| I. SOCIAL SPACES, COMMUNITIES, AND LIFEWAYS | II. DYNAMICS OF LANDSCAPES AND SUBSISTENCE | III. INTERACTIONS AND MATERIAL PERSPECTIVES | IV. A VIEW FROM NEIGHBOURING REGIONS | |||||||||||||||||
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| 9:30am |
Keynote lecture
Recent theoretical discussion places particular emphasis on the concept of space. Understanding space has shifted from a positivist view of an objective and measurable frame of reference, to a dynamic social space where social action takes place, to a phenomenological approach able to incorporate the subjectivities of the embodied experiences of dwelling. Contemporary understandings of… |
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| 10:00am |
Keynote lecture
The presentation discusses the different ways in which archaeologists perceive and reconstruct forms of social interaction in Neolithic Greece. Different categories of archaeological materials, analytical techniques and concepts – in a constant interplay of scales, structures and narratives – have already been employed for this purpose with positive results. In the present contribution it is… |
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| 10:30am |
During the 1950ies V. Milojčić applied in Greek prehistoric research the method of comparative archaeological analyses based on relative chronological schemes. Although he was the first to send charcoal samples for radiometric dating to the radiocarbon laboratory in Heidelberg in 1959, he nevertheless did not accept this method. It was only much later that absolute… |
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| 10:50am |
Landscape archaeology in Greece and the Balkans was linked to ‘the past in the past’ perspective early on, especially as far as the Neolithic is concerned. The very differentiation between tells and extended settlements has been at the forefront of discussions pertaining to the inhabitation of the landscape and indeed it has been interpreted in… |
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| 12:00pm |
Humans and landscapes are tied to continuous interaction processes that dynamically and reciprocally transform them. Current debates on landscape studies reconsider the dynamics of human-environment interplays by examining historical embeddedness in landscapes of action, putting emphasis on changes at the local scale, and re-evaluating the impact of social transformations on past communities. These ever-changing properties… |
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| 12:20pm |
ARISTEIA-IGEAN (Innovative Geophysical Approaches for the Study of Early Agricultural Villages of Neolithic Thessaly) project has been running for the past 3 years aiming (at?) the systematic and extensive geophysical exploration of Neolithic landscape of Thessaly. The research project has been focused in the study of the natural landscape and social dynamics of Neolithic settlements… |
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| 12:40pm |
The study of building remains, even when mundane in nature, constitutes an appropriate field for the understanding of prehistoric house-based societies. Domestic dwellings, apart from spatial-organisational features and key analytical social units, constitute technological and social products that can be subjected to similar conceptual schemes as other artefact categories (Stevanović 1997). Following this, the present… |
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| 1:00pm |
Vasilika Kyparissi is indeed a site known for some time now, investigated as it was in the 1980’s and publicised as Vasilika C. The site has been at the centre of discussions pertaining to the size of Neolithic communities, although its internal occupational structure was elusive, due to the limited excavation. New research carried out… |
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| 1:20pm |
Since the prehistory the people tried to secure the safety of themselves, their relatives and properties during the settlement location choices. In various periods and regions they relied purely on the topographical qualities of their settlements, elsewhere and at other times they took precautions against any possible danger by construction of the defensive architecture, most… |
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| 4:00pm |
Dikili Tash appears today as one of the prehistoric settlements with the longer occupational sequences in the Aegean and the Balkans (ca. 6500-1100 BC). Thanks to the researches of the last fifty years within the site itself and in the surrounding plain of Philippi, Dikili Tash offered information (already presented elsewhere) for understanding the formation… |
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| 4:20pm |
The site of Koutroulou Magoula near Vardali and Neo Monastiri in Fthiotida was first excavated in 2001 under the direction of N. Kyparissi, but, informally since 2009, and formally since 2010, is being investigated by the Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological Ethnography project, co-directed by Kyparissi and Hamilakis. As part of this project, in addition… |
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| 4:40pm |
The people of the village of Neolithic Halai, on the shores of the northern part of the North Euboean gulf at the east side of the bay of Atalanti, interacted with both the marine and terrestrial environment. Sea level probably rose about 10 m. during the Neolithic occupation, from ca. 600-5300 B.C., and people gradually… |
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| 5:50pm |
In this paper, we explore the evolution of coastal settlement dynamics during the Late and Final Neolithic of the southern Peloponnese and the islands of the Aegean. Using our ongoing research in Diros Bay as a case study, we investigate the variation in settlement patterns that occurred from the sixth to fourth millenia BC. We… |
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| 6:10pm |
The Final Neolithic period in central and southern Greece is considered to have witnessed a transformation of the landscape and a general change in settlement patterns. The use of marginal environments and the dispersion of small sites, which were probably engaged in long-distance trading, imply extended and more fluid social networks of interaction. At the… |
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| 6:30pm |
Τhe study of prehistory of Aegean Thrace due to its key position to the crossroads between the Balkan penislula and the Mediterranean world is significant in defining the cultural influences exercised between these regions. Our knowledge about the prehistory of Aegean Thrace is limited. Only a few sites, such as Paradimi, Paradeisos and Makri have… |
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| 6:50pm | ||||||||||||||||||||
| I. SOCIAL SPACES, COMMUNITIES, AND LIFEWAYS | II. DYNAMICS OF LANDSCAPES AND SUBSISTENCE | III. INTERACTIONS AND MATERIAL PERSPECTIVES | IV. A VIEW FROM NEIGHBOURING REGIONS | |||||||||||||||||
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| 9:00am |
The last three decades have produced a wide range of methodological developments in the study of landscape. The landscape during the Neolithic has been influenced by the interactions of water and human land use. This paper aims to present an overview of the research about the Neolithic off-site land use in Greece, based on old… |
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| 9:20am |
This paper explores some of the many ways in which people in Neolithic Greece constructed and used the wider landscape, moved across it, projected meanings onto it and ultimately transformed it into a social landscape. Traditional approaches have tended to focus almost exclusively upon resources and environmental conditions in order to reconstruct past landscapes, and… |
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| 9:40am |
We present a first preliminary report on the Neolithic use of space in southern Euboea in an attempt to approach the way the landscape was populated and socially constructed during the Neolithic times in this part of Greece. To achieve this we use legacy published and unpublished data in combination with newly acquired evidence from… |
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| 10:00am |
Drakaina Cave is part of an impressive landscape feature, situated on the steep cliffs of a gorge at the coast of southeastern Kephalonia. The location of the cave was most probably conducive to its use for communal gatherings with a social-symbolic aspect. In this framework, a reciprocal relationship should have existed between the landscape and… |
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| 10:20am |
The site of Kouphovouno, just south of Sparta, is one of the main Neolithic sites in Laconia. It was first settled in the Middle Neolithic period and developed into a large village with remains occupying some 4–5 hectares, flourishing particularly over the period c. 5800-5000 BC. The investigation of the environmental remains from the site… |
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| 10:40am |
Excavations on the border between Greece (sector Promachon) and Bulgaria (sector Topolnica) in the basin of Strymonas, central Macedonia, Greece, have revealed ‘flat-extended’ settlement dating to the Late Neolithic. In addition to the rich array of material culture evidence, the excavation yielded a substantial quantity of animal bone remains, thus offering an unparalleled opportunity to… |
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| 11:50am |
The Final Neolithic period on the Greek mainland is a period of significant cultural change which nevertheless remains very poorly understood. Previous study has been made difficult both by a general lack of stratified archaeological deposits and by a relative lack of published Final Neolithic material. However, with increasing volumes of data being generated by… |
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| 12:10pm |
The site of Mavropigi-Filotsairi in western Macedonia provides a fresh look at Early Neolithic Greece. Its geographic location on a natural crossroads between the Balkans and southern Greece is reflected in the cultural material, which demonstrates affinities with sites in the surrounding plains and valleys. These connections offer new information on the process of Neolithisation… |
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| 12:30pm |
Based on the pottery analysis of sites from central and western Macedonia, it can be argued that there is a close connection between these regions and Thessaly during the Early and Middle Neolithic. However this wide network of communication may have been remodeled as manifested through pottery. For instance, sites like Revenia, Ritini and Varemenoi… |
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| 12:50pm |
Thessaly, situated in the heart of the Greek mainland, comprises a diverse landscape, combining mountain formations, flat plains, river valleys, lacustrine environments and coastland in harmony. It was a densely populated area during the Neolithic, the majority of settlements forming tells, others being extended, while cave habitation is also attested. A rich and rather uniform… |
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| 3:30pm |
Excavations in Final Neolithic contexts of the settlement of Kolonna on Aegina in the Saronic Gulf revealed 26 human figurines which have been classified into several types. Especially the naturalistic types seem to be unique by a most precise representation of details like their partly removable headdress. Otherwise, especially the more schematic types have similarities… |
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| 3:50pm |
It has long been acknowledged that material culture in prehistory served, among other functions, as a means of demonstrating individual, group, and regional identities. The Neolithic populations of Northern Greece developed diverse cultural traditions, but they were always in close contact and shared a great deal in common. Communication and exchange have been the focus… |
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| 4:10pm |
Ground stone objects constitute indispensable and rather essential material elements of the Neolithic life. Archaeological interest on such artifacts was for many years confined to their techno-morphological description, failing to sufficiently integrate them into the Neolithic technological and social practices. Excavations at the Neolithic Settlement of Avgi (c. 5650-4500 cal BC), at the region of… |
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| 5:10pm |
The paper presents evidence from the Middle/Late Neolithic settlement of Oreškovica-Selište located in north-eastern Serbia. The site is dated to the early phases of the Vinča culture, i.e. the period from around 5400 to 5000 cal. BC. Results of geophysical prospection indicated multiple ditches and a palisade around a substantial settlement covering ~6.1 ha. These… |
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| 5:30pm |
The Aegean Sea played a role in the Neolithisation of the Balkans that both restricted and facilitated the spread of people and their ideas through the area, but the routes of these transmissions are, as yet, poorly defined. To attempt to reveal how these processes occurred, this presentation will provide an overview of the similarities… |
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| 5:50pm |
Based on new archaeological data gained by excavations at Çukuriçi Höyük and surveys at neighboring Arvalya Höyük (both near Ephesos/Turkey), a model of early farming villages will be discussed in the context with other Neolithic sites known in the region. For the first time a new cultural cluster (Neolithic Group of Central Aegean Coast) can… |
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| 6:10pm | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:20pm |
Discussion Panel – Yannis Hamilakis, Maria Pappa and Apostolos Sarris |
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| 7:00pm |
Wine Reception at the garden of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies |
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| I. SOCIAL SPACES, COMMUNITIES, AND LIFEWAYS | II. DYNAMICS OF LANDSCAPES AND SUBSISTENCE | III. INTERACTIONS AND MATERIAL PERSPECTIVES | IV. A VIEW FROM NEIGHBOURING REGIONS | |||||||||||||||||
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Animal dung is increasingly becoming an intensively investigated material in archaeology, and its archaeological value widely recognised (see Jones 2012). It has been shown that it holds significant potential for studying, amongst others, animal diet, and, by extension, animal management practices, and different types of human and animal mobility as ways of engaging with the… The site of Kouphovouno is located in the southern Peloponnese, in Laconia, c. 2,5 km southwest of Sparta, on the right side of the Parori, a tributary of the river Evrotas. Continuous occupation over a long time has formed a small tell which is about 5 m above the alluvial plain. The excavations recovered well… Thessaly during the Neolithic was characterised by dense settlement distribution on a wide range of geomorphological and topographic zones. This paper focuses on the neighbouring sites of Magoula Visviki (Velestino 4 / Agios Georgios Ferron 3: ATAE 274), Magoula Agrokipiou (Velestino 1 / Velestino 2: ATAE 280) and Hatzimissiotiki Magoula (Stefanovikeio 5 / Stefanovikeio 5:… In 1941 the German Professor Hans Reinerth and his team of the Reichsamt für Vorgeschichte carried through excavations on the Neolithic tell site of Visviki Magoula near Lake Karla. According to the mapping of the site, the German expedition dug two deep soundings at the flank of the tell to reconstruct its settlement history. Trench… Over the last four decades the idea that Neolithic communities were static, homogenous, isolated entities, preoccupied with producing the subsistence that would ensure their own survival, has been replaced by an emerging picture of dynamic, diverse and developing communities, for whom interaction, of various forms, scales and intensities, played a fundamental role. Initially this new… In this paper I will present the preliminary results of my study of the chipped stone assemblage from the Early Neolithic site of Revenia Korinou, in Northern Pieria (6th-5th millennium BCE). Revenia is a flat-extended settlement with semi-subterranean structures and 86 large pits with evidence of preferential deposition of material. Some of its unique features… Systematic, high resolution seafloor and subseafloor geological-geophysical survey was conducted in August 2014 with the aim to (1) map in high-resolution the seafloor, the sedimentary deposits and the sub-seafloor structure of the Eastern Argolic Gulf, (2) map precisely and reconstruct paleo-shorelines and submerged prehistoric landscapes of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene when the sea-level… Sarakenos cave is the longest- lived cave excavation in Greece, with an uninterrupted stratigraphical sequence (Middle Palaeolithic to Middle Bronze Age). Human activity evidently related to the varying environment of Lake Kopais, the strategic position but also to the particular configuration of the cave itself, all in all constituting a communal, focal point for local… Traditionally in archaeological interpretation there have already been established causal relationships that explain the appearance of social outcomes as a result of social action. For example, the appearance of Alpine jade axes within the Alpine zone forms a spatial distribution that approximates a Gaussian one. This fact means directly that there is a causal relationship… |
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