Archaic Hominins on Crete: Fact or fiction?

Nena Galanidou Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 27.2 (2014), 260-267

Από την εισαγωγή (στα Αγγλικά)

The prehistory of Greece begins in the Middle Pleistocene, with compelling Lower Palaeolithic (LP) evidence coming from its north. HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS lived around the Petralona Cave in Macedonia, a significant Acheulean presence is known at Rodafnidia on Lesvos, and a very few Large Cutting Tools originate from Kokkinopilos in Epirus and Palaiokastro in west Macedonia. The pebble-core industrial tradition has been claimed for a few sites, but is not unequivocally accepted. The story continues into the Upper Pleistocene, with a robust signal of two more large-brained hominins, H. NEANDERTHALENSIS and H. SAPIENS, whose material culture is found in both cave and open-air sites. Judging by the palaeonthropological remains, the presence of earlier (at Apidima) and classic (at the caves of Kalamakia and Lakonis I) Neanderthals shows a well-established Neanderthal population in the Mani Peninsula. Archaeologically, Neanderthals are visible in many upland and lowland corners of mainland Greece and in the majority of the Ionian Sea islands. Although one cannot assert that these three species were the only hominins who lived in Palaeolithic Greece, the discussion of an archaic hominin presence on Crete, the core theme of Runnels’ and Leppard’s papers, is more productive if guided by the existing evidence, rather than by a speculative chain of reasoning based on H. ERECTUS roaming Greek waters.