Spiralled patchwork in pottery manufacture and the introduction of farming to Southern Europe (vol 91, pg 1501, 2017)

Pottery-manufacturing sequences can act as proxies for human migration and interaction. A good example is provided by the 'spiralled patchwork technology' (SPT) identified at two key early farming sites in the LigurianProvencal Arc in the north-west of the Italian peninsula. SPT is distinct from the ceramic technology used by early farmer communities in south-east Italy that shows technical continuity with the southern Balkans. Macroscopic analysis and microcomputed tomography suggests the presence of two communities of practice, and thus two distinct social groups in the northern Mediterranean: one of southern Balkan tradition, the other (associated with SPT) of as yet unknown origin. The identification of SPT opens up the exciting possibility of tracing the origins and migrations of a second distinct group of early farmers into Southern Europe.