The ‘Protogeometric’ from Polis Reconsidered

Abstract

Between 1930 and 1932, Sylvia Benton conducted excavations in a cave situated on the northwest side of the Bay of Polis in northern Ithaca. Her work was important because of the finds which indicated an almost continuous history of the Cave's use from the Early Bronze Age to Hellenistic times. Reconsideration and reclassification of that pottery which Benton called Protogeometric does indeed indicate a continuity of use from LH IIIC throughout the Dark Ages to at least MG II, that is from the late Twelfth to early Eighth Centuries B.C. Refinements to the classification and chronology of this unbroken sequence of ceramic material can be made on the basis of comparison with stratified deposits from other sites, especially in Messenia. In sum, comparative material from surrounding regions, especially Achaea, Aetolia, and elsewhere on Ithaca, suggests that the island in the Dark Ages belonged to a west Greek koiné with a shared ceramic tradition.

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