ATTIC POTTERY PRODUCTION, IMPORTS, AND EXPORTS DURING THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Abstract

A set of 224 Mycenaean pottery samples from different sites in Attica, mainly from the Acropolis at Athens, Alimos, Perati, and Vourvatsi, was analysed by Ncutron Activation to determine the locally produced and the imported ware types. Several new chemical reference patterns of workshops in Attica could be established.But, unexpectedly, during the Early Mycenaean period, represented by pottery from the south slope of the Acropolis at Athens,only a small number of the matt painted and unpainted vessels was produced locally, whereas the fraction of imported vessels identified by already known compositions is unusually high.The main part of the matt painted wares and the cooking vessels have patterns assigned to Aegina and were found to be imported from there. In contrast, the Early Mycenaean painted wares excavated at the south slope of the Acropolis come from the Peloponnese. Only in the subsequent Mycenaean periods local pottery production seems to begin at a larger scale n Attica and the number of imports decreased.