Neolithic Painted Ware in the Adriatic

Extract

The neolithic pottery of peninsular Italy is known in England chiefly through Stevenson's classic paper of 1947 which established the sequence of styles in Apulia, and the Sicilian material through the work of Bernabò Brea [I]. Neither of these studies paid much attention to the Abruzzo-Molise region where Rellini had published material from Ripoli as long ago as 1934 [2] and where more recent work by Radmilli and his associates has provided new information about the local neolithic cultures. Excavations along the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia have led to the definition of the new cultures of Hvar and Danilo, and three painted ware provinces can now be recognized: ApuIia-Sicily, the Abruzzo, and Dalmatia. All three regions border the Adriatic and each was at some time in contact with the others (FIG. I).

The best starting-point is still south Italy where the sequence from impressed ware, through red-painted fasce larghe plus scratched, to black-bordered red bands (Capri) and finally Serra d'Alto remains valid, except in the region of Foggia where Trump has established a rather different local sequence [3].