Middle Palaeolithic Occupation and Technology in Northwestern Greece

Description

This work re-examines the evidence from open-air sites in northwestern Greece, an area where these sites show a dense and patterned distribution. It shows that open-air sites have the potential to offer a broader picture of industrial variability and regional adaptations than does the study of isolated rockshelters. The technological analysis of the lithic collections from surface finds reveals geographical patterns of variability in the application of primary flaking techniques. It is proposed that this technological variability reflects temporal modifications in Middle Palaeolithic settlement patterns, themselves triggered by oscillations in climate and sea levels. At a methodological level, this study shows the use that can be made of typological-technological analyses of low time resolution lithic assemblages, thus contributing to the development of fieldwork strategies and analytical methodologies appropriate for research in Palaeolithic open-air sites. These sites remain under-investigated in Europe, resulting in distortions in our knowledge of the European Palaeolithic.