This book presents an archaeological study of Crete in transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (c. 4000 to 3000 BC) within the broader South Aegean context. The study, based on the author’s own fieldwork, contains a gazetteer of over 170 sites. The material from these sites will prompt archaeologists in Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East to reconsider their understanding of the foundation of Bronze Age civilization in the Aegean.

This volume is based on material from an intensive and systematic field survey of Halasarna (modern Kardamaina), located on a coastal plain in the southern part of the Dodecanesian island of Kos, and a study of settlement patterns across the Aegean. It provides a new corpus of data on the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods, presents a material sequence based on stylistic analysis, and develops a diachronic understanding of settlement dynamics within a wider regional context.

The diverse forms of regional connectivity in the ancient world have recently become an important focus for those interested in the deep history of globalisation. This volume represents a significant contribution to this new trend as it engages thematically with a wide range of connectivities in the later prehistory of the Mediterranean, from the later Neolithic of northern Greece to the Levantine Iron Age, and with diverse forms of materiality, from pottery and metal to stone and glass. With theoretical overviews from leading thinkers in prehistoric mobilities, and commentaries from top specialists in neighbouring domains, the volume integrates detailed case studies within a comparative framework. The result is a thorough treatment of many of the key issues of regional interaction and technological diversity facing archaeologists working across diverse places and periods. As this book presents key case studies for human and technological mobility across the eastern Mediterranean in later prehistory, it will be of interest primarily to Mediterranean archaeologists, though also to historians and anthropologists.

Communities in Transition brings together scholars from different countries and backgrounds united by a common interest in the transition between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in the lands around the Aegean. Neolithic community was transformed, in some places incrementally and in others rapidly, during the 5th and 4th millennia BC into one that we would commonly associate with the Bronze Age. Many different names have been assigned to this period: Final Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Eneolithic, Late Neolithic [I]-II, Copper Age which, to some extent, reflects the diversity of archaeological evidence from varied geographical regions. During this long heterogeneous period developments occurred that led to significant changes in material culture, the use of space, the adoption of metallurgical practices, establishment of far-reaching interaction and exchange networks, and increased social complexity. The 5th to 4th millennium BC transition is one of inclusions, entanglements, connectivity, and exchange of ideas, raw materials, finished products and, quite possibly, worldviews and belief systems. Most of the papers presented here are multifaceted and complex in that they do not deal with only one topic or narrowly focus on a single line of reasoning or dataset. Arranged geographically they explore a series of key themes: Chronology, cultural affinities, and synchronization in material culture; changing social structure and economy; inter- and intra-site space use and settlement patterns, caves and include both site reports and regional studies. This volume presents a tour de force examination of many multifaceted aspects of the social, cultural, technological, economic and ideological transformations that mark the transition from Neolithic to Early Bronze Age societies in the lands around the Aegean during the 5th and 4th millennium BC.

This volume presents the results of a multidisciplinary research program (“Balkans 4000”) financed by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and coordinated by the editor between 2007 and 2011, when she was a member of the Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée (Laboratory of Archaeology and Archaeometry). 192 new radiocarbon dates have been produced in the laboratories of Lyon, Saclay and Demokritos, from 34 archaeological sites, spanning the years from the end of the 6th to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. They shed light on the evolution of human settlement during the late stages of the Neolithic period in Greece and Bulgaria, and more specifically on the transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age during the “obscure” 4th millennium BC. Thirty-one scholars, archaeologists as well as radiocarbon scientists, are signing the contributions.

Recently, our understanding of metals and metallurgy in the Early Bronze Age Aegean has been dominated by studies which focus on the circulation and provenance of metals. Over the last decade the study of early metallurgy in the Aegean has witnessed dramatic developments with ever earlier and more detailed evidence for metal production being discovered in the field. Paralleling these field studies are a wealth of new laboratory analyses relating to the material aspects of metal production. This diverse new data when coupled with recent theoretical approaches now allow for significant shifts in our understanding of this important aspect of Aegean prehistory. Since few studies of metallurgy have extended beyond typological analysis of artefacts, the circulation of raw materials and the detailing of technical processes, metallurgy in the Aegean Early Bronze Age was made a subject of discussion at the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology's Round Table. This volume contains fifteen papers which address aspects of mining smelting and artefact production from a range of theoretical perspectives. It represents the first publication of many of the key details from numerous newly discovered sites. Contributors include Yannis Bassiakos, Phillip Betancourt, Mihalis Catapotis, Peter M. Day, Nota Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, Roger Doonan, Myrto Georgakopoulou, Jim Muhly, Georgia Nakou, Olga Philaniotou-Hadjianastasiou, Sue Sherratt, Metaxia Tsipopoulou, Yiannis Papadatos and David E. Wilson.