Carter Tristan, Moir Rose, Milić Marina, Renfrew Colin
Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 11;20(9):e0325218. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325218. eCollection 2025.
Early Bronze Age [EBA] Keros was a central place in the 3rd millennium cal BC Cycladic islands (Greece). Its material culture attests links with communities throughout the Aegean and beyond. This study uses obsidian sourcing to help reconstruct the socio-economic networks that coalesced at the site. Some 207 artifacts were elementally characterized using portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy [pXRF], the material coming from two ritual deposits in the Kavos area (n = 103), and the opposite islet settlement of Dhaskalio (n = 104). The results are consonant with the cosmopolitan character of Keros' ceramic and metallurgical assemblages with not only the expected Melian sources of Dhemenegaki and Sta Nychia represented, but also handfuls of much rarer material from Giali A in the Dodecanese and East Göllü Dağ in central Anatolia. The study also provides further evidence for a Cycladic and Cretan preference for Sta Nychia raw materials in the EBA. A more complex picture of Melian obsidian consumption locally and regionally is then produced by integrating the sourcing data with the artifacts' techno-typological and metrical attributes, which enables us to detail several EBA cultural traditions or 'communities of practice' across the Aegean region. The small quantities of Giali A and East Göllü Dağ obsidian are testimony to the supra-regional networks that coalesced at the site. Both raw materials likely circulated alongside the flow of Anatolian metals into the Aegean (including tin and gold), a network that introduced socially significant media and knowledge to Keros from as far east as the Indus. This congregation of people, resources, and technical know-how on Keros formed a key mode of social reproduction in Cycladic society with the mortuary and commemorative rituals on Kavos and the commensal gatherings on Dhaskalio comprising important spaces for the initiation, maintenance, and celebration of social relations.
青铜时代早期（EBA）的凯罗斯岛是公元前3千纪（校准）基克拉泽斯群岛（希腊）的一个中心地带。其物质文化证明了它与整个爱琴海及以外地区社区的联系。本研究利用黑曜石来源分析来帮助重建在该遗址汇聚的社会经济网络。使用便携式X射线荧光光谱仪（pXRF）对约207件文物进行了元素特征分析，这些材料来自卡沃斯地区的两个仪式沉积物（n = 103），以及对面的达斯卡利奥岛定居点（n = 104）。结果与凯罗斯岛陶瓷和冶金组合的国际化特征一致，不仅有预期的来自德梅内加基和斯塔尼西亚的梅洛斯来源，还有来自多德卡尼斯群岛的贾利A和安纳托利亚中部的东戈勒尤山的少量稀有得多的材料。该研究还为基克拉泽斯和克里特岛在青铜时代早期对斯塔尼西亚原材料的偏好提供了进一步证据。通过将来源数据与文物的技术类型学和度量属性相结合，得出了当地和区域内梅洛斯黑曜石消费的更复杂情况，这使我们能够详细描述整个爱琴海地区的几个青铜时代早期文化传统或“实践社区”。少量的贾利A和东戈勒尤山黑曜石证明了在该遗址汇聚的超区域网络。这两种原材料可能与安纳托利亚金属流入爱琴海（包括锡和黄金）的流动一同流通，这个网络从遥远的东方印度河将具有社会重要性的媒介和知识引入了凯罗斯岛。凯罗斯岛上人群、资源和技术知识的汇聚形成了基克拉泽斯社会社会再生产的一种关键模式，卡沃斯岛上的丧葬和纪念仪式以及达斯卡利奥岛上的共餐聚会构成了社会关系建立、维持和庆祝的重要场所。
