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Aegeus Society For Aegean Prehistory

ARTICLES | 2026

Iklaina archaeological project 2009 season. Internet report

Michael B. Cosmopoulos Online article

The third excavation season of the Iklaina project took place for six weeks from May 29 to July 8, 2009. The project was conducted under the auspices of the Athens Archaeological Society and funded by the Hellenic Government-Karakas Foundation Chair in Greek Studies of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation.

Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly: A case study

Curtis N. Runnels, Claire Payne, Noam V. Rifkind, Chantel White, Nicholas P. Wolff & Steven A. LeBlanc Hesperia 78 (2009): 165-194.

Cross-cultural archaeological and ethnographic evidence for warfare in farming societies invites us to reconsider the traditional picture of the Greek Neolithic (ca. 7000-3400 B.C.) as a period of peaceful coexistence among subsistence farmers. Archaeological correlates of intercommunal conflict in the prehistoric American Southwest and the widespread evidence for warfare in Neolithic Europe suggest that warfare is also likely to have taken place in Neolithic Greece. The well-known Neolithic record for Thessaly reveals evidence for warfare in defensive structures, weapons, and settlement patterns.

New reconstructions of the “Mykenaia” and a seated woman from Mycenae

Bernice R. Jones American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009): 309-338.

Abstract

This study presents evidence for reconstructing two frescoes, including the well-known “Mykenaia”, found at the Southwest Building at Mycenae. It argues that the “Mykenaia” did not depict a seated goddess facing right but a life-sized, standing woman striding to the left and that the other fresco portrays a half-life-sized enthroned woman, likely a goddess, facing right and holding a

Royal gift exchange between Mycenae and Egypt: Olives as “greeting gifts” in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean

Jorrit M. Kelder American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009): 339-352.

Contact between Egypt and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age, especially the relationship between Minoan Crete and New Kingdom Egypt, has been the subject of numerous studies. The relationship between the Greek (Mycenaean) mainland and Egypt is generally regarded as a more elusive topic, and most scholars seem to consider interaction between the two, as a matter of irregular exchange via middlemen (e.g., via Cyprus or the Levant), rather than direct contact.

From metallurgy to Bronze Age civilizations: The synthetic theory

Nissim Amzallag American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009): 497-519.

During the past few decades, evidence for the ancient smelting of copper has been discovered in areas isolated from one another. In most of them, the beginning of metallurgy had no substantial social and cultural consequences.

Christos Tsountas (1857-1934) (in Greek)

Βασίλειος Πετράκος Mentor 91 (April 2009): 6-34.

The article, written in Greek, presents a brief biography of one of the most important Greek archaeologists, Christos Tsountas. It refers to his studies, his relation with another Greek prominent archaeologist Stephanos Koumanoudis, his appointment to the Archaeological Society at Athens as well as to the Greek Archaeological Ephorate, and lastly his first publications.

Use of space in a Neolithic village in Greece (Makri): Phytolith analysis and comparison of phytolith assemblages from an ethnographic setting in the same area

Georgia Tsartsidou, Simcha Lev-Yadun, Nikos Efstratiou & Steve Weiner Journal of Archaeological Science 36.10 (October 2009): 2342-2352.

Phytolith analyses were conducted in a pottery Neolithic village (Makri) of Northern Greece in order to reconstruct aspects of past human activities as a function of both space and time. The analyses of phytolith assemblages were based on a reference collection of modern plant phytoliths, as well as an ethnographic study in an agropastoral community (Sarakini) in the same area that showed that many phytolith assemblages are characteristic of the activities carried out in different locations within and around the village.

Of stamps, loom weights and spindle whorls: Contextual evidence on the function(s) of Neolithic stamps from Ulucak, İzmir, Turkey

Çiler Çilingiroğlu Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22.1 (2009): 3-27.

This study discusses the function(s) of Neolithic stamps and their designs by using two different lines of evidence. The function of the artifact itself is considered by using contextual information from the Neolithic site of Ulucak Höyük, located in the vicinity of İzmir in western Turkey. It will be argued that the co-occurrence of stamps with objects related to textile manufacturing – e.g. bone needles, spindle whorls and loom weights – at Ulucak allows us to interpret their function as stamps to make patterns, among other cultural media, on woven fabrics.

Considering living-beings in the Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus

Paula Louise Jones Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22.1 (2009): 75-99.

This paper seeks to provide an alternative perspective on the portrayal of as exclusively ‘resources’ in the existing archaeological literature; it also re examines the relationships between humans and non-human animals in the Early Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus.

The construction of Mycenaean Tholoi

Maria Teresa Como Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History, Cottbus, (May 2009): 385-392.

The masonry dome, vaulted by means of the corbelling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, characterizes the Mycenaean tholos. The results, achieved researching the way by which the ‘Treasury of Atreus’ dome performs the actual condition of equilibrium and through the compilation of a complete survey, pointed out the display of the true-dome behaviour.

Mesolithic sites and surveys in Greece: A case study from the southern Argolid

Curtis Runnels Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22.1 (2009): 57-73.

Regional surveys in Greece have only rarely identified Mesolithic sites, which consist typically of small, unobtrusive scatters of microlithic artifacts. Recently, a site location model was used along with targeted surveys to identify Mesolithic sites in the Argolid, Epirus, and the Sporades, and the results suggest that the Mesolithic may have been overlooked in some early surveys because, in part, the characteristic features of Mesolithic assemblages were unknown at the time.

Tsunami waves generated by the Santorini eruption reached eastern Mediterranean shores

Beverly N. Goodman-Tchernov, Hendrik W. Dey, Eduard G. Reinhardt, Floyd McCoy & Yossi Mart Geology 37 (2009): 943-946.

A sedimentary deposit on the continental shelf off Caesarea Maritima, Israel, is identified, dated, and attributed to tsunami waves produced during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1630–1550 B.C.) eruption of Santorini, Greece. The sheet-like deposit was found as a layer as much as 40 cm thick in four cores collected from 10 to 20 m water depths. Particle-size distribution, planar bedding, shell taphoecoensis, dating (radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence, and pottery), and comparison of the horizon to more recent tsunamigenic layers distinguish it from normal storm and typical marine conditions across a wide (>1 km2) lateral area.

Palaeolithic industries from the island of Gavdos, near neighbour to Crete in Greece

Katerina Kopaka & Christos Matzanas Antiquity 83.321 (September 2009): online article

Gavdos lies in the Libyan Sea, approximately 21 nautical miles (nm) off the closest south-west Cretan shores and is the south-easternmost European territory before Africa - Libya/Tobruk is c. 160nm away. This is an easily targeted landfall of almost 33km², with an irregular terrain, rising up to 368m. The island offers anchorages along the north, east and south coasts. North of Gavdos is a stepping stone, Gavdopoula (Little Gavdos).