Pioneering Potters. Early Neolithic Ceramics from Mavropigi-Fillotsairi, Western Macedonia

Abstract

The material discussed in this paper consists of c. 60,000 sherds from houses and their associated pits recovered from rescue excavations conducted at Mavropigi-Fillotsairi between 2005 and 2006. The preliminary pottery study was a sample of the extant pottery aimed at the documentation and establishment of vessel morphology, identifying technological aspects of ceramic production (construction techniques, fabrics, firing type, and surface treatment), and deducing vessel consumption and disposal. The contexts under study were chosen to check the stratigraphic observations made at the time of the excavation, particularly to establish the sequence of buildings in the northeastern part of the site. This paper thus presents a typological and technological overview of the ceramic assemblage and provides a case study for examining the relationship of pottery biographies, site depositional processes, and their interpretation in connection with the larger discussion of the Neolithisation of Europe.