Part of the rim of a decorated vessel (P2072) from the Middle Neolithic period (middle of the 6th millennium BC). The surface is covered externally with off-white slip and is decorated with red paint.
Neolithic clay vessels were handmade and used for storage, food preparation, cooking, serving and other daily household tasks. Through their shapes, decoration and construction technique, stages of production, social practices, messages and symbolism could be traced.
The decoration of this particular vase part is unique. It comprises of a series of four schematized human figures, which are suspended from the rim and hold their hands. It could be interpreted as depicting a kind of group dance. Group dances are likely to have taken place in Neolithic communities for a variety of reasons, such as calendrical rituals that coordinated seasonal agricultural activities. It is one of the earliest composite, painted depictions of human figures in Greece. This theme is extremely rare, since the vases of the era are usually decorated with abstract and linear themes. Modern research suggests that decoration of vessels is a means of transmitting codified messages or images. These may be related to the way prehistoric people perceived the natural world that surrounded them, their social values and its ideological inquiries.
The part of the vase with the representation of human figures was found during a rescue excavation that preceded the construction of the "Ioannis Vellidis" conference hall at the International Fair of Thessaloniki. In this area, a Neolithic settlement was unearthed, the oldest known settlement in the area of Thessaloniki.
It was a flat - extended settlement. Its only preserved architectural traces are pits of various sizes and shapes which are interpreted as places of habitation, storage or waste disposal. The large quantities of pottery, animal bones, shells, stone and bone tools and other clay objects from their interior map the variety of activities of the Neolithic inhabitants. Among them, there are two rare pendants of shell. In addition, a woman's burial was found inside one of the pits.
You can see the exhibit in the permanent exhibition Prehistoric Macedonia, showcase 10.
