The current article analyzes two aspects of cultural and material interaction between Greek and indigenous populations in Northern Calabria during the 8th c. B.C. The analysis outlines a local production of Oinotrian-Euboean pottery and the appearance of the earliest Corinthian imported ceramics from the Middle Geometric II and Late Geometric periods at the indigenous site of Timpone della Motta, close to present day Francavilla Marittima in Northern Calabria and other indigenous sites in the nearby Sibaritide. Traditionally, the Timpone della Motta has been regarded as a central and important indigenous settlement from the end of the 9th c. B.C and its size and importance increased during the course of the first half of the 8th c. B.C. The importance of the site is reflected in the construction on the summit of large monumental hut structures that seem to have had a ritual function, and in a rapidly expanding necropolis in the nearby Macchiabate area. Until recently, the material culture of the site pointed to an almost exclusively indigenous presence with only a few occasional importedobjects, mainly Corinthian Late Geometric ceramics, which have rightly been taken as evidence for direct or indirect sporadic contact between the indigenous population and the Greeks. The foundation of the Greek colony of Sybaris, circa 12 km to the southeast of Francavilla Marittima, became a turning point for the indigenous settlements of the Sibaritide
