EGE'DE NEOLİTİK DÖNEM İÇİNDE GÖRÜLEN BASKI BEZEKLİ ÇANAK ÇÖMLEK VE DOĞU AKDENİZ'DEKİ DENİZ YOLLARI

Abstract

Archaeological data show that in the Eastem Mediterranean impressed pottery appears at the end of the Neolithic Period and disappears with the emergence ofHalafian elements.Recently it became evident that this type of pottery appeared simultaneously on either side of the Aegean by 6100-6000 BC. As it has been previously noted by Perlbs and Ozdogan, there are a number of common traits shared among the early farm­ing communities of the Eastern Mediterranean an the Aegean such as subsistence patterns, some compo­nents of the material assemblages and use of specific technologies in daily life. In spite of the lack of data from the southern coastal strip of Turkey, in an overall assessment, it is evident that the simultaneous appear­ance of impressed pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean - implying the Levant and Northern Syria - and the Aegean was not coincidental. The paper will present a comparative study of impressed pottery of the Eastern Mediterranean and Thes-saly, mainly noting the similarities in the implementation of this decoration on the vessels and how they differ from those in the western parts of Anatolia. Considering the distribution pattern of impressed pot­tery on a supra-regional basis, it seems evident that there had been a well-established maritime route fol­lowing the coastline between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, which after reaching the Aegean segregated into two distinct trajectories. Even though this type of pottery appears in the Aegean without any antecedents, it is evident that its introduction is not related to an interruption in the cultural sequence, thus implying that this decoration style was a cultural preference for these communitions On the other hand, in the northern Aegean, Macedonia and in Bulgaria, such decoration makes its appearance by the basal levels of Neolithic settlements; thus it is possible to surmise that its presence in this region may be related to arrival ofnew groups into the Aegean through the maritime routes.