Pottery imports from the southern Aegean islands at Middle Bronze Age Mitrou

Combined macroscopic and petrographic analysis of the Middle Helladic (MH, ca. 2100-1700 BCE) pottery assemblage from Mitrou on the northern Euboean Gulf confirms diachronic patterns of interaction with the southern Aegean. Three stages can be recognized, corresponding to MH I, early-mid MH II, and late MH II-MH III. The first stage comprised infrequent but perhaps targeted interaction with the southern Cyclades. The second stage of interaction sees the network expand with the first evidence of connections with Aegina along with the western and central Cyclades, but still at a relatively low intensity. The last stage of interaction sees an increase in intensity, especially related to material likely from Kea and Aegina. The presence of these southern Aegean imports at a site as far north as Mitrou suggests that the Euboean Gulf was a conduit for north-south movement during the Middle Bronze Age and that the region was connected to broader Aegean maritime networks well before the Mycenaean period.