Friday, July 3, 2015

CIG on Naxos, and the Paleolithic Aegean

On Monday June 8 my wife and I visited the Institute’s excavations at Stelida on Naxos. This is a synergasia with the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades (EAC), and is directed by Dr Dimitris Athanasoulis (Head of the EAC) and Professor Tristan Carter (Department of Anthropology, McMaster University).

The site on the hill of Stelida, on the northwestern coast of Naxos, just to the southwest of Chora, comprises a major outcrop of chert plus large quantities of manufacturing debris from the tools that were made from the raw material. In 2013 and 2014 the Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project carried out two seasons of survey, which aimed not only to map and characterize the archaeology, but also to provide a more secure date for the site.

While the survey material has been dated from Early Bronze Age to Lower Palaeolithic, with Middle Paleolithic material the most abundant, it is only through the scientific dating of artefacts excavated from secure contexts that claims of Middle Pleistocene activity in the Aegean basin can win broad acceptance. Hence the key aim of the current excavation is to recover diagnostic stone tools from sealed, directly datable stratigraphic contexts.

Professor Carter kindly took us up to the top of the hill and gave us a crash-course in early prehistory as well as explaining how current work at the site can contribute to discussions on the Paleolithic Aegean. This includes topics such as seagoing as well as the suggestion that the Aegean basin acted as a causeway for – rather than a barrier to – hominin dispersals from the Levant into Europe, and for Neanderthal expansion into Anatolia and beyond. We were then able to visit the excavations before adjourning for souvlaki and beer back in Chora.

You will be able to learn something of the first excavation season’s results next month when Professor Carter will be one of our guest bloggers. Stay tuned!

Jonathan Tomlinson
Assistant Director

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