Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands?

Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 27.2 (2014) 211-230 ISSN (Print) 0952-7648 ISSN (Online) 1743-1700 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands?

Curtis Runnels

Archaeology Department, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Humans evolved in Africa and colonized Eurasia in successive adaptive radiations, establishing themselves in Europe ca. one million years ago. It is assumed that these dispersals were by land through southwest Asia, or secondarily across the Strait of Gibraltar, because early hominins lacked the cognitive faculties and technical skills needed to cross the open Mediterranean. Such crossings are thought to have occurred only at the end of the Pleistocene, after ca. 11,000 years ago. This reasoning is challenged by the presence of early Palaeolithic artifacts on the Greek islands, suggesting that hominins made sea-crossings more than 130,000 years ago, and indicating that the Mediterranean—and by implication other seas—were at times open roads rather than barriers to hominin dispersals. Keywords: Acheulean, Greek islands, hominin dispersals, Mediterranean, Palaeolithic, sea-crossings, stone tools

Introduction The usual assumption is that hominin adaptive radiations from Africa (hereafter ‘dispersals’) Were there humans on the Greek islands in the Palaeolithic? For decades this simple question followed land routes through southwest Asia has been difficult to answer because of a lack into Eurasia, with perhaps secondary crossings of evidence. Here I consider new evidence for at the Strait of Gibraltar and the mouth of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic (LP and MP) Red Sea (Aguirre and Carbonell 2001; Anton artifacts on Greek islands that are, on present and Swisher 2004; Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen evidence, thought to have been separated from 2001; Carbonell et al. 2008; Rolland 2013). It the mainland by open sea. The catalyst for is thought that early hominins such as Homo this study was the discovery of LP materials of erectus lacked the cognitive faculties, technical Acheulean type at Plakias on the island of Crete abilities, and linguistic capacities needed to in geologic contexts indicating an age greater construct watercraft to cross the open sea (e.g., than 130 kyr (Strasser et al. 2010; 2011; Run- Davidson and Noble 1992). It was simpler to nels et al. 2014). Although the small samples walk across the Sinai, like Moses. If sea-crossings of rough stone tools from Crete and the other were attempted, it was only when it was possible islands discussed here are from unexcavated to island-hop from shore to shore. Such oppor- findspots, poorly dated, and possibly include tunistic crossings of short distances using simple both earlier and later materials, their presence floats have been termed ‘seagoing’ (Broodbank suggests that humans may have reached some 2006: 200) to distinguish them from the sus- Greek islands as early as the Middle Pleistocene. tained maritime voyaging implied by the term

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v27i2.211 212 Runnels ‘seafaring’. But if a Palaeolithic presence on the Instead, lithic assemblages are used as proxy evi- Greek islands is confirmed, it would imply that dence for the presence of hominins. The dating early hominin seagoing was more ambitious of the Greek Palaeolithic is also sketchy. The LP than island hopping. is ascribed to the Middle Pleistocene (781–126 The possibility of Mediterranean crossings has kyr), ending before the Last Interglacial, perhaps been considered before (e.g., Bednarik 1999), ca. 250 kyr (Tourloukis 2010: 23-44; Run- but the evidence for them has been consid- nels 2001), and the MP is thought to begin in ered as unconvincing (e.g., Shackleton et al. the late Middle Pleistocene and continue into 1984; Bailey and Carrion 2008; Straus 2001; the Late Pleistocene (126–28 kyr) (Papagianni Villa 2001; Broodbank 2006; 2013: 91-96). A 2000; Runnels 2001). reconsideration of Mediterranean sea-crossings is prompted not only by new evidence from The Lower Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean the Greek islands, but by the discovery of LP artifacts at Mata Menge and other sites in the Early hominins were present in southwest Asia Soa Basin on Flores in southeast Asia that may beginning in the Lower Pleistocene (Figure 1). have resulted from sea-crossings in southeast The earliest is Dmanisi (Georgia), ca. 1.8 myr, Asia as much as 1 myr (Morwood et al. 1998; with a pebble core assemblage similar to the Morwood 2001; Bednarik 2001a; 2003; Brumm African Oldowan industrial tradition (Mode et al. 2010). To this it can be added that humans 1) (Gabunia et al. 2001) associated with well- reached Australia and New Guinea by sea ca. 50 preserved hominin fossils, the exact taxonomic kyr (O’Connell et al. 2010; O’Connor 2010), identification of which is debated (Lordkipan- earlier than any currently accepted island exploi- idze et al. 2013; cf. Klein 2009: 350-57). In tation in the Mediterranean and demonstrating Israel, Ubeidiya (ca. 1.4 myr) and Gesher Benot the ability of Palaeolithic humans to make such Ya’aqov (ca. 0.8 myr) are younger (Shea 2013: crossings. 47-80). Ubeidiya has both a pebble core and an Here I briefly review what is known about Acheulean assemblage with large cutting tools LP Mediterranean sites used for documenting (LCTs), viz. handaxes, cleavers, trihedral picks, hominin dispersal by land. This is followed by a protobifaces, and massive scrapers. Gesher Benot review of the early Palaeolithic on the Mediterra- Ya’aqov has an Acheulean assemblage noted for nean islands and a consideration of the early Pal- the ‘giant’ core technique for producing flakes aeolithic record for the Greek mainland. Finally, for making LCTs, a method with parallels in the evidence for the Palaeolithic—including east African assemblages (Shea 2013: 64-74). both the LP and MP—on the Greek islands is There may be sites in Israel as old as Dmanisi, considered. The inclusion of both LP and MP but these are not widely accepted (Shea 2013: as ‘early’ Palaeolithic is necessary because there 70-73). Other LP sites in southweast Asia are overlapping technical and typological ele- include Latamne in Syria, and Yarimburgaz ments in the two traditions that are difficult to Cave, Dursunlu, and Kaletepe Deresi 3 in Tur- separate, especially when dealing with surface- key. Yarimburgaz and Dursunlu have pebble collected lithics dated within broad limits. Fossil core assemblages, and Kaletepe Deresi 3 has an evidence will not be considered. It is probable Acheulean assemblage. The Turkish LP may be that several hominin species were responsible for about 1.1-1.3 myr in age (Kuhn 2003; 2010; the Greek Palaeolithic, including H. heidelber- Slimak et al. 2008). It is thought that the peb- gensis, Neanderthals (Harvati et al. 2009; 2011; ble core assemblages resulted from the earliest 2013) and H. erectus (Kappelman et al. 2008), hominin dispersals (Shea 2013: 70-78), and the but there are too few fossils to be of use here. Acheulean from later dispersal events about 1

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands? 213 myr (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen 2001; Kuhn be 0.9 myr in age (Scott and Gibert 2009), 2010; Shea 2013: 70-76). If so, the two indus- although the dating is controversial (Jiménez- trial traditions documented for Greece and Tur- Arenas et al. 2011). Despite these and other key (Kuhn 2002; 2010; Runnels and Özdoğan early sites (e.g., Pakefield in the UK; Parfitt et al. 2001; Runnels 2003a) may also be evidence for 2005), Roebroeks (2006) argues that a human multiple hominin dispersals. presence in western Europe during the early Both the pebble core and Acheulean industrial Middle Pleistocene was only ‘occasional’ before tradition are found in the west Mediterranean about 0.5 myr (Roebroeks 2006). A new assess- in Iberia, France, and Italy (Roebroeks and van ment by Rolland (2013), however, makes the Kolfschoten 1994; Raposo and Santonja 1995; case for an early hominin presence in Europe Falguères et al. 1999; Gamble 1999; Mussi as early as 1.4 myr. He argues that glacial sea- 2001; Roebroeks 2006; Klein 2009: 358-72). level lowstands in the Pleistocene reduced the In Spain, the initial arrival of hominins is asso- Gibraltar strait at times to ca. 8-11 km, making ciated with the pebble core tradition, perhaps possible the crossing from Africa to Spain (see before about 1 myr (e.g., at Atapuerca, followed also Bednarik 1999; 2001b). Rolland (2013: ca. 650 kyr by the arrival of new hominins with 10) argues that hominins crossed the Strait of the Acheulean industrial tradition (Mosquera Gibraltar at the same time they traversed the and Rodríguez 2013). Acheulean sites in the southwest Asian land route as part of ‘multiple, south of Spain, however, may be as early as the multidirectional, multistage dispersals’. He sup- pebble core tradition: handaxes from La Solana ports this conclusion with a bimodal spatio- del Zamborino and Estrecho del Quípar may temporal distribution of European LP sites and

Figure 1. Map of the Mediterranean showing Palaeolithic sites mentioned in the text. Drawn by Al B. Wesolowsky.

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 214 Runnels fossils (Rolland 2013: 3, fig. 1) that shows sites of the islands—as opposed to occasional forays of the same Early Pleistocene age at the western or makeshift drift voyages—that resulted in a and eastern extremities of Europe and earlier sustained human presence on the Mediterra- than those in central Europe. nean islands (see also Ammerman 2011; Phoca- Cosmetatou 2011; Simmons 2012). Why has the confirmation of the Palaeolithic The Early Palaeolithic on the Mediterranean on the Mediterranean islands been so difficult? Islands If we take as an example the island of Cyprus, The known Palaeolithic findspots are small one of the largest of the Mediterranean islands, collections of poorly dated lithic artifacts in which is geographically close to the southwest uncertain geologic contexts (Broodbank 2006; Asian mainland, and an ‘oceanic’ island in terms 2013: 91-96) and lacking associations between of its isolation from the mainland (Simmons the lithics and Pleistocene faunal remains. In 2013; van der Geer et al. 2010), any Palaeolithic many cases, the crude, early-looking stone tools there would be good evidence for sea-crossings. may be geofacts. The identification of lithic While there have been scattered reports of Pal- assemblages as early Palaeolithic is based on aeolithic finds from Cyprus since the 1960s, typological comparisons with assemblages from doubts about them based on the smallness of excavated, stratified, and dated deposits on the the samples, undiagnostic character of the lith- mainland, but such comparisons are subjective, ics, and lack of secure geologic contexts have especially as the stone tools might be techno- continued to cloud the picture (Knapp 2013: logically simple types that occur also in later 43-48). In his recent review of the evidence, lithic traditions. For these reasons the Mediter- Knapp (2013: 47) advises against undue skepti- ranean island Palaeolithic before the end of the cism, but also notes that progress is likely to Pleistocene has remained an open question. continue to be slow until specialists begin to use Cherry (1981; 1990) concluded that there was targeted search techniques (see further below). no conclusive evidence for human habitation of any Mediterranean island, as opposed to The Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Mainland sporadic utilization, before the end of the Pleis- tocene. This conclusion may yet stand for the The early Palaeolithic in Greece includes sites western Mediterranean islands (Straus 2001; with fossils and stone tool assemblages (Figure Villa 2001). More recent reviews by Broodbank 2). Fossils include a H. heidelbergensis example (2006: 200-205; 2013: 91-96) continue to cast from the Petralona Cave, about 150–250/350 doubt on the evidence for the Palaeolithic on kyr (Tourloukis and Karkanas 2012), an uniden- the Mediterranean islands, except for those that tified hominid molar from Megalopolis, about on present evidence were probably connected to 300–950 kyr (Tourloukis and Karkanas 2012), the mainland for considerable periods of time, and two crania from Apidima Cave identified as or were accessible from the mainland via strings both H. heidelbergensis and Neanderthals, about of intervening islands (see also Shackleton et al. 105–400 kyr (Harvati et al. 2011; Tourloukis 1984: 310). Although Broodbank (2013: 109- and Karkanas 2012). There are also two Nean- 46) noted that the Palaeolithic evidence for some derthal bone fragments from Kalamakia Cave Greek islands was more persuasive, he concluded and Lakonis Cave (Harvati et al. 2009; 2011; that it was only during the Younger Dryas at 2013; Panagopoulou et al. 2002–04). the end of the Pleistocene, with its dryer, colder Stone tool assemblages are more common. conditions, that Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic for- An Acheulean handaxe has been found in the agers began the active exploration and habitation Pindos Mountains and a number of findspots

Figure 2. Map of Greece showing places and Palaeolithic sites mentioned in the text. Drawn by Al B. Wesolowsky. throughout Greece have both pebble core and oldest river terrace where it is found (Runnels Acheulean assemblages (Kourtessi-Philippakis and van Andel 1993b). Rodia may be older than 1986; Runnels and van Andel 1993a; 2003; 350 kyr, based on new fieldwork and dating Bailey et al. 1999; Runnels 2001; Runnels of the highest Peneios river terrace (Tourloukis 2003a; Sampson 2006; Tourloukis 2010: 56-58, 2010: 198; Tourloukis and Karkanas 2012). The 94-108). Kokkinopilos (Epirus) has produced majority of the findspots are surface scatters of Acheulean handaxes and other artifacts from a lithic artifacts occurring as secondary deposits in sediment-filled tectonic basin dated by sedimen- low-lying areas where sediments have accumu- tation rate and OSL to ca. 250 kyr (Runnels and lated (Tourloukis and Karkanas 2012). van Andel 1993a; 2003; Tourloukis and Karka- In contrast to the rather sparse LP record, nas 2012), and the site of Rodia (Thessaly) has a MP sites occur throughout Greece, from open- pebble core assemblage with an estimated age of air sites in the Pindos mountains (Efstratiou et about 350 kyr based on the U/Th dating of the al. 2006) and Thrace in the north of Greece

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 216 Runnels (Ammerman et al. 1999), to open-air sites tion, perhaps as the result of ‘mobile maritime and cave sites, e.g., Asprochaliko Cave in Epi- scouting’ (Broodbank 2006: 209) that began rus (Papagianni 2000; Runnels and van Andel some time before the first obsidian appears on 2003), open-air sites and Franchthi Cave in the the mainland. Argolid (Runnels 2001), and the Kalamakia Can this maritime activity be extended to the and Lakonis Caves in the southern Peloponnese early Palaeolithic? Palaeolithic artifacts have been (Darlas 1995; Runnels 2001; Panagopoulou et found on Corfu (Kourtessi-Philappakis 1999), al. 2002-2004; Sampson 2006; Harvati et al. Lefkas (Dousougli 1999), Euboea (Sarantea- 2013). The MP is dated by TL, OSL, and other Micha 1986; Sampson 2006), Lemnos (Efstra- radiometric methods (Pope et al. 1984; Bailey tiou et al. 2013), Thasos (Koukouli-Chrysanthaki et al. 1992; Papagianni 2000; Zhou et al. 2000; and Weissgerber 1999), and most recently at Runnels and van Andel 2003), and persisted Lisvori on Lesvos (Galanidou et al. 2013; 2014). from the Last Interglacial ca. 126–118 kyr down These islands, however, were in all probability to the latest MP assemblages in Thessaly ca. 28 connected to the mainland at times during the kyr (Runnels and van Andel 1993b: 300–301). Pleistocene (van Andel and Shackelton 1982; While the MP lasted for some 80,000 years, Shackleton et al. 1984; Lambeck 1996; Lykousis that is much less time than the LP, which was 2009), and the simplest hypothesis is that they about 700,000 years. It is unclear whether the were accessed by hominins during glacial sea- larger number of MP sites is a reality, or whether level lowstands when land bridges existed. This it is the result of the greater obtrusiveness of is not the case for all of the islands. Kephalonia, the MP sites, a lack of research on the LP, the Zakynthos, Alonnisos, Naxos, Melos, Crete, action of post-depositional destructive processes and Gavdos may have been separated from the on earlier sites, or a combination of these factors mainland by open water for most if not all of the (Tourloukis and Karkanas 2012). The destruc- Pleistocene, and Palaeolithic artifacts from these tion of the archaeological record by post-deposi- islands, if substantiated by future research, would tional forces should not be underestimated: the imply that hominins were able to reach them. loss of landforms habitable in the Pleistocene due to the submergence of coastal shelves by Ionian Islands marine transgression, or burial and destruction On Kephalonia, Cubuk (1976) found stone by terrestrial erosion on the remaining land sur- tools at Nea Skala in association with two levels face, has been considered by Tourloukis (2010: of uplifted marine terraces assigned to the Last 201), whose detailed calculations of lost surface Interglacial and early glacial; MP artifacts were area suggest that no more than perhaps 2%-5% associated with the lower, younger terrace, and of the early Palaeolithic record has survived. possible LP stone tools were associated with the higher, older terrace. Palaeolithic artifacts are reported from elsewhere on the island (Pet- The Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands rocheilos 1959; Marinatos 1960; Tourloukis That humans were reaching the Cycladic islands 2010: 56-58, 120-25), most notably an artifact- in the late Pleistocene by ca. 11 kyr has been bearing paleosol outcrop at Fiskardo (Kavva- known for some time from the Melian obsidian dias 1984), which might include LP and MP in the Franchthi Cave (Perlès 1979; Renfrew and materials (Panagopoulou and Karkanas 2014). Aspinall 1990). The obsidian outcrops on Melos If hominins were on Kephalonia by the MP, are difficult to locate without a careful search, recent marine geophysical studies indicate that and Cherry (1981: 45; 1990) concluded that Kephalonia was unconnected to the mainland they were discovered only after extensive prospec- for the last 125 kyr, and hominins would have

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands? 217 had to make one or more 5-12 km crossings LP and MP affinities with sites known on the to reach the island (Ferentinos et al. 2012). mainland (Runnels and van Andel 2003). There The same holds true for Zakynthos, where MP are flakes (ca. 8 cm) made by direct percussion artifacts are reported (Sordinas 1970; Kourtessi- on pebbles of rhyolite and other rock types. Philipakkis 1999; van Wijngaarden et al. 2007; Core tools include small bifaces, protobifaces, Tourloukis 2010: 56-58; Panagopoulou and and choppers from 8 to 12 cm in length. The Karkanas 2014). The Palaeolithic findspots on retouched implements include Tayacian points, both islands are undated, but Fiskardo may sidescrapers, notches (Clactonian), and den- date to more than 100 kyr, as the context and ticulates. Some flakes were made with the Leval- artifacts are similar to those in Epirus dated by lois technique. Notably for a site on an island radiometric means (Bailey et al. 1992; Runnels famous for its obsidian sources, only one of the and van Andel 2003; Ferentinos et al. 2012). artifacts (a biface) is obsidian. Platforms are both plain and facetted, and modified flake edges Aegean Islands have continuous, invasive scalar retouch. Alonnisos (northern Sporades) may have been To the Triadon Bay assemblage may possibly separated from the mainland by narrow straits be added bifaces that I observed on the surface (2-3 km) and a survey led by Panagopoulou at Sta Nychia in 1977 (Runnels 1981: 94-95, identified ca. 4000 MP artifacts on 14 open-air pl. 33; Torrence 1986: 182). I once assumed sites, some associated with Pleistocene paleosol they had something to do with obsidian-work- outcrops (Panagopoulou et al. 2001; Panago- ing, and their potential significance for the Pal- poulou and Karkanas 2014). In the Cyclades, aeolithic on Melos only occurred to me when I Palaeolithic artifacts are reported, but not pub- saw the materials from Triadon Bay. Made from lished in detail, from Antiparos, Despotiko, light brown volcanic rocks and up to 16 cm in Melos, Naxos, and Paros (Zaffanella 2001: length, their size, hard-percussion bifacial flak- 62-64; Sampson 2006: 22-23). In the Pleis- ing, and raw material set them apart from the tocene, these islands were part of the larger cobble handstones used as flint-knapping tools. Cycladean Island (see below), and the Palaeo- This site too would bear reinvestigation. lithic site of Stelida (Naxos), which is the subject of a new investigation, would have been near the Crete center of this landmass (Séfériadès 1983; Samp- Zois (1973) assembled an impressive list of son 2006: fig. 10; Tristan Carter, pers. comm. pre-Neolithic finds on Crete, but most of the 2013). The assemblage has been described as evidence has been questioned on the grounds MP, with flakes, a few large blades, recurrent of the disputed artifactual nature of the materi- and discoidal cores, sidescrapers, marginally als or their ascription to pre-Neolithic periods retouched flakes, and denticulates, some made (Cherry 1990; Lax and Strasser 1992; Strasser with the Levallois technique. Comparing the 1992; Broodbank 2006). Crete is nevertheless photographs and drawings of the lithics, the the only island of those being considered here Stelida assemblage appears to me to be similar to have produced a human fossil, a cranial frag- to that from Triadon Bay (Melos), where a col- ment said to be of H. sapiens, and purported to lection of 126 lithic artifacts was made from a be from a cave in western Crete. Found nearly findspot associated with a raised marine terrace a century ago, it has been dated to ca. 50 kyr (Chelidonio 2001). Based on the published by an analysis of sediments adhering to the account, personal communication with Che- fossil. Unfortunately its exact findspot—much lidonio, and recent observations on materials less its geologic and archaeological context—is at the site, the implements are found to have unknown (Facchini and Giusberti 1992).

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 218 Runnels There things stood until 2008, when a tar- the eastern and western Mediterranean in terms geted surface survey (Strasser et al. 2010) using of their morpho-typological and technological a predictive site location model identified Meso- characteristics (e.g., presence of LCTs and lack lithic sites in the area of Plakias on the southwest of Levallois technique) (Runnels et al. 2014), coast, one of which, Damnoni 3, is currently rather than the MP on the Greek mainland, being excavated. In the course of the survey, which seemingly lacks LCTs like handaxes nine findspots were identified with lithic arti- (Runnels 2001; Runnels and van Andel 2003). facts of early Palaeolithic type. At five findspots LP artifacts have also been reported from artifacts were found as clasts (constituent pieces Loutro (Mortensen 2008) near Plakias. Although of a deposit) in paleosols (buried soils) associated my own examination of these artifacts suggests with thick alluvial/colluvial deposits, or as clasts that many are geofacts, some appear to be arti- in marine sedimentary deposits (raised beaches). factual (Nena Galanidou, pers. comm. 2012). More than 200 lithic artifacts of the Acheulean The same goes for unpublished LP and MP arti- industrial tradition, including LCTs and flake facts from the nearby island of Gavdos (Kopaka tools such as sidescrapers and denticulates, were and Matzanas 2009). While scattered reports collected (Strasser et al. 2010; 2011), and two of such as these, and others from the Cyclades (e.g., the geologic contexts have been dated. Zaffanella 2001), might have been dismissed in Preveli 2 is a flight of uplifted marine sedimen- the past pending full publication, the better- tary deposits, and Preveli 7 is a paleosol outcrop documented finds from Kephalonia, Zakynthos, in an alluvial fan on a planation surface above Alonnisos, Melos, Naxos, and Crete suggest that the highest of the marine terraces (Strasser et al. further investigation is warranted. 2011). It has been possible to construct a chron- ostratigraphic profile from these contexts by a Early Hominin Seagoing? consideration of uplift rates and pedogenic maturity anchored with 14C and OSL dates (Strasser et Were the Greek islands separated from the al. 2011; Runnels et al. 2014). At Preveli 2, lithic mainland by sea straits wide enough to require artifacts are found in the highest of the marine watercraft to cross them? An estimate of such terraces dated in a two-step process: the lowest a separation requires detailed paleoshoreline terrace in the sequence was dated by a 14C date reconstructions such as those that Lambeck et of ca. 50 kyr, and the ages of the older, higher al. (2011) undertook for the Red Sea for the terraces were extrapolated from the known local past 300 kyr, a period during which hominins rock uplift rate, providing minimum ages of 72 are thought to have reached Arabia from Africa kyr and 107 kyr for the artifact-bearing terraces via the Bab ‘al Mandab strait. They employed (Strasser et al. 2011). The paleosol outcrop at data from tectonics, water chemistry, eustasy, Preveli 7 was dated by an OSL estimate of 114 and glacio-hydro-isostasy to address the vari- ± 10 kyr (Runnels et al. 2014), which correlates ability in geophysical history along the length well with the age of the paleosol, ca. 110 kyr, of the Red Sea, in order to obtain a picture of based on its pedogenic maturity, which is in turn the conditions that confronted early humans based on maturity age estimates from Crete and attempting to make the crossing. This required Greece established by OSL, TL, U/Th, and 14C an estimate of the volume of ocean water and dating (Strasser et al. 2011). its redistribution within the Red Sea’s basins, Based on the OSL dating of Preveli 7, we can as well as estimates of changes in the shapes of conclude that the oldest lithic artifacts have a the basins and the gravity field, based on earth minimum age of ca. 114 kyr. The Plakias lith- models derived from reasonable assumptions ics are similar to the Acheulean found in both of the elastic thickness of the lithosphere, the

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands? 219 viscosity of the upper and lower mantle, and during much of the Late Pleistocene (Figure calculations of the changes to the earth’s ice 3). The bathymetry separating Melos from the fields (with consideration of the distance of the Cycladean Island landmass also points to Melos study area from the earth’s ice sheets). being an island during the Pleistocene, and the In the end, they found that there was straits separating Melos from the Cycladean Island would have necessitated more than one considerable spatial variation… in the ampli- tude and chronology of sea levels… that open-water crossing on the order of 7-10 km [were] a function of the ice history from each. In turn, the Cycladean Island was reached before the Last Interglacial up to the present from the mainland by multiple crossings on the as well as of the earth’s rheological response to order of 10 km or more. If we accept the pres- loading. (Lambeck et al. 2011: 3555) ence of nanized endemic fauna such as pygmy elephantids as proxy evidence for ‘oceanic’ island To model this variability they used ice models separation in the Pleistocene, their presence on and an estimate of the earth’s rheological response the islands of Delos, Kythnos, Naxos, and prob- (to the flow of matter), as well as differing val- ably Seriphos (Mavridis 2003; D. Reese, pers. ues of earth model parameters. A finding that comm. 2010; Simmons 2013) is evidence that emerged is that the Cycladean Island was separated from the vertical land movements driven by active tec- mainland for most of the Pleistocene (see below). tonic processes can also make an important Recently, a reconstruction by Lykousis (2009), contribution to the relative sea levels. These using marine geophysical data for the last 400 kyr contributions are usually more regional or from seismic reflection profile data for sequences even local and their quantitative modelling is of prograding terrestrial sediments on the subsid- much more complex and less well developed ing Aegean floor, suggests that at times in the last than for the isostatic processes. (Lambeck et 400 kyr parts of the central and northern Aegean al. 2011: 3562-63) were dry land, perhaps as much as 50%-60% of The reconstructions also required a precise the area. According to Lykousis, the Aegean was chronology in order to correlate the geophysical a broad belt of land stretching from Turkey to signal with the archaeological record. Despite Greece during glacial sea-level lowstands, laced these complexities, Lambeck and his colleagues with braided rivers and dotted with lakes, some showed that the region near the mouth of the of them large. This would have been an attrac- Red Sea in the area of the Haycock Islands and tive habitat for early hominins (Tourloukis and the Hanish Sill could have been crossed in the Karkanas 2012), but the coarse scale of these late Middle Pleistocene from Africa to Arabia reconstructions and the absence of crucial data by moving from island to island making only (e.g., earth model estimates) make it preferable two or more crossings of open water, each of for present purposes to use existing reconstruc- approximately 4 km. tions, at least for the southern Aegean. A similar reconstruction of the paleoshorelines It is thought that Crete has been an island since for Greek waters is a daunting task because of the the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis ca. 5.33 equally complex geophysical nature of the region. myr, and its endemic fauna are strong inferential For the southern Aegean the reconstructions by evidence for the insular nature of Crete through- Lambeck (1996) supersede those of earlier work- out the Pleistocene (Lax and Strasser 1992; van ers (van Andel and Shackleton 1982) and suggest der Geer et al. 2010). Although Panagopoulou that a large Cycladean Island—made up from and Karkanas (2014) consider the possibility of most of today’s Cycladic islands—emerged as a narrowing of the straits between the southern a consequence of the glacial sea-level lowstands Peloponnese and Crete during glacial sea-level

Figure 3. Reconstruction of the Cycladean Island and Melos based on a maximum glacial sea-level lowstand ca. 130 m below the present geoid, using geophysical data from Lambeck 1996. Drawn by Eliza McClennen.

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands? 221 lowstands (ca. -130 m) that would have required species to reach the island over a narrowed strait two or more crossings of 10-25 km to reach making two or more crossings of 10-25 km each Crete, there was no lasting close connection between the Peloponnese and northwest Crete, between Crete and the mainland, as a close con- allowing the Biozone 2 fauna (but not large nection would have resulted in the fauna being predators) to reach the island—presumably by much the same in both places. Palaeontologists swimming—to replace the Biozone 1 fauna. It is argue that the unbalanced endemic fauna on also conceivable that hominins may have arrived an ‘oceanic’ island like Crete in the Pleistocene on the island at some point in Biozone 1 and with its nanized species of mammoth, elephant, contributed to the faunal extinctions. hippo, and deer was the result of a ‘sweepstakes’ event of accidently-arriving isolated populations Discussion of mainland animals (van der Geer et al. 2010)— possibly including hominins—and that the long Although much research remains to be done, separation from the mainland prevented preda- it may be concluded that humans had to cross tors such as cats, bears, and hyenas—and again open water to reach at least some of the Greek possibly including hominins—from reaching the islands, which, like Kephalonia, Naxos, Melos, island. and Crete, have produced corresponding evi- Unfortunately the paleontological record for dence of Palaeolithic activity. This suggests that Crete is based on fossils from geographically scat- seagoing was involved, a hypothesis that gains tered deposits with only a handful of radiometric support from a chain of strong inferences. First, determinations. Palaeontologists have neverthe- insular, nanized, endemic island fauna—in light less distinguished two biozones. The transition of our present knowledge of island biogeogra- from one biozone to another suggests that the phy—are prima facie evidence that an island Pleistocene record of animal life on Crete was must have been separated from the mainland by not without change. Biozone 1 (Early/Middle oceanic barriers large and enduring enough to Pleistocene) is characterized by a dwarf hip- prevent large predators from making the cross- popotamus, a pygmy mammoth, and a large ing, which permitted the island fauna to become mouse (Kritimys), while Biozone 2 (late Middle nanized. Second, we can infer that open water, Pleistocene/early Holocene) saw the replacement if distances to be crossed were great enough to of Biozone 1 fauna by a dwarf elephant, eight isolate endemic fauna, would have necessitated deer species (one of which was a dwarf), and a the use of watercraft by hominins to reach such normal-sized mouse, shrew, and otter. It should islands. Third, the use of watercraft implies the be noted that both biozones are dominated by use of navigational skills. Even the narrowest of sweepstakes colonization fauna (van der Geer et straits has dangerous currents and winds, and al. 2010: 121-22). The transition from Biozone 1 some control of the float would have been neces- to Biozone 2 occurred ca. 300 kyr (a wide chron- sary for even short crossings. Watercraft could ological range is probable) and there are several have been controlled with centerboards, steering hypotheses for this change: one is that climate oars, paddles, or perhaps even sails (sticking an change may have driven some of the Biozone 1 oar up to catch the wind and move a float is a species on the island to extinction, allowing other form of a sail), but they had to be large enough geographically-isolated populations on the island to carry several people, even in the case of a small to increase in frequency and replace them. This hunting party. Fourth, the hominins must have would give the appearance of the arrival of new had navigational skills, including the ability to fauna from the mainland. Alternatively, a glacial plot a course, estimate a position, and calculate sea-level lowstand may have allowed mainland the rate of travel and distance covered; skills

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 222 Runnels embraced today by the term ‘dead reckoning’ as from Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and (Huth 2013: 53-80). Fifth, the presence of Palae- historic period assemblages, and in my consid- olithic artifacts (when the identification is based ered opinion the assemblages discussed here on their morpho-typology combined with dated exhibit morpho-types (e.g., LCTs) and technical geologic contexts) that have survived the ravages features (e.g., hard hammer percussion and the of time and post-depositional transformative Levallois technique) similar to those found in processes suggests more than casual one-time LP and MP Greek assemblages (Runnels et al. visitations, such as those assumed in accidental 2014), which are not found in later assemblages. drifting and so-called ‘sweepstakes’ colonization Lastly, there must be evidence for their early by one small group. Transformative forces such date independent of their forms, as comparisons as sea-level rise, erosion, and modern develop- of morpho-types, even in the case of the expe- ment, especially on the smaller islands where rienced analyst, have an irreducible element of there is very little surface area to work with, have subjectivity. Dated contexts are documented at mostly wiped the slate clean. The presence of Fiskardo in Kephalonia (Ferentinos et al. 2012; any stone tools today suggests that there must Kavvadias 1984), where Palaeolithic artifacts once have been more, an observation supported occur in paleosol outcrops similar to those in by Tourloukis’ (2010: 201) calculations of the Epirus dated to greater than 100 kyr by means incompleteness of the Pleistocene record for the of soil maturity estimates and OSL assays (Run- rest of Greece. Whether the artifacts that survive nels and van Andel 2003), and on Crete LP were left by humans during one-off explora- artifacts occur in association with Pleistocene tions of difficult-to-reach islands, or by repeated geologic structures (see above) dated to more human visitation, or by resident bands for either than 130 kyr. short or long periods, cannot be known from the Therefore, if this logical chain of inferences is evidence available. sound, there is no a priori reason scientifically The question remains whether the artifacts to doubt the presence of humans in the Pleis- are Palaeolithic tools, or only geofacts. Are there tocene on at least some Greek islands. It is true artifacts from later periods that happen to look that the record is sparse, the number of artifacts like Palaeolithic forms? We can safely conclude limited, and the geologic contexts, while useful that the artifacts discussed here are not geofacts. for dating, merely secondary sites of deposition Lithic specialists employ a number of criteria to and not habitation sites suitable for excavation. distinguish artifacts from natural stones: artifac- Until such sites are found and explored, our tual assemblages must have non-cortical cores understanding of this period will remain murky with multiple negative flake scars, cores and and open to question. But the incompleteness flake edges with extensive symmetrical flaking of the archaeological record is a poor reason for to impose symmetry, flakes with bulbar scars, refraining from generating working hypotheses and non-cortical flakes with parallel dorsal flake and continuing the research. scars and mostly unweathered surfaces (Shea 2013: table 3.2, 56-57). Employing these cri- Future Research teria, my inspection of the assemblages in question in the laboratory and through the available Until specialists employ appropriate research publications confirms the artifactual nature designs on the islands little further progress is to of these implements. It can also be concluded be expected, a point made explicitly for Cyprus that they are Palaeolithic. In the past 40 years I by Knapp (2013: 43-48). Such research designs have inspected and published stone tools from differ from those employed in intensive regional most of the Palaeolithic sites in Greece, as well surface surveys where archaeological sites are

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 Early Palaeolithic on the Greek Islands? 223 marked by dense concentrations of highly obtru- seaward displacement of the late Pleistocene/ sive potsherds or the remains of architecture, early Holocene shoreline was relatively small and are comparatively easy to identify in the during lowstands and rising sea-levels (Bailey semi-arid, sparsely vegetated Greek countryside and Carrion 2008: 2096). This targeting was by teams of relatively widely-spaced fieldwalkers. fraught with uncertainty because dynamic geo- Small unobtrusive scatters of stone tools made logic conditions are more stochastic in nature as from hard-to-recognize raw materials like quartz we go back in time (Tourloukis and Karkanas and quartzite on findspots that may occur as 2012), and thus, for targeted Palaeolithic island outcrops in ravines, or widely isolated geologic surveys, the most important factor is chronology. deposits, require the skills of experienced special- As van Andel and his colleagues (2004) noted ists to find and interpret them. As Butzer (1991) in their discussion of the correlation of data on argued for the New World with respect to the European Neanderthal sites and physical envi- search for pre-Clovis sites, the research design ronment, one must have precise chronological must be crafted specifically for sites of a particular control in order to establish correlations between period. In the Aegean, a large range of geological, hominin activities and environmental conditions morphological, and marine geophysical data are useful for explanations of cause and effect. Such required for the paleonvironmental reconstruc- chronological synchronicity in the Greek island tions of possible habitats—and for specific time Palaeolithic is not yet possible. Are we looking periods—that have escaped the biasing effects of at events that occurred at ca. 300 kyr, 500 kyr, geomorphic processes before any searching is pos- or 1 myr? An even greater problem confronts sible. The teams must include archaeologists, but the attempt to identify potential sea-crossings by also geologists, geomorphologists, geochronolo- hominins. One cannot use paleoenvironmental gists, and other specialists. Such ‘targeted island reconstructions to evaluate the difficulty, or Palaeolithic surveys’ would be similar to those ease, of voyaging from the mainland to an island employed to find Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites unless the archaeological occurrences on the on the mainland, e.g., the Palaeolithic Survey in islands are precisely the same age as the paleoshore- Thessaly (Runnels and van Andel 1993b), the line reconstructions. Although there have been Nikopolis Survey in Epirus (Runnels and van Andel 2003), the Mesolithic survey of Kandia stratigraphic excavations of several LP sites in in the Argolid (Runnels et al. 2005), the survey Greece and Turkey, none of them are dated well for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites on Alonnisos enough to provide a precise chronology, which in the northern Sporades (Panagopoulou et al. is the case also for sites in Italy and Spain (Klein 2001), and the Mesolithic Survey of Plakias in 2009: 361-71, tables 5.11, 5.12). Crete (Strasser et al. 2010). Although few targeted Palaeolithic surveys The weakness of such surveys, however, is the have been undertaken, it is useful to identify need for data on the natural conditions prevail- islands now that should be given high priority ing at specific time periods. The Mesolithic in the search for early Palaeolithic sites. The best projects in the Sporades (Panagopoulou et al. candidates are islands in the southern Aegean 2001), the Argolid (Runnels et al. 2005; Run- of large size (or were once part of a larger unit, nels 2009), and on Crete (Strasser et al. 2010) like the Cycladean Island) and ones that have targeted coastal zones not submerged by Holo- evidence for endemic, nanized fauna that point cene marine transgression, and the selection of to long isolation from the mainland. The best the survey areas required information on the choices for immediate new or continuing inves- bathymetric conditions of the coastline about tigation are Crete, Naxos, Paros, and the Melos- 9-10.5 kyr in order to identify places where the Kimolos group.

© The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2014 224 Runnels Conclusions tions for our understanding of early hominin adaptive radiations. There are many obstacles to overcome. There is the daunting prospect of searching scores of islands, both large and small, not to men- Acknowledgments tion the problems posed by strict controls on This paper was prepared while the author was archaeological reconnaissance and research by the Cotsen Fellow in Archaeology at the School antiquities laws designed to prevent the illegal for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mex- export of antiquities and provide bureaucratic ico (2013). I thank former President James F. control of fieldwork (Runnels 2003b; Kardulias Brooks and Interim President David E. Stuart 1994). These inhibit scientific work in unex- for their hospitality and discussions during my pected and unintended ways, limiting survey time at the SAR, and the SAR staff, particularly universes to areas considerably smaller than the Laura Holt, for their support and assistance. I putative home ranges of Palaeolithic foragers by wish to thank Priscilla Murray and Thomas F. one or more orders of magnitude, and limit- Strasser for our many discussions of the subject ing the techniques and methods that can be matter, and Al B. Wesolowsky, Eliza McClen- employed on a single project, such as combin- nen, and Brandon Olson for preparing the ing targeted survey with soil augering, shovel maps. The editors and anonymous reviewers of testing, and excavating sondages on multiple the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology are also findspots. Export restrictions make it difficult to be thanked for their material contributions to to take artifactual samples out of Greece for the improvement of this paper. scientific analysis, especially where destructive tests will be employed. These difficulties duly noted, the study of About the Author the island Palaeolithic has great potential to Curtis Runnels is Professor of Archaeology contribute to our understanding of early human in the Department of Archaeology at Boston prehistory. The rewards should be significant. University and specializes in Aegean prehis- Greece has been a bridge between Africa, Asia tory from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. His and Europe in many periods and it was prob- recent research has focused on the testing of a ably a major conduit for early hominin dis- site location model for Mesolithic sites on the persals (Panagopoulou and Karkanas 2014). mainland and islands of Greece, and the study Our understanding of the timing and nature of the Lower Palaeolithic from the Plakias sur- of these dispersals will require that the Greek vey in southwest Crete. evidence be fully understood. If it turns out that maritime crossings were required by hominins to reach the Greek islands in the earlier Pleisto- References cene, this would have far-reaching significance. Aguirre, E., and E. Carbonell If H. erectus or their affines were voyaging in the 2001 Early human expansions into Eurasia: the Mediterranean, as they were in southeast Asia, it Atapuerca evidence. Quaternary International is evident that the seas and oceans should not be 75: 11-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1040- considered as they have been heretofore as barri- 6182(00)00073-2 ers to hominin migrations, but as open sea lanes Ammerman, A.J. connecting the islands and continents of the 2011 The paradox of early voyaging in the Mediterra- world. Confirmation of the early Palaeolithic nean and the slowness of the Neolithic transition on the Greek islands would have major implica- between Cyprus and Italy. In G. Vavourana- kis (ed.), The Seascape in Aegean Prehistory.

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