Stone Age Seafaring in the Mediterranean: Evidence from the Plakias Region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Habitation of Crete

Strasser, Thomas F.; Panagopoulou, Eleni; Runnels, Curtis; Murray, Priscilla; Thompson, Nicholas; Karkanas, Panagiotis; McCoy, Floyd W.; Wegmann, Karl W.

doi:10.2972/hesp.79.2.145

Cited by 138 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A series of unstratified sites discovered during survey work also belongs to this group: from south Epirus (Runnels et al 1999;Runnels and van Andel 2003); in the River Kokytos valley in Thesprotia (Tourloukis and Palli 2009;Forsén 2011;Galanidou 2011); and 15 caves in the coastal region of Kandia in the Argolid (Runnels et al 2005). Last but not least, many more island sites of a presumed Mesolithic date are reported for Gavdos (Kopaka and Matranas 2009), Plakias on Grete (Strasser et al 2010), Kythnos (Sampson et al 2010: 65-67) and Ikaria (Sampson 2007). During my recent fieldwork on Thilia and Meganisi, two islands in the internal Ionian Sea Archipelago between Lefkas and Aetoloakarnania (Galanidou 2010), and on the southeast coast of Grete in three findspots in the vicinity of Moni Kapsa, I have identified distinctive stone industries of a presumed early Holocene date.…”

Section: The Mesolithic Cave Record Augmentedmentioning

confidence: 86%

Mesolithic Cave Use in Greece and the Mosaic of Human Communities

Galanidou

2011

JMA

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This paper discusses the Greek Mesolithic record in the light of refinements to the international calibration curve and recent archaeological research. Gentral to the discussion are the timefiame used for this period of Greek prehistory, and the diagnostic potential, or visibility, of Mesolithic stone tools. Rather than offering a comprehensive account of Mesolithic sites across Greece, this study focuses on a few known cave sites in the northwest, in order to bring out some less pronounced aspects of their material record. Close and comparative examination of their radiocarbon dates, and traits of continuity and change in the lithic industries, highlights a regional pattern. At some sites, occupation extended into the Holocene, but there is little or no contrast to the preceding, late Upper Palaeolithic technological traditions. A working hypothesis to account for the geographic, temporal and cultural diversity of early Holocene sites and finds in Greece is thus spelled out. It is proposed that the Greek Mesolithic record is the manifestation of a mosaic of human groups, of different origins and cultural traditions, subsisting on a variety of resources and living in different regions, at different times and seasons ofthe early Holocene.

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Section: The Mesolithic Cave Record Augmentedmentioning

confidence: 86%

Mesolithic Cave Use in Greece and the Mosaic of Human Communities

Galanidou

2011

JMA

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“…In the Mediterranean, there have been claims of humans reaching Crete at around 130,000 BP (Runnels 2014;Strasser et al 2010) and the island of Kefallinia around 110,000 BP (Ferentinos et al 2012), but these reports are controversial (e.g., Galanidou 2014;Leppard 2014). There seems to be mounting evidence for seagoing during the Upper Palaeolithic (Broodbank 2014), and this activity undoubtedly accelerated at the end of the Pleistocene and in the early Holocene (Broodbank 2013:109-147;Fernández et al 2014;Paschou et al 2014).…”

Section: Introduction: Early Seafaring and Island Colonizationmentioning

confidence: 95%

Neolithic Voyages to Cyprus: Wind Patterns, Routes, and Mechanisms

Mayer

Kahanov

Roskin

et al. 2015

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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Recent archaeological evidence from Cyprus shows that humans first arrived on the island at around 12,000 calibrated years BP. Visits to Cyprus intensified and resulted in settlement of the island during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A beginning around 11,000 cal BP. Later occupations of the Cypro Pre Pottery Neolithic B from around 10,500 to 9000 cal BP are more numerous and testify to intensive connections with the mainland. Cyprus as an island could have been reached only by seafaring. We examined the possible routes for sailing from the mainland to Cyprus and back to better understand the relationship between the island and the mainland during these periods. The factors that were examined were: sea level; options of available watercraft; sea conditions and currents; navigational skills; sailing routes; and prevailing seasonal and diurnal wind regimes. Because the present wind pattern is understood to generally resemble that of the Terminal Pleistocene pattern, it is suggested that the optimal sailing route and season from the mainland to Cyprus by Neolithic navigators was from southern Turkey between April and October. A passage westward or northwestward from the Levant coast to the southern coast of Cyprus cannot be ruled out. Their return trip was from the east or southeast of Cyprus to the Levant coast. This counter-clockwise Neolithic sailing pattern to Cyprus enabled permanent human settlement of the island and contacts with the mainland.

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“…Looking at the the western Aegean, there is new research producing much sought evidence on the Early Holocene foragers (Sampson 2005;Strasser et al 2010;Reingruber 2011.296). Yet the best sequence of events encompassing the time period in question still comes from the Franchthi Cave in southern Argolid.…”

Section: The Pre-neolithic Background In West Turkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards configuring the neolithisation of Aegean Turkey

Çilingiroğlu

Çakırlar

2013

Doc. praeh.

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Increasing field work in the ̇Izmir region has produced much sought tangible evidence about the ways in which food-producing communities emerged in the Aegean. Focusing on the archaeological and zooarchaeological data from Ulucak and neighboring sites, the authors discuss the possible mechanisms of initial farmer-herder dispersals into the region. The authors stress that the lack of pre-Neolithic strata in the eastern Aegean impedes a full understanding of forager-farmer interactions in the early Holocene.

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Stone Age Seafaring in the Mediterranean: Evidence from the Plakias Region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Habitation of Crete

Cited by 138 publications

References 29 publications

Mesolithic Cave Use in Greece and the Mosaic of Human Communities

Mesolithic Cave Use in Greece and the Mosaic of Human Communities

Neolithic Voyages to Cyprus: Wind Patterns, Routes, and Mechanisms

Towards configuring the neolithisation of Aegean Turkey

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