Pottery of Mycenaean Date and the Historical Period from the Skoteini Cave in Euboea

The pottery remains of the Late Bronze Age and historical times I have studied and published from Cave Skoteini, testify to the use of the cave as a place of worship over a long span of time. The first evidence dates to the Late Helladic IIIB and includes fragments of stemmed cups (depicting spirals, triglyphs, stems, wavy lines, lozenges), a stirrup jar, alongside pieces of large, coarse vessels. Amongst these, a decorated Ψ-shaped figurine was also found.

The remains of historical times are of more numerous and span the period from the end of the Geometric to Late Antiquity. Amongst the earliest finds, they include pieces of skyphoi with linear decoration, lamps, black-figured vases, red-figured craters and coarse pottery, mainly used in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. A very particular group of finds consists of fragments from ceramic beehives whose relation to other vessels remains unclear. There are occasional objects belonging to the Roman period (3rd century AD). Apparently, the cave housed a sanctuary, as many caves in the same period, and the items collected were part of a sacred deposition related to their worship.

Context

Research project conducted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea and the Ephorate of Paleoanthropology-Speleology (1985-1991) under the direction of Prof. A. Sampson.

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1993

S. Katsarou, Late Helladic III A-B finds from the Skoteini cave. In: A. Sampson (ed.), Skoteini at Tharrounia. The Cave, the Settlement and the Cemetery, Athens, pp. 314-322.

1993

S. Katsarou, Historical remains from the cave and its surrounding area. In: A. Sampson (ed.), Skoteini at Tharrounia. The Cave, the Settlement and the Cemetery, Athens, pp. 323-342.