (n. 6), 100.

88 See Grammenos, D., Νεολιθικές Ερευνες στην Κεντρική και Ανατολική Μακεδονία (Athens, 1991Google Scholar), table a; Evans 1986, table 12. 1.

89 Demoule 1993 (n. 61).

90 Schneider et al. 1991 (n. 55).

91 Chrysostomou, P., ‘Η Νεολιθική κατοίκηση στη βόρεια παράκτια ζώνη του ἀλλοτε Θερμαϊκού κόλπου’, AEMTh 10A (1996Google Scholar); Wijnen 1979 (n. 32).

92 Yiouni 1996, 71–2

93 For Servia see Ridley and Wardle 1979 (n. 34).

94 For more detailed discussion see Courtois 1980 (n. 5); ead., ‘Black ware and Grey ware: an analytical and methodological approach’: Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Archaeometry and Archaeological Prospection (Edinburgh, 1976), 224–5Google Scholar; Kalogirou 1995; Yiouni 1995 (n. 4).