EAA 2023: Abstract

In this paper, we present practices of repairing, reshaping, and curating pottery containers from neolithic Dispilio. Dispilio is the first wetland site excavated in Greece and has been systematically investigated since the 1990s’ by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In the multi-layered diachronic development of the settlement from the mid-6th to the early 5th mil BCE, we have recorded various changes in pottery repairing and restoration techniques and practices. Hundreds and different types of reworked sherds and more than 200 repaired pots in the large corpus of the about 1670 whole pots and profiles we have restored so far, provide us the necessary framework to shed light on the various forms the reuse of pottery had in different periods. In addition, the analysis of repairing attributes, such as the relative incidence of mending per pottery ware type, direction and size of the drilled holes, their place on the vessel body, and the visibility of the repairs, alongside the study of the great typological diversity of the ceramic tools provide new data on the economic and socio-ideological aspects that ceramic consumption had for neolithic communities in Greece. Our study is supported by the ERC-funded EXPLO Project.

Neolithic pottery lifecycles, Pottery mending, Ceramic tools, Dispilio, Kastoria, Neolithic Greece, ERC EXLPO Project

Oral presentation

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Evangelia Voulgari²

Marina Sofronidou¹
Kostas Kotsakis³