Development of a ceramic cultic assemblage analysing pottery from Late Helladic IIIC through Late Geometric Kalapodi

The following paper presents preliminary results of a quantitative study of ceramics from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age levels from the sanctuary site at Kalapodi in Phokis. The authors outline a simple sorting and recording method which can be used as the basis for quantification of highly fragmentary sherd assemblages, characteristic of both domestic and cult-related activities. We stipulate that only through the employment of quantitative methods can all finds be included in the assessment and interpretation of a site. A variety of quantitative methods, including count, weight, EVEs and MNIs, are used in an attempt to reconstruct patterns of past human behaviour at Kalapodi. The authors conclude that for the Bronze Age and initial phases of the Early Iron Age, Kalapodi served as a meeting place for the inhabitants of the surrounding landscape who gathered here for convivial meals; at the transition to the Late Geometric period, the character of the site changes dramatically to emphasize bronze votives, together with evidence for drinking rituals and holocaustic sacrifice as the focus of cult activity.