Aegina Kolonna. The Pottery of the Early Bronze Age II

The prehistoric settlement of Kap Kolonna on Aegina was of significant importance in the Aegean Bronze Age. The research work on the site has started over 100 years ago and documents a prosperous settlement from the Early Helladic II to Early Mycenaean times. In 1966-1987 excavations in the area of the prehistoric fortification system and the middlehelladic "suburb" enabled the definition of 10 architectural phases. Two early phases - "Stadt II" and "Stadt III" - were dated to the Early Helladic II period. Architectural findings and a selection of significant pottery and finds were published by H.Walter und F.Felten in 1981. From 1993 to 2002 new archaeological investigations focused on the area west of the fortification-walls, the so-called "prehistoric inner city". Considerable parts of this area has already been unearthed 60 years ago. The newly discovered EH II pottery was the subject of a two-years research project funded by the FWF 2001 and 2002 (director: S.Hiller, research work: the applicant L.Berger). The results of this research work show a complex and differentiated picture of the aeginetan EH II pottery, but due to the limited areas of investigation and the difficult stratigraphic situation the ceramic fragments were small broken and a sequenz of the ceramic phases 1 and 2 is hardly recognizable. Within the scope of the proposed project the EH II pottery of the excavations 1966-1987 will be studied. Up to now just a small selection of this stratigraphically important material was published. The comprehensive studies will start with the classification and documentation of these fragments (published in 1981) adequate to the acquired systems and new standards. A further main aspect comprises the examination (sorting, classification, recording, documentation and analysis) of the unpublished pottery from the former excavations. A study of the complete EH II pottery will enlarge the current level of knowledge about shapes and morphological development, about classes, decoration and technological aspects. Additional consideration will be spent on the study of the unstratified EH II findings from Kap Kolonna. The documentation, recording (data bank) and analysis of these mostly remarkable and outstanding fragments will be an important enrichment of the intended pottery corpus. A detailed study of the complete EH II ceramic findings from the former excavations aims to a well-founded definition of both ceramic phases and the desired correlation of the ceramic complexes from the prehistoric inner- city. Moreover it will include a systematic analysis of the local ceramic production characterized by a detailed description of classes, shapes, stylistic traits, and a quantitative raw material investigation of the pastes (integrated petrologic analysis), further a comparative study with contemporary pottery of surrounding regions and an interpretation of regional development, and social and economical changes. The final aim is the first comprehensive publication of the EH II pottery from the excavations by the University of Salzburg in 1966-1987 and 1993-2002 on Kap Kolonna.

The prehistoric settlement of Kap Kolonna on Aegina was of significant importance in the Aegean Bronze Age. The research work on the site has started over 100 years ago and documents a prosperous settlement from the Early Helladic II to Early Mycenaean times. In 1966-1987 excavations in the area of the prehistoric fortification system and the middlehelladic "suburb" enabled the definition of 10 architectural phases. Two early phases - "Stadt II" and "Stadt III" - were dated to the Early Helladic II period. Architectural findings and a selection of significant pottery and finds were published by H.Walter und F.Felten in 1981. From 1993 to 2002 new archaeological investigations focused on the area west of the fortification-walls, the so-called "prehistoric inner city". Considerable parts of this area has already been unearthed 60 years ago. The newly discovered EH II pottery was the subject of a two-years research project funded by the FWF 2001 and 2002 (director: S.Hiller, research work: the applicant L.Berger). The results of this research work show a complex and differentiated picture of the aeginetan EH II pottery, but due to the limited areas of investigation and the difficult stratigraphic situation the ceramic fragments were small broken and a sequenz of the ceramic phases 1 and 2 is hardly recognizable. Within the scope of the proposed project the EH II pottery of the excavations 1966-1987 will be studied. Up to now just a small selection of this stratigraphically important material was published. The comprehensive studies will start with the classification and documentation of these fragments (published in 1981) adequate to the acquired systems and new standards. A further main aspect comprises the examination (sorting, classification, recording, documentation and analysis) of the unpublished pottery from the former excavations. A study of the complete EH II pottery will enlarge the current level of knowledge about shapes and morphological development, about classes, decoration and technological aspects. Additional consideration will be spent on the study of the unstratified EH II findings from Kap Kolonna. The documentation, recording (data bank) and analysis of these mostly remarkable and outstanding fragments will be an important enrichment of the intended pottery corpus. A detailed study of the complete EH II ceramic findings from the former excavations aims to a well-founded definition of both ceramic phases and the desired correlation of the ceramic complexes from the prehistoric inner- city. Moreover it will include a systematic analysis of the local ceramic production characterized by a detailed description of classes, shapes, stylistic traits, and a quantitative raw material investigation of the pastes (integrated petrologic analysis), further a comparative study with contemporary pottery of surrounding regions and an interpretation of regional development, and social and economical changes. The final aim is the first comprehensive publication of the EH II pottery from the excavations by the University of Salzburg in 1966-1987 and 1993-2002 on Kap Kolonna.