UCLA

Pottery is the most common archaeological material recorded in large quantities at the excavation of the Neolithic sites in the Aegean and the Balkans. Thus, it comprises the best proxy to understand the Late Neolithic communities in the southern Balkans, especially prehistoric technology, daily life practices, human-object interactions, and local or regional contacts. Despite the attention that the Neolithic pottery has received in previous publications, its social dimensions have been poorly studied in Albania. The current dissertation approaches such aspects by exploring the sociocultural journey of the ceramic assemblages in Kor�� region in southeastern Albania as they traverse various itineraries from the manufacture and use to cross-site circulation. This research adopts a holistic, interdisciplinary approach combining contemporary theoretical perspectives, traditional recording techniques, and a multianalytic approach. My research views the sociocultural dimensions of the pottery as dynamic interactions between humans and vessels, interhuman relationships, and cross-site or interregional contacts providing a narrative told by vessels as they move from one social practice to another. It perceives technological choices as practices that emerge through the interaction of tradition, relationship with the material world, and cross-site contacts. The study considers the active role of the Neolithic Pottery in the southern Balkans beyond functionality and identity negotiation, imposing through its attributes such as size and shape, specific behaviors of the residents regarding their use, and the interaction with other members of their community. This approach also assigns an active role to ceramic assemblages in local or regional contacts putting the communities of potters at the center of such connections since they facilitate the circulation of technologies and raw materials. As links or boundary objects, potters and ceramic technologies bring together social groups from different sites and regions, shaping and maintaining interregional communication channels in southeastern Albania. The participation of potters within such networks plays an essential role in the local and regional patterns of ceramic tradition in the Late Neolithic period in the region of Kor�� and the southern Balkans.