Provenance and proximity: a technological analysis of Late and Final Neolithic ceramics from Euripides Cave, Salamis, Greece

Abstract

This paper examines application of the provenance hypothesis in areas of complex regional geology, where all potential sources of raw materials cannot be isolated or taken into account. With a few notable exceptions most pottery of the Late and Final Neolithic in Central and Southern Mainland Greece is considered to be locally produced by non-specialist household potters. Nevertheless small quantities of pottery with fresh volcanic fabrics have been found in largely non-volcanic areas and interpreted as imports. This interpretation has been questioned and alternative local sources proposed either in isolated palaeovolcanic units amongst otherwise non-volcanic rocks or through reuse of imported artefacts such as millstones made from fresh volcanic rock. In this study we examine evidence for pottery exchange at the Cave of Euripides, located opposite the island of Aegina, a potential source of imported volcanic materials in the region. The analysis uses petrography to identify raw materials, production technologies and provenance of the pottery. Results show that most pottery at the cave was produced locally. It is argued that grog and sparry calcite tempered fabrics are indicative of shared technological knowledge amongst potters in different communities. Pottery imports are identified based on their fresh volcanic inclusions. They are consistent with pottery fabrics from Aegina and distinguished from the local palaeovolcanic rocks that occur in close proximity to the cave.