New Investigations into Prehistoric Corinth

The Neolithic was a critical period in human history, when the establishment of agriculture, sedentary society, and craft specialization all took place. Despite an abundance of material from sites throughout Southeastern Europe during this period, overall little attention has been paid to elucidating connections between populations that were made across large geographic distances. This dissertation presents the results of new research concerning the Neolithic period in Southeast Europe focusing on a particular type of vessel known as the Neolithic rhyton as a mechanism through which to explore social continuity over a large geographic area. The Neolithic rhyton is an unusual – and therefore readily identifiable – shape that is broadly designated a “ritual object,” though its use is debated and as yet unknown. This vessel shape appears along the Adriatic coast, the Balkans, and into Italy during the Middle Neolithic (ca. 5500–4800 BCE), and in the Mainland of Greece during the Late Neolithic period (ca. 5300–4200 BCE). Conducted over a five-year period, this project focuses on reevaluating the fragments of Neolithic rhyta excavated at the Greek site of Ancient Corinth between 1896 and 2016, using both macroscopic techniques and pXRF analysis to help understand and establish Corinth’s social and economic connections regionally and supra-regionally during the Neolithic. The results of this project will help to clarify Neolithic trade and exchange networks on various scales: tracking similarities in style, technology, and decoration help to prove the existence of communication between populations. Investigations carried out at Corinth have so far yielded 199 fragments of rhyta. Of the 29 known sites that have produced rhyta in Mainland Greece, the largest number from another single site is at Elateia, where excavators have found 17, indicating the centrality of Corinth within this Neolithic network that includes areas of the Balkans, the Adriatic coast, and the Mediterranean. The outcomes of this research will further the discussion concerning ritual and its role within a continuity of practice in during the Neolithic period of Europe, with Corinth as its focal point.