Koukounaries I: Mycenaean Pottery from Selected Contexts

By (author) Robert B. Koehl Contributions by Richard E. Jones

Book cover: Koukounaries I: Mycenaean Pottery from Selected Contexts

Extent: 416 pages

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing

Subjects: Classical Studies, European Prehistory, Mediterranean Archaeology

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(December 2021)

ISBN: 9781789698749

8.07 x 11.42 inches

Price: $84.00

Out of stock

Excavations on the Koukounaries Hill, Paros, Greece from 1976-1992 revealed a 12th century B.C.E. Mycenaean building, an Iron Age settlement, and an Archaic sanctuary. This volume presents the pottery from five areas inside the building, as well as the pottery from a limited reoccupation after the building’s destruction and abandonment.


The excavations on the Koukounaries Hill, Paros, Greece, conducted under the direction of Demetrius U. Schilardi for the Archaeological Society at Athens from 1976 to 1992, revealed a 12th century B.C.E. Mycenaean building, an Iron Age settlement, and an Archaic sanctuary. Koukounaries I: Mycenaean Pottery from Selected Contexts presents the pottery from five areas inside the building: three large storerooms, the main east-west corridor, and a small shrine, as well as the pottery from a limited reoccupation after the building’s fire destruction and abandonment. The ceramics from the main occupation phase comprise the largest and best-preserved domestic assemblage from the 12th century B.C.E. in the Cyclades and offer important evidence for the continuation of Mycenaean culture after the destruction of the mainland palatial citadels. The small deposits of pottery from the reoccupation phase, provide important stratigraphic evidence for defining the Late Helladic IIIC ceramic sequence. The volume also considers the function of the individual spaces within the building, based largely on the patterns of shape distributions and quantities, with the statistics for each context presented in a series of appendices. Other issues area also explored, including the evidence for itinerant potters, the trade in antique vases, and the place of origin of the settlers who founded and inhabited the Mycenaean building on the summit of the Koukounaries Hill.

Color Photographs ;

Preface ;

Chapter 1: Introduction ;

Chapter 2: Main occupation phase contexts and catalogs ;

Chapter 3: Reoccupation phase contexts and pottery ;

Chapter 4: Shapes, Decorations, and Internal Distributions ;

Chapter 5: Relative Chronology of the Pottery ;

Chapter 6: Identifying the people from their pottery ;

Appendix 1: Chemical analysis of Mycenaean pottery from Koukounaries, Paros ;

Appendix 2: Statistics of the pottery from 5 main occupation phase contexts ;

Appendix 3: Surface treatment statistics for FB kylikes, low-stemmed cups, and deep bowls ;

Concordance of Catalog numbers and Paros Archaeological Museum registration numbers ;

Bibliography ;

Profile drawings ;

Black and white photographs ;

Index

  • By (author) Robert B. Koehl
  • Contributions by Richard E. Jones

'This publication represents an important contribution to the study of the post-palatial period in the Cycladic islands and provides deeper insight into drinking customs, consumption practices and contacts between different communities in SH IIIC. The ceramic analysis is detailed, well-founded and clearly presented. The catalogue contains a very large part of the excavated material, and each catalogued vessel is documented both graphically and photographically, providing an optimal overview of the ceramic ensemble. The main text is preceded by colour photographs of important selected vessels, which clearly convey the quality of the vessel surfaces and the varnish. The significance of the work is further underlined by the fact that settlement material from the post-palatial period is rare in the Cycladic islands.' [translated] – Eleftheria Kardamaki (2025): Gnomon Bd. 97