The anthropogenic deposits

The deposits excavated in trenches Μ26, Μ27 and Μ36 are typical settlement debris and waste (typical, that is, for a Neolithic settlement in north Greece and adjacent areas). They cover the period from the advanced Middle Neolithic (MN) to the early Final Neolithic (FN)Footnote ³ but they also contain traces and ‘pockets’ of materials of both earlier and later phases (see below). The bulk consists of disintegrated structures in which earth and timber were the principal construction materials. The FN deposits (nos 45, 48 and 50 in Fig. 2) contain scores of fragments of house floors, walls and roofs with timber imprints that were solidified by fire. They also contain parts of small facilities the functions of which are unclear. Furthermore, the FN deposits, but not those of the earlier phases, are rich in carbonates and thus indurated. The concentration of carbonates in the higher parts of the site's stratigraphy is in part due to post-depositional processes, as indicated by the frequent presence of thick carbonate crusts on artifacts of all kinds. It also registers, however, a change in construction materials, namely the adoption of sandy, naturally calcareous sediments for house and facility construction. The change, noticed during excavation in 1989, has been confirmed by petrographic analysis of construction material samples from the relevant deposits (Joyner Reference Joyner1997). The possibility remains open, however, that the carbonate component found in construction materials was in some cases enhanced by the addition of lime.Footnote ⁴ Be that as it may, the boundary between the FN and the underlying Late Neolithic (LN) deposits is sharply distinct. This indicates either that accumulation ceased for some time in the area of the M trenches or, more likely, that the LN deposits are truncated, their top having been dug away before the FN deposits began accumulating (see also SM Text 2). Radiocarbon dates from the M trenches confirm the chronological hiatus implied by these observations, indicating a depositional vacuum of up to 350 years (see section ‘Radiocarbon dating’).

Fig. 2.

Stratigraphic sections (scarp drawings) of trench segments Μ26β (a) and Μ26δ (b). Scales in metres. Boundaries between deposits are graded from distinct and sharp (continuous lines) to distinct but diffuse (squiggles) to moderately distinct (dashed lines) to barely detectable (dotted lines). Small size numbers, mostly in columns, are excavation unit (pass) numbers. Larger size numbers (colour online) pertain to depositional units referred to in the text.

Cultural deposits below the FN ones have been divided into three chronostratigraphic units, LN, MN–LN transition, and MN (for details see SM Text 2 and Fig. SM2:1). Those deposits mainly consist of dark, clay-rich sediments, darker near the bottom of the sequence, but they also contain extensive lenses and parts of facilities from sandier, lighter-colour materials (e.g., deposits no. 10 in Fig. 2b and no. 13 in Fig. SM2:1). Their lowest part, from deposit no. 17 and below (Fig. 2a and b), contains quantities of the shallow, still water gastropod Planorbis sp. This suggests that the dark, fine-grain sediments of those deposits are lacustrine clays from nearby marshy areas, brought onto the site as construction material.

The deposits in trenches Λ33 and Λ34, by the north edge of the site, are radically different from those described above. Natural sediments here lay at depths between 0.4 and 1.5 m below the slope surface. The upper part of the sequence, with a maximum thickness of c.0.8 m, appears to be a dump of cultural residue derived from elsewhere in the settlement, for it contains a great quantity of small pieces of ceramics, stone artifacts and animal bone heaped in a pell-mell fashion (also disturbed by deep ploughing). Datable pieces belong to every phase from the Late Neolithic to about the end of the northern Greek Early Bronze Age (EBA). The dumping episode is therefore probably dated to about 1850 bc (see Maniatis Reference Maniatis, Stefani, Merousis and Dimoula2014, esp. 217, for this date; see also Arvaniti and Maniatis Reference Arvaniti and Maniatis2018, 769). The bottom part of the anthropogenic sequence, on the other hand, is only 0.1–0.4 m thick and contains few yet larger artifact fragments than the dump above (Fotiadis Reference Fotiadis1988, fig. 3a). Those fragments, moreover, are horizontally disposed and joins occasionally obtain among them. Last, nearly all potsherds from those deposits are of FN date. These observations lead to the conclusion that the lowest cultural deposits in the north edge of MNG formed in the Final Neolithic and survived essentially undisturbed by human intervention until their excavation in the 1980s. They were, however, subjected to the corrosive effects of the fluctuating, acidic water levels of the Sarigiol marsh: artifact edges are rounded, surfaces are worn (those of bone items have a peculiar polish) and potsherds have lost their original slips and burnishing. Such evidence also suggests that, at high stand, the Sarigiol waters encroached upon the lowest deposits in the periphery of the archaeological site (see also SM Text 1).

Natural sediments beneath the anthropogenic sequence

Natural sediments were reached and tested both in the Λ trenches and in trench M26, and the tests led to the same conclusion. The natural substratum in the area of MNG is a light-grey marl, free of sand and coarser particles (deposit no. 1 in Figs 2b and SM2:1). It was probably formed from clays transported in suspension by area streams and deposited at some distance beyond the stream mouths, in a low energy environment in the central part of the basin floor. Support for this inference comes from the electromagnetic survey we conducted on and around the MNG mound (Tartaron Reference Tartaron1989).Footnote ⁵ The age of formation of the marl deposits is unknown but need not be older than the last phases of the Pleistocene. At Nisi, a fen at 475 m a.s.l. near Edessa (c.75 km to the north of Kitrini Limni; Fig. 3), for instance, lacustrine marls dominate the Late Glacial part of the sequence (20,000–12,000 cal bp), although they are found alternating with peat deposits in the Holocene part as well. Pollen data for the Late Glacial at Nisi indicate a steppic, lightly wooded landscape, as expected for the period (Lawson et al. Reference Lawson, Al-Omari, Tzedakis, Bryant and Christanis2005).

Fig. 3.

Location map of sites in west Macedonia mentioned in the text. 1 Nisi; 2 Mavropigi-Filotsairi; 3 Pontokomi-Vrysi; 4 Kleitos; 5 Mikro Nisi Akrinis; 6 Nisi Pontokomis; 7 Megalo Nisi Galanis; 8 Megali Toumba Ayiou Dimitriou; 9 Xeropigado cemetery; 10 Kremasti-Kilada; 11 Servia. Scale bar 20 kilometres.

Between the marl and the bottom of the anthropogenic deposits at MNG intervenes a thin, 0.05–0.15 m, horizon of dark-brown clay (no. 3 in Figs 2b and SM2:1), comparable in key respects to the lacustrine clays that cover today the area formerly occupied by the Sarigiol marsh (Fig. 1a). Its dark colour indicates formation in a marsh environment rich in herbaceous vegetation, just as the case was with Sarigiol in recent centuries. Again, the precise age of this horizon is unknown, but an early Holocene date is most probable: the horizon was certainly in place by about 5600 bc,Footnote ⁶ for in trench M26 it is buried directly under cultural deposits dated by ¹⁴C to that time (see below). The settlement at MNG was established on that horizon and was throughout its career surrounded by dark clayey sediments, nutrient- and organic matter-rich, relatively moist and thus favourable to Neolithic farming.

Many other Neolithic settlements in Kitrini Limni are likely to have been founded on that privileged horizon. The evidence from Kleitos, a fully excavated LN and FN site at 660 m a.s.l. in the northern periphery of the basin floor, is a case in point. Here again, a distinct clay horizon was found sandwiched between the anthropogenic deposits (above) and light-grey marl (Ziota Reference Ziota, Stefani, Merousis and Dimoula2014, 327–9).

Let us briefly return to the FN deposits and their sand content. Our (admittedly crude) particle size analyses of FN construction materials indicated the presence of sand in percentages around 50 per cent or higher (see above, and Fotiadis Reference Fotiadis1988, 43–6). Our observations regarding natural sediments beneath the anthropogenic deposits at MNG show that sandy sediments were unavailable in the immediate vicinity of the site. Where did the sand of the FN deposits come from? Today, sand can be found in abundance in the bedload of watercourses originating in the uplands around Kitrini Limni and debouching in the basin floor at distances between two and five kilometres from MNG. In the Final Neolithic those distances might have been a good deal shorter; still, sandy sediment for building would have to be transferred to the site. The technology involved in such transfers is at the moment uncharted.

The evidence from the excavated deposits

‘The earliest 20 cm of anthropogenic deposits [at MNG] formed at the time when red slipped pots, typical of the Middle Neolithic known from Servia and other sites, were still extensively used.’ This statement, by Fotiadis et al. (Reference Fotiadis, Hondroyanni-Metoki, Kalogirou, Ziota, Hiller and Nikolov2000, 218), must now be moderated. The lowest anthropogenic deposits encountered in trench Μ26, those immediately above the natural dark clay horizon, indeed accumulated in the advanced Middle Neolithic, as is shown by the bulk of the ceramic potsherds they contain (more than 500 pieces), and this attribution is corroborated by the sequence of ¹⁴C dates. Yet the same deposits also contain a handful or two of potsherds that are dateable to the Early Neolithic (EN). Those potsherds are very small and their surfaces are in general worn. They include: an unmistakable ‘Proto-Sesklo’ rim, probably from a cup, made from a fine clay body, burnished on the exterior, painted on the interior and fired to a brown colour; one more, tiny ‘Proto-Sesklo’ rim with orange slip on the exterior and interior, made from a fine, yet micaceous clay body; three sherds with different types of impressed decoration probably done with a fingernail; one rim from a deep bowl with a diameter of 20 cm made from a fine-clay body with some organic material, painted on the exterior with hatched ‘white-on-red’ inverted triangles ‘hanging’ from the rim; possibly a second sherd with similar decoration, but from a closed pot; a couple of sherds with painted patterns (e.g. two parallel rows of thick zigzag lines just below the rim or variations thereof); and, last, six or seven potsherds covered with a white slip on the exterior, bearing less distinctive or minimally preserved linear decoration (e.g., a single zigzag line combined with dots) in red, orange and brown colours (Fig. SM3:1). This pottery is at home in the Early Neolithic of both west and central Macedonia as known from old and new excavations (see, e.g., Papadakou, Urem-Kotsou and Kotsakis Reference Papadakou, Urem-Kotsou and Kotsakis2011; Urem-Kotsou et al. Reference Urem-Kotsou, Dimoula, Elezi, Papadakou, Papaioannou, Saridaki, Siamidou, Silva, Tzemopoulou, Kotsakis, Sarris, Kalogiropoulou, Kalayici and Karimali2017; Yiouni Reference Yiouni, Rodden and Wardle1996), as well as in the Early Neolithic of Thessaly and the Balkans.

Such finds indicate the presence of EN deposits in an unexcavated part of MNG, beyond trench Μ26. The potsherds could plausibly have come to the area of M26 as the MN inhabitants of the site ‘cannibalised’ older anthropogenic deposits for their own purposes, e.g., for using the dirt so obtained as construction material.

A charcoal sample from the relevant stratigraphic unit in trench Μ26 (specifically, from deposit 5B; see Fig. SM2:1) was dated to the late seventh millennium bc (date Beta-098971). The charcoal could have derived from the same area and by the same process as the EN potsherds. This seems likely, but the possibilities must also be considered that the elevated age of the sample (mean age 6250 bc) is the effect of old wood or of a certain degree of contamination by autochthonous carbon (see section ‘Radiocarbon dating’ and SM Text 2).

Until the 1990s only one EN site was known in Kitrini Limni (Megali Toumba Ayiou Dimitriou; Fotiadis and Hondroyanni-Metoki Reference Fotiadis and Hondroyanni-Metoki1993, 19–20 and references therein). Surveys and excavations by the Archaeological Service have since 2000 added several new EN sites, some of them within the Kitrini Limni watershed, and others, such as Mavropigi-Filotsairi, beyond but not far from it (see Karamitrou-Mentesidi Reference Karamitrou-Mentesidi, Stefani, Merousis and Dimoula2014 for a synopsis and maps). It is noteworthy that some of the recently discovered EN sites, including Filotsairi (676 m a.s.l.) and Pontokomi-Vrysi (736 m a.s.l.), are located on terraces well above the moist horizons of the basin floor. In those sites agriculture would have necessarily been rain-fed.

No doubt yet other EN sites are awaiting discovery in Kitrini Limni and its neighbourhood. In short, far from being isolated, the pioneer EN community at MNG was part of a regional network of coeval communities.

Climate and the Early Neolithic in Kitrini Limni

Neolithic farmers first settled in west Macedonia c.6500 bc, as the ¹⁴C sequence from Filotsairi demonstrates (Karamitrou-Mentesidi et al. Reference Karamitrou-Mentesidi, Efstratiou, Kaczanowska and Kozłowski2015). Several other Neolithic sites in continental Greece have yielded dates of comparable age, i.e., between 6600 (or slightly earlier) and 6400 bc (see Maniatis, Kotsakis and Halstead Reference Maniatis, Kotsakis and Halstead2011; Maniatis Reference Maniatis, Stefani, Merousis and Dimoula2014, 207–8; Reingruber et al. Reference Reingruber, Toufexis, Kyparissi-Apostolika, Anetakis, Maniatis and Facorellis2017, 39–41; Perlès, Quiles and Valladas Reference Perlès, Quiles and Valladas2013). All such settlements, that is, were founded during the ‘climatic optimum’ of the early Holocene, characterised by rather moist conditions, wet winters and warm, dry summers (Peyron et al. Reference Peyron, Goring, Dormoy, Kotthoff, Pross, Beaulieu, Drescher-Schneider, Vannière and Magny2011). The colonisation process coincided with the first, ‘nascent’ or ‘weak’ phase of a climatic disturbance, of near-global sweep, known as the ‘8.2 ka cal bp event’ (Berger et al Reference Berger, Lespez, Kuzucuoğlu, Glais, Hourani, Barra and Guilaine2016, 1865–7).Footnote ⁷ Around the Aegean, the second, ‘marked’ phase of that event (6250–6100 bc) left a conspicuous signal in several kinds of environmental records, terrestrial (e.g., Berger et al. Reference Berger, Lespez, Kuzucuoğlu, Glais, Hourani, Barra and Guilaine2016, 1863–5), marine (e.g., Geraga et al. Reference Geraga, Ioakim, Lykousis, Tsaila-Monopolis and Mylona2010, 112–14) and lacustrine. Among the latter, the pollen and hydrological records from the Philippoi Marshes and other lacustrine settings in and around northern Greece indicate a reversal of the early Holocene ‘optimum’ conditions: a frequent incursion of the ‘Siberian High’ into the Aegean area, with a consequent drop, by more than four degrees, of winter temperatures, a near two degree lowering of summer temperatures, and a sharp decline in precipitation except in summer (Berger et al. Reference Berger, Lespez, Kuzucuoğlu, Glais, Hourani, Barra and Guilaine2016, 1865; Lespez et al. Reference Lespez, Tsirtsoni, Darcque, Koukouli-Chryssanthaki, Malamidou, Treuil, Davidson, Kourtessi-Philippakis and Oberlin2013, 41–2; Peyron et al. Reference Peyron, Goring, Dormoy, Kotthoff, Pross, Beaulieu, Drescher-Schneider, Vannière and Magny2011, esp. fig. 2; Pross et al. Reference Pross, Kotthoff, Müller, Peyron, Dormoy, Schmiedl, Kalaitzidis and Smith2009; Aufgebauer et al. Reference Aufgebauer, Panagiotopoulos, Wagner, Schaebitz, Viehberg, Vogel, Zanchetta, Sulpizio, Leng and Damaschke2012, 132 and fig. 5).Footnote ⁸

In continental Greece, human responses to that climatic downturn are in general elusive. At Dikili Tash, located on the edge of the Philippoi Marshes, a shift in the habitation area of the settlement has been plausibly interpreted as such a response (Lespez et al. Reference Lespez, Tsirtsoni, Darcque, Koukouli-Chryssanthaki, Malamidou, Treuil, Davidson, Kourtessi-Philippakis and Oberlin2013, 42–3; Berger et al. Reference Berger, Lespez, Kuzucuoğlu, Glais, Hourani, Barra and Guilaine2016, fig. 10). Elsewhere relevant high-resolution data are lacking. In Kitrini Limni and its vicinity, none of the several EN sites seems to have been abandoned as a result of the downturn. Rather, four of those sites, including MNG, have ¹⁴C dates within the ‘marked’ (culmination) phase of the 8.2 ka cal bp event. Relevant as this may be to the issue of human responses, far more detailed chronologies, as well as data on settlement and environment histories and on agro-pastoral practices, are essential before the impact of the 8.2 ka cal bp on the Kitrini Limni communities can be assessed.

Samples and techniques

Ten charcoal samples from excavated deposits were subjected to radiocarbon dating. Five samples were analysed at the Beta-Analytic company, four of them by the technique of Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC), and a fifth sample, Beta-098971, by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The remaining five samples were analysed at the Laboratory of Archaeometry, National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR) Demokritos, Athens, which uses the Gas Proportional Counting technique (GPC; see Maniatis, Oberlin and Tsirtsoni Reference Maniatis, Oberlin, Tsirtsoni and Tsirtsoni2016, 42).

All radiocarbon dates were calibrated using the calibration program OxCal v4.2.4 with the most recent atmospheric dataset IntCal13 (Reimer et al. Reference Reimer, Bard, Bayliss, Beck, Blackwell, Bronk Ramsey, Buck, Cheng, Edwards, Friedrich, Grootes, Guilderson, Haflidason, Hajdas, Hatté, Heaton, Hogg, Hofmann, Hughen, Kaiser, Kromer, Manning, Niu, Reimer, Richards, Scott, Southon, Staff, Turney and Van der Plicht2013). Bayesian analysis was performed with the models available at the OxCal v4.2.4 (Bronk Ramsey Reference Bronk Ramsey2009a). The dates were treated with the outlier model described by Bronk Ramsey (Reference Bronk Ramsey2009b) for detecting and marking possible outliers, but no problems in regard to this were found.

Middle Neolithic phase

Deposits assignable to the Middle Neolithic were reached only in trench M26, quarters β and δ, immediately above the natural sediments.Footnote ¹⁰ The main MN deposit is deposit 5A (Figs 2 and SM2:1). We have assigned the pottery it contains (about 500 sherds) to five groups: plain, red-slipped monochrome, decorated with birch bark tar, decorated with stripes, and barbotine. All these groups are also present in the next phase, the MN–LN transition, but pottery decorated with stripes disappears soon after the beginning of that phase.

Plain pottery

This group accounts for about half of the potsherds retrieved from deposit 5A. The principal shapes are shown in Fig. 6. A few cups and basins complete the collection. Attachments are rare, such as a small vertical handle, oval in section, which was detached from an open vessel with part of the wall.

Fig. 6.

MN and MN–LN transition, plain pottery. The stippling in (a) indicates birch bark tar on the wall next to the break. Drawings: R. Robertson.

Plain pots were coil-built. Irregularities on their walls indicate that potters did not always scrape them thoroughly during manufacture. Four potter's fingertip impressions are preserved on the break of a potsherd from a large basin that broke right at the coil join. An adhesive of organic provenance, probably birch bark tar (see below), was used for mending, e.g., on the ‘fruitstand’ rim shown in Fig. 6a. The adhesive covered the break, but it was also extended to both sides of the adjoining wall as a strip.

The clay body of plain bowls is fine-textured, micaceous to various degrees and slightly calcareous. It also contains very small grains of quartz and occasional grains of a dark coloured rock, possibly chert. Firing was not aimed at achieving standard colours, for the pots’ surfaces range from various shades of buff to almost black. Firing clouds are present as well. A few rims and bottoms from open shapes are grey throughout and lightly burnished. However, given the absence of complete pots or large parts of them, it is impossible to know if entirely grey pots, difficult to obtain in open or pit firings, were intentionally produced.

Red-slipped monochrome pottery

Red-slipped and plain pottery share similar shapes. The repertory of open shapes comprises small- and medium-size bowls with hemispherical or slightly flaring profiles as well as shallow, conical ‘fruitstands’ with rim diameters exceeding 25 cm. The few jars identified are of medium size with short, cylindrical or flaring necks with restricted opening (Fig. 7a). Bottoms are usually flat, but ring or discoidal bases also occur (Fig. 7b).

Fig. 7.

MN and MN–LN transition, red-slipped pottery. Drawing: R. Robertson.

The exterior of the pots is covered with a slip or paint rich in iron oxide. Fired in a predominantly oxidising atmosphere, the slip/paint turned to a bright red colour or shades thereof, including pink, and is clearly distinguished from the light brown/buff colour of the body underneath. The interior of bowls and jar necks is also slipped and fired to a red colour. The core, seen in the breaks, is in most cases grey, indicating incomplete oxidation during firing, probably in an open pit, and attainment of rather low temperatures. Some bowls were burnished, but in most cases the gloss is poorly preserved. Wear and scratches are visible on the underside of bottoms and the interior of bowls.

The clay body of bowls is slightly calcareous. It contains bits of shell, angular to sub-angular quartz grains up to 2 mm long and small mica flakes distributed evenly through the paste. Jars were probably made with a similar recipe but the texture of their clay body is coarser. Some organic materials (e.g. seeds) were left in the paste.

Red-slipped monochrome pottery represents up to 43 per cent of the total number of potsherds in deposit 5A. However, red-slipped monochrome continues to be present in variable, albeit decreasing, quantities up to deposit 17 (see Fig. 2).

Pottery decorated with stripes

A number of bowls with rim diameters 22–31 cm, but also jars with flaring necks, have their exterior decorated with vertical or slightly oblique stripes with jagged edges (Fig. 8). Macroscopic examination suggests that the potters first covered the exterior of the pot with a red slip or paint; then, by scraping or wiping off parts of the slip, they created an effect of coloured stripes alternating with the exposed, ‘reserved’ surface of the pot underneath (Fig. 9). Subsequent smoothing of the stripes’ edges with a blunt tool, while the slip was still wet, gave them a blurred and wave-like appearance, called ‘moiré effect’ at Servia (Ridley and Wardle Reference Ridley and Wardle1979, 209). The interior of the pots as a rule is solid black, probably due to smudging at the end of the firing.

Fig. 8.

MN pottery decorated with stripes. Drawings: R. Robertson.

Fig. 9.

MN bowl decorated with stripes (colour online). Photo: G. Marinos.

The pots were probably burnished, but the gloss is poorly preserved. As in the case of the red-slipped pots, oxidising atmosphere prevailed during firing, for the decorative stripes have become red and pinkish, while the exposed body underneath in most cases acquired a light brown/buff colour. Firing clouds are present, however. Two rims from shallow bowls are exceptional because the stripes are cream or very light pink-coloured (Fig. SM3:2).

The striped pots from MNG are confined to deposit 5A and the lowest part of deposit 5B. They strongly recall the so-called ‘scraped ware’ (‘ξεστή’ in Greek) amply documented in Thessaly but less common north of the Aliakmon valley.

Barbotine pottery

Already present in the lowest anthropogenic deposit of trench M26 (deposit 5A), barbotine pottery is also found, along with red-slipped and plain pottery, throughout the deposits we have assigned to the MN–LN transition. Its frequency in passes belonging to those deposits is low, usually less than 10 per cent (Fig. SM2:2). It is absent from later deposits, except for the occasional ‘kick-up’.

Barbotine pottery is a familiar occurrence in northern Greek and Balkan Neolithic sites. Its distinguishing feature is the textured, sometimes furrowed, exterior surface (Fig. 10), created by applying a layer of clay slurry of variable thickness (Rice Reference Rice1987, 149: ‘slip trailing’ or ‘barbotine’) after the pot was formed, scraped and smoothed, but before it was fired. Barbotine did not extend up to the pot's rim.Footnote ¹¹ Macroscopic examination indicates that the barbotine layer and the clay used for building the pot were similar in composition. Barbotine pottery was low-fired with frequent firing clouds on the exterior surface.

Fig. 10.

MN–LN transition, basin fragment with barbotine furrows. Photo: G. Marinos.

The MNG barbotine sample comprises 138 sherds from large, thick-walled basins and only a few jars. Because of the fragmentary condition of the material, it has not been possible to reconstruct complete profiles. On 18 sherds from both thick-walled basins and smaller pots with thinner walls, the clay slurry forms a pattern of consecutive arcs with raised edges (Fig. 11).Footnote ¹² A unique case is the potsherd illustrated in Fig. 11a, where barbotine treatment is combined with red paint (black in the drawing).

Fig. 11.

MN and MN–LN transition, barbotine pottery. Drawings: R. Robertson.

Barbotine work should have facilitated the handling of large, heavy vessels such as those excavated at MNG. Further exploration of use-related questions regarding barbotine pottery would be rewarding.

Middle–Late Neolithic transitional phase

The appearance of black burnished pottery in a Neolithic stratigraphic sequence has long been thought to signal the beginning of the LN phase. Some scholars, however, acknowledge that black burnished pottery did not at once replace the kinds of pottery used in the Middle Neolithic and that typical MN ceramics coexisted for some time with the new pottery. We have estimated that at MNG the period of coexistence lasted between 100 and 200 years; moreover, the replacement of the old by the new ceramic traditions proceeded in a gradual fashion (SM Text 2 and Fig. SM2:2). We decided to acknowledge straightforwardly that situation and name the period of coexistence ‘Middle–Late Neolithic transitional phase’ (for short, ‘MN–LN transition’).

The MN–LN transition at MNG is dated by three ¹⁴C dates somewhere between 5750 and 5200 bc (see section ‘Radiocarbon dating’ and SM Text 2). The MN ceramic groups discussed above coexist with black burnished pottery in the relevant deposits, except for pots decorated with stripes, which disappear in deposits above 5B. The changing frequencies of red-slipped, barbotine and black burnished pots are shown in Fig. SM2:2 (passes δ.65 to δ.45, corresponding to deposits 5B to 17).

Black burnished pottery

‘Black burnished’ refers to only one feature of this group, namely the shiny black colour of the pots’ exteriors. We use the term for convenience, while keeping in mind that black burnished pottery occurs in later phases of the Greek Neolithic as well.

The commonest shapes at MNG are, in decreasing order of frequency, bowls, shallow basins and collared jars. Bowls are of small to medium size with rim diameters between 12 and 18 cm (Fig. 12). Some bowls have a low collar and a carinated rather than fully rounded profile. Bowls were thoroughly scraped until the walls acquired a uniform thickness (3.5–5 mm near the rim). Appendages are rare. The identification of bottom fragments is problematic, mainly because of the near-imperceptible angle between the walls and the pots’ bases. Attempts at repair are indicated by drilled holes. Bowls could be meticulously decorated (see below).

Fig. 12.

MN–LN transition, black burnished bowls with relief decoration. Drawings: R. Robertson.

Basins (diameter larger than 25 cm) were shallow containers with convex walls ending in a flattened lip. No appendages could be associated with them. At least one example was burnished in a streaky fashion and was fired to a dark grey colour instead of jet-black. Unlike bowls, basins were not decorated, except possibly by applications of barbotine.

The sample of collared jars is small and fragmentary. The few rim diameters that could be estimated with confidence range from 18 to 36 cm. Wall thickness at the shoulder is 7–12 mm. The collars, as tall as 10 cm, have slightly flaring or, more rarely, cylindrical walls. The join with the shoulder is marked with a groove. Some jars have a carinated profile, but the carination is not as pronounced as in the LN black topped assemblage (discussed below). The few appendages include oval-shaped protrusions, triangular lugs placed on the carination and a small, angular handle placed vertically on the collar. The exterior was burnished, but not always to a high gloss. Most interiors are dark grey, as are cores.

The clay body of bowls is fine-textured, is slightly calcareous, and contains microscopic, evenly distributed bits of quartz and some mica. That of jars is somewhat coarser, with occasional quartz fragments up to 5 mm long and, at times, hairline-cracks emanating from larger grains of aplastics left in the clay body. Perhaps, the clay body was adjusted according to the type of vessel to be made.

Black burnished bowls are decorated on their exterior with linear patterns in low relief. The patterns comprise sets of two to five parallel lines that run downward from the rim in a crisscross fashion. They are often combined with a row of tiny relief pellets placed near the rim (Fig. 12b). This type of decoration, also known from LN Servia, was named ‘ribbing’ by Heurtley (Reference Heurtley1939, 69). The potters created the patterns with narrow strips and small pellets of clay and, then, burnished them over. Collared jars bear no decoration, except for one example with barely visible oblique ‘ribbing’ on the shoulder.

Vitelli (Reference Vitelli1999, 26–7) has extensively discussed the colours and firing techniques related to black burnished pottery. Macroscopic examination of the MNG material suggests firing in reducing conditions; smudging is another possibility.

Late Neolithic phase

The Late Neolithic deposits in their upper part are truncated. Still, the preserved part is almost one metre thick. It covers a period of 60 to 120 years, radiocarbon-dated between 5200 and 5080 bc (see section ‘Radiocarbon dating’ and SM Text 2). Stratified LN material was excavated in trenches Μ26, Μ27 and Μ36.

The principal phase marker is black topped pottery. Black burnished pottery coexists with black topped in the lowest few centimetres of the relevant deposits, but disappears higher up.

Black topped pottery

Black topped pots are black in the upper part of their exterior, while the lower part is uniformly light brown or bichrome, with an orange zone below the brown part. The interior is dark grey, less frequently brown or black. Marking of the interior rim by more intense burnishing is common in all shapes. The principal pot shapes are conical bowls, conical basins (diameters exceeding 30 cm), carinated bowls, carinated collared bowls and carinated collared jars.

Conical bowls and basins resemble a truncated cone in section. They have a straight or gently flaring rim (Fig. 13a). Wall thickness near the rim is 5–8 mm, sometimes less. Appendages include conical protrusions and horizontal lugs, oval, quadrangular or conical. They are placed below the rim and can be vertically perforated. A couple of specimens bear painted patterns on the lower part (see Kalogirou Reference Kalogirou, Laffineur and Betancourt1997, pl. Ia), while a single rim fragment from a conical bowl is pattern-painted on the interior.

Fig. 13.

LN, black topped pottery: (a) conical bowl, (b) carinated bowl, (c)–(f) carinated collared bowls and jars with rippled decoration. Drawings: R. Robertson.

Carinated bowls are fairly shallow containers with diameters 11–28 cm (Fig. 13b). Their walls are thinner than those of basins. Appendages include vertically perforated small lugs and protrusions placed just above the carination.

Carinated collared bowls are small- to medium-size pots with an added collar terminating in a gently flaring rim (Fig. 13c and d). Rim diameters range from 14 to 25 cm. The collar begins at about the point of maximum diameter and its join to the shoulder is marked with a narrow, shallow groove. Attachments include rounded, conical and elongated lugs at or near the carination, sometimes combined with small protrusions or incisions. When these fragile, thin-walled pots broke, their users attempted to mend them, as shown by sets of holes drilled in the walls (Fig. 13c).

Carinated collared jars are medium- to large-size vessels with an added collar more than 5 cm tall beginning above the point of maximum diameter (Fig. 13e and f). The diameter at the tip of the rim, which is slightly flaring, ranges from 22 to 47 cm. The height of these vessels has been estimated to as much as 50 cm. The join of the collar to the shoulder is marked with a narrow, shallow groove, as in the case of collared bowls. Appendages include small protrusions on the carination, single, in pairs or sets of three, as well as elongated or crescent-shaped lugs (Fig. 13e).

Black topped pots have flat or slightly concave bottoms with diameters between 7.5 and 18 cm. The thickness of the bottoms of open shapes is no more than 8 mm. In a unique case, the underside of the bottom of a bowl is pattern-burnished (Fig. SM3:4). Unique also is a small bowl with an elliptical opening (largest diameter is about 15 cm). The rim is completely flat, thickens abruptly toward the interior and bears two vertical perforations. On its exterior the bowl has a vertical groove, perhaps for securing in place a twine or string.

The clay body of black topped pots is fine-textured and slightly micaceous. Petrographic analysis of 11 samples confirmed, first, that black topped pots were made from non-calcareous clays and, second, that the clay body contained quartz, feldspar, muscovite mica and iron, in addition to some organic matter (Kalogirou Reference Kalogirou1994, 181–97).

Carinated collared bowls and jars were decorated with patterns in low relief, extending over the black part of the pot above the carination. The patterns were created with a burnishing tool while the pot was still wet. This kind of decoration produced a fine ‘rippling’, better noticed in raking light or by stroking the surface with the fingertips. The rippling consists of parallel lines, arcs and opposing chevrons in alternating directions, and combinations of the above (Fig. 13c–f). On collared jars, rippling was also combined with concentric arcs near the carination. Less frequently, rippling was combined with small depressions above the carination executed with a blunt tool. The black topped pots from MNG with ‘rippled’ decoration are among the finest examples we know.

The bichrome or trichrome exterior and the dark interior of the pots were the result of the firing procedure.Footnote ¹³ In general, the potters were in good command of the procedure. No misfired pieces were noticed, for instance, among the collared bowls decorated with rippling. Nevertheless, firing accidents did occur: one rim fired to an orange colour instead of black; a second example has a mottled, black and light brown exterior; a third example shows a light brown ‘oxidation spot’ on the black zone. Finally, the rim of a collared jar has fired black except for a narrow zone that is almost white.

Several observations lead us to propose that black topped pots developed from black burnished through modifications of the older recipe over time. In brief, open shapes predominate in both potteries, while substantial appendages are rare. Shapes with collars are common in both groups and have a groove marking the join with the collar. Carinated profiles first appeared in black burnished pots, although they are far more pronounced in black topped pottery. Surface treatment also is comparable, including the decoration in low relief even though the execution is different. Furthermore, in both cases, the final colour of the pots was obtained not with the use of paints and slips but through controlled firing. Last, relevant to our proposal is the observation that black burnished and black topped pottery coexisted for a short while at the beginning of the Late Neolithic (see above).

Final Neolithic (early)

‘Final Neolithic’ is a catch-all name for the time period between the middle of the fifth millennium bc and the Early Bronze Age in Greece, about 1500 years later. The bulk of the FN material from MNG belongs to the first several hundred years of that long period, and it is discussed here. Ceramics from the remaining part of the FN phase are briefly discussed in the next section. Stratified deposits of the Final Neolithic were excavated in trenches Μ26, Μ27 and Μ36. Their integrity had been compromised by ploughing down to about 50 cm below the modern surface. That left 50–70 cm of FN deposits in a pristine state (deposits 45 and 48 in Fig. 2). A temporal hiatus of up to 350 years obtains between the LN and FN deposits in the excavated trenches. Other parts of the site, beyond the excavated trenches, were most probably inhabited during that 350-year interval.

The pottery from deposits 45, 48 and 50 (more than half a metric ton) exhibits an impressive variety of shapes, surface treatments and clay bodies, and is radically different from what preceded it. Final Neolithic pots have true handles, in addition to lugs and other kinds of attachments and appendages. Flat bottoms are the rule, but bowls with pedestals and added bases or feet also occur. With regard to raw materials, the most important difference from the earlier phases is the use of calcareous clays, in addition to non-calcareous ones. The much greater variety of clay bodies implies the concurrent use of several recipes for making pots. That variety is paralleled by the greater variety and, perhaps, quantity of containers and other utensils and facilities made of clay.

Hemispherical bowls of various profiles and sizes predominate. Bowls were scraped, smoothed and often slipped and burnished. Some small bowls bear incised patterns (Fig. 14); others are painted with two or even three different slips. Large basins and jars, necked and hole-mouth, account for at least one third of the pottery. The increase in the frequency of large, expediently made jars is notable. Some of them may have exceeded 60 cm in height.

Fig. 14.

FN (early), pottery with incised patterns. Drawings: R. Robertson.

A small group of pots is worth singling out because of its idiosyncratic features. Reconstructions based on sizeable potsherds indicate that the typical shape is a bowl with a complex, bulging profile. Such bowls have rim diameters 10–30 cm, flat bottoms, walls of even thickness around the circumference and at least one vertically perforated lug at the point of maximum diameter. Their upper part has wide, shallow grooves executed with a blunt tool, while the lower part bears painted patterns (Fig. 15a–c).Footnote ¹⁴ The grooved patterns consist of concentric arcs, probably repeated around the pot's circumference. The grooves were filled with a fine-grained, fugitive cream-coloured or light brown pigment. The same pigment was used to paint the linear patterns of the lower part. The bowls are burnished on both the exterior and the interior and are fired to dark grey, brown and black colours. Two different clay bodies have been petrographically distinguished. These pots were produced in small numbers in the early Final Neolithic and were in circulation only for a short time.

Fig. 15.

FN (early): (a)–(c) bowls with bulging upper body; (d)–(g) perforated utensils. Drawings: (a) and (b) J. Sauser; (c)–(e) R. Robertson; (f) L. Talalay; (g) L. Talalay and T. Vakouftsi.

Utensils with perforations, often called ‘strainers’, ‘sieves’ or ‘cheese-pots’, are also present in small numbers (Figs 15d–g and SM3:5; note that the utensil in Fig. 15e is open at both ends). Organic residue analysis of three sherds identified in two of them fats of animal origin, thereby indicating a possible connection with cheese production, but uses related to meat processing could not be excluded (Decavallas Reference Decavallas2011, 212–15). Perforated utensils probably served a variety of purposes (Kalogirou Reference Kalogirou1994, 154–61).

Pattern-painted decoration is not common in early FN pottery. It is mostly found on medium-size bowls. The cream-on-red variation occurs more frequently than the inverse (Figs 16 and SM3:6). A handful of potsherds with distinctive ‘classical Dimini’ patterns (e.g., checkerboard and spirals) may represent imports, as may one sherd with distinctive east-Macedonian black-on-red patterns.

Fig. 16.

FN (early), pattern-painted bowls: (a) red-on-white, (b)–(e) cream-on-red. Drawings: R. Robertson.

‘Crusted’ pottery is another feature of the early FN phase. At MNG ‘crusts’, defined as thick coatings of pigment/slip applied on the finished exterior and/or interior of a pot usually after firing, are either white or bright coloured, e.g., red, pink or orange. ‘Crusts’ could have been applied at any point during a pot's life. They formed linear and solid patterns on the surface of plain pots, but they were also used on pedestals and to fill incisions. Two different ‘crusts’, white and red, are combined in some pots (Figs SM3:7 and SM3:8).

Thirteen FN decorated potsherds from MNG were analysed by two non-destructive methods, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), in order to identify the chemical composition of the paints (most probably applied before the pots’ firing) and ‘crusts’ (assumed to be a post-firing application). Hematite proved to be a critical ingredient of the red crusts, while talc, serpentine and saponite were ingredients of the light-coloured and white crusts. The analysis confirmed that ‘crusts’, as defined above, were, as a rule, applied after the pot's initial firing (Aloupi Reference Aloupi2003).

The FN inventory also includes ‘scoops’, miniature and asymmetrical pots, as well as angular or quadrangular (box-like) containers (Fig. SM3:9). Last, in almost every FN excavation unit we recorded the presence of potsherds that had been recycled, e.g., as small containers, covers/lids or tools for rubbing and scraping.

Final Neolithic (advanced) – Bronze Age

The plough zone in the area of the M trenches (deposit no. 50 in Fig. 2) contains pottery primarily from the early Final Neolithic, but also material from advanced stages of the Final Neolithic and from the Bronze Age. A small portion of that material can be dated to the fourth millennium bc, especially to its second half. Examples include a cup fragment with Baden-pottery affinities.Footnote ¹⁵ Included also are a handful of ‘rolled’ (‘Kumtepe 1b’-type) rims from bowls datable to around 3000 bc (see also Fotiadis and Hondroyanni-Metoki Reference Fotiadis and Hondroyanni-Metoki1993, fig. 4α–δ, from the ‘dump’).

Coarse, thick-walled jars with ledge or coil-built sturdy handles, pithoi and jugs with strap handles are common in the plough zone. They include fragments from necked jars with applied strips at the join of the neck with the shoulder, decorated by pinching or with finger-tip impressions (Fig. 17a; see also Kalogirou Reference Kalogirou1994, 130 and fig. 54a). Such pieces date to the advanced Final Neolithic or to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (cf. Adrymi-Sismani Reference Adrymi-Sismani and Tsirtsoni2016, fig. 6b; Grammenos Reference Grammenos1981, fig. 6; Hanschmann and Milojčić Reference Hanschmann and Milojčić1976, pl. 39; Toufexis Reference Toufexis and Tsirtsoni2016, fig. 13).

Fig. 17.

FN (advanced) – EBA pottery from deposit 50 (plough zone). Drawings: A. Akın.

Pottery from later EBA phases is more abundant. Examples include a large fragment from a coarse globular jar with ‘corded’ decoration (four parallel vertical impressions from a twisted cord; cf. Sherratt Reference Sherratt, Renfrew, Gimbutas and Elster1986, fig. 13.13:6 and 7); the rim and neck from a small jar with an angular protrusion and wedge-shaped incisions (Fig. 17b; cf. Grammenos Reference Grammenos1981, figs 17, 18 and 21 for the pot's shape); and a large bowl, black on the exterior, with incurving rim and a cylindrical protrusion (Fig. 17c; cf. Hanschmann and Milojčić Reference Hanschmann and Milojčić1976, foldout 17:2). The sample also includes twisted and split handles (cf. Hanschmann and Milojčić Reference Hanschmann and Milojčić1976, pl. 26:6 and 7; Heurtley Reference Heurtley1939, fig. 61a and b).

A fragment from a large necked jar with applied strips forming a curvilinear pattern (Fig. 17d) most likely dates near the end of the Early Bronze Age (cf. Hanschmann and Milojčić Reference Hanschmann and Milojčić1976, pl. 80:6; Heurtley Reference Heurtley1939, fig. 51). Remarkable also, and probably of similar age, is a jar fragment with a large horizontal handle ending in four ridges that resemble human fingers.Footnote ¹⁶

The three potsherds of Fig. 18, from a small pit in trench M36, represent the most recent ceramic material from MNG, dating to the end of the Early or even the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. That is indicated by the S-shaped profile of the rim from a black burnished bowl (Fig. 18a; cf. Hanschmann and Milojčić Reference Hanschmann and Milojčić1976, foldout 21:14), the carinated pot with two (?) handles (Fig. 18b; cf. Ziota Reference Ziota2007, fig. 3:1) and the T-shaped rim from a large jar (Fig. 18c; cf. Hanschmann Reference Hanschmann1981, pls 81 and VII:4).

Fig. 18.

End EBA – beginning Middle Bronze Age pottery from deposit 50 (plough zone). Drawings: (a) A. Akın; (b) and (c) R. Robertson.