Thessaly, situated in the heart of the Greek mainland, comprises a diverse landscape, combining mountain formations, flat plains, river valleys, lacustrine environments and coastland in harmony. It was a densely populated area during the Neolithic, the majority of settlements forming tells, others being extended, while cave habitation is also attested. A rich and rather uniform pottery production characterises the entire region throughout the Neolithic period, forming a robust typology that has heavily influenced our view of the Neolithic of Central and Northern Greece, while until recently it was widely accepted that Neolithic pottery did not circulate, and when it did, this concerned only highly decorated finewares, which acted as rare goods.
A large-scale research programme on the archaeometric analysis of both coarse- and finewares attested in Neolithic Thessaly focused on potting traditions and regional connectivity, including pottery deriving from a large number of settlements in Thessaly and combining excavation and surface/survey contexts. The detection of a) different production centres, most frequently ware-specific, b) the parallel activity of different exchange networks, and c) the variability of distribution patterns of the pottery produced, have significant connotations for the unravelling of the complex relations developed between settlements situated in different micro-environments and the recognition of inter-regional diversification in Thessaly. The study of exchange and its networks reveals a new perception of the Thessalian landscape within the Neolithic cosmos, which appears less uniform and more segmented, yet more ”human” than originally considered.
Communities, Landscapes, and Interaction in Neolithic Greece
International conference 29-30 May 2015
