Excavations in Ithaca, III; The Cave at Polis, II

Abstract

In the sites excavated by me in West Greece at Polis, at Graves near Astakos, at Halikais in Zakynthos, I cannot differentiate the rough pithoi of the Early and Late Bronze-Age. Lug forms which occur in Macedonia and Thessaly in the Early Bronze-Age appear to be still in use in the Late Bronze-Age. At Graves and at Halikais the specific forms of the Early Bronze-Age, levigated pottery, such as sauce-boats and handles with triangular section are not in common use in Mycenaean deposits. (Middle Bronze-Age forms and decoration do overlap into and influence the Mycenaean period.) I have therefore catalogued together all the rough pottery found at Polis, except a few vases which are definitely Mycenaean in shape, and then ascribed the remaining vases to their categories. There is very little levigated EH pottery at Polis and it seems likely that much of the rest of the EH pottery is late or transitional to the Middle Bronze-Age. The only pure (or nearly pure) Middle Bronze-Age deposit yet found in Ithaca is the small one at ‘P., First hole’, but the presence of the Middle Bronze-Age people in West Greece is proved by graves in Kephallenia and Leukas, and no doubt their settlements will eventually be discovered.