Articles by Goce Naumov

Neolithic pottery from the Balkans and Anatolia is well known for its remarkable and unique decoration. Very often the visual features of these objects are used for determining the relative chronology of excavated sites, without considering its potential for mathematical observation. The repertoire of patterns used for developing the compositional structures painted on the vessels provide abundant data for such analysis. Almost all of the fragments discovered so far as well as the completely preserved painted pots from these regions were decorated following several visual principles which made it possible to achieve a precise disposition of the patterns on the spherical surface of the vessel. This decorative approach was established on the basis of the standards of Neolithic geometry which employ both symmetry and the principles of visual entropy. For this reason, the painted vessels from Early and Middle Neolithic settlements discovered in the Republic of Macedonia provide a variety of information about the organization and structures incorporated on the decorated pottery. In the earlier phases these painted compositions were mostly based on The Four Rigid Motions of pattern disposition on a one dimensional format, while later, besides using this concept, the principle of asymmetry was implemented in order to compose a two-dimensional image . The aim of this paper is to identify all possible forms of plane symmetry, patterns and compositions applied in the decoration of Neolithic vessels from the Republic of Macedonia, as well to promote the use of geometric symmetry as a possibility for the reconstruction of decorated fragments.