347-354

Promachonas-Topolnica. Items of adornment and marble vessels : a preliminary approach

• Παλαιολόγου, Μαρία

Among other finds, the excavations at the Prehistoric settlement of Promachonas-Topolnica have yielded items of adornment such as ornaments for the head, body, arms, and even for fabrics. The Neolithic ornaments were manufactured from various durable materials such as stones, shells, bones-animal teeth, and clay. The predilection for these materials demonstrates that Neolithic people utilized them not only for items of adornment, but also as objects of daily use. These ornaments were destined to adorn parts of the body as objects of social prestige or ritual symbolism and were often employed in exchange networks.A considerable number of ornaments were found in the Promachonas-Topolnica settlement. However, due to the plowing under of the final habitation phase, the ornaments come from the first and second phases of habitation of the settlement. As our investigation is not yet complete, we cannot yet discern chronological differentiations as regards the technology and morphology of these ornaments.The items of adornment and the marble vessels come from the Greek sector. The ornaments include bone pins, beads from necklaces, and amulets made of stone, shell, bone-teeth and metal (pure copper from malachite deposits), and bracelets made of shell, marble, and bone.Most of the stone ornaments in Promachonas were made of marble. They are mainly bracelets and a small number of amulets. The items made of shell (Spondylus or Spondylus Gaederopus) included bracelets, amulets, and beads. The shells came either from the shores of the North Aegean, or a river adjacent to the settlement, such as the Strymon or its tributaries. The researchers have not finished their study yet. The bone ornaments include amulets, pins, beads, and bracelets. A distinctive and common category is that of amulets made of worked animal teeth.A small number of metal items include malachite beads, which might be local or imported. Surface researches have traced deposits of malachite mainly on the west shore of the Middle Strymon River near the borders with Bulgaria and EY.R.O.M. The scientific team of the research programme with the collaboration of the Archaeometry Centre of DEMOCRITUS will also include physico-chemical analyses to identify the provenance of the malachite from which copper was produced in the settlement as early as the beginning of the Late Neolithic. A characteristic feature of Promachonas is the numerous marble bracelets made of white marble, although there are some fragments of marble with yellowish appearance and others with dark spots. Further study and analysis of the marble bracelets will provide answers about the quality, provenance, and relation of this marble with the settlement’s other marble items, since we have observed that the marble amulets and vessels may be manufactured from the same kind of marble. The research on the provenance of the marble will also include the marble amulets and small marble vessels.The group of marble items also consists of 25 fragments of marble vessels. Among them we have identified fragments of lids and rims of vessels as well as a fragment with traces of mending. There are also fragments with traces of red colour on their inside surface.In addition, we should note that the items of adornment and marble vessels have been found in a large subterranean space and thus a further analysis and study of the material will give us answer to our query, viz., why were most of the items of adornment and the marble vessels found in the subterranean space and only a few pieces in other parts of the excavation? It is likely that the subterranean space served for a ritual deposit.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

Σέρρες

Περιέχει εικόνες