Our Storerooms Are Full. Impressed Pithoi from Late Bronze/Early Iron Age East Lokris and Phokis and Their Socio-economic Significance

Abstract

For various reasons, large storage vessels rarely attract the attention of pottery specialists. It is quite remarkable that prehistoric pithoi from the Greek mainland have not received a thorough treatment so far, in contrast to their Cretan or Cypriot counterparts. The article attempts to fill partially the gap and to show the potential of such a study for approaching wider issues of social, economic, and political developments of LBA/EIA Central Greece. The majority of the pithoi derive from the site of Mitrou. Fragments from two other sites located nearby—the settlement of Kynos and the sanctuary at Kalapodi—complete our dataset. The outstanding characteristic of these pithoi is their size and decoration, consisting of designs made by impressions of a toothed tool. Macroscopic analysis of fabrics supports the existence of several workshops serving more than a single site. Various lines of interpretation of the distributional pattern and the sudden rise of this type of pithos (and pithoi in general) at the LBA/EIA transition are suggested and elaborated.