Books by Stefanos Gimatzidis
Greek pottery is the most visible archaeological evidence of social and economic relations betwee... more Greek pottery is the most visible archaeological evidence of social and economic relations between the Aegean and the Mediterranean during the Iron Age, a period of intense mobility. This book presents a holistic study of the earliest Greek pottery exchanged in Greek, Phoenician, and other Indigenous Mediterranean cultural contexts from multidisciplinary perspectives. It offers an examination of 362 Protogeometric and Geometric ceramic and clay samples, analysed by Neutron Activation, that Stefanos Gimatzidis obtained in twenty-four sites and micro-regions in eight countries. Bringing a macro-historical approach to the topic through a systematic survey of early Greek pottery production, exchange, and consumption, the volume also provides a micro-history of selected ceramic assemblages analysed by a team of scholars who specialise in Classical, Near Eastern, and various prehistoric archaeologies. The results of their collaborative archaeological and archaeometric studies challenge previous reconstructions of intercultural relations between the Aegean and the Mediterranean and call into question established narratives about Greek and Phoenician migration.
Papers by Stefanos Gimatzidis
This paper examines the Aegean and Aegeanising ceramic wares of Geometric type that were recovere... more This paper examines the Aegean and Aegeanising ceramic wares of Geometric type that were recovered in excavations at the Cilician seaport of Kinet Höyük. Its Geometric pottery assemblage, published here for the first time, is among the largest found so far in the eastern Mediterranean and provides the starting point for a new reconstruction of Greek pottery consumption patterns in the eastern Mediterranean. With this aim, we first present the formal and archaeo
metric characteristics of the Kinet repertoire, the nature of its archaeological contexts, and how it compares with Geometric ceramic assemblages elsewhere. The second part of our paper assesses this popular Aegean ceramic type’s modes of production in order to define the conditions that sponsored the many dimensions of its distribution, exchange and consumption.
The construction of the Iron Age Mediterranean chronology began in the Levant based on historical... more The construction of the Iron Age Mediterranean chronology began in the Levant based on historical evidence and has been additionally supported in recent decades by means of radiocarbon analysis, although with variable precision and ratification. It is only in recent years that new evidence in the Aegean and the western Mediterranean has opened discussion towards its further acceptance as an authoritative i.e. highly reliable, and widely applicable historiographic network. Altogether, the Mediterranean Iron Age chronology has only undergone minor changes during the last hundred years. The Phoenician metropolis of Sidon in southern Lebanon now provides a new, large and robust dataset obtained through a combination of archaeological and 14 C-radiometric analysis of materials from stratified contexts that allow their statistical assessment. The appearance of substantial amounts of pottery of Greek, Cypriot and Egyptian origin together with Phoenician local wares in a long stratigraphy is a benefit for the synchronisation of regional pottery styles and allows wider geographic correlation of relative chronological systems. The close association of the archaeological data with a long series of AMS-14 C-dates on short-lived samples provides new evidence for the absolute dating of many of the regional pottery styles that are represented in the stratigraphy of Sidon, and contributes towards a considerable improvement of the Mediterranean chronology.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2023
This paper, jointly written by participants of a workshop held in 2021, argues for an increased r... more This paper, jointly written by participants of a workshop held in 2021, argues for an increased recognition and application of neutron activation analysis (NAA) in the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean. Discussing the methodological strengths and challenges, it highlights the great potential NAA has for collecting proxy data from ceramics in order to develop progressive concepts of archaeological research within and beyond the Mediterranean Bronze and Iron Age, pointing out opportunities to revisit long-held assumptions of scholarship and to refine visual/macroscopic provenance determinations of pottery. To take full advantage of NAA's strengths toward a better understanding of the socioeconomic background of ceramics production, distribution, and consumption, the paper emphasises the need for both interdisciplinary collaboration and basic data publication requirements.
The Greek Early Iron Age chronology was constructed by means of historical data from the eastern ... more The Greek Early Iron Age chronology was constructed by means of historical data from the eastern Mediterranean and Italy: on the one hand, the chronological definition of the Protogeometric, Early and Middle Geometric periods was based on a few Greek sherds that were found in historically dated settlement destruction layers in the Levant; on the other hand, the foundation dates of the Greek colonies in Italy provided the absolute chronology of Late Geometric II. However, the historical dates in the Levant have already been recognized as too ambiguous to still form the starting point for a discussion of Greek chronology. Meanwhile, sparse radiocarbon dates from sites with Greek pottery in the western Mediterranean have challenged the conventional chronology of the Geometric period. Radiocarbon dates from Assiros also point to a higher chronology of the Early Protogeometric period. The first long series of 14 C determinations for the Aegean Early Iron Age was recently obtained after the analysis of animal bones from the long and well relatively dated stratigraphic sequence at Sindos that presents robust evidence for a higher chronology of the Geometric and Protogeometric periods.
Mediterranean Early Iron Age chronology was mainly constructed by means of Greek Proto-geometric ... more Mediterranean Early Iron Age chronology was mainly constructed by means of Greek Proto-geometric and Geometric ceramic wares, which are widely used for chronological correlations with the Aegean. However, Greek Early Iron Age chronology that is exclusively based on historical evidence in the eastern Mediterranean as well as in the contexts of Greek colo-nisation in Sicily has not yet been tested by extended series of radiocarbon dates from well-dated stratified contexts in the Aegean. Due to the high chronological resolution that is only achievable by (metric-scale) stratigraphic 14 Cage depth modelling, the analysis of 21 14 C-AMS dates on stratified animal bones from Sindos (northern Greece) shows results that immediately challenge the conventional Greek chronology. Based on pottery-style comparisons with other sites, the new dates for Sindos not only indicate a generally higher Aegean Early Iron Age chronology, but also imply the need for a revised understanding of the Greek periodisation system that will foreseeably have a major impact on our understanding of Greek and Mediterranean history.
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Books by Stefanos Gimatzidis
Papers by Stefanos Gimatzidis
metric characteristics of the Kinet repertoire, the nature of its archaeological contexts, and how it compares with Geometric ceramic assemblages elsewhere. The second part of our paper assesses this popular Aegean ceramic type’s modes of production in order to define the conditions that sponsored the many dimensions of its distribution, exchange and consumption.
metric characteristics of the Kinet repertoire, the nature of its archaeological contexts, and how it compares with Geometric ceramic assemblages elsewhere. The second part of our paper assesses this popular Aegean ceramic type’s modes of production in order to define the conditions that sponsored the many dimensions of its distribution, exchange and consumption.
In the 8th century BC Campania is affected by intense contacts between Greeks and natives. During the first half of the century not only imported pottery but also locally produced artefacts of mixed taste blending local shapes with Greek motifs were consumed. Around 770 BC Euboeans settled definitively on the Phlegraean coast, founding first Pithekoussai and then Kyme. Since the very beginning of their settlement abroad, Greeks began to produce pottery on-site. This looks very close to Euboean models in the first stage and opens up later to Corinthian, Attic and East Greek influences by gradually assuming individual typological characteristics. Often, however, locally produced pottery is so identical to the Greek from motherland that it can hardly be distinguished. A further and rather underestimated problem is the identification of the workshops that operated at different loci in the Campanian colonial landscape, i.e. Pithekoussai, Kyme, etc.
The identification of the local production by means of Neutron Activation Analysis is essential for the comprehension not only of the local workshops’ choices, but also of the mechanisms and routesfor the distribution of local and imported wares. For this purpose, pottery was sampled from Pithekoussai and Kyme, which were the main distribution centres of Greek imported and locally produced colonial pottery in the Western Mediterranean, as well as from the native landscape of the Sarno Valley that welcomed most such material. The objective is the search for identities through social practices and institutions such as feasting that are reflected in pottery consumption.