Protogeometric style

The Protogeometric style (or Proto-Geometric) is a style of Ancient Greek pottery led by Athens and produced, in Attica and Central Greece, between roughly 1025 and 900 BCE,^[1]^[2]^[3] during the Greek Dark Ages.^[4] It was succeeded by the Early Geometric period.

Proto-Geometric amphora c. 975–950 BCE. Athens, now British Museum.

Earlier studies considered the beginning of this style around 1050 BCE.^[5]^[6]

After the collapse of the Mycenaean-Minoan Palace culture and the ensuing Greek Dark Ages, the Protogeometric style emerged around the late 11th century BCE,^[1] as the first expression of a reviving civilization. Following on from the development of a faster potter's wheel, vases of this period are markedly more technically accomplished than earlier Dark Age examples. From Athens the style spread to several other centres.^[7]

The decoration of these pots is restricted to purely abstract elements and very often includes broad horizontal bands about the neck and belly and concentric circles applied with compass and multiple brush. Many other simple motifs can be found, but unlike many pieces in the following Geometric style, typically much of the surface is left plain.^[8]

Like many pieces, the example illustrated includes a colour change in the main band, arising from a firing fault. Both the red and black colour use the same clay, differently levigated and fired. As the Greeks learnt to control this variation, the path to their distinctive three-phase firing technique opened.

Some of the innovations included some new Mycenean influenced shapes, such as the belly-handled amphora, the neck handled amphora, the krater, and the lekythos. Attic artists redesigned these vessels using the fast wheel to increase the height and therefore the area available for decoration.

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Based on Radiocarbon datings and Bayesian models to Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth, Toffolo et al. (2013) placed the Sub-Mycenaean/Protogeometric transition "in the second half of the 11th century, approximately centered on 1025 BCE."^[9]

Alex Knodell, in his (2021) book, classifies Protogeometric period in three sub-periods:^[10]

More information Ceramic period, Dates BCE ...

Ceramic period	Dates BCE
Early Protogeometric	1025^[1]–1000
Middle Protogeometric	1000–950
Late Protogeometric	950–900

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[1]
Van Damme, Trevor, and Lis Bartłomiej, (29 October 2024). "The origin of the Protogeometric style in northern Greece and its relevance for the absolute chronology of the Early Iron Age", in: Antiquity, 2024, Vol. 98, No. 401, pp. 1271-1289, Table 1: "Early Protogeometric in Central Greece and Attica, 1025 cal BC."
[2]
Toffolo, Michael B., et al., (December 26, 2013). "Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth", in: PLoS ONE 8(12): e83117.
[3]
Fantalkin, Alexander, Assaf Kleiman, Hans Mommsen, and Israel Finkelstein, (2020). "Aegean Pottery in Iron IIA Megiddo: Typological, Archaeometric and Chronological Aspects", in Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry Vol. 20, No 3, (2020), p. 143: "...This would imply that the preceding Aegean sequence from Early Protogeometric to the end of Late Protogeometric should cover the last few decades of the 11th century BCE and the entire 10th century BCE..."
[4]
Cook, 30
[5]
Miller 2013, p. 139 :"Around the beginning of the Protogeometric Period [c.1075/50], the future Ionians set out from Athens on a series of migrations to colonize Asia Minor and the islands of the Cyclades".
[6]
Lemos 2002, p. 2 :"...the Aegean from the period around 1050/25 to around 900 BC, named after its characteristic 'Protogeometric' pottery style.".
[7]
Cook, 30-31
[8]
Cook, 31
[9]
Toffolo, Michael B., et al., (December 26, 2013). "Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth", in: PLoS ONE 8(12): e83117.
[10]
Knodell, Alex, (2021). Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History , University of California Press, Oakland, Table 1, p. 7.

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Cook, R.M., Greek Art, Penguin, 1986 (reprint of 1972), ISBN 0140218661
Lemos, Irene S. (2002). The Protogeometric Aegean, The Archaeology of the Late Eleventh and Tenth Centuries BC. Oxford University Press.
Miller, D. Garry (2013). Ancient Greek Dialects and Early Authors, Introduction to the Dialect Mixture in Homer, with Notes on Lyric and Herodotus (PDF). De Gruyter.
Murray, R. L. The Protogeometric Style: the first Greek style, Gothenburg, Paul Åströms (1975).
Eiteljorg, H., "The fast wheel, the multiple brush compass and Athens as home of the Protogeometric style" American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) 84 (1980) pp. 445–452.

Library resources about
Protogeometric style

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Betancourt, Philip P. 2007. Introduction to Aegean Art. Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press.
Preziosi, Donald, and Louise A. Hitchcock. 1999. Aegean Art and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Greek Art & Archaeology, (Japanese and English)
Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece, University of Texas at Austin

[Van_Damme-1] [1]
Van Damme, Trevor, and Lis Bartłomiej, (29 October 2024). "The origin of the Protogeometric style in northern Greece and its relevance for the absolute chronology of the Early Iron Age", in: Antiquity, 2024, Vol. 98, No. 401, pp. 1271-1289, Table 1: "Early Protogeometric in Central Greece and Attica, 1025 cal BC."

[2] [2]
Toffolo, Michael B., et al., (December 26, 2013). "Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth", in: PLoS ONE 8(12): e83117.

[3] [3]
Fantalkin, Alexander, Assaf Kleiman, Hans Mommsen, and Israel Finkelstein, (2020). "Aegean Pottery in Iron IIA Megiddo: Typological, Archaeometric and Chronological Aspects", in Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry Vol. 20, No 3, (2020), p. 143: "...This would imply that the preceding Aegean sequence from Early Protogeometric to the end of Late Protogeometric should cover the last few decades of the 11th century BCE and the entire 10th century BCE..."

[4] [4]
Cook, 30

[FOOTNOTEMiller2013139_:"Around_the_beginning_of_the_Protogeometric_Period_[c.1075/50],_the_future_Ionians_set_out_from_Athens_on_a_series_of_migrations_to_colonize_Asia_Minor_and_the_islands_of_the_Cyclades"-5] [5]
Miller 2013, p. 139 :"Around the beginning of the Protogeometric Period [c.1075/50], the future Ionians set out from Athens on a series of migrations to colonize Asia Minor and the islands of the Cyclades".

[FOOTNOTELemos20022_:"...the_Aegean_from_the_period_around_1050/25_to_around_900_BC,_named_after_its_characteristic_'Protogeometric'_pottery_style."-6] [6]
Lemos 2002, p. 2 :"...the Aegean from the period around 1050/25 to around 900 BC, named after its characteristic 'Protogeometric' pottery style.".

[7] [7]
Cook, 30-31

[8] [8]
Cook, 31

[9] [9]
Toffolo, Michael B., et al., (December 26, 2013). "Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth", in: PLoS ONE 8(12): e83117.

[10] [10]
Knodell, Alex, (2021). Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History , University of California Press, Oakland, Table 1, p. 7.

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Protogeometric style

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