A Sherd from Pelikata, Ithaka

Extract

The claim put forward as an opinion (BSA XLIV (1949), 307) and as a fact (ibid. 309, fig. 1, 4) that an ‘Early Helladic Patterned’ sherd from Pelikáta is really ‘East Greek’ should be accepted only with considerable reserve.

The condition of the sherd is such as to make positive identification either as one or the other impossible, but the context leaves little room for doubt that it is another Early Helladic Patterned sherd of which five other examples were found in the same layer associated with an E.H. pithos burial. The pattern is familiar from other Early Helladic sites, and if no precise analogy for the shape has so far been recorded, this can hardly be considered a serious objection, unless we are to suppose that all Early Helladic shapes are already known.