Mittel- und spätbronzezeitliche Keramik Griechenlands

The volume intends to be not only a straightforward presentation of the Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery from Mainland Greece, including the islands of Aegina and Paros, stored in the Schachermeyr Collection at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, but also to offer an in-depth discussion on a selection of related topics. The presentation of a collection such as this is even nowadays justified not only by Schachermeyr`s high degree of connoisseurship and thus a selection of highly representative pieces for a given region and period, but also by the fact that the site of origin is recorded for the pieces. Collections organised in this way make it possible to study certain phenomena, such as the distribution of wares, fabrics or decorative motives across wider research areas. The study is divided principally into two parts: one dealing with the Middle and the early Late Bronze Age of central and southern mainland Greece, the other with the Late Bronze Age of the Northern Greece. An introductory chapter is followed by a discussion of grey and other "minyan" wares in all of Greece (Chapter 2), followed by a survey of the early Late Bronze Age in Central Greece and Korinthia, aiming especially at the question of the survival of Middle Bronze Age traditions (Chapter 3). These two aspects are well reflected also in the commented catalogue of the Middle Bronze Age and early Late Bronze Age finds of the Schachermeyr Collection (Chapter 4). Chapters on the Northern Greece deal with material culture of Macedonia and Thessaly (Chapter 5) but offer also new perspectives on the current state of the chronological debate (Chapter 6). These are again followed by a commented catalogue of the (Non-Mycenaean) pottery finds from sites in Macedonia and Thessaly stored in the collection (Chapter 7). The main contribution, aside the presentation of the Collection, are the geographically far swung summaries of certain phenomena mentioned above. For the first time, the Grey Minyan Ware was surveyed in its entirety, from Chalkidiki to Messenia, using the most recent state of research. It was possible to delineate a core area of wheel- made Grey Ware production in the eastern Central Greece, as well as a number of local handmade schools elsewhere, partly overlapping with large-scale export of the wheel-made variety from the core area. The study of other wares could further show that the absence of early Mycenaean decorated pottery in Central Greece does not mean the absence of contemporary settlements and contributed to a better definition of this period in the area. As for the Northern Greece, the volume thoroughly discusses and explains the development, distribution and importance of its ceramic wares and styles. In order to evaluate the finds in the collection, all known wares, their typology and chronology are also presented. The presentation of the Middle and Late Bronze Age Pottery of the Mainland Greece and the islands of Aegina and Paros from the Schachermeyr collection create thus an important base for any further discussion of related issues.