ANKARA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTER FOR MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY (ANKÜSAM) Publication No: 1

Proceedings of the International Symposium

The Aegean in the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age

October 13th – 19th 1997, Urla - İzmir (Turkey)

Edited by

Hayat Erkanal, Harald Hauptmann, Vasıf Şahoğlu, Rıza Tuncel

Ankara • 2008 ANKARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ / ANKARA UNIVERSITY SUALTI ARKEOLOJİK ARAŞTIRMA ve UYGULAMA MERKEZİ (ANKÜSAM) RESEARCH CENTER FOR MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY (ANKÜSAM) Yayın No / Publication No: 1

Ön kapak: İzmir - Höyücek’de ele geçmiş insan yüzü tasvirli bir stel. M.Ö. 3. Bin. Front cover: A stelae depicting a human face from İzmir - Höyücek . 3rd Millennium BC. Arka kapak: Liman Tepe Erken Tunç Çağı II, Atnalı Biçimli Bastiyon. Back cover: Early Bronze Age II horse-shoe shaped bastion at Liman Tepe.

Kapak Tasarımı / Cover Design : Vasıf Şahoğlu

ISBN: 978-975-482-767-5

Ankara Üniversitesi Basımevi / Ankara University Press İncitaşı Sokak No:10 06510 Beşevler / ANKARA Tel: 0 (312) 213 66 55 Basım Tarihi: 31 / 03 / 2008

CONTENTS

Abbreviations …………………………………………………………………………………...... xi Preface by the Editors ………………………………………………………………………………… xiii Opening speech by the Mayor, Bülent BARATALI …...……………………………………………...... xxiii Opening speech by Prof. Dr. Ekrem AKURGAL ……………………………………...... xxv Opening speech by Prof. Dr. Christos DOUMAS……………………………………………………….. xxvii

LILIAN ACHEILARA Myrina in Prehistoric Times …..……………………………………………………………. 1

VASSILIKI ADRIMI – SISMANI Données Récentes Concernant Le Site Prehistorique De Dimini: La Continuité de l’Habitation Littorale depuis le Début du Néolithique Récent jusqu’à la Fin du Bronze Ancien ……………………………………………………………………………… 9

IOANNIS ASLANIS Frühe Fortifikationssysteme in Griechenland ………………………………………………. 35

PANAGIOTA AYGERINOU A Flaked-Stone Industry from Mytilene: A Preliminary Report …………………………… 45

ANTHI BATZIOU – EFSTATHIOU Kastraki: A New Bronze Age Settlement in Achaea Phthiotis …………………………….. 73

MARIO BENZI A Forgotten Island: Kalymnos in the Late Neolithic Period ……………………………….. 85

ÖNDER BİLGİ Relations between İkiztepe by the Black Sea Coast and the Aegean World before Iron Age ……………………………………………………………………………... 109

TRISTAN CARTER Cinnabar and the Cyclades: Body modification and Political Structure in the Late EB I Southern Cyclades ………………………………………………………...... 119

CHRISTOS DOUMAS The Aegean Islands and their Role in the Developement of Civilisation …………...... 131

ANTHI DOVA Prehistoric Topography of Lemnos: The Early Bronze Age ………………………………. 141

NIKOS EFSTRATIOU The Neolithic of the Aegean Islands: A New Picture Emerging …………………...... 159

HAYAT ERKANAL Die Neue Forschungen in Bakla Tepe bei İzmir ..…………………………………………. 165

HAYAT ERKANAL Liman Tepe: A New Light on the Prehistoric Aegean Cultures …………………………… 179

JEANNETTE FORSÉN The Asea Valley from the Neolithic Period to the Early Bronze Age ……………...... 191

DAVID H. FRENCH Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Pottery of Southwest Anatolia ………………...... 197 viii Contents

NOEL GALE Metal Sources for Early Bronze Age Troy and the Aegean ………………………...... 203

BARTHEL HROUDA Zur Chronologie Südwestkleinasiens in der 2. Hälfte des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr ...... 223

HALİME HÜRYILMAZ 1996 Rettungsgrabungen auf dem Yenibademli Höyük, Gökçeada / Imbros …………….. 229

ERGUN KAPTAN Metallurgical Residues from Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Liman Tepe …………………………………………………………………………...... 243

ANNA KARABATSOLI and LIA KARIMALI Etude Comparative Des Industries Lithiques Taillées Du Néolithique Final Et Du Bronze Ancien Egéen : Le Cas De Pefkakia ………………………………………….. 251

NECMİ KARUL Flechtwerkgabäude aus Osttrakien ……………………………………………………….. 263

SİNAN KILIÇ The Early Bronze Age Pottery from Northwest Turkey in Light of Results of a Survey around the Marmara Sea ………………………………………………………….. 275

OURANIA KOUKA Zur Struktur der frühbronzezeitlichen insularen Gesellschaften der Nord- und Ostägäis: Ein neues Bild der sogenannten “Trojanischen Kultur”…………….. 285

NINA KYPARISSI – APOSTOLIKA Some Finds of Balkan (or Anatolian) Type in the Neolithic Deposit of Theopetra Cave, Thessaly …………………………………………………………………. 301

LAURA LABRIOLA First Impressions: A Preliminary Account of Matt Impressed Pottery in the Prehistoric Aegean ………………………………………………………………………… 309

ROBERT LAFFINEUR Aspects of Early Bronze Age Jewellery in the Aegean …………………………………… 323

KYRIAKOS LAMBRIANIDES and NIGEL SPENCER The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean ……………………………………………………...... 333

YUNUS LENGERANLI Metallic Mineral Deposits and Occurences of the Izmir District, Turkey ………………… 355

EFTALIA MAKRI – SKOTINIOTI and VASSILIKI ADRIMI – SISMANI Les Sites Du Neolithique Recent Dans Le Golfe Pagasetique : La Transformation Des Sites De L’age De Bronze En Sites Urbains (Le Cas De Dimini) ……………………. 369

ELSA NIKOLAOU, VASSO RONDIRI and LIA KARIMALI Magoula Orgozinos: A Neolithic Site in Western Thessaly, Greece ………………………. 387

EMEL OYBAK and CAHİT DOĞAN Plant Remains from Liman Tepe and Bakla Tepe in the İzmir Region ……………………. 399

Contents ix

DEMETRA PAPACONSTANTINOU Looking for ‘Texts’ in the Neolithic Aegean: Space, Place and the Study of Domestic Architecture (Poster summary) …………………………………...... 407

ATHANASSIOS J. PAPADOPOULOS and SPYRIDOULA KONTORLI – PAPADOPOULOU Some thoughts on the Problem of Relations between the Aegean and Western Greece in the Early Bronze Age …………………………………………………. 411

STRATIS PAPADOPOULOS and DIMITRA MALAMIDOU Limenaria: A Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement at Thasos ……………………… 427

DANIEL J. PULLEN Connecting the Early Bronze I and II Periods in the Aegean ……………………………….. 447

JEREMY B. RUTTER Anatolian Roots of Early Helladic III Drinking Behaviour …………………………………. 461

VASIF ŞAHOĞLU New Evidence for the Relations Between the Izmir Region, the Cyclades and the Greek Mainland during the Third Millennium BC …………………………………. 483

ADAMANTIOS SAMPSON From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic: New Data on Aegean Prehistory ……………………. 503

EVANGELIA SKAFIDA Symbols from the Aegean World: The Case of Late Neolithic Figurines and House Models from Thessaly …………………………………………………………... 517

PANAGIOTA SOTIRAKOPOULOU The Cyclades, The East Aegean Islands and the Western Asia Minor: Their Relations in the Aegean Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age …………………….. 533

GEORGIA STRATOULI Soziale une ökonomische Aspekte des Chalkolithikums (spätneolithikum II) in der Ägäis aufgrund alter und neuer Angaben …………………………………………….. 559

GEORGE TOUFEXIS Recent Neolithic Research in the Eastern Thessalian Plain, Greece: A Preliminary Report ……………………………………………………………………….. 569

RIZA TUNCEL IRERP Survey Program: New Prehistoric Settlements in the Izmir Region ……………….. 581

HANNELORE VANHAVERBEKE, PIERRE M. VERMEERSCH, INGRID BEULS, BEA de CUPERE and MARC WAELKENS People of the Höyüks versus People of the Mountains ? …………………………………… 593

KOSTAS VOUZAXAKIS An Alternative Suggestion in Archaeological Data Presentations: Neolithic Culture Through the Finds from Volos Archaeological Museum ……………….. 607

Closing Remarks by Prof. Dr Machteld J. MELLINK ………………………………………………. 611

Symposium Programme ……………………………………………………………………………… 615

Memories from the Symposium……………………………………………………………………… 623

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegeani

Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the evidence for Early Bronze Age (henceforth EB) settlement on the northeast Aegean island of Lesbos and at Altınova on the mainland coast of northwest Anatolia. Altınova lies at the heart of the Madra Çay Delta between Ayvalık and Dikili opposite the east coast of Lesbos. Previous investigations of prehistoric settlement on Lesbos have concentrated on the EB site of Thermi, which can be seen clearly from the Madra Çay Delta, on a low promontory on the eastern shore of Lesbos. There has been an almost total neglect of useful information from many other EB sites on the island, which are described for the first time here. EB sites in the Madra Çay Delta near Altınova have also been ignored before our own studies, and the result has been a distorted picture of EBA settlement in this region. Our initial findings, both on Lesbos and in the Madra Çay Delta, increasingly suggest that this area may have been an autonomous and equally dynamic centre of EB settlement and society as the regions of Troy and the Gediz Valley cultures and not simply one of their peripheral outposts. In particular, the communities of Lesbos, Altınova and the sites of the Bakır Çay valley appear to have formed very close ties in the EB.

Introduction marine invasion during the early Holocene2. Second, it was considered important to The Northeast Aegean island of Lesbos investigate the role of this part of the northeast and the coast of Turkey a mere 20 km directly Aegean and coastal west Anatolia as an active to the east remain one of the least explored frontier zone in the EB, across which contact natural regions of prehistoric western Anatolia. and interaction was taking place between the On Lesbos, the only EB site to which any early cultures of the Aegean and those of the attention is usually paid even today is that of Anatolian Plateau, via the great natural routes Thermi on the island’s east coast 10 km north of the main river valleys (Bakır, Gediz and of Mytilene, a site excavated nearly 70 years Menderes). And third, there is a longstanding ago by Winifred Lamb1. On the mainland and imperative need to examine in detail the opposite Thermi, the fertile flat fields of cultural relationship between Lesbos and its Altınova and the delta of the Madra Çay, is mainland peraia. As long ago as the 1920s and undoubtedly an area rich in prehistoric 1930s, Winifred Lamb had begun a serious settlement. Yet it has tended to remain in the study of the nature of the relationship between shadow of spectacular discoveries in the Lesbos and the mainland. She summed up her vicinity of İzmir to the south and of those in the excellent work by arguing that the first settlers Troad to the north (Fig. 1). of Thermi had, in the EB, come to the island The region of Lesbos and Altınova from the east, crossing the narrow Lesbos became the focus for the present authors' channel from western Anatolia and bringing detailed investigation for several reasons. First, with them the distinctive black burnished it is a fertile region on the western edge of pottery culture which she found at Thermi3. Anatolia and the Near East. It consists of a rich Indeed, Lamb sought the origins of the builders alluvial coastal plain and an offshore island of Thermi by going inland, as far as Karataş on (Lesbos), separated from the mainland by a the Anatolian Plateau, where she uncovered a

2 Lambrianides & Spencer 1996a; 1997a, 624-5 and fig. 8; 1998, 214, and fig. 18.4. 1 Lamb 1936a. 3 Lamb 1936a.

334 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER site related to Thermi4. However, no-one has collected, analyzed and tabulated all the yet attempted to continue Lamb's work and available evidence from EB sites throughout there has been no subsequent systematic study Lesbos, whereas hitherto scholarly emphasis of the abundant archaeological evidence on the had been placed solely on Thermi. This latter mainland coastal plain at Altınova opposite emphasis was quite understandable initially, for Lesbos (for the geographical proximity, see Fig. when it was excavated nearly 70 years ago6 2), and this is a major aim of our long-term Thermi was particularly prominent as only the investigations both in the Madra Çay Delta and second site of this dark-burnished ceramic on Lesbos itself. culture to come to light after Troy itself. However, although Thermi remains the only The region of western Anatolia illustrated systematically excavated EB site in the island in Fig. 1 (from where Lamb suggested the (even today), surface surveys by the island's original settlers of Lesbos came) is generally own Archaeological Ephoreia, together with considered as belonging culturally to the wider two trial excavations and chance finds by local community of EB sites spread across the whole inhabitants over the past 40 years, have greatly Northeast Aegean maritime area (shown on the increased our knowledge of prehistoric map here), including coastal Troy I, settlement patterns throughout the whole island. Samothrace, Chios further south, and the inland Although full excavation is still required to Northwest Anatolian ceramic groups in the determine the precise chronology, nature and Balıkesir and Akhisar-Manisa basins and the significance of many of these sites, the details lower Gediz valley. Surprising at it may already available from various surface finds, appear, until our initial soundings at the EB which we present here, can provide a more mound of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe near Altınova realistic context for Thermi and a useful in the summer of 1997, there were no excavated introduction to the wider EBA settlement sites in this region, with the exception of pattern that is so little-known outside Lesbos Thermi on Lesbos and Gavurtepe / Alaşehir itself. When we later add the evidence from the southeast of Sardis on the southern edge of the mainland in the second part of this paper, the Gediz Valley. wider regional context of Thermi (and EB This short paper is divided into two parts. Lesbos as a whole) will also become more In the first part, we examine the island of realistic. Lesbos, highlighting the much wider pattern of We shall now briefly review the evidence EBA settlement that is now known to exist on for EB pottery at eight of what appear from the island beyond the well-known coastal site of surface inspections (and in two cases, trial Thermi. Then, in part two, we present some of excavations) to be the most important EB sites the evidence from our own fieldwork in the in the island apart from Thermi. This review is Madra Çay Delta at Altınova on the mainland intended to highlight both the geographical immediately opposite. It should be borne in distribution and the topographical variation of mind that this is still a very early stage of the settlement in the island in the EB, a variation fieldwork and only very preliminary results can which has never been systematically studied7. be presented here. On the east coast of the island, apart from

the much-discussed site of Thermiii, three Early Bronze Age Settlement on Lesbos important sites have been located through (Fig. 3) survey work and chance finds which all deserve As we have emphasised elsewhere5, in further attention. From north to south, these are order to gain a broader understanding of Angourelia Sarakinas (northeast from modern Lesbos' EB settlement pattern, our studies of Mandamados); Plati (near Nees Kydonies); and the island's prehistory have systematically a cave site near a chapel of Agios Bartholomaios, south from Mytilene, which has

4 Lamb 1936b; 1937. 5 Lambrianides & Spencer, 1997a; 1997b; in press; 6 Lamb 1936a. Spencer 1995. 7 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 75, & n. 5.

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 335 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean now also been the subject of a trial excavation Of the thirteen whole pots illustrated, (Fig. 3). eleven are handled jugs or cups, one is a globular jar, and one a simple shallow bowl. Angourelia Sarakinas lies some 4 km All of these shapes are reminiscent of the northeast from Mandamados, in a relatively ceramic repertoire found at many sites on the rugged and barren location 3 km from the west Anatolian mainland, and also found island's east coast, with a commanding view widely elsewhere in the East Aegean. Similar over the coastal region to the east. On a miniature jugs and tankards can be found at prominent rocky ridge, EB sherds including Tigani on Samos (from phases I-IVB), on Chios pithoi and tubular lugs similar to Thermi and (at Emporio VII-VI and in the Lower Cave of Troy I were found, together with fragments of Agio Gala), and parallels can even be seen on millstones, suggesting that this was an inland the Anatolian Plateau at Demircihüyük near agricultural site8. Similar material has been Eskişehir (in LCH Ware 'F' and EBA Ware reported on the dominant coastal acropolis 'F1')11. The jugs from Agios Bartholomaios known as Plati near the modern village of Nees which exhibit straight, horizontal spouts are Kydonies, where among the ruins of a Medieval infrequent at Thermi, and seem to pre-date kastro are a number of similar EB sherds, those with rising spouts which appear at Kum including pithoi, incurved bowl rims, and Tepe IC, Emporio VII-VI, and the EB I levels horizontally-pierced lug handles9. at Beycesultan. Examples of the spout found at The site in eastern Lesbos which has this cave site on Lesbos are also known from the potential to offer the best insights into the Tigani IVB on Samos, at sites in the Bakır Çay process of EB settlement in Lesbos is that of valley, and also at Beycesultan LCh levels 1- Agios Bartholomaios, a cave site high up in 412. Finally, the simple bowl from Agios the hills of the Amali peninsula to the south of Bartholomaios finds many parallels in both the Mytilene, between the Gulf of Yera and the east LCh and EB material of several other sites13. coast of the island (Fig. 3). The topographical Taking the evidence of EB settlement location of the cave is particularly significant as from the east coast as a whole, it can be said it lies at the very highest point of the only that, apart from Thermi itself, the most natural route over these hills (a route which is significant finds known today are the whole followed by a single modern road passing pots from the cave site of Agios Bartholomaios. through the hills and linking Mytilene with the This material (particularly some of the jug villages to the west on the Gulf of Yera). From forms) may well pre-date the earliest ones this vantage point there are panoramic views found at Thermi - but it is also possible that the both to the west (over the Gulf of Yera far forms from the cave are simply cruder and below) and eastward across the narrow more basic versions of the Thermi forms, Mytilene (or Lesbos) Channel to Altınova and perhaps produced quickly to serve a seasonal or the Madra Çay Delta. other short-term purpose, and may therefore not Inside the cave a number of whole EB represent any genuinely pre-Bronze Age vessels were found. Many of the pieces are shapes. Hopefully such issues will be clarified now on display in the Museum of Mytilene, and by the current excavations at the cave, now they were first described and illustrated in the being conducted jointly by the island's Archaiologikon Deltion periodical of 1960 (Fig. Archaeological Ephoreia and the Speliological 4)10.iii The material is particularly worthy of Institute, whose reports we await keenly. description and illustration here because at no Another important focus of early other site in the island have so many whole EB (including perhaps pre-EB) settlement in the vessels been recovered. island has been found on the sheltered and

11 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 88, nn. 80-86. 8 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 89-90. 12 ibid., 88-9, nn. 87-93. 9 ibid., 89; Spencer 1995, 4-5. 13 Tigani IV, Beycesultan LCh, and also at Thermi: ibid., 10 Charitonidis 1960, 235, pls. 206ς'-07. 89, nn. 96-9.

336 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER fertile coastal plains around the Gulf of Kalloni colonization, spreading gradually out from in central Lesbos (Fig. 3). The topography of Thermi after the mainlanders had crossed from this central area contrasts sharply with the east the Madra Çay Delta and established their coast of Lesbos, where there are relatively few beach-head at coastal sites such as Thermi14. attractive locations for settlement (this might This is an issue to which we shall return below. well be a major reason the lower density of EB The sites of Chalakies and Kourtir both sites on the east coast compared to the central lie on the fertile band of coastal plain on the gulf area, see Fig. 3). On the east coast as a east coast of the Gulf of Kalloni, both are whole, hills generally extend close to the shore coastal promontory sites, and both are and those early settlers who chose to live near particularly important because they provide this shore were forced to perch their settlements material which may well predate that found at either on promontories with limited extents of Thermi or anywhere else on the east coast of cultivatable land nearby (eg. Thermi), or on the island. Interestingly, it also appears to be rocky hilltops (eg. Plati). Instead, the Gulf of earlier than any found so far at Altınova on the Kalloni is more reminiscent of the extensive, mainland coastal plain. fertile coastal fields of Altınova and the Madra Çay Delta, and important sites in the gulf Chalakies lies further to the south than worthy of mention are Chalakies, Kourtir, Kourtir, 2 km southwest along the coast from Profitis Ilias (Agia Paraskevi), and Makara, Skala Polichnitos, and was known as early as which we will now review in turn. 1960 when Serapheim Charitonidis (the island's Ephor of Antiquities at the time) visited the Before describing the sites themselves, it site15. The material seen on the promontory by is important to mention one other particularly Charitonidis left him with the impression that significant feature of this central region of the site dated primarily to the EB, but possibly Lesbos. Namely that, topographically at least, also the end of the Neolithic period, with the central area of Lesbos is somewhat cut off similar material to that found at Agio Gala on from the sites already described on the east Chios16. One large, amphoroid grey ware jar coast of the island by the high plateau of the (now on display in Mytilene Museum) which Olympus range which extends northeast was recovered whole during the drilling of a towards Mandamados, and then joins the well at the site, may well be pre-Bronze Age, southern slopes of the Lepetymnos mountain since many examples similar to it were found in near the north coast of the island (the 200 m level VIII at Emporio17. Our recent detailed high plateau clear on Fig. 3 which cuts off the examination of other previously unknown sherd Gulf of Kalloni from the east coast of the material from the site18, also tended to back up island). In fact, the much more natural Charitonidis' conclusions, the majority clearly direction for communication from the Gulf of belonging to the EB, but with the possibility Kalloni is the sea route which faces south, that a few pieces may belong to an earlier where the narrow corridor at the mouth of the period19. gulf leads out directly towards the island of Chios (the neighbouring island which is clearly The site of Kourtir, located visible from the southern point of Lesbos). approximately 7 km north from Chalakies along the same coastline, has the potential to be one This topographical orientation south of the most important prehistoric sites towards Chios is a very important factor when anywhere in the island. In size alone it is considering the colonization of Lesbos, impressive, with one previous survey particularly as this part of the island in the Gulf estimating it to be five times greater in area of Kalloni appears to have been the most iv densely settled area in the EB. In contrast, and 14 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 75 & n. 6. probably due to her ignorance of the density of 15 Charitonidis 1960, 237; cf. Lambrianides & Spencer the EB remains around the Gulf of Kalloni, 1997b, 90. 16 Winifred Lamb emphasised the more direct ibid., both references. 17 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 93. eastern origin for the whole island's EB 18 ibid., 90-93. 19 ibid, particularly sherd 9, pp. 92-3, and fig. 10.

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 337 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean than Thermi20. Moreover, in addition to its Finally, around the small coastal plain of large EB component, reported to be the period Makara at the west mouth of the Gulf of most significantly represented at the site by Kalloni, a whole series of ancient remains are previous surveys, an assemblage of Late scattered across the whole valley dating from Neolithic ceramics was reported also, supported the prehistoric to the Ottoman periods28. by a sherd in the archives of the British School French identified sherds from this site in the at Athens with strong similarities to the fabrics BSA as being of Troy I date (Fig. 8 a-b), and of the Middle to Late Chalcolithic periods the fabric, shape and treatment of these sherds described by Seeher as the 'Beşik-Sivritepe – leaves little doubt that they belong to the same Gülpınar – Kum Tepe IA' horizon21. Further- period as Thermi Classes A and B, and also more, a large number of Middle-Late Bronze find parallels at Tigani IV, Kum Tepe IB, and Age ceramics were also found (including a Poliochni Blue29. It is not clear from precisely large collection of important Mycenaean where in the coastal plain these sherds came, wares)22; a human skeleton was also recovered but another major feature at Makara is a group in one of the only 3 trial trenches ever dug at of three large cist graves on the bay's south-east the site; and submerged remains offshore were arm (known as 'Koukos')30. The tombs are still said by Prof. John Coleman, the excavator of visible today as small, open tumuli standing on Kephala on Keos, to have included both sides of the road as it turns sharply west at 'Chalcolithic' house remains,23 the mouth of the plain, and the largest cist was recently illustrated by Axiotis (Fig. 9). Given In contrast to these two sites on the east that the tombs have been completely robbed, it side of the gulf, perhaps the most impressive is unclear whether they are indeed of EB site at the head of the Gulf of Kalloni Mycenaean date (as Charitonidis suggested31, amongst a cluster of apparently smaller, inland citing similar burials on Psara and at Eleusis), settlements is a hilltop site known as Profitis or whether parallels should be drawn more with Ilias, near the village of Agia Paraksevi. The the Early Cycladic cist tombs on Keos, Naxos EB component of the long-known ancient and Paros, and many other Aegean islands, remains on the hill was first reported in detail in where this is the principal form of burial32. 1975 by Miltis Paraskevaidis and Basileios Certainly no other Mycenaean period finds Kalaitzis24. Their surface survey of the hill have been reported from Makara, and the EB revealed a large number of EB sherds with sherds do suggest that a settlement in the parallels with the material from Thermi and coastal plain here may be that to which this other sites throughout the island (Fig. 5)25 impressive cemetery is related. Makis Axiotis revisited the hill recently, reporting that the EB material was especially Outside the two main regions of EB dense on the east slope and also that there were settlement in Lesbos highlighted here, house foundations eroding out of the slopes in important evidence was recently found for association with the EB sherds26 A number of another focus of settlement in the western part diangostic EB pieces from the site were also of the island near modern Eresos. This region found in the archives of the British School at of the island is particularly rugged and Athens (Fig. 6), which showed closest inhospitable, apart from a limited number of similarities with Thermi Classes A-B, Troy I, fertile coastal plains in which settlements have Emporio V and material from the Bakır Çay clung throughout history until the present day. valley near Pergamum27. In one of the largest and most fertile coastal plains lies the village of Eresos, at the head of the valley some 4 km from its modern-day 20 ibid., 93. 21 ibid, 94 22 ibid, 93-4. 28 Spencer 1995, 28-9. 23 ibid. 29 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 99-100. 24 ibid., 96. 30 Spencer 1995, 28; Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 25 ibid. 100-01. 26 ibid. 31 Charitonidis 1961/2, 265. 27 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 96-9, figs. 12-4. 32 Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 100-01.

338 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER skala on the coast. Midway between the upper whole new perspective on the island's earliest and lower villages two hill-top sites were possible colonization. It is now even possible located recently by Schaus with prehistoric to suggest that settlement first took place here, material whose closest affinities are to Thermi in the centre of the island, rather than, as Lamb Class A-B pottery33. Material in the British thought, on the east coast (see above). If this is School at Athens was also identified by David shown to be true through subsequent, French as being of 'Troy I' type, and the new systematic excavation of prime sites such as sites discovered by Schaus supports the Kourtir, it would be difficult not to accept that assertion of French, indicating material related Chios (where the early site of Agio Gala is a to Thermi I-III, including inverted rims and prime candidate) was a major source of tubular lugs34. influence and colonists. This possibility also raises new questions concerning the role of Two main points arise from this survey Altınova and the Madra Çay Delta in this of the Lesbos EB settlement pattern. First, the process. Perhaps this part of the mainland topographical evidence suggests that all the EB formed one area of settlement with the east sites reported on Lesbos fit into one of the two coast of Lesbos, (including, of course, Thermi), topographical categories described by Renfrew while the Gulf of Kalloni sites in the centre of for the EB Aegean35. Renfrew observed that the island formed a separate grouping with Aegean EB sites tend be either on coastal Chios and other Aegean islands, and perhaps promontories or hilltop sites, presumably also with the Karaburun peninsula (including determined by their main type of economy36 Liman Tepe, Bakla Tepe and related sites) and, Thus, Thermi, Plati, Chalakies, Kourtir and ultimately, the Gediz valley. Makara are clearly coastal and closely connected with the sea and a marine economy, Early Bronze Age Sites in the Madra Çay whilst Angourelia Sarakinas, Profitis Ilias, and Deltav (Fig. 10) Eresos are examples of inland, hilltop sites and exploit an agricultural economy. It is Until our current investigations, the EB interesting that all the sites found in the Madra archaeology of the Madra Çay Delta had Çay Delta on the mainland, to which we now remained largely unexplored37. The initial turn, are certainly closely connected to the sea, stages of our own research therefore focused and there is abundant evidence of their marine upon various aspects of the region's early exploitation (sea-shell middens have been prehistory. In 1995 our geomorphological found close to the sites). However, due to the fieldwork had the objective of laying the remarkably fertile soil of the delta, they were foundations for subsequent archaeological also able to exploit an agricultural economy - studies (conducted from 1996-97). We again there is ample evidence from seeds and examined the delta's formation processes and its other botanical finds, both on the surface and interaction with both the sea and the streams also from sealed excavation strata and the augur flowing through the area in the early Holocene. cores drilled at the EB mound of Yeni The most important conclusion arising from the Yeldeğirmentepe in 1997. 1995 geomorphological fieldwork was that the sea was indeed a major influence on early The second important conclusion arising human settlement and archaeology in the area, from our studies on Lesbos concerns the dense particularly as a result of a major marine concentration of sites in the centre of the island. transgression in this area during the period of The cluster of prehistoric sites now known to 6000-5000 BP38. exist around the Gulf of Kalloni, some of the ceramics of which appear to (partially, at least) Our archaeological fieldwork included a pre-date the sites on the east coast, casts a wide-ranging survey of EB sites throughout the

37 Except for one trial excavation 50 years ago which was 33 Schaus 1996, 56-67, fig. 2 and pls. 5-10. never fully published, and from which the material is 34 Ibid., cf. Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 104, 107. now lost, Kökten 1949. 35 Renfrew 1972, fig. 14.15. 38 Spencer & Lambrianides 1995; Lambrianides & 36 ibid. Spencer 1996a; 1997c; 1998; cf. Kayan 1988, 1991.

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 339 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean delta from Ayvalık to Dikili, and also in the by a well-worn track leading from the main foothills of the Madra Dağı rising high above road towards the shore. The maximum the delta to the east39. However, we will dimensions of the grid were 180 m (east-west) concentrate the discussion here on two by 190 m (north-south) and within this area all impressive EB mound sites in the central area cultural materials (including stone, flint and of the delta near Altınova, Hüyücektepe and metal objects, as well as the pottery) were Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe (Fig. 10), upon which systematically picked up and counted for later our attention had been focused by the results of examination and recording. Densities of pottery the geomorphological fieldwork of 1995. sometimes measured over 2000 individual pieces in a single 10 m square, and discrete Topographically, both are artificial areas of the mound also had extremely high mounds located in fertile fields near the sea. densities of sea-shells (mostly Cardium sp.). Hüyücektepe, now 4 km from the coast, was Other finds included a large number of pithoi much closer to the sea in the EB, but was never fragments and some significant pieces of grind- on the shoreline itself and seems to have been stones, indicating food-preparation activities at located so as to be above the river flood plain. the site. Indeed, our geomorphological team suggested that this location may have been chosen by A preliminary assessment of the pottery early settlers because it consisted of an outcrop clearly indicated that the whole upper area of of the delta's bedrock and therefore was perhaps the mound consisted predominantly, if not a more stable and reliable location for entirely, of EB occupation. Typical forms in the settlement at a time when much of the EB ceramic assemblage at Hüyücektepe were surrounding area was more marginal and incurved rims from bowls, horizontally-pierced subject to seasonal flooding40. In contrast, Yeni lug handles, tripod cooking pot feet, and pithoi Yeldeğirmentepe lies on the north side of the fragments (Figs. 12-14), all of which are typical Madra Çay near the town of Altınova, in the forms at many of the EB sites throughout part of the delta which our analysis from our Lesbos, as has been indicated above. The 1995 boreholes suggested had been more similarities are also clear with the EB cultural seriously affected by the sea's incursions41. The communities of the Bakır Çay valley 30 km to mound is now 2.5 km from the coast, but in the the south42, the Yortan cemetery further EB seems to have been on the very boundary of inland43, and to many sites in the Akhisar- the land and the sea. Manisa basin44. This large EB mound is of particular interest because it is largely The artificial mound of Hüyücektepe (a representative of a single-period. Later remains previously unexplored site) lies west of the (including collections of Hellenistic, Roman modern village of Bahçeliköy and the main and Ottoman sherds) are chiefly to be found highway from Bergama and Dikili to Ayvalık lower down in the fields surrounding the and Çanakkale. It rises 9 m above the mound, and it is a curious fact of the EB surrounding plain (22.9 m above sea-level) and mounds found in this delta that they all seem to measures in total some 220 x 150 m (Fig. 11). represent a single period of occupation in the In 1996, we carried out the first systematic EB, more or less contemporary with the main surface survey of this mound’s archaeological phases of Thermi. However, these are questions remains. A grid of 10 m squares was which only further exploration, plus excavation, established over the large area of dense and additional geomorphological studies can artefactual remains (visible largely as an answer satisfactorily. extensive scatter of predominantly hand-made pottery). The scatter extended into three The area covered by EB occupation on separate fields and is limited on the north side Hüyücektepe is impressively large (measuring between 2.8-3.4 hectares), dwarfing the EB

39 Lambrianides & Spencer 1996a; 1996b; 1997a; 1997c; 1998; in press; Spencer & Lambrianides 1996. 42 Driehaus 1957. 40 Lambrianides & Spencer 1996a, 185. 43 Kamil 1982. 41 ibid., 185-88. 44 French 1969.

340 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER component at some other sites on the Aegean quality than that found at Hüyücektepe, but this coast of Turkey, and many in Lesbos (possibly preliminary impression requires verification including Thermivi). Several noteworthy metal through detailed study. A large number of red artefacts were found here (including a bronze burnished pieces were found at the site in pin). An unusual ceramic find was a red-slipped addition to the more common, but usually high sherd (quite different to the usual black and quality, black and brown burnished wares. brown burnished pieces which predominate) on (These sherds will be illustrated and discussed the inside of which are striations in an apparent comparatively in the project's full publication pattern, reminiscent of pattern-burnishing). which is now being prepared.) Such decoration is rare in this area and could be After conducting the survey in 1996, we dated to an earlier period, but equally it could decided to focus initially on this mound for trial be later and it is difficult to draw conclusions excavations in 1997. There were several from one small piece45. This subject will be reasons for this decision. The quality of the examined in greater detail in a later publication, finds from the survey of the tell; the possibility with full illustrations. that this had been the mound excavated by A similarly intensive survey and Kökten in 1949; and the immense palaeo- topographic study were carried out at the much geomorphological interest of the mound more disturbed mound site of Yeni (following up Prof. Kayan's hypothesis that this Yeldeğirmentepe which, as can be seen in Fig. site may have been located at the frontier of 10, lies about 4 km away on the north side of land and sea in the EB). the Madra Çay. This mound rises 8 m above In 1997, three trenches were dug (Fig. the plain (13.3 m above sea-level), has total 17). Trench 1 was cut as a long step-trench on dimensions of c. 100 m x 90 m (Figs. 15-16), the west side of the mound in order to obtain a and has suffered much damage through the clear stratigraphic section in the highest part of construction of a municipal su deposu on top of the site. From this a number of significant finds the mound's central area (Figs. 15-17). It were made. In the disturbed deposits near the became clear from the topographic survey that top of the trench, there was a marble figurine the present-day mound is only about half its (Fig. 18.2) virtually identical in form to that original size. As the plan in Fig. 16 shows, on found at Thermi in Lesbos46 and at Troy47. A the west in particular a large proportion of the ceramic figurine was also found with a brown site has been lost due to farming - ploughing burnished finish (typical of EB ceramics) with and cultivating. This also explains the high short legs and one arm preserved (Fig. 18.3). density of EB sherds and shells in the cotton Also near the top of the trench a number of fields on the west side of the mound. fairly recent burials were uncovered, but Disturbance of the topography is also clear to without grave goods, and for this reason cannot the south where recent earthmoving is clearly be dated. However, from their state of indicated by the extremely abrupt contour lines preservation, the burials can be no earlier than near the mound. the late medieval period and (most probably) In terms of the archaeological data, the later. Not far below these burials, great potential of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe to approximately a metre down, we reached the inform us about the history of human topmost undisturbed EB levels. The most occupation during the past 5000 years in this impressive feature of these levels were the area cannot be doubted. Intensive surface extremely thick stone walls which continued collection from a systematic 10 m grid (similar down for several metres, changing their to that used at Hüyücektepe) revealed a quality orientation and quality several times (Fig. 19). of EB pottery comparable to the best found on Another marble figurine was also found here Lesbos and in the Bakır Çay valley. Generally (Fig. 18.1), together with a number of dark it appeared to be of a significantly higher burnished spindle whorls of typical

45 cf. the discussion in Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 46 Lamb 1936a, pl. XXVI, 31.98. 83-4. 47 Blegen et al. 1950, pl. 41, Type 2.C.

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 341 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean Thermi/Troy I fabric, many of which exhibited A series of intensive geomorphological incised decoration (Fig. 20). sondages (5 cm in diameter) was also carried out in 1997 to explore the formation processes The lower step excavated in this trench of the mound and its context by İlhan Kayan went down for 4 m, and through all of this and his team from the Geography Department distance a large mud-brick wall could be traced of Ege University İzmir. Their aim was to passing obliquely through the trench. More EB investigate the stratigraphy of the mound down pottery (including one nearly complete tripod to its foundations and to explore the process of cooking pot Fig. 21) was found in this lower human occupation on and around the mound. step. There was a very prominent burnt level Initial results suggest that on the west side of running through all three baulks in this lower the mound the lowest cultural levels may be step, with associated patches of ash, sealing all two metres below the present surface of the the lower levels in an undisturbed context. delta. Furthermore, below the lowest level, Exposed in the bottom of this trench was a more than 12 m below the present surface, a round hearth inside a room formed between two marine environment surrounded the mound, on mud-brick walls (Fig. 22). top of which lay the first archaeological A second sounding was opened to the deposits. The results also suggested that southeast of Trench 1, which also revealed a several smaller (and probably earlier) sites of recent burial with a well preserved skeleton of human occupation were scattered around the similar orientation (head to southwest and feet main mound. We await the full report of to northeast) and also without grave goods as in Kayan’s many intriguing discoveries with great Trench 1. Below this were, once again, some excitement, especially as they promise to reveal solid stone walls, just as had been found in some of the most perplexing secrets of the Trench 1, but this time forming the corner of a earliest colonization of this complex region. room with a stone-built hearth and associated

EB pottery (Fig. 23). This architecture closely Conclusions paralleled the houses found at Thermi in Lesbos48. Similarly, our third sounding, Trench We can confidently conclude that our 3, also produced a recent burial near the investigations both on the island of Lesbos and surface, below which were large stone walls especially in the Madra Çay Delta on the associated with EB pottery, running obliquely mainland near Altınova have revealed the first through the trench (Fig. 24). concrete traces of a distinct and discrete centre of EB settlement that should be regarded as The 1997 excavations were terminated at autonomous from other well-known regional this point, in order to plan a more systematic centres, such as Troy, İzmir, or the Gediz campaign for the future. This is made valley. necessary by two considerations. In the first place, some of the stone walls are massive and The core of this occupation was on the very reminiscent of the substantial houses found east coast of the island of Lesbos and around by Lamb at Thermi, where as is well-known, the modern town of Altınova, in the vicinity of there is a substantial settlement. Secondly, this which have been found at least four or five mound is so badly damaged by farming and EBA single-period mounds. The most other building that it is not clear what remains important two of these have been discussed of the actual settlement. As noted above, the above, to which can be added here Donbay whole centre of the site has been removed to Tepe and Başantepe, both further south in the build a su deposu and the outer deposits have Madra Çay Delta towards Dikili and the EB been removed by farming activities. In spite of sites of the Bakır Çay valley. Beyond this core this, it cannot be denied that much valuable of sites, the most closely related sites in our information can still be obtained from this site. opinion (but at present this is merely a proposal and a working hypothesis) are located together in another discrete group in the centre of Lesbos, around the Gulf of Kalloni. This 48 cf. Lamb 1936a, plan 5.

342 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER

“Kalloni group” has strong affinities with sites regarded out as a discrete entity with its own on Chios, which, in turn, are closely connected separate developments and ramifications, all of to sites in the Karaburun Peninsula and İzmir which require close attention and much (eg Liman Tepe), and in the Gediz valley (not additional study. to mention their affinities with Samos further southwest in the Aegean). As is widely discussed nowadays, the Gediz valley and the Akhisar-Manisa sites have close ties with the KYRIACOS LAMBRIANIDES & Bakır Çay valley itself and Başantepe near NIGEL SPENCER Dikili. Interrelations between all these groups Institute of Archaeology, cannot be doubted, but equally, the “Madra Çay 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, and East Coast of Lesbos” group should now be OX1, 2PG, UK

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 343 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

Bibliography: Axiotis, M. 1992, Περπατώντας τη Λέσβο (2 vols.). Mytilene. Blegen, C. W., Caskey, J. L., Rawson, M., & Sperling, J. 1950, Troy: General Introduction. The First and Second Settlements. Vol. I, parts 1-2 (text and plates). Princeton, University Press. Broodbank, C. 1989, “The Longboat and Society in the Cyclades in the Keros-Syros Culture”, AJA 93, 319-37. Broodbank, C. 1993, “Ulysses Without Sails: Trade, Distance, Knowledge And Power In The Early Cyclades”, WorldArch 24, 315-31. Charitonidis, S. 1960, “'Αρχαιότητες και μνημεία νήσων Αιγαίου, Μυτιλήνη” ArchDelt 16, Chronika 235-43. Charitonidis, S. 1961/2, “Αρχαιότητες και μνημεία νήσων Αιγαίου. Α' Λέσβος” ArchDelt 17, Chronika 261-5. Cherry, J. F. 1981, “Pattern and Process in the Earliest Colonization of the Mediterranean Islands”, ProcPrehistSoc 47, 41- 68. Cherry, J. F. 1985, “Islands Out of the Stream: Isolation and Interaction in the Early East Mediterranean Insular Prehistory”, in: Knapp, B. & T Stech (eds.) 1985, Prehistoric Production and Exchange: the Aegean and East Mediterranean, 12- 29 (Institute of Archaeology, Monograph XXV, University of California): Los Angeles. Cherry, J. F. 1987, “Island Origins', in: Cunliffe, B. (ed.) 1987, Origins. The Roots of European Civilisation, 16-29: London. Cherry, J. F. 1990, “The First Colonization of the Mediterranean Islands: A Review of Recent Research”, JMA 3, 145-221. Cherry, J. F. 1995, “Colonizations of Islands”, WorldArch 26.3. Driehaus, J. 1957, “Prahistorische Siedlungsfunde in der Unteren Kaikosebene und an dem Golfe von Çandarlı”, IstMitt 7, 77-101. French, D. H. 1969, “Prehistoric Sites in Northwest Anatolia II: The Balıkesir and Akhisar/Manisa Area”, AnatSt 19, 41-98. Kamil, T. 1982, Yortan Cemetery in the Early Bronze Age of Western Anatolia (BAR International Series 145). Oxford. Kayan, İ. 1988, “Late Holocene Sea-Level Changes on the Western Anatolian Coast”, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 68, 205-18. Kayan, İ. 1991, “Holocene Geomorphic Evolution of the Beşik Plain and Changing Environment of Ancient Man”, Studia Troica 1, 79-92. Kökten, K. 1949, “1949 Yılı Tarih Öncesi Araştırmaları Hakkında Kısa Rapor”, Belleten 13, 811-31. Korfmann, M. 1983, Demircihüyük. Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 1975-78, Bd. I: Architektur, Stratigraphie und Befunde. Mainz.. Lamb, W. 1936a, Excavations at Thermi in Lesbos. Cambridge. Lamb, W. 1936b, “Excavations at Kusura near Afyon Karahisar”, Archaeologia 86, 1-64. Lamb, W. 1937, “Excavations At Kusura near Afyon Karahisar: II”, Archaeologia 87, 217-73. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1996a, “The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project First Preliminary Report: Geomorphological Survey and Borehole Sampling of the Altınova Coastal Plain on the Aegean Coast of Northwest Turkey”, AnatSt 46, 167-200. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1996b, “Geomorphological Survey At Altınova In Northwest Turkey”, 12. ArST, Ankara, 177-99. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1997a, “Some Reflections upon the Origin and the Development of Early Bronze Age Settlement in Lesbos and Some New Evidence from Western Anatolia” in: Doumas Chr. G. & V. La Rosa (eds) 1997, Poliochni e l'antica età del Bronzo nell' Egeo settentrionale, 618-33: Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene/Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, Athens. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1997b, “Unpublished Material From the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut and the British School at Athens and its Contribution to a Better Understanding of the Early Bronze Age Settlement Pattern on Lesbos”, BSA 92, 73-107. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1997c, “Madra Çay”, Anatolian Archaeology 3, 18-9. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1997d, “The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project 1996 Season: Archaeological and Geomorphological Survey at Altınova in Northwest Turkey”, 15. AST. I (26-30 Mayis 1997): Ankara, 397-417. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. 1998, “Regional Studies in the Madra Çay Delta: Archaeology, Environment and Cultural History on the Aegean Coast of Turkey from the Early Bronze Age to the Ottoman Empire', in: Matthews, R. (ed.) 1998, Ancient Anatolia: Fifty Years' work by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 207-23: Oxbow Books. Lambrianides, K. & Spencer, N. (in press), “Archaeological Survey in an Alluvial Delta on the Aegean Coast of Turkey: Methodological Problems and Solutions”, in: Betancourt P. P, V. Karageorghis, R. Laffineur & W. D. Niemeier (eds.), Meletemata, Studies in Aegean Archaeology Presented to Malcolm H. Wiener as he Enters his 65th Year, Liege, 457-464

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Paraskevaidis, M. 1978, “Ο προϊστορικός οικισμός του λόφου Προφήτη Ηλία Αγίας Παρασκευής Λέσβου”, Λεσβιακά 7, 161-81. Renfrew, C. 1972, The Emergence of Civilisation. The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium BC. London. Schaus, G. P. 1996, “An Archaeological Field Survey at Eresos, Lesbos”, EchCl 40 (N. S. 15), 27-74. Spencer, N. 1995, A Gazetteer of Archaeological Sites in Lesbos (BAR International Series 623). Oxford. Spencer, N. & Lambrianides, K. 1995, “The Madra Çay Archaeological Project”, Anatolian Archaeology 1, 21. Spencer, N. & Lambrianides, K. 1996, “Madra Çay”, Anatolian Archaeology 2, 25-6. Spencer, N. & Lambrianides, K. 1998 “Madra Çay”, Anatolian Archaeology 4, 24.

List of Illustrations: Fig. 1: The East Aegean and Western Anatolia. (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 2: The Madra Çay Delta (foreground), Lesbos Channel (middle ground), and island of Lesbos (background), as seen from the foothills at the eastern edge of the Madra Çay Delta (Source: Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project). Fig. 3: Prehistoric sites on Lesbos. Contours at 200 m intervals, all land above 200 m shaded. Key to site numbering (bold text indicates a site to which reference is made in the current paper, and an asterisk indicates that the site is still in need of verification): 1 Thermi; 2 Plati; 3 Saliakas; 4 Mytilene; 5 Agios Bartholomaios; 6 Mitoilia; 7 Agios Phokas; 8 Vrysi tou Deliyianni; 9 Chalakies; 10 Damandri; 11 Kourtir; 12 Pyrrha; 13 Klopedi; 14 Profitis Ilias (Agia Paraskevi); 15 Gerna; 16 Palaiokastro (Arisbe); 17 Makara; 18 Palialona; 19 Krousos; 20 Profitis Ilias/'Hole Hill' (Eresos); 21 Pyrgo; 22 Agioi Archangeloi; 23 Leperna; 24 Methymna; 25 Angourelia Sarakinas; 26 Kara Tepe; 27 Skala Dipiou : 28 Paliopyrgos; 29 Mosyna 30 Taxiarchis tou Trouloti; 31 Tavari; 32 Megalonisi; 33 Tsefos; 34 Ovriokastro (Ancient Antissa); 35 Nisos Panayias; 36 Prasologos; 37 Bari; Profitis Ilias (Kremastis); Makryna; 40 Koukla; 41 Apastro; 42 Anemovouni; 43 Lapsarna; 44 Plakoures; 45 Kagia; 46 Akrasi; 47 Brakos tou Diabolou; 48 Kontisia; 49 Aetos; 50 Katsares; 51 Papados. (Source: Nigel Spencer). Fig. 4: The Early Bronze Age pottery from Agios Bartholomaios as published in Charitonidis 1960, pls. 206ς'-07 (exact scale not given in the publication). We are grateful to Dr. Eleni Litina, the Editor of Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον, for permission to reproduce this photograph. Fig. 5: Early Bronze Age pottery from Profitis Ilias (Agia Paraskevi) (exact scale not given in the publication). Reproduced courtesy of M. Paraskevaidis 1978, fig. 2. Fig. 6: Early Bronze Age Pottery from Profitis Ilias (Agia Paraskevi) in the archives of the British School at Athens. Scale 1:3. (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 7: Early Bronze Age Pottery from Profitis Ilias (Agia Paraskevi) in the archives of the British School at Athens. (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 8a: Early Bronze Age Pottery from Makara in the archives of the British School at Athens. Scale 1:2 (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 8b: Early Bronze Age Pottery from Makara in the archives of the British School at Athens. (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 9: Large cist tombs at Makara. Reproduced courtesy of Dr. M. Axiotis from Περπατώντας τη Λέσβο II, pl. 62α (Mytilene, 1992). Fig. 10: The Madra Çay Delta. Contours at 100 m (Source: Nigel Spencer) Fig. 11: The Early Bronze Age mound of Hüyücektepe. (Source: Ahmet Çatalbaşoğlu) Fig. 12: The 1996 survey of Hüyücektepe: Early Bronze Age bowl rims with internal ledge (top left, centre); pot foot (right); vertically pierced lug handle (bottom left); and incised body sherds (bottom centre). (Source: The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project) Fig. 13: The 1996 survey of Hüyücektepe: Horizontally-pierced, flaring lug handles from Early Bronze Age bowls. (Source: The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project) Fig. 14: The 1996 survey of Hüyücektepe: Vertically-pierced Early Bronze Age lug handles. (Source: The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project) Fig. 15: The much-damaged Early Bronze Age mound of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe from the north. (Source: The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project) Fig. 16: The Early Bronze Age mound of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. (Source: Ahmet Çatalbaşoğlu) Fig. 17: The three 1997 excavation trenches on the EBA mound of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. Buildings 'P' and 'T' represent the two structures of the su deposu which have severely damaged the mound. (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson)

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 345 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

Fig. 18: The two marble (top) and one ceramic (bottom) Early Bronze Age figurines from Trench 1 of the 1997 excavation at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 19: An extensive stone-built wall in the Upper Step of Trench 1 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 20: Three incised Early Bronze Age spindle whorls from the 1997 excavations at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 21: Early Bronze Age tripod cooking pot from the Lower Step of Trench 1 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. Scale 1:2. (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 22: Mud-brick wall and hearth in the Lower Step of Trench 1 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. Scale 1:20. (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 23: Stone-built wall corner and hearth in Trench 2 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. Scale 1:20 (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson) Fig. 24: Stone-built wall in Trench 3 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. Scale 1:20 (Source: Ben Claasz Coockson)

Endnotes:

i This paper derives from the regional studies of the authors in the northeast Aegean and Western Anatolia. Funding was provided by the British Academy (in the form of a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship administered by the Academy and generously funded by Swan Hellenic/P&O); and the Wainwright Fund for Near Eastern Archaeology at Oxford (in the form of a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship). Worcester College Oxford gave generous grants for research visits to Athens to examine the British School at Athens and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI) archives. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Mrs. A. Archontidou-Argyri and Mrs. Lilian Acheilara in Mytilene who granted a permit to study the topography of the island and its ancient sites in 1990. In 1992 and 1993 permission was also given to study prehistoric material on display in Mytilene museum and that kept in the museum's storerooms. Permission to publish material from the archives of the British School at Athens was kindly given by the Managing Committee in London, and permission to publish sherds from the DAI in Athens was granted by Prof. K. Fittschen. The assistance of Dr. Martin Kreeb is also acknowledged during the study of the sherds in the DAI in March-April 1995. Dr. Makis Axiotis and Mr Miltis Paraskevaidis kindly discussed details of their extensive research in Lesbos and both scholars generously gave permission for details of this research (which have appeared in a number of books and as articles in the periodical Λεσβιακά and Αρχαιολογία) to be discussed. We are also extremely grateful to the editor of Αρχαιολογία (Dr. Anna Lambraki) and the President of the Εταιρεία των Λεσβιακών Μελετών (Mr Pavlos Vlachos) for permission to mention details of this important research. Dr. Elena Litina, Editor of the Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον kindly gave permission to the authors to reproduce photographs of the Agios Bartholomaios material from the journal's 1960 volume. The second half of the paper reports on the work of The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project, a collaboration between the Institutes of Archaeology in Oxford and London, and the Ege University in İzmir. The authors are extremely grateful to the General Directorate of Monuments and Museums in Ankara for permission to conduct the project and acknowledge the great assistance given by the Ministry's representatives from 1995-98. For logistical support we are grateful to the British Institute of Archaeology in Ankara and London. The research was made possible in 1995-98 by general grants from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) (New York), The Leverhulme Trust (London), Earthwatch, The Royal Society (London), The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (London/Ankara), the British Academy (London), the Wainwright Fund (Oxford), The Craven Committee (Oxford), and The Meyerstein Fund (Oxford). ii For a detailed review of Thermi and its material, see the discussion in Lambrianides & Spencer 1997b, 82-6. iii We are grateful to Dr. Elena Litina, editor of the Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον, for permission to reproduce the photographs of this material. The pots from the site are stored in the Museum of Mytilene (both the pots here illustrated and other pieces from the site gathered more recently which still await publication). iv Concerning EB contact and colonization in the Aegean between intervisible islands, see the various discussions by Cherry (1981; 1985; 1987; 1990; 1995); cf. Broodbank 1989; 1993 for interesting discussions of long-distance sea journeys in this period. v The Madra Çay Delta Archaeological Project began in 1995 and conducted archaeological surface survey under the direction of the present authors from 1996-97. The 1997 excavation at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe was carried out under the overall direction of Bayan Neriman Özaydın (Director of Balıkesir Museum) and her museum staff, to whom we give our grateful thanks. Mr. Ben Claasz Coockson of Bilkent University was technical supervisor and illustrator, and we are also grateful for the assistance of Mr. Osman Ermişler, Assistant Director of Konya Museum, and Dr Lucy Blue of Southampton University, who acted as trench supervisors. Prof. Dr. İlhan Kayan and his team from the geography department of Ege University, İzmir have directed geomorphological research throughout the delta since 1995, and on/around Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe in 1997. vi At Thermi, perhaps half the site may have been eroded by the sea (see Korfmann 1983, 229 and fig. 364).

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The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 347 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

348 Kyriacos LAMBRIANIDES & Nigel SPENCER

The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 349 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

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The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 351 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

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The Early Bronze Age Sites of Lesbos and the Madra Çay Delta: New Light on a Discrete Regional Centre of 353 Prehistoric Settlement and Society in the Northeast Aegean

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