The transition from the Neolithic to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) does not see any major change in lifeways. Pottery and other forms of material culture carry on largely as before. The only significant development is in metallurgy, though it had already appeared in the Late Neolithic; and even here progress is somewhat slow, the east Aegean excepted.

Though regional differences were hardly weak in the Neolithic, they do nevertheless intensify from the start of the Bronze Age. Three regions clearly assert their identity – the Peloponnese, the Cyclades, and Crete – through particular characteristics in their architecture, funerary customs, pottery, and figurines. Chronological schemes use the common tripartite divisions (Early Bronze (EB) I, II, and III) but adopt separate terminologies according to region (Early Helladic (EH), Early Cycladic (EC), Early Minoan). The term ‘Early Bronze Age’, without further specification, is used in more peripheral areas such as northern Greece and the northeast Aegean islands.