Evoikos Gulf in Central Greece has undergone substantial neotectonic and volcanic activity as well as sea level changes since at least the Early Quaternary. Hence, the establishment of a chronological framework during which environmental events took place is essential not only for understanding the geodynamic evolution of the area but also useful for forecasting impacts on vulnerable shorelines. Littoral sediments frequently encode coastal palaeoenvironmental changes, be it tectonic or eustatic. The ultimate purpose of this research is the investigation of the palaeoenvironmental events that affected the coasts of Evoikos Gulf during the Quaternary by taking advantage of luminescence dating. Here, we present preliminary results from a range of luminescence dating techniques, namely conventional Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), Isothermal Thermoluminescence (ITL) from quartz and post-infrared Infrared Stimulated Luminescence (p-IRIRSL) from feldspars. Despite the abundance of quartz found in samples collected, natural luminescence signals using both OSL and ITL were found to be close to saturation while the obtained Equivalent Dose (De) values were broadly scattered, thus perplexing the accurate calculation of luminescence ages. Conversely, the use of p-IRIRSL at 290°C (PIRIR290) from feldspars, as an alternative to quartz luminescence dating, was proven more suitable as it demonstrated much higher saturation levels. Strikingly, the PIRIR290 methodology produced ages that go back to the later part of the Middle Pleistocene. It is to be noted here that it is the first time that such old luminescence ages have been reported for Greek coastal sediments. This paper presents preliminary luminescence dating results with special focus on the performance of the PIRIR290 methodology. Palaeoenvironmental implications of the obtained PIRIR290 ages are also discussed.
The development of an advanced stone-working technology in the Aegean Bronze Age is suggested by the putative Mycenaean pendulum saw. This device seems to have been used to cut through hard sedimentary rock at a number of sites on the Greek mainland and, according to some scholars, also in central Anatolia. As no pendulum saws are preserved in the archaeological record, understanding the machine relies on preserved tool marks and experimental research. This paper presents the results of stone-cutting experiments conducted with a modern reconstruction of a pendulum saw. The research investigates blade shape, size, design and the mechanics of the device, while questioning the accuracy of earlier reconstructions.
The image-based discourse on clay figurines that treated them as merely artistic representations, the meaning of which needs to be deciphered through various iconological methods, has been severely critiqued and challenged in the past decade. This discourse, however, has largely shaped the way that figurines are depicted in archaeological iterations and publications, and it is this corpus of images that has in turn shaped further thinking and discussion on figurines, especially since very few people are able to handle the original, three-dimensional, physical objects. Building on the changing intellectual climate in figurine studies, we propose here a framework that treats figurines as multi-sensorial, affective and dynamic objects, acting within distinctive, relational fields of sensoriality. Furthermore, we situate a range of digital, computational methods within this framework in an attempt to deprive them of their latent Cartesianism and mentalism, and we demonstrate how we have applied them to the study of Neolithic figurines from the site of Koutroulou Magoula in Greece. We argue that such methodologies, situated within an experiential framework, not only provide new means of understanding, interpretation and dissemination, but, most importantly, enable researchers and the public to explore the sensorial affordances and affective potential of things, in the past as well as in the present.
A persistent issue with the study of Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600–1100 BCE) chamber tombs in Mainland Greece remains our limited understanding of the factors that governed the choice of location for their construction. Mee and Cavanagh (1990) examined various parameters, such as religious beliefs, distance from settlement, the tombs’ use as territorial markers or relation to roads. They remained, however, inconclusive. The present study revisits this theme, but focuses on one of the factors formerly discussed, that is the relation of the tombs’ locations to roads. As the most extensive record of Mycenaean roads is preserved at the settlement of Mycenae in the Argolid and its hinterland, this site is considered to be the best case-study for analysis. In order to ascertain the significance of roads on the locations chosen for the chamber tombs, this paper builds a methodological approach that makes use of GIS-based mobility analysis and historical cartography. The analysis has shown that, at least at Mycenae, issues of accessibility to the tombs did not play as crucial role as the actual performance of rituals such as the funerary procession. It also sheds light on the form funerary processions probably took at Mycenae and on common notions of wheeled traffic use for the transfer of the dead to their tomb.
In 1887 King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway donated 18 ancient objects ‘that had been given to him by Schliemann’ to the then Ethnographical Museum (now the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo). In this, his very last article, the late Axel Seeberg wrote about these objects and discussed the descriptions and the provenances given to them in the first museum inventory list. Many of the objects have already been published (some of them in CVA Norway 1), but not all. Here, the donation is presented in full for the first time. Some of the vases may have been acquired (not excavated) by Heinrich Schliemann in the years 1880/81, during his archaeological activities at Orchomenos. Others may have been bought in the Athenian art market. To the list is added a Tanagra figurine bought by the Norwegian archaeologist, Ingvald Undset, in Athens in 1883 , when he traveled around Greece and visited the town where Heinrich Schliemann was staying.
This paper intends to document how an assemblage of 177 archaeological objects excavated in Troy in the nineteenth century became entangled within the historical circumstances of the era and Heinrich Schliemann’s continuous social movement. The circumstances that led to the donation of this Trojan collection of antiquities by Sophia Schliemann to the Smithsonian Institution in 1893 and the earlier background of the story shed light to the protagonists of this historical event, namely Heinrich Schliemann, the U.S. journalist Kate Field and the U.S. diplomat Truxtun Beale. The story of the movement of the artifacts from the Troas, to Greece and, ultimately, to Washington DC is mostly based on archival research. The paper also explores how facets of Schliemann’s archaeological conduct were enhanced by universal social aspects of modernity, such as the connection with capital and the use of the public sphere profile. It also discusses how the donation of the Trojan collection attracted media attention by making an appeal to the late nineteenth˗century American antiquarianism and, eventually, made the archaeology of the distant Troas — at that point a part of the Ottoman Empire — a subject of public interest for the Americans. Ultimately, the Smithsonian ‘Schliemann Collection’ acquired some form of agency fostering future research and providing the foundations for American involvement in the exploration of Aegean prehistory in the twentieth century, mainly through Carl Blegen’s excavations.
The study presents the combined results of wood charcoal and phytolith analysis at Alepotrypa Cave, southern Peloponnese, Greece. The cave preserves rich cultural remains (hearth and floor constructions, pits and platforms, human bone scatters, massive quantities of fine pottery, lithic artefacts and ornaments) spanning the late Early to the Final Neolithic. The studied macro and micro-remains come from two distinct areas of the cave, the anterior chamber (close to the entrance of the cave) and the interior chambers (including a small fresh water lake), which, as has been suggested by several lines of evidence (analyses of cultural remains, human bones and micromorphology), were used for domestic and ritualistic purposes respectively. The aim of this study is two-fold: a) to investigate the local vegetation, and woodland management, b) to understand the use of plants and use of space along the habitation history of the cave exploring the possibility of a domestic setting for the anterior chamber and a ritualistic one for the interior. Wood charcoal and phytolith analyses support the two modes of usage; different fuel types in the hearths of the interior and anterior chambers of the cave along with different activities are documented. The anterior preserves well prepared clay floors and platforms with some cereal remains indicating light processing or consumption. The hearths in this area were fed with leafy branches from the open vegetation of the surrounding rocky slopes that included various scrub plants and scattered drought-resistant trees. Through time and probably as a response to increased demand due to more frequent and longer-lasting use of the cave, Neolithic people expanded their fuel-procurement activities to nearby evergreen woodland and deciduous oak thickets. By contrast the interior preserves evidence of ritualistic activities supported by the use of selected types of fuel, i.e. composted sheep dung along with firewood from scrub vegetation and small diameter wood of Fabaceae, Cistus sp. and Phillyrea/Rhamnus alaternus. The excellent burning qualities of composted dung and the ease of transportation of such material as well as of the small size firewood would explain their preferential use in the interior chambers where access was exceptionally difficult. Nevertheless, the slow-burning glow and smell of dung under the light of Pinus nigra resinous wood torches may have enhanced the powerfully evocative atmosphere of the interior chambers serving ritual purposes.
Wood charcoal macroremains originating from the archaeological site of Akrotiri, Thera (Greece) have been analyzed. The results obtained suggest the existence of thermophilous vegetation on the island from the Early Cycladic period right up to the catastrophic eruption of the volcano in the Late Cycladic I period. The comparative evaluation of the results gained from this study and the previous ones indicates that during the Early Cycladic period an open Pinus type brutia/halepensis (Cyprus/Aleppo pine) forest prevailed on the island, accompanied by maquis vegetation. From the Middle Cycladic period and onwards a shift towards open maquis vegetation is observed. At the same time, species which could suggest arboriculture predominated, such as Olea europaea (olive trees) followed by Punica granatum (pomegranates) and Prunus amygdalus (almond trees). Furthermore, the recovery of moisture demanding species, like Quercus type evergreen (evergreen oak), evidences wetter conditions on the island than previously thought. Finally, the finding of Pinus type nigra/sylvestris (Black/Scots pine) adds one more species to the list of non-endemic taxa found on the island and further affirms the import of wood to the site and its commercial connections with the Peloponnese and Euboea.
The Palaeolithic record of Greece remains highly fragmented and discontinuous in both space and time. Nevertheless, new surveys and excavations, along with the revisiting of known sites or old collections, and the conduction of lithic and faunal laboratory analyses, have altogether enriched the Greek Palaeolithic dataset with important new evidence and novel interpretations. The goal of this paper is threefold: 1) to critically review the most important aspects of the Greek Pleistocene archaeological record, from the Lower to the Upper Palaeolithic; 2) to provide a synthesis of current knowledge about the Palaeolithic of Greece and in the framework of broader discussions in human evolution research; and 3) to put in prospect the Greek record by addressing a research agenda for the future. The review of the evidence shows that Palaeolithic research in Greece has expanded its focus not only geographically but also temporally: it now includes investigations at previously under-studied areas, such as the insular settings of the Aegean and Ionian Seas, as well as formerly overlooked targets, such as Lower Palaeolithic open-air sites. The synthesis and discussion which follows offers a state-of-the-art perspective on how the primary Palaeolithic data can be assessed within local or regional geomorphic, paleoenvironmental and chronological contexts; here, our focus is on spatio-temporal discontinuities, trends in subsistence strategies and lithic technology, as well as potentially emerging biogeographical patterns. Finally, we highlight the complex topography and mosaic landscapes of the Greek peninsula in order to address two major themes for a future research agenda: the potential role of Greece as a glacial refugium, and how the Greek record could contribute to our knowledge of early hominin mobility patterns.
Intensive archaeobotanical research in northern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean regions over the last two decades has demonstrated an extensive spectrum of domestic and wild plants consumed by Neolithic communities. However, macrobotanical remains are seldom associated with the artefact in which they were cooked, and therefore we know the list of ingredients but not what ingredients were cooked together or how were they cooked. By focusing on remains recovered from cooking vessels, this paper explores the culinary practices of the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement at Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece) through combined starch grain and phytolith analyses from charred food crusts adhering to the inner walls of 17 late Middle and early Late Neolithic vessels (ca. 5600-5000 cal. BC). The results show that the food represented by burnt remains included domestic wheat(s) and lentils, as well as weedy Setaria sp. and other wild plants. The presence of Setaria weeds suggests high soil fertility and disturbed growing conditions. These results further indicate that the inhabitants of different areas of the settlement had differential access to food resources (more vs. less valued food), which might be related to a) different types of meals being prepared in separated areas of the site, or b) different preferences or economic status of its inhabitants expressed through culinary practices. Further research at Stavroupoli and other contemporary sites will help to unravel the role of food in shaping social identity and human-environment interactions in the Neolithic northern Aegean.
The emergence of agriculture in Greece denotes the start of the Neolithic in Europe, however, little is known about dietary practices in the region. Archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains indicate reliance on cereals and pulses, together with meat-based subsistence practices, including sheep/goat and pig husbandry. Preliminary investigations of dietary practices obtained through lipid residue analysis of pottery of a small number of sites in the region have confirmed primarily carcass products were processed. The weak evidence for dairy products contrasts with finding of dairy-based subsistence strategies in NW Anatolia, which is surprising given its close proximity. This paper aims to build on this earlier work to provide a more detailed model for the dietary changes throughout the region, both chronologically and spatially. To achieve this >900 potsherds from 11 sites spanning the Early (EN) to Late Neolithic (LN) periods from the north of Greece have been investigated using the lipid biomarker approach involving high temperature-gas chromatography (HT-GC), GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-combustion-isotope ratio MS (GC-C-IRMS) to determine the nature and origins of organic residues preserved in the fabric of pottery vessels. Lipid residue analysis of pottery vessels revealed ruminant and non-ruminant carcass fats comprise the majority of animal fat types identified, reflecting the high abundance of sheep/goat and pig in faunal assemblages. The emergence of dairying in northern Greece can now be dated to the site of EN/Middle Neolithic (MN) Ritini (5900/5700 – 5500 cal. B.C.E.), however, the frequency of dairy fat residues was low, overall, indicating that dairying was not intensively practised. The δ13C values of the fatty acids extracted from potsherds reflect a predominately C3 diet, however, in the EN and MN there is greater variation with some lipids exhibiting enriched δ13C values indicating a significant abundance of C4 plants in the ecosystem(s) covered by the study. Significantly, plant-derived n-alkanes (C22 to C34) detected in pottery vessels provide the first evidence for plant processing identified in lipid residues from ceramic vessels in Neolithic northern Greece, supporting the abundant archaeobotanical evidence for the processing of cereals and pulses.
The open-air settlement of Revenia-Korinou has yielded the largest Early Neolithic (7th millennium BC) faunal assemblage to date from Greece. The assemblage, recovered from numerous pits, is heavily dominated by domestic sheep, goats, pigs and cattle. Here we focus on the evidence for butchery and consumption of animals, to explore how carcass products were cooked (in the absence of cooking pots) and what if any role they played in commensal politics. Evidence for dismembering and filleting is sparse, implying butchery of domestic animal carcasses into large segments (including more or less complete limbs) for cooking, apparently in ovens or pits rather than on open fires. Subsequently limb bones were intensively smashed to extract marrow and probably grease, perhaps by boiling in organic containers. Dismembering, filleting and marrow extraction were most intensive for cattle, but bone grease was more systematically exploited in the case of sheep/goats, implying differences between taxa in contexts of consumption.
Significant differences between pits in taxonomic composition and the incidence of gnawing and burning suggest that each represents short-term and/or localized discard, perhaps by a small residential group. Within individual pits, matching unfused diaphyses and epiphyses and joins between fragments broken in antiquity confirm rapid burial, but bones separated by dismembering seem to have been dispersed across the settlement before discard. The distribution of carcass products, both cooked and uncooked, played a role in shaping relationships between small residential units and the wider community at Early Neolithic Revenia-Korinou.
In recent years, archaeological, archaeozoological and population genetic studies have increasingly converged on a southwest Asian origin for the four Neolithic farm animals: cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. The power of ancient DNA studies lies in the possibility of tracking the genetic traces of major demographic processes, such as domestication itself and subsequent migration, at their spatiotemporal sources. In doing so, they are bypassing more recent events, which may have blurred ancient signals until the point of disappearance. Past ancient DNA studies have mostly relied on a single, powerful and – even for degraded ancient samples – easily accessible genetic marker: the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). For example, mtDNA studies have allowed for a correlation of genetic diversity patterns with Neolithic expansion routes and to infer ancestral population sizes at the domestication origin for cattle, and to detect evidence for hybridisation between imported domesticated and local wild populations in pigs. However, novel technologies that enable high-throughput sequencing of entire genomes have revolutionised the field of ancient DNA research. The continuously growing field of palaeogenomics is now able to address detailed questions about past population dynamics, including the complex history of population admixture and selection. This article will outline the potential of ancient DNA data gained from traditional and high-throughput sequencing technologies, and how they contribute to present and future domestication research.
Investigation of the incipience of agriculture in Greece employing archaeobotanical remains is a challenging field of inquiry, aiming at gaining insights into the complex socio-economic transformations that gradually shaped the way of Neolithic life. Yet, primary archaeobotanical evidence dating to the 7th and early 6th millennium BCE from Greece still remains scarce and, to a certain degree, incomplete as regards the kind of information it can provide. This paper forms anew an approach to explore aspects of early agricultural practices in Greece on the basis of plant macroremains. The aim is to set the Mesolithic background against which the Early Neolithic archaeobotanical dataset is then fully reviewed. In doing so we first introduce new Mesolithic and early Neolithic data (Theopetra in Thessaly, and Revenia and Paliambela in Macedonia) and we then provide a critical overview of all other sites in Greece dated to these periods, to ultimately set new ‘seeds’ for future research on the incipience of agriculture in the area.
Resinous and tarry materials have been valuable commodities since prehistory as their widespread use for numerous purposes indicates, but remain largely neglected by archaeological research, in part due to their poor preservation and the need for chemical analyses to identify them. This paper explores the use of these plant exudates in northern Greece and the Balkans during the Early and Middle Holocene with the aim of documenting the production and use of tarry materials and the exploitation of woodland resources. To this end tarry material found on pottery from 10 neolithic settlements located in North Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, spanning the Early to Late Neolithic periods (7th to 5th millennia BC), were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and identified using the biomarker approach. Data from analysis of wood charcoal found at Neolithic sites together with the pollen record have also been considered in order to assess the availability of raw materials to local populations. The results of biomolecular analysis show that birch-bark tar was almost exclusively used by Neolithic communities located in the Balkan hinterland, while a more complex picture arises for the northern Aegean area. Here, in addition to the predominant birch-bark tar, pine resin and pitch have also been identified as well as beeswax. The pollen and anthracological record suggest that birch existed in northern Greece and the Balkans hinterland during the Early Holocene, but must have been restricted to the uplands. Procurement of raw material may have taken place, therefore, at some distances from the settlements, involving the movement of people and raw materials or final products within the wider region. Chemical analysis provides evidence for variability in the production of tarry materials between settlements in northern Greece, while in the Balkan interior tar-making appears to have followed a more standardised recipe.