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The Early and Middle Pleistocene archaeological record of Greece : current status and future prospects Tourloukis, V. Citation Tourloukis, V. (2010, November 17). The Early and Middle Pleistocene archaeological record of Greece : current status and future prospects. LUP Dissertations. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16150 Version: Corrected Publisher’s Version Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the License: Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16150 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). 4 – The Lower Palaeolithic record of Greece 4.1 INTRODUCTION (WITH A SHORT lished renders any re-evaluation considerably diffi- REFERENCE TO THE MIDDLE cult (e.g. Andreikos 1993; Sarantea 1996). In those PALAEOLITHIC) cases, either the artefactual character of the finds or the chronological attribution to the Lower Palaeo- Unambiguous lithic evidence or human remains dat- lithic has already been disputed (e.g. see Runnels ing to the Early and early Middle Pleistocene are so 1995, 708, and Papagianni 2000, 9 for a critique of far lacking in Greece. Lithic material that is consid- the two examples of publications cited above). ered to date to the (late) Middle Pleistocene is scarce and mostly consists of finds that have been chronolo- Meager as the record is, the fact remains that indica- gically bracketed only in the broadest of terms, with tions for the presence of humans already from the relative dating techniques that are mainly based on late Middle Pleistocene have been reported from the inferred archaic morphology of the artefacts and areas that are spread over almost the entire country on usually inadequate stratigraphic correlations. In (Fig. 4.1): the northern parts of Greece (Thrace and this light, had the fossils from Megalopolis, Petralo- Macedonia, section 4.3), the Ionian Islands and na -and perhaps also those from Apidima- never Epirus (sections 4.4 and 4.5), up to Central Greece been found, any assertion for a human presence in (Thessaly, section 4.6) and the southernmost areas of Greece before the Late Pleistocene would have been Peloponnesus (sections 4.2.2 and 4.7); in fact, mate- only speculative. rial that is provisionally ascribed to the Lower Pa- laeolithic has recently been reported even from the In order to assess the validity of this scanty evidence, Aegean Islands -from Milos and from places as far this chapter aims at providing a critical examination as Crete and Gavdos (southernmost Aegean Sea; sec- of all reported claims for finds that could be attribu- tion 6.4). All of these reports are discussed below, ted to the Lower Palaeolithic period. Some argu- after the examination of the palaeoanthropological ments have been put forth by people who are practi- testimony (4.2)11. Moreover, a clear emphasis is gi- cing archaeology on an amateur or semi-professional ven here on the finds from Kokkinopilos (Epirus) level, publishing their results in self-funded mono- and Rodia (Thessaly), as these two are the main sites graphs or semi-popularized archaeology-related jour- with relatively well-documented stratified occur- nals. As this kind of research is carried out outside rences. But before assessing case-by-case the argu- the frameworks of academic institutions or the Greek ments for Lower Palaeolithic remains, it is deemed Archaeological Service, the investigators commonly fruitful to consider first the main characteristics of lack the assistance of trained geologists, geomor- the Late Pleistocene record of Greece, namely that of phologists, palaeontologists or lithic specialists. In the Middle Palaeolithic. effect, their arguments are usually grounded upon their own appreciation of the archaeological context Compared to the highly fragmentary character of the (which is – more often than not – inadequately de- Lower Palaeolithic data set (see below), the Middle scribed), if not solely on the morphology of the arte- Palaeolithic record of Greece is more solid and con- facts. Thus, although the experience, knowledge and sincere efforts of amateur archaeologists should not be overlooked by the academic community, the way 11. The hominin fossil from Megalopolis is discussed in section this kind of research is often conducted and pub- 4.7.2 together with the archaeological evidence from this area. 45 the early and middle pleistocene archaeological record of greece Fig. 4.1 Map of Greece showing key sites examined and discussed in this study. Archaeological sites: 1) Petrota 2) Doumbia 3) Siatista 4) Palaeokastro 5) Rodia 6) Korissia 7) Alonaki, Ormos Odysseos 8) Kokkinopilos 9) Nea Skala 10) Triadon Bay 11) Preveli 12) Gavdos. Sites with human remains: P = Petralona Cave; M = Megalopolis; A = Apidima Cave. Sites with pollen records: TP = Tenaghi Philippon; I = Ioannina; K = Kopais tinuous, yet poorly dated and hitherto not sufficiently (e.g. see papers in Bailey 1997 and Bailey et al. documented. Nevertheless, since the onset of the first 1999; Papagianni 2000; Panagopoulou et al. 2002- systematic explorations in the 1960’s (for reviews see 2004; Richards et al. 2008). Then again, despite the Kourtessi-Philippakis 1986; Darlas 1994; Runnels fact that Middle Palaeolithic findspots have been rou- 1995; Papagianni 2000), fresh approaches and new tinely identified during nearly all survey projects of perspectives – often aligned with the introduction of the last three decades, few of the ca. two hundred methodological and technological advances in ar- open-air Middle Palaeolithic sites and findspots (Har- chaeological practice – have improved not only the vati et al. 2009) have yet been excavated. Moreover, number of known sites, but also their interpretation it is only in but a handful of the open-air sites that the 46 4 – the lower palaeolithic record of greece Fig. 4.2 Main Middle Palaeolithic sites of Greece: 1) Theopetra 2) Asprochaliko 3) Kleisoura 4) Lakonis 5) Kalamakia material considered as of Middle Palaeolithic age has The cave of Asprochaliko was excavated by Higgs been identified as such on the basis of chronostrati- and Vita-Finzi (1966) and was for long considered graphic criteria, whilst sites with radiometric dates (erroneously) as the reference-site for describing are even fewer (for notable exceptions see for exam- Mousterian variability in Greece (Papakonstantinou ple Pope et al. 1984, and Runnels and van Andel and Vassilopoulou 1997; Darlas 2007). Its basal 1993a, 2003). As a consequence, the backbone of Mousterian levels yielded abundant laminar Leval- the Greek Middle Palaeolithic is essentially restricted lois products and are dated to ca. 90-100 ka by a sin- to only five cave sequences that have been excavated gle TL date (combined measurement on two heated and are bracketed chronologically with absolute flints; Huxtable et al. 1992; Gowlett and Carter dates, albeit not enough and in cases not unproble- 1997), whilst the upper Mousterian industry, domi- matic (Fig. 4.2). nated by small-sized pseudo-Levallois points, is ten- tatively dated by 14Ctoca. 40 ka (Higgs and Vita- 47 the early and middle pleistocene archaeological record of greece Finzi 1966; Bailey et al. 1983; 1992). In central the different layers of the sequence (Darlas and de Greece, the Middle Palaeolithic levels in the cave of Lumley 1999; Darlas 2007, 357). Hominin fossils Theopetra (Kyparissi-Apostolika 2000) document a that have been discovered at Kalamakia (an upper wide diversity and flexibility in reduction strategies M3 and six more teeth, cranial fragments, a fragment associated with the Levallois technique (Panagopou- of a fibula and a lumbar vertebra) are seen as Nean- lou 1999); moreover, the industry includes also a uni- derthal remains (Darlas 2007) and a more detailed facial flake cleaver (so far a unique find in Greece), a description is currently in preparation (Harvati et al. cordiform biface made on an ‘exotic’ raw material, as 2009, 139). In contrast to the rare presence of discoi- well as a few chopping tools (ibid). The sequence dal cores, the Levallois technique is well-represented was originally dated by 14C to 45-33 ka. Recent re- at Kalamakia, but the technological methods applied dating of these levels by TL on burned flints yielded are thought to follow the constraints imposed by the coherent results, which place the first human occupa- raw materials, which include a type of andesitic lava tion of the cave at the transition from MIS 6 to MIS 5 (prevailing also at Lakonis), flint, quartz and quart- and more probably the last interglacial itself (Valla- zite (Darlas 2007). Affinities with Kalamakia, in das et al. 2007), since plant remains from the same terms of the raw materials, the identified ungulate strata indicate a mild climate, in accordance with a species of the fauna and probably also in the techno- lack of freeze-thaw sedimentary features that charac- logical strategies of the reduction sequence, can be terize the rest of the sequence (Ntinou 2000; Karka- found in the neighboring site of Lakonis (Panago- nas 2001). On the basis of these new dates, Theope- poulou et al. 2002-2004). The sequence of Lakonis I tra has so far yielded the oldest dated deposits with at the eponymous cave complex begins at around stratified Middle Palaeolithic artefacts in Greece. No- MIS 5e, according to U-series dates (two samples teworthy is also the preserved footprints at Theope- from the bottom of the stratigraphy) and ends at ca. tra: they probably belong to a (Neanderthal?) child, 40 ka, on the basis of radiocarbon/AMS (six samples they are associated with Mousterian lithics, and one from the upper levels), whilst TL and OSL results are of them is assumed to have been made by a covered pending (ibid, 331; Elefanti et al. 2008). The col- foot, in which case it would be the oldest evidence of lapsed cave at Lakonis I preserves deposits of almost footwear (Manolis et al.

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