Identity and Interaction in the Neolithic Island Aegean. The Production, circulation and Consumption of Ceramic Vessels on Chios.

Currently understanding of the Neolithic period (c.7000-3100/3000 BC) in the Aegean islands lags behind that of neighbouring regions, principally because the islands lack datasets of the necessary quality and range to allow secure insights into social reproduction and interaction.

This project will address this lacuna by pursuing a fully integrated and contextual characterisation of pottery from the excavated sites of Ayio Gala and Emporio on Chios, which together span the ceramic Neolithic. This exceptional set of material includes pottery from the earlier Neolithic (c.6500-5300 BC), the provenancing of which will provide an entirely new window on the first Neolithic occupation of the islands. Integrated ceramic characterisation collects a much wider range of attribute data, using both macroscopic and microscopic techniques of analysis, and integrates technology and provenance with existing typologies of form and finish. It extends characterisation, beyond a traditional focus on the object, to the human practices in which pottery is implicated. Similar such characterisation work in the Aegean has transformed understanding of technology, production, exchange and consumption and thereby social practice. The project is expected to revolutionise our understanding of how people operated and interacted in island environments in the Aegean and how this changed during the Neolithic.