Xenia (Polyxeni) Charalambidou
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher
Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne, UFR03 Histoire de l'art et Archéologie, Affiliated Researcher
Current research interests:
Mediterranean archaeology, ancient craftsmanship, production and consumption, mobilities and interactions, social identities.
Pottery production and consumption, migration, technology transfer, cultural transmission and human dynamics between mother-cities, colonial establishments and the native milieux in Greece and in Southern Italy-Sicily during the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period.
Early Iron Age and Archaic feasting practices, examining linked interpretations of find-groups in context that can produce fine-scale reconstructions of the ritual/feasting landscape.
Macro- and science-based analyses of archaeological materials: macroscopic approaches, combined with archaeometric research [petrographic, elemental, microstructural], geological prospection of the areas under investigation; experimental archaeology; ethnoarchaeological research. Emphasis on the chaîne opératoire approach in context.
Mediterranean archaeology, ancient craftsmanship, production and consumption, mobilities and interactions, social identities.
Pottery production and consumption, migration, technology transfer, cultural transmission and human dynamics between mother-cities, colonial establishments and the native milieux in Greece and in Southern Italy-Sicily during the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period.
Early Iron Age and Archaic feasting practices, examining linked interpretations of find-groups in context that can produce fine-scale reconstructions of the ritual/feasting landscape.
Macro- and science-based analyses of archaeological materials: macroscopic approaches, combined with archaeometric research [petrographic, elemental, microstructural], geological prospection of the areas under investigation; experimental archaeology; ethnoarchaeological research. Emphasis on the chaîne opératoire approach in context.
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Central Euboea is a key area in archaeological discussions addressing issues of connectivity and cultural transmission between the Aegean and Anatolia in the third millennium BC, mainly during the Early Helladic (EH) II. Excavations at Eretria have recovered significant amounts of EH II–III pottery from levels underlying Classical-Hellenistic buildings. In spite of its fragmentary condition this material deserves special attention as it provides an interesting data set to complement the Lefkandi I–III pottery and it offers a rare insight into the EH III period in Euboea. The majority of the EH II pottery belongs to the second part of the period (EH IIB) and displays both continental (mainly sauceboats, saucers and askoi) and Anatolianising shapes (plates, bell-shaped cups, tankards, beaked jugs). EH III is marked by the appearance of grey ware and a new shape repertoire with the predominance of Bass Bowls, tankards and wide-mouthed jars. This paper aims at presenting an overview of the pottery groups based on a detailed macroscopic study combined with petrographic and chemical analyses using wavelength dispersive x-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF). The main objective is to characterise, both compositionally and technologically, local products at Eretria and to follow transformations in local supply and production through time, shedding light on Eretria’s role in local and regional networks during the third millennium BC. The results show that both fine and coarse EH II and EH III local wares are made with the same fabrics, despite evident changes through time in terms of shaping, surface treatment and firing, leading to the conclusion that both continuity and innovation characterise different aspects of their production. Interestingly, the Anatolianising fine ware of late EH II is made of local clay, while some typical central Aegean vessels such as sauceboats appear to be non-local. Furthermore, a significant part of the EH II coarse ware is imported from the western Cyclades or South Euboea, unlike the EH III coarse ware which is almost exclusively local.
Eretria, in the centre of the Aegean (Greece), has been the focus of an interdisciplinary programme that combines macroscopic, petrographic and elemental analysis in a diachronic investigation of pottery production and supply on the site from the early third millennium (Early Bronze Age) to the end of the first millennium BCE (Hellenistic
period). This paper reviews the preliminary results of the analyses of the pottery of historical times, mainly from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods (phase II of the Eretria pottery project). It presents the compositional and technological characteristics of the local fabrics and offers examples of how continuity and innovation characterise different aspects of Eretria's pottery production. In addition, different categories of imported vessels that arrived in Eretria are investigated in order to recognize the origin of these specific products.