Determining the origin of the silver in the bracelets of Queen Hetepheres.

Egypt lacks any notable silver deposits of its own, and silver objects were rare during the Old Kingdom, with the metal not becoming a commonly imported commodity until the early Middle Kingdom, about 1900 BC. Silver objects dating to the Old Kingdom are therefore extremely rare, and generally associated with high status royal burials. One of the most notable groups of silver objects is a collection of bracelets from the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, the wife of the Pharoah Sneferu, who was the first ruler of the Forth Dynasty and reigned from approximately 2613 to 2589 BC, and mother to Pharoah Khufu, who built the Great Pyramd at Giza. 

The origin of silver from this period is uncertain. It could potentially have come from local sources which have since been lost; the Ancient Egyptians are known to have mined gold extensively, and seams of silver in gold-bearing rocks are not unusual. Alternatively, silver could have been imported from one of the cities of what is now Syria, most likely Byblos on the southern coast, which Egypt had been trading with since at least the Naqada IIIA1 Period (about 3320 BC), although cities further north were also traded with, with Elba having been added to the trade network by the end of the Old Kingdom, about 2300 BC.

The tomb of Queen Hetepheres at Giza was uncovered in 1925, by a joint expedition of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts. This tomb had been undisturbed till this point, and contained a trove of artefacts including gilded furniture, gold vessels and jewellery. Among this jewellery was the remains of a wooden box containing twenty silver 'deben' rings (a 'deben' was a unit of weight, although the value of this appears to have changed over time). The rings were in a variable state when uncovered (unlike gold, silver will corrode over time), and the whole collection was sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In 1947 two intact rings from this collection, along with a number of fragments of silver from rings which had disintegrated, was gifted by the Egyptian Museum to the Museum of Fine Arts.

When worn, these rings would have been bracelets, with five worn on each limb. They are made from thin sheets of silver folded into a cresent shape, so that there is a cavity on the inner side, and inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli and carnelian, in a style which clearly establishes their Egyptian origin. A metallurgical analysis of the metal was carried out in the 1920s, finding it to be 90.1% silver, 8.9% gold, and 1.0% copper, but the distribution of the gold was uneven, giving the bracelets yellowish patches. Since that time no further metalogical examination of the rings has taken place.

In a paper published in the Joutnal of Archaeological Science: Reports on 1 May 2023, Karin Sowada of the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, Richard Newman of the Museum of Fine Arts, Francis Albarède of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Gillan Davis of the Australian Catholic University, Michele Derrick, also of the Museum of Fine Arts, Timothy Murphy of the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University, and of Newspec Pty Ltd, and Damian Gore, also of Newspec Pty Ltd, present an updated metallurgical analysis of the silver from the bracelets of Queen Hetepheres, and discuss the implications of their results for the likely origin of this metal.

(A) Bracelets in the burial chamber of Tomb G 7000X as discovered by George Reisner in 1925 (Photographer: Mustapha Abu el-Hamd, August 25 1926) (B) Bracelets in restored frame, Cairo JE 53271–3 (Photographer: Mohammedani Ibrahim, August 11 1929) (C) A bracelet (right) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MFA 47.1700. The bracelet on the left is an electrotype reproduction made in 1947. Sowada et al. (2023).

The bracelets donated to the Museum of Fine Arts were not available for study, but Sowada et al. were able to access the fragmentary material given to the museum at the same time. These samples were analysed using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to analyse their elemental composition. Furthermore, trace amounts of lead recovered from the sample were anlalysed using Multicollector Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry, in order to determine their isotopic composition, which is strongly linked to geogrsphical origin.

(A) Bag B1 of corroded bracelet fragments in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MFA 47.1702. MFA 47.1702 B1P4 shown second from left, centre. (B) Detail of MFA 47.1702 B1P4 (C)–(D) Metallic fragment recto (left) and verso (right) MFA 47.1702 B2P1. Sowada et al. (2023).

Sowada et al. found that the bulk sample of metal fragments was 98% silver, with 1% gold, 0.4% copper, and 0.04% lead. Patches of corrosion are dominated by silver chloride. Some other elements appear to have accumulated on the surface of the sample, notably calcium, but also iron, probably in the form of iron oxide grains. Examined under an a scanning electron microscope, fragments of the silver seen in section showed a pattern of dark and light layers typical of metal which has been worked heavily while cold, something often seen in Old Kingdom copper samples. Mapping of the elements in these profile sections suggested that the material was in fact about 90% silver and about 10% gold.

(A) Back-scattered electron image of part of the polished cross section from MFA 47.1702 B2P1 (B) Detail from image A at higher magnification, showing the metal structure to consist of elongated islands of uncorroded solver metal ('A') intercalated with a more porous matrix ('B') transitioning to an open framework of corroded metal ('C'). (C) Concentrations of silver and gold in small regions (purple outlines) were determined and plotted in (D). The plots begin at the top of the area shown in (C) and end at the bottom. The final data point is for the larger rectangular area and can be considered the average for this part of the sample (about 89% silver and 9% gold). Note that gold has higher concentrations and silver lower in the more heavily corroded areas (data points in the middle of the plots). Sowada et al. (2023).

The lead within the samples was found to have a lead²⁰⁶/lead²⁰⁴ ratio of 18.8816. This was compared to a database containing the isotopic rations of lead ores from 7000 locations between Iran and the Atlantic Ocean. This analysis susgests that the silver is most likely to have come from the Cyclades Islands, in the Aegean Sea to the southeast of the Greek mainland, and that the second most likely point of origin is the Lavrion mines of Attica. 

Map of the north-east Mediterranean and western Asia, showing potential silver sources. The lead isotope composition of a sample from MFA 47.1702 B2P1 is compared with the compositions of nearly 7000 samples of galena (white dots) distributed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon database. The distance (colour bar to the right) allows 128 galena samples with the closest lead isotope compositions relative to MFA 47.1702 B2P1 to be retained. Unlikely sources can be ignored. A black symbol colour indicates a high probability of provenance with the greatest density of ‘hits’ coming from Seriphos, Anafi, and Kea-Kithnos in the Cyclades, and to a lesser degree Lavrion. Red and orange symbols indicate less probable sources (Anatolia, Macedonia). The symbol sizes have been slightly jittered and enlarged to increase visibility of the less probable points. Sowada et al. (2023).

Silver is known to have been mined in the Aegean region from the very beginning of the Bronze Age, and to have increasingly been traded around the Mediterranean as time passed; nevertheless, finding it as far afield as Egypt during the early Fourth Dynasty is surprising. Silver is known to have been imported to the Old Kingdom, with records dating to the reign of the Pharoah Sneferu mentioning the metal as an import, although not where it was imported from. The earliest records which do mention a source date to the late Sixth Dynasty (around 2300 BC), and record silver being imported from Byblos, in southern Lebanon. At the same time, records from Elba, in northern Lebanon, report silver being exported from that city to Egypt.

Heterpheres was the wife of Sneferu, who ruled 300 years before the Sixth Dynasty records were made, at a time when there is no direct evidence for trade between Egypt and Lebanon. A jug believed to have come from Cilicia in the Taurus Region of southern Anatolia is known from a slightly later tomb, suggesting that the Egyptians were trading this far north. This has been taken as evidence that Egypt could have traded silver from the cities of Lebanon, it is also known that silver from the Aegean was being traded in Anatolia by this time.

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Looking for the origin of the Neolithic pottery of the Deserted Islands.

The islands of Kyra Panagia and Yioura, at the northernmost end of the Sporades Archipelago, off the east coast of Greece in the northern Aegean Sea, have not been inhabited at any point in recorded history, which has led to them being called the Deserted Islands. However, archaeological exploration on the islands has revealed the presence of at least intermittent Human occupation in the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The sites of Agios Petros on Kyra Panagia, and Cyclopes Cave on Yioura have yielded obsidian tools from the island of Milos in the southern Aegean, and ceramics which show affinities to items from the Greek mainland, other Aegean islands, western Anatolia, and the Balkans, as well as some which appear to be distinctly local in origin, including white pottery with red decoration and rod-headed figurines.

The presence of obsidian from Milos suggests that the islands were part of a wide-ranging trade network and therefore are an important part of the story of the peopling of the Aegean. Investigation of the pottery assemblage at Cyclopes Cave has yielded a rich assemblage of pottery stiles, which were subsequently shown by geochemical analysis to have originated from different areas, suggesting that the site was visited sporadically by fishermen from different areas. However, as well as ceramics which appeared to have been made elsewhere in the Sporades Islands, the wider Aegean area, or the Greek mainland, some of the material appears to have been local in origin, made somewhere within the Deserted Islands. 

The islands of the Sporades Archipelago are separated by short distances, and the currents around them are generally considered favorable to shipping, which would have made them an ideal route for ancient travelers moving between the Greek mainland and western Anatolia.

In a paper published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences on 16 January 2023, Archontoula Barouda and Patrick Quinn of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and Nikos Efstratiou of the Department of Archaeology at Aristotle University, look at a selection of pottery from Agios Petros on Kyra Panagia, an Early-Middle Neolithic settlement on a sheltered bay, which is considered a potential point of origin for the 'local' pottery found at Cyclopes Cave.

(a) Map the Deserted Islands of Kyra Panagia and Yioura with the sites of Agios Petros and the Cyclops Cave. (b) Map of Greece and the Aegean with the location of previously published studies on archaeological ceramics. Barouda et al. (2023).

A total of 39 pottery shards were selected from the Agrios Petros material for inclusion in the study. Due to the destructive nature of the tests, these were all small pieces, and did not include any of the rare and precious rod-head figurines, though a variety of different ceramic styles were included. Thin sections were taken from all the samples and subjected to petrological analysis and comparison to ceramics from Cyclopes Cave and elsewhere around the Aegean, as well as to mineralogical samples collected from sites in the Deserted Islands. Thirty seven of the samples were also subjected to neutron activation analysis to determine the proportions of rare elements within them, which can be an effective method for determining the origin of ceramics and other materials.

The results of these tests suggested that the majority of the Agrios Petros material, unlike the majority of the Cyclopes Cave material, was probably local in origin, probably manufactured in or close to the settlement. The manufacturing style used appears to have arrived in the Deserted Islands in the late seventh millennium BC, and to have continued relatively unchanged for the next thousand years, suggesting a strong local identity, despite clearly being on contact with other cultures around the Aegean Sea.

Selected ceramic finds from the Neolithic site of Agios Petros. (a) Typical red-on-white painted pottery with patterning reminiscent of weaving, (b) Rod-head figurines, (c) Incised pointillé decorated shards,  (d) Clay ‘ladle’. Barouda et al. (2023).

Agios Petros is thought to be one of the oldest settlements in the Sporades Islands, with occupation beginning in the Early Neolithic, based upon ceramics which can be calibrated against the Thessalian Pottery Sequence (a dating system based upon widely traded ceramics from the Greek Neolithic, and radiocarbon dates obtained from the site; 5740-5520 BC from the second phase at the site, and 4860-4500 BC from topsoil at the site. The majority of cultural activity at the site appears to have taken place in the late sixth millennium BC, or the Early Middle Neolithic. The site was first excavated in the late 1960s and early 1970s by archaeologist Dimitris Theochares, who identified three main archaeological material producing units. In the 1980s, Nikos Efstratiou re-investigated the site, who found that the archaeological material extended downwards for 1.3 m, and that although this could be divided into three units, these were part of a cultural sequence, with no sudden changes between the units.

Stratigraphy sequence of Agios Petros with arbitrary excavation levels of Cutting Z, interpreted archaeological phases and calendrical dates of Northern Greece. Barouda et al. (2023).

A variety of cultural items have been recovered from the site, such as stone tools, obsidian, and ceramics including the distinctive red-on-white ware and the rod-head figurines. These items show affinities to other material from elsewhere in Greece, Anatolia, and the Balkans. As well as the red-on-white ware, pottery styles include a variety of styles, including open and closed shapes, painted, black-topped, incised pointillé and red monochrome wares. The red-on-white ware is considered unique to the islands, but shows influences from elsewhere, including the typical carinated shapes from Çatal Hüyük West and Hacilar I in Anatolia, as well as Elateia in central Greece, and linear painted motifs known from Early Neolithic sites such as Chaeronea in Boeotia, southern Greece. Pottery with red-on-white decoration was actually quite common in central Greece, and on the island of Euboea, during the Early Neolithic, with the earliest examples from the northern Sporades Islands dating to the late seventh millennium BC.

As well as pottery items, other ceramics are present at Agios Petros. These include the rod-head figurines, several clay ladles, a clay ear-plug. The figurines are similar to the naturalistic figurines produced in Thessaly in the Neolithic, but also show some similarities to figurines from Anatolia and the Balkans. The site also produced a lot of obsidian, particularly from the upper layers. This appears to be more than is likely to have been needed at the site, possibly suggesting the material was traded from there. The material from Agios Petros, particularly the red-on-white pottery, shows close affinities to the material from Cyclopes Cave, strongly suggesting the sites are linked.

A more recent study, led by Patrick Quinn, carried out a neutron activation analysis on 63 fragments of red-on-white pottery, 24 of which were from Agios Petros, for six elements (cobalt, cerium, europium, iron, scandium, and thorium), and compared these to ceramics of the same age from Dimini and Sesklo in Thessaly, finding the Sporadian material to be distinct from the Thessalian. 

Barouda et al. selected 37 fragments of pottery for their study, including the full chronological range of the Neolithic occupation of the site, and as many different decorative styles as possible, although the small nature of the fragments means that the exact form of the complete items from which they came is generally unknown. As well as the pieces of pottery, material from one ceramic ladle and one chisel were included in the study, but none of the figurines, as these were seen as to rare and precious. These samples were analysed for 33 elements (aluminium, antimony, arsenic, barium, calcium, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, dysprosium, europium, hafnium, iron, lanthanum, lutetium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, potassium, rubidium, samarium, scandium, sodium, strontium, tantalum, terbium, tin, thorium, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium, zinc, and zirconium).

The samples were further subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis to determine the presence of different mineral phases. For this test about 5 g of each sample was taken, ground into a fine powder, then divided into 0.5 g aliquots which were then refired at 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950 and 1000 °C for one hour each, prior to analysis. Sub-samples taken from these were then examined under a scanning electron microscope to determine their clay vitrification microstructure.

In order to determine the origin of the ceramics, the results of the tests were compared to the results of similar tests made on pottery samples from Neolithic sites in Thessaly and Northern Greece, as well as to clay and hard rocks samples collected from sites around the island of Kyra Panagia. The geology of Kyra Panagia comprises folded Cretaceous limestones overlying older Cretaceous conglomerates and sandstones, overlying Jurassic limestones, overlying ophiolitic basement rocks. In the east of the island low-grade metamorphism has produced schistose rocks, principally phyllite, and metavolcanic rocks, ranging from basalt to rhyodacite. 

Geological map of Kyra Panagia with the location of raw material field samples collected in the study. Barouda et al. (2023).

A variety of different mineralogical fabrics, which are determined by both the composition of the raw material and the technology used to turn this into ceramic. were found within the Agios Petros sample-set. The most common of these is referred to by Barouda et al. as the Foliated Limestone Fabric, and is characterized by abundant metamorphosed limestone and smaller amounts of quartzite, bound within a red clay matrix. This fabric shows considerable variation in the size of the limestone particles, with a range of other rock types, such as phyllite and volcanic material, present as rare inclusions. Pottery fragments showing this fabric were decorated in a variety of ways, including red monochrome, black-topped, black-topped painted, black-on-red and red-on-white. This dominant fabric is very similar to the dominant fabric of the pottery fragments from Cyclopes Cave,

Thin section photomicrographs of petrographic fabrics detected in 39 Neolithic ceramics from Agios Petros in the present study, with compositional matches from the Cyclopes Cave material, and matches with replicated pastes made from raw materials collected on Kyra Panagia. Foliated Limestone Fabric (a). Limestone Fabric from Cyclops Cave (b), Metapsammite Fabric (c), Metamorphic and Volcanic Fabric (d), Micrite and Phyllite Fabric (e), Grog and Phyllite Fabric (f), Paste created by adding crushed foliated limestone to fne red non-calcareous terra rossa clay (g), Paste created by adding crushed metamorphic rock to alluvium (h) All images taken in crossed polar light. Image width is 2.9 mm. Barouda et al. (2023).

A number of less common, but clearly distinct, fabrics were also found in the Agios Petros material. One of these, referred to as the Metapsammite Fabric by Barouda et al., contains a large proportion of rock fragments, apparently from a lightly metamorphosed sandstone, in an iron-rich clay matrix. The fragments of pottery made from this material were decorated with a monochrome glaze and incised pointillé decoration, and were found in the Late Neolithic strata at the site. This fabric has not been reported from Cyclopes Cave, but one pottery fragment with metapsammite inclusions has been found. Another fabric, which Barouda et al. call the Metamorphic and Volcanic Fabric, contains a mixture of sand-sized metamorphic inclusions and volcanic fragments in a non-calcarious clay matrix. Some of the inclusions within this fabric appear very similar to inclusions within the Matapsammite Fabric. The volcanic fragments comprise amphibole and plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts, held within a dark glassy matrix which appears to be basalt. This fabric was found only on two pieces of pottery with incised pointillé decoration, from the uppermost layer at Agios Petros, and has not been reported at Cyclopes Cave, although fragments with volcanic inclusions are fairly common.

Another fragment from the uppermost layer at Agios Petros contained fragments of micritic calcite and low grade metamorphic material, and is referred to at the Micrite and Phyllite Fabric by Barouda et al.. This fabric is again unknown from Cyclopes Cave, but several fragments from there, reported as having a Phyllite Fabric, are essentially the same, except in that they lack micrite inclusions. Finally one fragment from the late Middle Neolithic at Agios Petros is comprised of fragments of grog (recycled pottery) and smaller amounts of phyllite in a non-calcareous clay matrix, something Barouda et al. refer to as the Grog and Phyllite Fabric.

The elements ytterbium and lutetium were shown to have error margins of more than 10% in the elemental analysis, and were therefore excluded from the study, but all the other elements were used, although, for comparison with the Cyclopes Cave material, elements which were not mapped here were ignored in the Agios Petros material. Sufficient variation was present in the Agios Petros divide it into several chemical groups (implying different origins), with a 77% overlap with the Cyclopes Cave material. Notably, there was a strong similarity between the Foliated Limestone Fabric samples from both sites, and most of the variation within the samples assigned to this fabric relating to the amount of limestone used as temper (material added to the clay matrix to prevent shrinkage during firing). When calcium, which makes up more than 10% of the composition of all the Foliated Limestone Fabric samples, was removed from the comparison, the Agios Petros samples could be split into two subgroups, with all the Cyclopes Cave material corresponding to one of these. 

The Metapsammite Fabric samples from Agios Petros are (unsurprisingly) geochemically distinct from all other material from the site, but very close to one-another. The Grog and Phyllite sample is very similar to material from Cyclopes Cave, though no samples from Agios Petra resemble the Phyllite of Fine Mica and Quartz,  Serpentinite, or Tuff fabric samples from Cyclopes Cave chemically. 

Mica samples from some of the samples were petrologically similar to micas from geological samples from the southern part of the island of Kyra Panagia. Some of the rock samples from this area, thought to be a hard rock when collected, were found to be a e limestone with aligned sparry crystals, very similar in composition to the limestone present in pottery samples with the Foliated Limestone Fabric, and when fragments of this were mixed with of fine red non-calcareous terra rossa clay from the Agios Petros bay, something similar to the Foliated Limestone Fabric samples was produced. Samples of metamorphic rock samples from the island produced quartz and mica crystals very similar to those seen in samples of the Metapsammite Fabric. Furthermore, examples of these minerals were found within an alluvial clay from a river valley on the island, which, when mixed with some crushed metamorphic rock, was very similar to the Metapsammite Fabric. Barouda et al. also note that phyllites collected in the field on Kyra Panagia match closely with those found in the Grog and Phyllite and Micrite and Phyllite fabric samples.

Geochemical analysis of terra rosa clay samples from Kyra Panagia produced results which correspond closely to the clays present in the Phyllite Fabric from Cyclopes Cave. The alluvial clay from Kyra Panagia is geochemically similar to the clay used in the Metapsammite Fabric pottery from Agios Petros. 

Analysis of field samples from Kyra Panagia combined with data from earlier geological studies of the Deserted Islands suggests that almost all of the pottery fragments from Agios Petros could have been made with clays gathered om Kyra Panagia or Yioura. The Foliated Limestone Fabric, associated with the distinctive red-on-white decoration of the Deserted Islands contains mineral inclusions unlikely to have come from anywhere but the islands, and the Metapsammite Fabric, Grog and Phyllite Fabric and Micrite and Phyllite Fabric are all good matches for local clays and minerals, The Metapsammite Fabric was previously considered problematic, since the minerals within it are a good match for metapsammite rocks on Yioura, these rocks are located on a steep hillside, difficult to access, Barouda et al.'s study has found outcrops of similar rocks on Kyra Panagia which are much more accessible, and therefore considered the likely source of this material. Since Cyclopes Cave is itself located on a steep hillside, and was only apparently only occupied seasonally, it is likely that the majority of the pottery here came from Kyra Panagia.

Although most of the material used to make pottery in the Deserted Islands comes from Kyra Panagia, and Agios Petros seems to have been the only settlement on that island, the no evidence of actual pottery making has actually been found on the island. Nevertheless, Barousa et al. believe it is likely that the pottery was made in or close to Agios Petros. The presence of several different fabrics, and two distinctive geochemical subgroups within the Foliated Limestone Fabric, strongly suggests that different clays were being used by the pottery makers, although it is not possible at the current time to tell quite where the clays were being collected. This in itself raises the possibility that pottery manufacture might have been occurring at more than one location on the island. 

These results suggest that much of the pottery from Cyclopes Cave had a more local origin than was previously assumed. The Phyllite Fabric, the Grog and Phyllite Fabric and the Clay and Phyllite Fabric from Cyclopes Cave, previously assumed to be imports from a more distant location, are now considered highly likely to have been made on Kyra Panagia. The Schist Fabric, Polycrystalline Quartz Fabric 1 and Polycrystalline Quartz Fabric 2 from Cyclopes Cave could all also potentially have been produced on Kyra Panagia. The only inclusions in any of the pottery that cannot be explained by a local origin are the volcanic material found in the Metamorphic and Volcanic Fabric, and more rarely in other fabrics, as no volcanic material is known from the Deserted Islands. However, other islands in the Northern Sporades do produce volcanic material, including the islands of  Alonnisos and Psathroura. Stone tools made from andesite have also been found at Cyclopes Cave, and it has been suggested that these could have been made from rock sourced from Psathroura.

Based upon the current information, only the Tuff Fabric, Serpentinite Fabric and Fine Mica and Quartz Fabric reported from the Cyclops Cave cannot be explained by locally sourced materials, and may have been manufactured outside the Deserted Islands. 

A number of different sources of raw materials appear to have been used to make the pottery found at Agios Petros. The same source of raw material is often used to make pottery of different styles; for example the Foliated Limestone Fabric is associated with pottery decorated in the monochrome, black topped. early red-on-white, and late red-on-white styles, as well as being used in the chisel and ladle from the site. However, while the other decorative styles are also associated with other fabrics, all of the red-on-white pottery has a Foliated Limestone Fabric. It is also noteworthy that the incised pointillé decoration style, whole found on pottery fragments with several different fabrics, is never associated with the Foliated Limestone Fabric. 

Most of the ceramic material has been made using fine clays, to which a temper of crushed rock, usually limestone, has been added. This limestone is likely to have been chosen both for its easy availability on the islands, and its functional properties. The limestone tends to form elongated platy flakes when crushed, which, when added to pottery, will tend to prevent cracks from spreading, adding to the strength of the pot. Limestone also has a thermal expansion coefficient similar to that of clay, which is to say that it expands and contracts at the same rate as the clay when heated and cooled, making it less likely to break during firing. Limestone does have the drawback of breaking down at temperatures above about 750°C, although this does not seem to have been seen as a problem by Neolithic potters, with limestone tempers common throughout the Greek Neolithic.

The used of grog (crushed ceramic) as a temper is also widespread in the Greek Neolithic. However, the only sample from Agios Petros in which this was found also had a phyllite temper, suggesting that the grog had been added for some other reason, possibly ritual. 

The Fine Mica and Quartz Fabric recorded  from Cyclops Cave includes only very fine mineral grains, which were probably present in the original clay and not added as a temper. Fragments with this fabric were decorated with a matt paint, unlike anything else from either of the two sites, but known from Dimini, Platia Magoula Zarkou, and Makrychori in Thessaly, possibly indicating this pottery was imported.

The majority of the pottery appears to have been made by coil-building (making a long thin cylinder of clay by rolling, then making it into a coil with the desired shape, and smoothing over to give an even finish). This can be seen when thin sections of the pottery are examined under a microscope, as the mineral inclusions are arranged into a pattern of concentric rings, corresponding to the original coils. Patterns of markings parallel to the margins of the pottery are thought to represent working with a paddle and anvil, or similar tools. A variety of finishing methods have been used on the pottery, including incising, burnishing, slipping (coving with a thin layer of a clay slurry), painting and partial reduction. The typical red-on-white pottery of the islands is covered by a a fine-grained light-coloured slip, which covered the red clay beneath, and created a 'canvas' onto which decorative patterns could be painted. This slip appears to have been made from the same clay and limestone as the structural mix, albeit in different proportions, and using limestone ground much finer. The slip also appears to be richer in iron and aluminium than the base mixture, possibly suggesting the addition of haematite as a pigment, which would have turned the slip red on firing.

Aspects of ceramic technology visible in thin sections of Neolithic ceramics from Agios Petros in the present study. (a) Area of red clay without limestone inclusions within Foliated Limestone Fabric sample that could represent remnant base clay which did not receive temper. (b) Crushed pottery temper and metamorphic rock fragments visible in the Grog and Phyllite Fabric. (c) Concentric orientation of inclusions in a vertical thin section picking out relic coils from primary forming. (d) Strong inclusion alignment parallel to the vessel margins, perhaps due to secondary forming with a paddle and anvil. (e) Calcareous slip and iron-rich paint layers covering body made of Foliated Limestone Fabric. (f)  Optical activity seen in the clay matrix of a Metamorphic and Volcanic Fabric sherd in cross polarized light. All images taken in cross polarized light, except (e), which is in plain polarized light. Image width is 2.9 mm. Barouda et al. (2023).

None of the fragments appears to show any loss of clay minerals associated with firing, which suggests that none of the samples was fired to above 800°C. It has been suggested that the pottery of the Deserted Islands is 'incompletely fired', or at least less well fired than contemporary pottery from the Greek mainland. Barouda et al.'s findings agree that the Deserted Island pottery was not highly fired, but they suggest that the fact the pottery has survived for about 7500 years strongly implies that it was sufficiently well fired for its purpose. Since the Foliated Limestone Fabric pottery would have spalled (suffered a breakdown of the limestone fragments in the clay mix) had they it been heated to above about 800°C, it is quite possible that excess heating was actively avoided by the potters, which would in turn imply a good understanding of the raw materials they were using.

All of the samples appear to have been thoroughly oxidised during firing, implying a good control of the atmosphere within the kilns used. The only exception to this is the black-topped samples, which appear to have had the upper part of the vessel deliberately starved of oxygen, again implying a good understanding of the processes being used. This method of achieving black-topped ware has been documented from some sites elsewhere in Greece, but at others the same effect appears to have been achieved by using manganese or graphite as a pigment.

Since no direct evidence for pottery making is known from anywhere in the Deserted Islands, it is hard to assess the methods used by the potters to fire their pots. Nevertheless, based upon the low temperatures at which the pottery was fired, it is likely that this was done in a bonfire or pit. Using such a method it is possible to control the oxygen supply to the pottery being fired by covering it with fuel material to cut of the oxygen supply, or uncovering it to restore it. This method of pottery firing is known from the Neolithic in other parts of Greece, as well as Western Anatolia and the Balkans. What was used as a fuel for the firing is also unclear, though there is evidence that the islands were more wooded during the Neolithic than today, and the remains of Goats, whose dung can be used as a serviceable fuel, are also known from this time.

Previous analysis of pottery from Cyclopes Cave in isolation led to the conclusion that the variety of material found was indicative of pottery being imported from sites around the Aegean. Barouda et al.'s study of the material from Agios Petros reaches a reverse conclusion, that most of the pottery from both sites was, in fact, local in origin. Despite the clear importation of obsidian from Minos, the inhabitants of Agios Petros do not seem to have been part of a wide network trading in ceramic items, with only a few Late Neolithic items from Cyclopes Cave being apparently incompatible with local manufacture. With the exception of these few pieces, which may have been left by travelers from Thessaly passing across the Northern Aegean, none of the material appears to have been transported more than about 3-5 km from where it is likely to have been made, presumably being used at Cyclopes Cave when the site was occupied annually for some seasonal activity.

Although the pottery of the Deserted Islands has its own distinctive character, it also shows stylistic and technological similarities to pottery from other areas in Anatolia, the Balkans and Greece, which probably both relates to the origins of these people and their continued contact with other peoples around the Aegean. 

The ceramics from both sites appear to have been produced on Kyra Panagia, and probably in or close to the settlement of Agios Petros, although this conclusion is essentially based upon the absence of any other known settlements on the island. No evidence of actual pottery-making has been found by any survey carried out on either of the islands, although this is not inconsistent with the predicted method of manufacturing, with bonfires and/or small pits not always expected to find traces that can be found after thousands of years. The existence of several chemical groups within the ceramics, including two within the dominant Foliated Limestone Fabric, could potentially indicate several different manufactories on the islands, using material from slightly different sources, although it might just indicate that the availability of clay was limited, and that the potters switched to different sources as local reserves became extinct. 

The presence of a variety of decorative styles and fabrics within the ceramics of the Deserted Islands could be explained in a number of ways. Firstly, these could be the work of artisans following different traditions, albeit within a fairly localized area. Alternatively, different fabrics and styles may have been used to make different objects, or objects used for different purposes. The limited, and fragmentary, nature of much of the material makes this hard to assess, although Barouda et al. do note that the Foliated Limestone Fabric is associated with a variety of different objects. The fact that the different fabrics appear to persist for long periods of time implies that the potters did not simply use the material at random, but were working to strict, pre-determined recipes. The presence of incised pointillé decoration only in the uppermost layers at Agios Petros, combined with the fact that it is never combined with red-on-white ware or the Foliated Limestone Fabric, may suggest the arrival of new cultural influences on the islands, probably from the Eastern Aegean, where this form of pottery is most common. There may also be a connection between this and the arrival of pottery thought to be of non-local origin in the Late Neolithic at Cyclopes Cave. 

As well as the Neolithic pottery, Cyclopes Cave has produced earlier, Mesolithic items, including t fish bones, hooks, and chipped stones, implying that the Northern Sporades were inhabited before the Neolithic, and it has been suggested that there may also have been a Palaeolithic occupation of the area, although the evidence for this is uncertain. Given this, the sudden appearance of a fully developed pottery tradition in the Late Early Neolithic at Agios Petros, and the Early Middle Neolithic at Cyclopes Cave, without any intervening experimental stage is quite surprising, and presumably attests to the technology arriving fully formed from elsewhere, before surviving relatively unaltered in the islands for several thousand years. The precise origin of this technology is unclear; the pottery bears similarity to styles from the Greek Mainland, Anatolia and the Balkans, but cannot be more directly linked to any one tradition, having instead a somewhat 'multicultural' feel. Barouda et al. suggest that this apparent uniqueness is likely to be linked to other, as yet unknown, sites in the Sporades or around the Northern Aegean. 

About 2000 years after the appearance of pottery in the Deserted Islands, the pottery makers appear to have left, never to return. The islands appear to have been briefly occupied a few times during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, then abandoned. Today the islands form part of the Alonissos and the Northern Sporades National Marine Park, the largest protected marine conservation area in Europe, and are therefore protected from new developments and unlikely to be re-occupied, but in the sixth and seventh millennia BC they appear to have been home to a flourishing and unique culture, with its own distinctive craft traditions.

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Interpreting a Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic burial from Uğurlu on Gökçeada Island, in the northern Aegean Sea.

The Uğurlu archaeological site is located on the western end of the island of Gökçeada in the northern Aegean Sea. The site is a settlement recording a series of important transitions from the pre-pottery Neolithic through to the Early Bronze Age, covering a period of about 2500 years, from approximately 6800 to 4300 BC, and including the advent of Animal husbandry, agriculture, the use of ceramics, copper, and bronze. 

One of the important features of this site is that it covers the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic, between about 5500 and 4900 BC, one of the few sites in western Anatolia and the eastern Aegean Islands to do so. As well as seeing the introduction of copper, this interval included reorganisations in the way settlements were laid out and how buildings were constructed, new forms of pottery, and the development of a subsistence economy.

During this period, the settlement at Uğurlu appears to have been divided into two portions; a communal building with a large courtyard to the west, and a group of multi-roomed buildings interpreted as dwellings to the east. A series of pits were excavated to the northwest of this area, partially surrounding the communal building. Most of these pits are between 10 and 90 cm in depth, and are lined with a green clay. These pits contained a variety of materials, including fragments of pottery, Animal bones, clay and marble figurines, bone and flint tools, fragments of shell ornaments (bracelets, rings, etc.), and stone axes. All the pits had been infilled, then covered with large stones.

Four of these pits contained Human remains. Pit 25 contained 7 fragments of Human bone, and pits 29 and 104 contained smaller amounts of material. However, the final pit, 188, is significantly larger, and contains eleven sets of more-or-less complete Human remains.

In a paper published in the journal Documenta Praehistorica on 26 September 2022, Başak Boz of the Department of Archaeology at Trakya University, discusses the way in which these bodies were placed into the pit, and the possible motivations of the people who placed them there.

The location of Uğurlu on the island of Gökçeada in the Aegean. Boz (2022).

Radiocarbon dates were obtained from two bones within the pit, one from the skeleton at the bottom of the pit, interpreted as having been the first skeleton deposited, and one from a Human bone in the uppermost layer of material. The skeleton at the bottom of the pit was dated to 5389-5310 BC, while the upper bone was dated to 5363-5302 BC, making both roughly contemporary with the communal building, the earliest stage of which has been dated to between 5300 and 4300 BC.

The distribution of the pits around the communal building. Boz (2022).

The pit is roughly 1 m in diameter and 2 m deep, making it one of the largest pits from this phase of the occupation. Its floor and walls have been lined with a yellowish green clay plaster. Eleven individual sets of Human remains were placed within the pit, with numerous stones between them; the upper 60-80 cm of the pit comprised an infill of stones above the last body, with a marker stone being placed above this.

The pit also contained a great deal of other material, including two broken grinding stones, a large amount of fragmentary pottery, three pieces of red ochre, some beads, a worked bone, and portions of two Calf skeletons as well as numerous other Animal bone fragments. One large rock within the middle of the pit was covered by a layer of sterile ash roughly 30 cm in diameter and 1.5 cm thick.

The approximate ages and sexes of the skeletons were determined by examination of the pelvis and skull, the pubic symphyses, and tooth wear. The individuals were estimated to be aged from about three years old, to mature adults, aged in their 30s or 40s.

Most of the bones of the individuals in the pit were broken, in some cases severely crushed. However, there is no sign of any of these injuries having been caused before death, and no signs of other pathologies due to ill heath or injury on the skeletons.

Fresh bone breaks (indicated by arrows) related withthe stones between the skeletons. Nejat Yücel in Boz (2022).

The skeleton at the base of the pit (Individual 11) is that of a child aged 5-6 years, laying on top of a layer of apparently randomly distributed stones covering the pit floor. The skeleton is lying on its right side, with the left arm and leg extended towards the south, and the rest of the body in a flexed position. This skeleton was covered by a layer of rocks and Animal bones, including the two broken grinding stones and partial Calf skeletons. One of the grinding stones covered the child's head.

(A) The first individual at the bottom of the pit, (B) stones and Animal bones over the skeleton. Boz (2022).

Above this skeleton another five sets of remains were deposited apparently randomly on top of one-another, with some stones between. All of these skeletons are intact, but their postures imply they were thrown into the pit, rather than being placed carefully. The first of these (Individual 10) is a middle-aged woman, face down with her body in a perpendicular position against the wall of the pit, with the hips and legs about 50 cm higher than the head, and her arms twisted behind her back in a position suggesting they were tied. The two largest stones in the pit were thrown in on top of this woman, with one of them apparently completely crushing her head. The larger of these stones, weighing about 80 kg and in the middle of the pit, was then covered with the layer of sterile ash.

Skeleton of a female (Individual 10) with her hands at her back. Boz (2022).

A further four bodies were then deposited into the pit on top of Individual 10, again in an apparently careless way. These being Individual 9, a child of about twelve years and indeterminate sex, Individual 8, another adult woman in her thirties or forties, Individual 7, and Individual 6, another child of about 10-12 years.

Illustration of the position of individuals in relation to each other. (A) Is the top view of the pit with skeletons and (D)is the lowest level. Only the bodies are shown here to avoid further crowding with the stones in between the bodies. Begona Rodriquez in Boz (2022).

One of these, the mature male, Individual 7, was lying on his back with his legs against the side of the pit. His arms were tightly bent at the shoulders, with his hands on his shoulders, and his legs tightly folded at the knees, suggesting that he also might have been bound before being dumped into the pit.

Illustration of an adult male (Individual 7), the arm and hand positions suggesting binding. Begona Rodriquez in Boz (2022).

Another of these bodies, the male child, Individual 6, was separated into two parts at the waist, with the articulated upper body lying directly on the abdomen of Individual 7, with no stones between them, while the lower part of the body is disarticulated and scattered within the pit.

The next skeleton, Individual 4, is a young adult male (probably in his twenties), apparently laid intentionally on his side, with his legs folded up into his abdomen, and his arms folded against his chest, with his hands on his shoulders. This individual is also thought likely to have been tied in this position, or possibly tightly wrapped in a perishable material, since it is an unnatural position for a body to naturally rest in. 

The tightly flexed position of individual 4. Boz (2022).

Another four individuals above this burial also appeared to have been dumped into the pit, again mixed with a large number of loose rocks, although the limbs of some of these individuals are interwound, suggesting that the infill came after the bodies were deposited. These final skeletons are; Individual 5, a young child, roughly three-to-four years old, Individual 3, an adolescent girl, about eighteen years of age, and Individuals 1 and 2, two more middle aged women, in their thirties or forties. These final burials appear more disturbed than the lower skeletons, with several having portions missing; Individual 1 is missing her right ulna, Individual 3 her right fibula, and Individual 5 the bones of the right lower leg.

Intertwined extremities of different individuals with no fill between them indicating simultaneous disposal of the bodies. Boz (2022).

The burial at Uğurlu is unusual in nature, with eleven individuals jammed into a pit 1 m in diameter and 2 m deep, along with a large quantity of rocks. Fitting this many bodies into such a small hole cannot have been easy, and may have been done over some period of time, giving each body a chance to decay, and thereby take up less space, before the next body was added. This would have required the pit to be covered by some sort of a lid between depositions, with the rocky infill being added at the end of the process. This fits somewhat with the circumstances of the burial, with little material between the bodies, with the exception of the child at the bottom, who appears to have been covered over before the other bodies were added, and is supported by some skeletal elements which appear to have shifted downwards with regards to the bodies from which they originated, notably the pelvis of Individual 7. 

Illustration of the bodies in order in the pit. Begona Rodriquez in Boz (2022).

An alternative possibility is that this was a secondary burial, with the bodies having been stored elsewhere until they were all deposited in the pit together in a single event. This would help to explain the disarticulated nature of the lower half of the child, Individual 6, who could have been in an advanced state of decomposition when deposited. However, the condition of the upper body of the same individual presents a problem for this hypothesis, as even the small bones of the fingers remain articulated, incompatible with such a state of decomposition. Some ancient cultures are known to have practised ritual defleshing or dismemberment between primary and secondary burials, which might explain such a mixed state of articulation, but the absence of cut marks on any bones argues against this. The missing limb portions of the uppermost bodies could also offer evidence for this hypothesis, but the upper part of the pit has also been entered by several Animal burrows, which offer a better explanation for these missing bones, and the fact that only the skeletons at the top of the pit are affected. 

Thus neither of these scenarios quite fits with the available evidence, although it remains likely that the bodies do represent two separate events, the deposition and covering of the first child's body, followed by the later deposition of the remaining ten bodies.

The Late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic period was one of considerable cultural diversity across the region that encompasses the Balkan Peninsula, Greece, Thrace, the Aegean Islands, and Anatolia, with a wide range of burial customs known. However, the customs of western Anatolia, the region closest to the island of Gökçeada, are poorly represented for this interval.

At the Barcın Höyük VI site in the Marmara region of northwest Anatolia, which was in use between about 6600 and 5900 BC, adult individuals were buried in courtyards, while children were buried in abandoned houses. At Aktopraklık, also in the Marmara region, a Late Neolithic site dated to between 6400 and 6235, all individuals are buried in a flexed position beneath the floors of houses. The first cemeteries appear in the Marmara region in the Chalcolithic at Aktopraklık C and Ilıpınar X/IX.

Further west, infant burials within settlements are known from Ulucak in the seventh millennium BC, but little other information is available.

In the sixth millennium BC, Neolithic burials in the Balkan region also generally occur within settlements, with both flexed and supine burial positions used, although these are generally at different sites. Here, supine burials were the norm in the Mesolithic, but the flexed burials represent a new phenomenon, possibly originating in the Near East. Fragmented burials are also quite known from the Balkans, with parts of bodies having apparently been removed, or even replaced with other objects. Also found in the Balkans are ditch burials, in which individuals were buried away from settlements, and pit burials of both individual and multiple bodies, sometimes after cremation; these pit burials are also known from Greece and Central Europe.

Between about 5400 and 4500 BC distinct cemeteries, outside the bounds of settlements, developed in the Balkans, which has been suggested as evidence of a changing relationship between the dead and the living, although the variety of different ways of dealing with the dead seen before seems to persist in the cemeteries.

Of particular similarity to the Uğurlu sites are the pit cemeteries of the eastern Balkans, particularly Bulgaria, where pits of a variety of shapes were dug outside of settlements, and filled with a mixture of debris, including grinding stones and Animal bones, before being capped off with a stone cairn. Only a minority of these pits have produced Human remains, but those that do often produce multiple sets of remains. These pits have been suggested as a site of sacrifice, in which offerings were placed, and sometimes burned.

No burials from earlier phases at Uğurlu, which may indicate burials taking place away from the settlement as seen elsewhere in the Balkans and Anatolia. The first pits appear at the site during phase IV (roughly 5500-5300 BC), when three pits were dug, which do contain some fragmentary Human material, along with other items. However, the main bout of pit-digging activity occurred during Phase III (5300-4900 BC), during which interval 37 pits were dug, filled with material, and then marked, suggesting they were of some significance to the people of the settlement. Much of the material within the pits is broken and fragmentary, which is in keeping with the tradition of braking and sharing of items, including bodies, which were passed around within communities before burial, during the Neolithic of the Balkans and Near East.

Pit 188 was in use between approximately 5389 and 5310 BC, and appears similar in construction to the other pits at Uğurlu, with the exception that it was significantly larger, and contained multiple sets of Human remains.

It is possible that the sudden deposition of a large number of bodies into a single pit, most of them in a somewhat haphazard way, was a reaction to an epidemic, an event which might provoke the living to dispose of the dead with more haste than was usual within their society. Such an event would be expected to produce dead members of all age groups and both sexes, with a high proportion of children and the elderly. None of the remains from Pit 188 show any sign of disease-associated pathologies, however, pathologies affecting the bones would not be expected with an acute plague-like infection, being more typical of chronic conditions which take their time to kill their victims. However, it is unclear why some of the bodies would have been bound if they were victims of a plague that people wished to dispose of quickly, nor why artefacts would have been placed within the grave with them.

The haphazard nature in which the bodies were placed within the pit, and the fact that some of the victims were bound, raises another possibility, that they were the victims of Human sacrifice, or possibly a local group killed off by invaders. Both warfare and Human sacrifice are known to have been prevalent in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic, with potential massacre sites recorded at Halberstadt (5600-4900 BC) and Talheim (about 5000 BC) in Germany, Asparn-Schlets (about 5000 BC) in Austria, Potočani (about 4200 BC) in Croatia, and Els Traocks (about 5300 BC) in the Spanish Pyrenees. 

Sites associated with warfare tend to have a predominance of young adult and middle aged males, and generally include broken and discarded weapons. The Uğurlu pit contains only one young adult and one middle aged male, along with four middle aged women, one adolescent girl, and four children, an unlikely composition for a war grave. Furthermore, no weapons, broken or otherwise, are present within the pit, nor are there any signs of the sort of injuries expected at a battle site, such as fractures or blunt force traumas. Some fractures are observable, but these appear to have been caused by stones being dropped onto the bodies within the pit, with the stones still being in place at the time of excavation (although it is impossible to tell whether the victims were alive or dead at the time when these injuries were inflicted).

This leaves the possibility of some form of organised Human sacrifice. Human sacrifice can be difficult to identify in the archaeological record, as it is generally impossible to identify why people were killed, but if it is an established part of a culture, then it is likely that people will repeatedly be killed in the same way, probably at regular intervals over an extended period of time. In such cases the victims are typically placed in identical positions, and accompanied by similar grave goods. 

Uğurlu Pit 188 is located in a courtyard along with a series of other pits. It differs from the other pits in size, and the presence of multiple Human skeletons, but otherwise is of similar construction, lined with similar clay, contains similar material (made artefacts, Animal bones), has a similar rocky infill, and is marked with a similar capstone. This does suggest that the pits had some sort of a repeated ritual purpose, but the Human contents of Pit 188 are unusual.

Grave goods can be indicative of ritual sacrifices, but those from Pit 188 are ambivalent. The pit contains portions of two Calves, and two broken grinding stones, as well as several beads, three pieces of red ochre, and a stone covered with ash, but none of these is directly associated with any of the skeletons, and no signs of personal ornamentation are present.

Another possibility, which has been suggested for other sites, is that some of the bodies were sacrificed to accompany a high status individual into the afterlife. The Bergheim Pit in France, dated to about 4000 BC, contains a large number of severed arms, followed by the body of an older male with a severed arm who had apparently died a violent death, then a series of intact skeletons buried in a haphazard way, which has been interpreted as evidence of sacrifices made to accompany the death of an important individual. At Didenheim in the Alsace region of France, burials where individuals placed in specific positions accompanied by individuals in haphazard positions have been interpreted in the same way.

Human sacrifice might be expected to leave distinctive trauma marks on a body, which cannot be observed at Uğurlu. However, there are plenty of ways of killing a Human which do not mark the skeleton (the only remains present at Uğurlu), so this is somewhat inconclusive.

The presence of a carefully placed body, Individual 4, within a large number of haphazardly placed individuals, accompanied by some possible ritual materials (ash, red ochre), may indicate that the other bodies were sacrificial victims placed within the pit to accompany this high-status individual.

Pit 188 at Uğurlu represents the first true burial at this site (some older pits contained fragmentary Human remains), potentially shedding light on the ritual activities and belief system of the people living at the site. However, interpreting this burial site is particularly challenging, given the haphazard way in which the majority of the bodies were deposited, the fact that some (but not all) appear to have been bound before deposition, and one body having been buried in two parts. The context of the pit, surrounded by other pits of apparent ritual importance, makes it likely that this burial had symbolic importance. One possibility is that the majority of those within the pit were killed to accompany an important person, Individual 4, who alone was apparently buried in a pre-planned way. This in turn implies that these people had started to develop a social hierarchy, with some individuals meriting different treatment in death to others. 

Similar accompanying burials are known to have been practised in central and eastern Europe by about 4500 BC, moving westward and southward over the next millennium. If the example at Uğurlu does represent the same phenomenon, then it pushes the origin of this custom back to about 5300 BC, and demonstrates an origin in the Aegean/Anatolian region, where it has not previously been observed.

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