The Neolithic and Bronze Ages

Book excerpt: The finds in the Athenian Agora from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have added important chronological context to the earliest eras of Athenian history. The bulk of the items are pottery, but stone, bone, and metal objects also occur. Selected material from the Neolithic and from the Early and Middle Helladic periods is catalogued by fabric and then shape and forms the basis of detailed discussions of the wares (by technique, shapes, and decoration), the stone and bone objects, and their relative and absolute chronology. The major part of the volume is devoted to the Mycenaean period, the bulk of it to the cemetery of forty-odd tombs and graves with detailed discussions of architectural forms; of funeral rites; of offerings of pottery, bronze, ivory, and jewelry; and of chronology. Pottery from wells, roads, and other deposits as well as individual vases without significant context, augment the pottery from tombs as the basis of a detailed analysis of Mycenaean pottery. A chapter on historical conclusions deals with all areas of Mycenaean Athens.