Excavations in Final Neolithic contexts of the settlement of Kolonna on Aegina in the Saronic Gulf revealed 26 human figurines which have been classified into several types. Especially the naturalistic types seem to be unique by a most precise representation of details like their partly removable headdress. Otherwise, especially the more schematic types have similarities to other finds in the Aegean, in Southern as well as Northern Greece and in the Balkans. However these stylistic connections go far beyond their shapes and their standing or sitting position, but also concern details pointing to similarities in dress and decoration. Therefore we have to consider that people in a large area shared similar perceptions of their costume.
Furthermore, special interest should be focused on a deposit of 12 entire and 6 parts of figurines in a stone-lined pit inside a house of which six had been set into miniature bowls. This ritual deposit is unique in Southern Greece, but its concept has similarities to the famous house model of Platia Magoula Zarkou as well as the deposit of figurines in a pot in Ghelaiesti/Rumania. In addition, the use of miniature bowls alongside figurines is known in Northern Greece. This relation to the North reminds us of the wide-spread distribution of symbols like the so-called ring-pendants.
Therefore we should consider that during the Final Neolithic period the Balkans, Greece and the Aegean were not only connected by technological innovations and exchange of goods but also by a similar perception of ritual objects and ritual. Since various features discussed above are wide-spread phenomena connecting the Balkans and the inland of Greece with the Aegean we argue that their distribution was based on a complex social network covering the entire area discussed above.
Communities, Landscapes, and Interaction in Neolithic Greece
International conference 29-30 May 2015
