A Gazetteer of Pleistocene Paleontological Sites on Crete Island, Greece
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A Gazetteer of Pleistocene Paleontological Sites on Crete Island, Greece. Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Lax, Elliott Martin, 1959- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 11:07:10 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/558152 A GAZETTEER OF PLEISTOCENE PALEONTOLOGICAL SITES ON CRETE ISLAND, GREECE by Elliott Martin Lax A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1 9 9 1 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgement the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: fC * ^ __f APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: n cw, / Paul S. Martin Date Professor of Geosciences 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The idea for this project came in 1986 during an extended stay of work at the Museum of Anthropology, University of Athens. With the interest of Paul Martin in this topic, I applied for and was granted a Fulbright Scholarship in 1989 to conduct fieldwork on Crete. William Ammerman and his staff at the Fulbright offices in Athens must be thanked for all of their assistance during the course of my fieldwork. It is also necessary to thank IGME, both in Athens and in Rethymnon, for their permission to conduct geologic work on Crete. On Crete, Tom Strasser, Anaya Sarpaki, and Nikiforos Motakis all helped in their own way to improve the quality of my work and life. Finally, I want to say ‘EuxaptaTOupe’ to all those people on Crete who made the island come alive for me as I delved into its long dead past. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................... 6 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION .............. ......... ........ .......................... ....................... ............ 10 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING ............................................................................... 1 3 Geography ................................................................... 13 Geology ............................................................................................................. 15 Bedrock ....................... ................................................................... !........... 15 Soils ..................... .............................................................. ................... 17 Sedimentation ............................................................................................. 19 Tectonic History ............. 21 Sea Level Changes ............................................... 23 Glaciation ...... 26 Climate: Temperature and Precipitation ................ 26 Flora ........................................................................................ 29 Fauna .................................. 38 THE QUESTION OF INITIAL ISLAND COLONIZATION ............................. ..... 45 Colonization of the Mediterranean Islands ..... 45 Archaeological Evidence for the Peopling of Crete ................................. 49 PLEISTOCENE PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON CRETE: HISTORY.............. 52 FAUNAL SUCCESSION AND EVOLUTIONARY HISTORIES OF CRETAN PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS .................................... 54 DATING OF CRETAN PLEISTOCENE FOSSILS: RADIOMETRIC AND RELATIVE DATING IN PALEONTOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS.................. .......................................... 57 5 Page DISCUSSION: WHO, WHAT, AND WHEN: CAUSALITY FOR THE EXTINCTION OF THE PLEISTOCENE FAUNA OF CRETE................................ 60 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................... .................................................. 72 APPENDIX A: GAZETTER OF CRETE PALEONTOLOGICAL LOCALITIES ......... 75 APPENDIX B: SOILS OF WEST CRETE......... .................:.................................. 130 REFERENCES .......................................... ............................................................... 157 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1: Island of Crete and its position in the Mediterranean Sea .......... .......... 14 2: Geologic Map of Crete ................................................................................... 16 3: Soil Map of Crete ........................................................................................... 18 4: Quaternary sediment sequence in the coastal area east of Rethymnon .......................................................... 20 5: Crete’s Position at a Plate Margin and a Structural Profile of the Island .............. ............................................................................................ 22 6: Tectonic Uplift of West Crete, 1530+40BP ................................................... 25 7: Yearly Fluctuations in Precipitation at Anogia Weather Station, 1950 to 1987 ....................................................... 31 8: Aghia Galini Pollen Spectrum ...................................................................... 36 9: Tersana Summary Pollen Diagram ....................................................... 37 10: Pleistocene elephants of Crete ......................................................... ......... 40 11: Pleistocene hippopotamus of Crete ......... ......................... ........................ 41 12: Pleistocenedeer of Crete ................................................................................. 42 13A: Mediterranean Islands with pre-Neolithic occupation ...................... 47 13B: Colonization Pattern of Aegean Islands ................................................. 47 14: 9,000 and 18,000BP Sea Levels in the Aegean Sea ........ 48 15: Map of Neolithic Sites on Crete ............................... 51 16: Evolutionary Sequence of Cretan Pleistocene Cervids ......................... 55 17: Pleistocene Faunal Succession on Crete ................................................... 56 18: Map of Mediterranean Islands and their Extinct Fauna ........... 61 19: Quaternary Paleontological Localities on Crete .................................. 79 20: Map of Arkoudiotissa Cave ............ 88 21: Map of Aghios loannis/Katholiko/Governeto ......................................... 90 7 Page 22: Map of Gerani Cave III ................................................................................ 99 23: Sectional View of Simonelli Cave .............................................................. 109 24: Map of the Katharo Basin ............................................................. :............ 122 25: Soil Sample Locations in West Crete 132 8 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1: Monthly Temperature Averages for 5 Weather Stations on Crete .............................................................................................................. 28 2: Monthly Precipitation Averages for 5 Weather Stations on Crete ................................................................................................. 30 3: Pollen Found in a Homo sapiens Skull dated to 51,000+12,000BP ............ .......... ........................................................................ 35 4: Mammalian Fauna on Crete from the Pleistocene to the Recent .......... 43 5: A Sampling of Mediterranean Islands: Island Areas, Island Distances to the Mainland, and Dates of Initial Occupation .................. 46 6: Extinct Pleistocene Genera on Mediterranean Islands ............................. 62 9 ABSTRACT Pleistocene fossil localities on Crete were relocated and studied for their potential to address the timing of and causality for the extinction of island endemic taxa. Two opposing hypotheses for the extinction were evaluated, one implicating climatic and insular biogeographic factors, the other anthropogenic factors. This study identified localities containing fossils of various periods of the Quaternary, including several in the region of Rethymnon which held both archaeological remains of Neolithic Age and fossils of endemic animals. These sites, as well as paleoenvironmental data bases, suggest something of the extinction event, but do not truely clarify the situation. Future excavation of these localities may provide useful information concerning the extinction mechanism. INTRODUCTION For the past thirty years, the idea that humans may have been responsible for the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna has been supported and attacked