CRAFTING CHOICES FOR POTTERY-MAKING IN PREHISTORIC THERMI-LESBOS, NORTH-EAST AEGEAN: MANUFACTURING STRATEGIES, EMERGING COMPLEXITY AND CONNECTIVITY

Located on the eastern coast of Lesbos island in the north-east Aegean, Thermi emerges as one of the most emblematic sites in the Early Bronze Age. Since its excavation by Winifred Lamb in the early 1930s, it has been recognised as an early urban settlement, similarly to its equivalent insular sites on Lemnos, Chios and Samos. Although often linked to Anatolian influences due to similarities in pottery assemblages and material culture, especially in terms of morphology, Thermi’s ceramics have largely been confined to significant typological classifications without further analytical investigation. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study encompassing morpho-stylistic, macroscopic and petrographic analysis of this ceramic assemblage across all settlement phases during the third millennium BC. Through petrographic analysis of pottery and raw material samples, this study has determined the provenance and allowed the characterisation of local and intra-island pottery production and consumption strategies. Additionally, it has identified evidence of Thermi’s extra-insular connectivity with various sources across the Aegean region. While certain ceramic manufacturing choices exhibit diachronic continuities, there is evidence of chronological patterning in the appearance of clay recipes. These changes correlate well with contemporaneous shifts in architectural developments, patterns of consumption of valued goods and the broader outreach of the settlement.