Early Helladic I at Kontopigado, Alimos: The pottery from Pit I

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age marks one of the crucial technological and social developments in human history. In Greece this transition occurred at the end of the 4th millennium B.C. This period is well represented in Attica’s archaeological record, although only few sites have been fully and systematically published. In this article we present the pottery from a pit in the Early Helladic (EH) settlement at Kontopigado, Alimos, in the southeast of Athens. The deposit yielded a considerable variety of vessel shapes, wares, and fabrics, probably dating to a relatively short time span of the EH I phase. The material may serve as reference for a specific sub-phase within EH I and furthermore sheds light on consumption preferences, contacts, and activities of the inhabitants at Kontopigado at the beginning of the Bronze Age.

Keywords Early Bronze Age; Kontopigado; Attica; pottery; ›cheese pot‹.