From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic: New Data on the Aegean Prehistory

Between the years 1992-1996, a large excavation project has taken place at the Cave of Cyclope in the remote uninhabited island of Youra, north of Alonnissos. The finds date from the Mesolithic (9th mil. B.C.) to the Late Neolithic (4th mil. B.C.) and reflect a regular stratigraphic evolution within the early Holocene. The Cyclope's obsidian and flint industries of the Mesolithic strata imply contact patterns with the southern Aegean (Melos and Franchthi Cave) and probably with the southwest part of Asia Minor (Antalya). Moreover the upper mesolithic layes of the cave have provided us with secure indications for the existence of domesticated animals, while the transition from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic as reflected in Cyclope's stratigraphy has been natural.

More Early and Middle Neolithic sites have for long been known in the area of the northern Aegean, such as Agios Pedros in Kyra-Panagia, also in Skyros and Chios, which makes likely the existence of a preneolithic preceding culture. Only in Skyros some uncertain mesolithic finds have thus far been reported.

The excavation at the open site of Maroulas in Kythnos (Cyclades) in 1996 revealed burials and habitats of the same period. The fact that no other preneolithlc sites are known in the Cyclades and that the few excavated neolithic settlements belong to Late Neolithic certainly outlines a long-term hiatus of more than 2000 years between the Mesolithic of Maroulas to the Late Neolithic of Saliagos, which will probably be covered with intensive surveys.

In spite of this fragmentary picture we have for the prehistoric Aegean, there is no doubt that its position between the Asia Minor, mainland Greece and the Balkans rendered it a favourable area, which could profit from contacts from both directions and introduce to the West the new ideas coming from the East, such as the domestication of plants and animals.