Late Quaternary History of the Coastal Zone near Franchthi Cave, Southern Argolid, Greece

Andel, Tjeerd H. van; Jacobsen, T. W.; Jolly, Jon B.; Lianos, Nikolaos

doi:10.2307/529518

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Almost everywhere the seismic profiler achieved penetration to bedrock or to a strong, smooth reflector representing the late Quaternary emerged coastal plain Lianos, 1983, 1984). Seaward, this strong alluvial reflector terminates against thinbedded marine slope deposits marking the late glacial shore at about -120 m. The Holocene transgressive sediments above the alluvial and bedrock surfaces are generally less than 2 m thick except in Koiladha Bay where they reach 5 m ( van Andel et al, 1980).…”

Section: Reconstruction Of Past Shore Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric shore environments, shellfish availability, and shellfish gathering at Franchthi, Greece

Shackleton

Andel

1986

Geoarchaeology

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People who exploit marine resources choose among them according to technological, economic, and social considerations. Prehistoric selectivity in their exploitation has often been postulated, but can be established only by comparing the archaeological record with an estimate of the kinds and quantities available in the environments ofthe time. Only then can those factors be considered that might have influenced their choice, a subject which is the domain of the archaeologist.In Franchthi Cave, a thick Upper Paleolithic through Neolithic sequence (ca. 23,000-5000 yrs B.P.) of occupational deposits has been excavated. As might be expected at a site now only a few meters from the sea, this sequence has yielded ample evidence for the use of marine resources, though only from ca. 11,000 B.P. onward. Moreover, the marine molluscan record exhibits drastic changes in composition over time, implying either major variation in availability or selective collecting.A marine geophysical study supplemented by an examination of present shore environments in the area has permitted the reconstruction of the changing coastal environments since ca. 20,000 B.P., thus providing an estimate of the probably available shellfish resources. Comparison with the molluscan assemblages found in the cave demonstrates that only during the latest Paleolithic and most of the Neolithic were the collected shellfish reasonably representative of what should have been available in the area. At other times the inhabitants made highly specialized, seemingly idiosyncratic choices from the spectrum of available species.

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Section: Reconstruction Of Past Shore Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric shore environments, shellfish availability, and shellfish gathering at Franchthi, Greece

Shackleton

Andel

1986

Geoarchaeology

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Human and climatic impact on late Quaternary deposition in the Sparta Basin Piedmont: Evidence from alluvial fan systems

Pope

Wilkinson²,

Millington

2003

Geoarchaeology

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The evolution of four alluvial fans in the Evrotas Valley, southern Greece, was examined using a combination of geomorphological and sedimentological techniques. Source material for the fans is derived largely from the Taygetos Mountains, and thus the fan deposits provide proxy evidence for erosion of upland landscapes. Stratigraphic sequences exposed in the fanhead trenches suggest a progressive change in depositional style down-fan. Within the St. Johns, North Anogia, and North Xilocambi fans, debris flow deposits are gradually replaced by graveldominated hyperconcentrated flow deposits and then fine-grained hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Within the Kalivia Sokas fan, gravel-dominated hyperconcentrated flow deposits give way to fine-grained hyperconcentrated flow deposits, and finally to fluvial gravels. Mineral magnetic studies combined with thermoluminescence dating suggest that sedimentation also occurred over a similar time scale. Deposition cycles during the late Pleistocene appear to be climatically driven, with proximal and medial fan segments developing during stadial phases of the Riss/Wü rm and Wü rm, respectively. Distal segments aggraded during the Holocene. During interstadial episodes of the late Pleistocene, fan entrenchment occurred. Holocene accretion is likely to be related to human activity and appears to be concentrated in the early/middle Helladic and the Hellenistic periods, when population levels, indicated by increased numbers of archaeological sites, were rising. ᭧

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Water, Animals and Agricultural Technology: A Study of Settlement Patterns and Economic Change in Neolithic Southern Greece

Johnson

1996

Oxford J Archaeology

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This study, based on evidence from archaeological surveys and excavations in southern Greece, demonstrates two major shifts in the subsistence economy during the Neolithic. I n the EN and MN periods the presence of large villages in locations near reliable water-sources and permanently moist or seasonally flooded soils of high and sustained productivity illustrates a village farming economy concentrating on arable agriculture. The first economic shift occurred in the late MN-LN with occupation of highland caves and islands, indicating increased sheep/goat pastoralism, fishing, and perhaps hunting, with a reduced number of farming villages present in the plains. The second shift took place in the FN-EBA, when a dispersal of agricultural settlements into dry upland regions indicates expanding plough agriculture and pastoralism, important factors contributing to the development of the flourishing EBA economy. The expansion of settlement was most marked in southeastern Greece, and it is suggested here that the extensive grazing areas provided by the open vegetation and mountainous terrain of this dry region, and its relative scarcity of wellwatered fertile lowlands, may have stimulated the LN-FN expansion of pastoralism.

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Late Quaternary History of the Coastal Zone near Franchthi Cave, Southern Argolid, Greece

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Prehistoric shore environments, shellfish availability, and shellfish gathering at Franchthi, Greece

Prehistoric shore environments, shellfish availability, and shellfish gathering at Franchthi, Greece

Human and climatic impact on late Quaternary deposition in the Sparta Basin Piedmont: Evidence from alluvial fan systems

Water, Animals and Agricultural Technology: A Study of Settlement Patterns and Economic Change in Neolithic Southern Greece

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