The Neolithic of the Aegean Islands: A New Picture Emerging.

Recent developements in the area of the Aegean islands and the adjacent coastal regions - new excavations, re-investigations of old sites, surveys- have produced an impressive amount of new evidence concerning habitation patterns during the early prehistoric period. The fragmentary picture of island occupation which characterized the Aegean area for decades, is now substituted by a rich body of evidence which, although in many respects still indicative, allows key-issues of prehistoric processes such as neolithization, transition, regionalism, island cultural characteristics etc, to be re-assessed.

This paper tries to present a synthesis of the new material and evaluate the main features of the emerging picture.