INSIGHTS ON CERAMIC PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION AT CHALCIS ON EUBOEA DURING THE 8 TH AND 7 TH C. BC. COMPARISONS WITH “COLONIAL” CONTEXTS IN SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY Xenia Charalambidou Riassunto. L’articolo presenta alcune osservazioni iniziali sulla produzione e il consumo di ceramica in uno degli insediamenti chiave dell’Eubea e dell’Egeo – Calcide – durante l’VIII e il VII sec. a.C. Durante il periodo della colonizzazione greca e dei feno- meni migratori in Italia meridionale e in Sicilia nel Mediterraneo, questa cittadina fu tra i principali protagonisti. L’enfasi qui è posta sul deposito di Machairas a Calcide, dove le evidenze confermano la presenza di una fossa di scarico in gran parte riempita di prodotti ceramici calcidesi e scarti di officina. Questo rinvenimento è discusso anche in relazione a ceramiche importate e di tipo greco scoperte nell’Italia meridionale e in Sicilia, all’epoca in cui i Calcidesi viaggiavano e migravano. Περίληψη. Στο άρθρο αυτό παρουσιάζονται ορισμένες πρώτες παρατηρήσεις για την παραγωγή και κατανάλωση κεραμικής σε έναν από τους σημαντικότερους οικισμούς της Εύβοιας και του Αιγαίου – στη Χαλκίδα – κατά τον 8 ο και 7 ο αι. π.Χ. Κατά την περίοδο του ελληνικού αποικισμού και των μεταναστευτικών ρευμάτων στη Νότια Ιταλία και Σικελία στη Μεσόγειο, αυτός ο οικισμός ήταν μεταξύ των πρωταγωνιστών των φαινομένων αυτών. Έμφαση δίνεται σε έναν αποθέτη στο οικόπεδο Μαχαίρα στη Χαλκίδα, όπου τα στοιχεία μαρτυρούν έναν λάκκο απορριμμάτων γεμάτο σε μεγάλο βαθμό με προϊόντα χαλκιδικής κεραμικής και απορρίψεις κεραμικών εργαστηρίων. Αυτό το σύνολο συζητείται επίσης σε σχέση με εισηγμένα και ελληνικού τύπου κεραμικά ευρήματα που ανακαλύφθηκαν στη Nότια Ιταλία και τη Σικελία, την εποχή που οι Χαλκιδείς ταξίδευαν και μετανάστευαν. Abstract. The paper makes some initial observations on pottery production and consumption in one of the key settlements of Euboea and the Aegean – Chalcis – during the 8 th and 7 th c. BC. During the period of Greek colonization and migration phe- nomena in southern Italy and Sicily in the Mediterranean, this town was among the main protagonists. Emphasis here is put on the Machairas plot deposit in Chalcis, where the evidence attests to a refuse pit largely filled with Chalcidian pottery products and workshop discards. This assemblage is also discussed in relation to imported and Greek-type ceramic wares discovered in southern Italy and Sicily, at the time when Chalcidians were travelling and migrating. Introduction Ancient Chalcis (Fig. 1a-b), a coastal site at the center of the Euboean Gulf, was a long-lived and signifi- cant settlement, now largely buried under the modern city. Archaeological evidence on Early Iron Age and Archaic Chalcis is fragmentary, mainly due to the continuous use of the same habitation area through the centuries. Nevertheless, various aspects of its cultural and social behavior are currently being researched, based on the preserved evidence, which can shed light on Chalcidian production and consumption during these periods. The core habitation fabric of Chalcis in the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period mainly sprawled N of the harbor of Agios Stefanos, a most significant port during these eras for the connectivity and economy of the settlement, in areas such as Agios Ioannis, Yiftika, Kamares, the Kallimanis hill, Vrontou, as far as Kalogritsa and Mount Vathrovouni, where the acropolis was located 1 . An important deposit was discovered on the south slope of the Agios Ioannis hill. It was unearthed in the Machairas plot 2 , during an excavation by Aggelos Choremis in the early 1970s (Fig. 2) 3 . It is a deposit of 1.20 m across, filling a deep shaft, and excavated to a final depth of 7 m. It mainly comprises ceramic material. The majority of finds date from the Late Geometric II to the Archaic periods, but there is also 1 Bakhuizen 1985, 75-76; Kalamara et alii 2015, 32-33, 36-37; Charalambidou 2020; Lemos 2020, 790. 2 Located in Amarynthion Street 5 (OT 389). 3 ArchDelt 26, 1971, B΄1, 252, pl. 227α-β [Α.Κ. Χωρέμης]; ArchDelt 27, 1972, B΄1, 340 [Α.Κ. Χωρέμης]. References to this deposit appear also in Johnston-Jones 1978; Bakhuizen 1985, 79; Σαμψων 1986, 45 (Sector H); Descoeudres 2006/07, 3, fn. 10. On the study of this deposit, see Charalambidou 2017a, 127; 2017b, 94, 107; 2020; 2022, 48-50.