Middle
Palaeolithic Occupation and Technology in Northwestern Greece: The Evidence
from Open-Air Sites. by Dimitra Papagianni.
Archaeopress / British Archaeological Reports
International Series 882: 2000; xi + 218 pages; 176 figures / 151 tables;
ISBN 1-84171-149-7.
Readers of a certain
age may remember a series of articles considering the Palaeolithic occupation
of northwest Greece, originally presented in the Proceedings of the
Prehistoric Society in the 1960s by the late Eric Higgs . In survey
work and excavations undertaken at the sites of Asprochaliko, Kastritsa
and Kokkinopolis, Higgs and his colleagues pioneered both a new landscape-based
approach to Palaeolithic archaeology ('Palaeoeconomy') and kick started
a research programme into the Palaeolithic archaeology of this country
that would continue through a number of survey and excavation projects
conducted by English, American and Greek archaeologists. The research
initiated by Eric Higgs was completed by Geoff Bailey and colleagues
in the excavations at the site of Klithi, a specialised Upper Palaeolithic
ibex hunting site located in the mountains of north west Greece. It
is one of the real lasting legacies of this project that is has brought
about such an able generation of Greek archaeologists to carry forward
the Palaeolithic archaeology of Greece. When the excavations at Klithi
started it was very difficult for Greek archaeologists to get any training
in Palaeolithic archaeology in Greece, and the Klithi Project acted
as a sort of greenhouse nurturing a generation of younger Greek archaeologists
with an interest in Palaeolithic archaeology, as is clear from the contributing
authors to the final report of the Klithi Project (Bailey 1997). Dimitra
Papagianni is one of this new generation who received their training
in Palaeolithic archaeology at Klithi.
Papagianni has taken
up a real challenge to making sense of a diversity of archaeological
surface materials. In Greece, like many countries, archaeological remains
collected from surface survey are overlooked in relation to assemblages
from excavated caves and rock shelters. Whilst surface assemblages may
indicate the presence of hominids, they are also thought to be partial
collections without adequate integrity. In particular, collected assemblages
from open air contexts are particularly vulnerable to the effects of
time averaging both in terms of the super positioning of archaeological
remains resulting from many episodes of human behaviour that might have
been quite different in character. Likewise they may be subject to a
multiplicity of different post-depositional processes, and collection
biases. In simple terms such assemblages will lack the resolution necessary
for behavioural interpretations. The real irony of this scepticism is
that Palaeolithic archaeology is now largely concerned with the ways
in which hominid societies adapted to their broader environmental context
through time and in space. To achieve this end we need to make sense
of archaeological remains from hominid activities in all contexts, and
this means getting to grips with material from surface surveys.
This volume presents
Papagianni's recently completed, PhD thesis on the Middle Palaeolithic
occupation of northwest Greece. It is a synthetic and an analytical
work. As synthesis, Papagianni presents a detailed summary of the archaeological
research history of this region, decade by decade from the 1960s to
the present, as well as an up to date assessment of the climatic and
environmental history of the area (chapter 2) as well as a clear summary
of current approaches to the Middle Palaeolithic of northwest Greece
emphasising the key role played by the site of Asprochaliko (chapter
3). More significantly, it presents in a common format the typological
and technological data from a number of sites whose assemblages were
collected as part of four different research projects (chapters 6 to
9). As a work of analysis, it aims to make sense of the archaeological
remains collected from a number of open air sites located by field survey
with the lithic assemblages published following the major excavations
at the rockshelter site of Asprochaliko.
Before any such comparison,
however, the comparability and potential biases in survey data need
addressing. One of the problems of comparing surface survey data from
different projects is that the assemblages may be collected according
to particular project requirements and by a number of individuals leading
to clear differences that are a product of recovery procedures rather
than reflecting differently deposited assemblages. Papagianni tackles
this potential bias very well through comparing the average size distribution
of the assemblages between survey projects and surface collected material
and excavated material. The Higgs surveys of the 1960s collected lithics
down to a smaller size than recent Nikopolis survey by Runnels and van
Andel in the 1990s. Both projects failed to collect the smallest pieces
recovered from sieved excavated deposits. Likewise both projects collected
a higher proportion of retouched and whole pieces than ordinary debitage.
The site of Asprochaliko,
with its long sequence of stratified deposits has formed the cornerstone
for an understanding of the Middle Palaeolithic of northwest Greece
especially with regard to change through time. It has been used to suggest
a major technological change from a basal Mousterian, containing a Levallois-Mousterian
type industry, through to the Upper Mousterian levels containing a Micro-Mousterian
lithic industry made on very individual 'Asprochaliko flakes' (Papaconstantinou
& Vassilopoulou 1997). Within the Levallois-Mousterian assemblages
various types of knapping have been observed including radial, unipolar
and bipolar, and convergent forms. Likewise, there has been some debate
as to whether these knapping groups represent deliberate strategies
from the beginning or whether there is a progression that may be observed
from one type (unipolar or bipolar) through to a second type (radial)
within the same nodule. This is the pattern with which the lithic assemblages
from the open-air sites must be compared.
To achieve this Papagianni
has studied and compared assemblages from surveys in Corfu, the coastal
sites of Epirus, the Louros Valley (in which Asprochaliko is situated)
and the excavated open-air site of Kokkinopolis. Comparisons are based
on the nature of the reduction method used, the sizes of the debitage
products, the typological character of the retouched pieces and the
nature and degree of their retouching, and, finally, the state of patination
of the assemblages. In total Papagianni presents data from 19 different
open-air sites. As might be expected, the technological and typological
comparisons of these sites do not reveal detailed regional patterns
at a fine geographical or chronological scale. But they do provide an
opportunity to make broad regional and perhaps chronological comparisons.
In this line, Papagianni identifies a number of broad differences between
her sites: sites from the Ionian coastal plain have a greater number
of elongated pieces and larger pieces. The sites in the Louros Valley
typically contain smaller pieces. The sites on Corfu are more similar
to those in the Louros Valley than those on the coastal plain, and the
two excavated assemblages from Kokkinopolis fit into both groups. From
the perspective of the reduction methods employed, Papagianni shows
that it is a possibility that Middle Palaeolithic knappers on the coastal
plain might have started reducing their raw material resources through
unipolar or bipolar reduction strategies and then later transformed
these same nodules into radially worked cores. This is unlikely to have
been the case in the Louros Valley where there is no clear size gradient
between larger unipolar and bipolar cores and smaller radial ones -
a feature also noted by Gowlett and Carter (1997) in the examination
of the basal Mousterian assemblages at Asprochaliko.
After the depth of
detail presented in the technological comparisons of these open-air
sites, and the reliance on the technological data to determine the interpretations
offered, Papagianni's discussion of the geographical location and broader
settlement patterns seems brief, and less thought through. She suggests
that Middle Palaolithic hominids probably occupied a region from Albania
in the North to perhaps the Western Pelopennese to the South. The common
association between Mousterian industries and red beds (such as at Kokkinopolis)
suggests a preferential location of settlement close to small lakes
and marsh areas with perhaps an emphasis upon a broad spectra of food
resources for the diet. Moreover, the absence of an even spread of sites
across the suitable landscape areas, suggests to Papagianni that Middle
Palaeolihtic hominids maintained a mental map of their landscape and
moved between 'reference sites', with occasional breaks at 'stop-over
sites' (p82). Variations in the pattern of settlement came about as
functional responses to cyclical patterns of climatic change. Despite
this suggested model, Papagianni makes no mention of those sites that
she considers to be reference sites and those that are stop overs and
how this difference has been determined. By way of comparison the pattern
for the Upper Palaeolihtic is seen to show the exploitation of new parts
of the landscape (uplands?), with sites dedicated to specialised hunting
(ibex at Klithi, red deer at Kastritsa?) and with greater distances
between the sites indicating greater mobility and strategic planning
for anatomically modern humans. Whilst this is a pattern that has been
commonly presented for other regions in Europe (Northern Spain, Pyrenean
France for example). The absence of real supporting information here,
however, suggests that Papagianni is reading this difference into her
data.
Along with the publications
on the excavated assemblages from Asprochaliko, this volume must represent
the starting point for all future studies of the Middle Palaeolithic
of Greece. Papagianni has brought together the data for a number of
diverse sites in a common format that will make future regional comparisons
within Greece and in the broader region possible. This is no small achievement,
and is one that many regions would benefit from. Hopefully it will form
the basis of future archaeological work, and the opportunity to explore
more systematically the nature of Middle Palaeolithic settlement in
northwest Greece and elsewhere.
Anthony Sinclair
School of Archaeology,
Classics and Oriental Studies,
University of Liverpool
Review Submitted: February 2003
References
Bailey, G.N. (ed.) 1997. Klithi: Palaeolithic
Settlement and Quaternary Landscapes in Northwest Greece. (2 vols).
Cambridge: McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research.
Gowlett, J. & Carter P. 1997. The basal Mousterian of Asprochaliko
Rockshelter, Louros Valley. In G.N. Bailey (ed.) Klithi: Palaeolithic
Settlement and Quaternary Landscapes in Northwest Greece. Volume 2:
Klithi in its local and regional setting. Cambridge: McDonald Institute
of Archaeological Research. Pp 441-457.
Papaconstantinou, V. & Vassilopoulou, D. 1997. The Middle Palaeolihtic
industries of Epirus. In G.N. Bailey (ed.) Klithi: Palaeolithic Settlement
and Quaternary Landscapes in Northwest Greece. Volume 2: Klithi in its
local and regional setting. Cambridge: McDonald Institute of Archaeological
Research. Pp 459-480.
The views expressed in this review are not
necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews Editor.
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