Review of Aegean Prehistory I: The Islands of the Aegean Author(s): Jack L. Davis Reviewed work(s): Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 96, No. 4 (Oct., 1992), pp. 699-756 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/505192 . Accessed: 02/05/2012 08:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org Review of Aegean Prehistory I: The Islands of the Aegean JACK L. DAVIS INTRODUCTION of the Bronze Age, and it is no surprise that its se- formed the basis for a tripartite Cycladic chro- Not so long ago the islands of the Aegean (fig. 1) quence established to Helladic and Minoan were considered by many to be the backwater of Greek nology, parallel on the Greek mainland and Crete. The exis- prehistory.' Any synthesis of the field had perforce phases tence of a Neolithic in the islands, on Keos, to base its conclusions almost exclusively upon data particularly and Chios, had been demonstrated but in collected before the turn of the century. The entire Saliagos, no instance had been documented. prehistory of the islands received fewer than 16 pages fully A the situation has been al- of discussion in Emily Vermeule's Greece in the Bronze quarter century later, tered Age (Chicago 1964), almost all of this concerned with drastically. Particularly in the last decade prog- ress has been the art and graves of the Early Bronze Age Cyclades; very rapid, hampering any attempt to a other parts of the Aegean sea were generally men- produce totally up-to-date synthesis of new data, as tioned only in passing. Vermeule had no choice but does the frequent appearance of important studies in to write that for the Cyclades "only three village sites new Greek periodicals of limited circulation. Indeed, [Phylakopi on Melos, Kastri on Syros, and Thera] publication has been so voluminous and diverse that have been excavated in a manner one could call in- it is difficult even for specialist Aegean prehistorians formative, in contrast to nearly two thousand known to stay abreast of new developments. The essential or suspected graves" (p. 47). Of these only Phylakopi annual reviews of new work in Greece, published by also offered a deep stratigraphy covering all phases successive directors of the British and French schools S The publicationof this review was made possible by a The followingspecial abbreviations are used in this paper: generous subvention from the Institute for Aegean Prehis- AEMT To AQXatoA)oytm6vEeyov orri Maxe- tory. bovia XatIOepri. I am particularlygrateful to those friends and colleagues "Chronique" "Chroniquedes fouilles,"BCH. who responded to requestsfor informationconcerning their Cycladica L. Fitton ed., Cycladica: Studies in Mem- recent research,and in particularto those who provided me ory ofN.P. Goulandris (London 1984). with offprints, preprints,or photographs.The more specific Cycladic Culture L. Marangou ed., Cycladic Culture: contributionsof several colleagues are acknowledgedas ap- Naxos in the 3rd Millennium BC (Ath- propriate later in this review. Here I should like to express ens 1990). my thanks to Robert Arnott, Robin Barber,Cyprian Brood- Dodecanese S. Dietz ed., Archaeology in the Dode- bank, Tristan Carter,John Cherry, Christopher Chippin- canese(Copenhagen 1988). dale, John Coleman, MichaelCosmopoulos, Tracey Cullen, Emporio S. Hood, Excavations in Chios 1938- Scren Dietz, Christos Doumas, Angelia Douzougli, Noel 1955: Prehistoric Emporio and Ayio Gale, David Gill, David Hardy, Carol Hershenson, Donald Gala, 1-2 (BSASuppl. 15-16, London Keller,Sandy MacGillivray,Sturt Manning, Lila Marangou, 1981-1982). MarizaMarthari, Dimitris Matsas,Lyvia Morgan, Christine "First Coloniza- J.F. Cherry, "The First Colonizationof Morris,John Overbeck, Mehmet Ozdogan, Ernst Pernicka, tion" the MediterraneanIslands: A Review Colin Renfrew, Efi Sakellaraki,Diamantis Sampson, Eliza- of Recent Research,"JMA 3 (1990) beth Schofield, Zophia Stos-Gale, Rene Treuil, Sarah 145-221. Vaughan, David Wilson, and KostasZachos. Tracey Cullen, Gazetteer R. Hope Simpson and O.T.P.K. Dickin- Fred Kleiner,and Jerry Rutterconceived of this projectand son, A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation encouraged me to undertake it. Over the past year and a in the Bronze Age 1: The Mainland and half I have at times regretted acceptingthe assignment,and Islands (SIMA 52, Goteborg 1979). in moments of panic have cursed them severallyand collec- GreekPrehistory E.B. Frenchand K.A. Wardleeds., Prob- tively,but I am in the end thankful that they convinced me lems in Greek Prehistory (Bristol 1988). to do it. I am also grateful to Shari Stockerfor help with the Karpathos, Saros M. Melas, The Islands of Karpathos, Saros illustrationsand proofreading, to Bill Parkinsonfor compil- and Kasos and Kasos in the Neolithic and Bronze ing references, and to John Bennet, Cyprian Broodbank, Age (SIMA68, G6teborg 1985). John Cherry, Mihalis Fotiadis, Donald Keller, Sandy Mac- Kastro Tigani R.C.S. Felsch, Das Kastro Tigani: Die Sturt Curtis Gillivray, Manning, Runnels,Jerry Rutter,and spiitneolithischeund chalkolithischeSied- DavidWilson for their prompt commentson my penultimate lung (Samos II, Bonn 1988). draft. 699 AmericanJournal of Archaeology96 (1992) 700 JACK L. DAVIS [AJA 96 in Archaeological Reports (AR) and in BCH's "Chro- BEYOND THE CYCLADES TO A PAN-AEGEAN nique des fouilles" ("Chronique") are, of course, es- PERSPECTIVE sential points of departure for both scholars and students, but can be patchy in their coverage and, in The decision to include virtually all islands of the any case, are not intended to be synthetic.2 The bible Aegean (excluding only Crete and those of the Sa- of Aegean prehistory, R. Hope Simpson and O.T.P.K. ronic Gulf) reflects trends in recent scholarship that Dickinson's A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the have defined problems demanding a canvas much Bronze Age 1: The Mainland and Islands (Goteborg broader than that offered by the Cyclades alone.5 Two 1979, completed 1977; hereafter, Gazetteer), is now examples of topics that require a pan-Aegean focus nearly 15 years out of date, and in any case omitted may suffice: the Neolithic colonization of the Aegean coverage of the islands of the Aegean that lie north islands; and the Minoanization of the Aegean in the of Skyros and Chios.3 Robin Barber's The Cyclades in Middle Bronze Age and early part of the Late Bronze the Bronze Age (Iowa City 1987) provides an excellent Age. overview of the results of research in the southern In the past decade there have been, for the first Aegean, but publications relevant to Cycladic prehis- time, systematic attempts to describe initial settlement tory have been so prolific in the past six years that an of the islands of the Aegean in terms of principles update is also desirable.4 drawn from island biogeography.6 The general idea Les Cyclades G. Rougemont ed., Les Cyclades:Mater- TAWIII D.A. Hardy et al. eds., Thera and the iaux pour une etude de geographiehis- AegeanWorld III. 1: Archaeology(Lon- torique(Paris 1983). don 1990); 2: Earth Sciences(London Manika I-II A. Sampson, Mdtvtxa I: Mia z#wroEA-- 1990); 3: Chronology(London 1990). Aa6txIj r6Aqro'nrj XaAxiba (Athens 2 For an index to the sites describedin AR between 1976 1985); Mdtvtxa II: O rtwroEliali- and 1986, see AR 33 (1987) 78-87. All references below to x6; oxtoa6 g xal To VEQoTa/Efio AR without further specificationof title or author are to the (Athens 1988). annual reports, "Archaeologyin Greece,"compiled by H.W. Minoan A.G. Papagiannopoulou,The Influence Catling and, since AR 36 (1990), by E.B. French. References Influence of Middle Minoan Potteryon the Cyc- to "Chronique"are to "Chroniquedes fouilles,"BCH, com- lades (SIMA-PB96, G6teborg 1991). piled by G. Touchais and, since BCH 114 (1989), by A. Minoan Thalas- R. Higg and N. Marinatos eds., The Mi- Pariente. socracy noan Thalassocracy:Myth and Reality 3 The islands of the northern Aegean are included in D. (SkrAth32, Stockholm 1984). Leekleyand R. Noyes,Archaeological Excavations in theGreek Neolithic and A. Sampson, H NEOlAtOij) xat 77 Islands (ParkRidge, N.J. 1975), which is, however, further Protohelladic HQwtroEAlabit I aIrlvEofpota (AQ- out of date than the Gazetteerand is not nearly so authori- tativeor exhaustivein its coverage. XEiov EvfloixdOv MEAE)•bv, Hap- darqoTLarov KA' T6Mov, Athens 4 With reservations(see my reviewin AJA93 [1989] 293- 1981). 94), W. Ekschmitt,Kunst und Kultur der KykladenI: Neoli- Neolithic A. Sampson, H NEOAtOtXjrjrEQobog tikumund Bronzezeit (Mainz 1986) mayalso be recommended Dodecanese oaraAwmbExdivrua (Athens 1987). as a reasonablycurrent review of Cycladicprehistory; the "Perspectives" J.L. Davis, "Perspectiveson the Prehis- extensiveillustrations, many in color,are particularlyworthy. toric Cyclades:An ArchaeologicalIn- See also "Perspectives"for a recent brief overview of the troduction,"in P. Getz-Preziosi,Early EarlyCycladic period. CycladicArt