The Cave of Pan, Marathon, Greece—Ams Dating of The
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Radiocarbon, Vol 59, Nr 5, 2017, p 1475 –1485 DOI:10.1017/RDC.2017.65 Selected Papers from the 8th Radiocarbon & Archaeology Symposium, Edinburgh, UK, 27 June –1 July 2016 © 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona THE CAVE OF PAN, MARATHON, GREECE —AMS DATING OF THE NEOLITHIC PHASE AND CALCULATION OF THE REGIONAL MARINE RESERVOIR EFFECT Yorgos Facorellis1* • Alexandra Mari 2 • Christine Oberlin 3 1Department of Antiquities and Works of Art Conservation, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Aghiou Spyridonos, 12243 Egaleo, Athens, Greece. 2Ephorate of Paleoanthropology-Speleology, Ardittou 34B, 11636 Athens, Greece. 3Laboratoire ArAr. Archéologie et Archéométrie, MSH Maison de l ’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin - 69365 LYON cedex 7, France. ABSTRACT . The Cave of Pan is located on the N/NE slope of the hill of Oinoe (38°09 ′31.60 ′′ N, 23°55 ′48.60 ′′ E), west of modern Marathon. In rescue excavation campaigns during the last three years, among other finds, charcoal and seashell samples were also collected. The purpose of this study is the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of the cave ’s anthropogenic deposits and the calculation of the regional marine reservoir effect during the Neolithic period. For that purpose, 7 charcoal pieces and 1 seashell were dated. Our results show that the cave was used from the second quarter of the 6th millennium (Middle Neolithic period) until the beginning of the 5th millennium BC. Additionally, one sample collected from a depth of 2 cm from the present surface of the cave yielded an age falling within the 6th century AD, giving thus the absolute time span of the cave use. Moreover, the radiocarbon ( 14 C) ages of one pair of charcoal-seashell samples showed that the marine reservoir age R(t) in the estuarine Marathon Bay region during the 5th millennium BC is 775 ± 57 yr and the local sea surface reservoir deviation ΔR is found to be 402 ± 63 14 C yr (within 1 σ). KEYWORDS: AMS dating, Cave of Pan, Marathon, marine reservoir effect. INTRODUCTION In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan was god of the wild nature, resident of mountains, forests and caves, protector of shepherds, and companion of the Nymphs with whom he was often worshipped. According to legend, he was born in Arcadia, but he was worshipped in Athens as well from the 5th century BC on, because according to the ancient written sources Pan helped the Athenians win against the Persians during the battle of Marathon in 490 BC (Herodotus VI: 105) by instilling in them fear and panic. After that, several Attic caves became sacred to him: a small cave on the northwest side of the Acropolis of Athens, another one near the Ilissos river, “Lychnospilia” on Mount Parnes, the cave at Oinoe —Marathon, the “Cave of the Nympholept ” or “Cave of Archedamos ” at Vari on Mount Hymettos, a cave at Daphni on Mount Aigaleo, a cave on Eleusis ’ west hill (destroyed in 1955), and one more at Megara (Wickens 1986). The purpose of this study is twofold: the accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C) dating of the Neolithic phase of the Cave of Pan anthropogenic deposits, which is located on the N/NE slope of the hill of Oinoe at Marathon (38°09 ′31.60 ′′ N, 23°55 ′48.60 ′′ E), as well as the calculation of the regional marine reservoir effect in the estuarine Marathon Bay region (Figure 1) during the Neolithic period. The latter is part of a large-scale project aiming to calculate the marine reservoir effect in various regions of the Aegean Sea, as it was found that this fluctuates considerably through time (Facorellis and Vardala-Theodorou 2015). HISTORY The acropolis of Oinoe is a low height expanse of a roughly triangular shape, spreading west of modern Marathon and south of the river named Oinoes or Charadros. It is called the “Hill of Pan ” or “Tamburi Gura. ” The first name is owed to the ancient traveler Pausanias, who describes a cave *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]. $ !! $$$ !!! ! "!!! ! " #! !! $$$! !! 1476 Y Facorellis et al. Figure 1 Google Earth map showing the location of the Cave of Pan at Marathon (white bullet) in southern Greece. of special attraction, located beyond the plain of Marathon, upon the hill of Pan (Pausanias, I: 32, 7). The second name is noted on a 19th century map in the Karten von Attika elaborated by Curtius et al. (1881 –1903). The existence of a cave situated on the hill and dedicated to god Pan, is also reported by travelers from the 19th century (Hobhouse 1817; Dodwell 1819; Chandler 1825; Leake 1841), who tried in vain to relocate and visit it (Wickens 1986: 223 –33). The Cave of Pan is a large, dark cave with two entrances, abundant ornamentation of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, rimstone dams and small hollows with water. It was shown in February 1958, by the looter Miltiades Gikas, to Karavassilis, a technician of the archaeologist Ioannis Papadimitriou (Petrakos 1993). Papadimitriou was, on behalf of the Archaeological Society of Athens, in persistent search of the cave and after its relocation he conducted a small-scale excavation during the same year. The finds discovered (human skeletal remains, ceramics, tools, ornaments made of stone, shell, and other materials, lamps, etc.), some of which are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Marathon, date the use of the cave, at least from the Late Neolithic (end of the 6th millennium BC) to the Late Roman times (6th century AD). Pottery, figurines, and a pair of golden earrings, found in the deposits excavated by Papadimitriou and dated to the 5th and 4th centuries BC, along with part of an inscribed marble stele dated to 61/60 BC found inside the east entrance, suggest the cave had been transformed into a sacred place dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs (Daux 1959; Orlandos 1959; Petrakos 1995; Steinhauer 2009). The Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology relocated the Cave of Pan within a program of GPS recording the coordinates of caves of archaeological interest in Attica. Collection of the abundant, scattered finds covering the surface of the deposits of all five chambers of the cave began in May 2012. Collection of the surface finds continued during 2013 and 2014. In addition, six trenches were opened up from 2014 to 2016 (Figure 2). The excavation research revealed a large amount of pottery (dated to the Middle, Late, and Final Neolithic periods, the Early and Late Bronze Age, the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods), animal bones, many human bones and parts of skulls, chipped stone tools (mainly of obsidian), and small finds made of clay, bone, stone, glass, shell (such as Neolithic and Classical figurines; Neolithic, Mycenaean, and Classical spindle whorls and loom weights; jewelry; beads; bronze coins; lamps, etc.). $ !! $$$ !!! ! "!!! ! " #! !! $$$! !! AMS Dating the Cave of Pan, Marathon, Greece 1477 Figure 2 Ground plan of the Cave of Pan (by Th Hatzitheodorou 2016). MATERIALS During the last three years ’ rescue excavation campaigns, numerous charcoal and seashell samples, among other finds, were collected. In this study the AMS dates of 7 charcoal pieces and 1 seashell sample are presented. All charcoal pieces were taken from carbonized wood. Their species has not been identi fied, as an anthracological study of the carbonized material unearthed so far has not yet been undertaken. This means that the possibility of these samples belonging to long-lived trees, resulting in an old wood effect of perhaps 100 years, cannot be excluded. However, this is may be counterbalanced by the 14 C age and calibration curve uncertainty. The seashell sample [Lyon-12517(GrA)] belongs to the species Cerastoderma glaucum and it was collected exactly in the same location and depth with one of the charcoal samples [Lyon- 12518(GrA)] from an undisturbed anthropogenic deposit, thus ensuring that they were both deposited simultaneously in the past. See the online supplement for Figures S1 –S11, which show the locations of the dated samples together with characteristic associated pottery. METHODS The samples were prepared in the Centre de Datation par le RadioCarbone in Lyon, France, and graphitized (Aerts-Bijma 1997) and measured in the radiocarbon dating facility of the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) in Groningen, Netherlands (Wijma 1997; van der Plicht 2000). The charcoal samples were chemically pretreated using the usual ABA protocol. ABA treat- ments performed in Lyon are similar to those used in many other 14 C laboratories. Samples are roughly crushed before being treated with 2N HCl (room temperature, 1 hr then 4 hr at 95°C), followed by 0.1N NaOH (room temperature, 1 hr then 1 hr at 95°C), and then treated with $ !! $$$ !!! ! "!!! ! " #! !! $$$! !! 1478 Y Facorellis et al. 2N HCl (room temperature, 1 hr). The samples are washed 3 times with ultrapure MilliQ ™ deionized water after each treatment. All glassware used is baked out at 450°C prior use for a minimum of 5 hr to remove any organic contaminants. After pretreatment, the charcoal samples are combusted in an automated Thermo Finnigan Flash EA 1112 (EA). The EA consists of a Cr 2O3 combustion tube, a cobaltous/ic oxide silvered purification furnace, a Cu reduction tube, and a water trap. The EA system is expended with an automatic cryogenic trapping device. This system consists of 16 separate freeze fingers in a vacuum system. Each trap has a pneumatic valve and a Dewar vessel filled with liquid nitrogen. The CO 2 sample is collected cryogenically in a glass ampoule, sealed and sent to the CIO in Groningen. When stable isotopic values are requested by sample submitters (e.g.