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The archaeology of the Greek uplands: the early iron age site of Tsouka in the Rhodope Mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Nikos Efstratiou
Nikos Efstratiou*
Affiliation:
University of Thessaloniki
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Abstract

The upland areas of Greece have long been outside the main focus of archaeological interest. With regard to prehistoric research, mountains were never seen as potential habitation areas, and recovery techniques had to address unusual environmental and geomorphological situations. Research in the Rhodopi mountains initiated by Komotini Museum attempts to illustrate some aspects of this upland archaeology. This article presents the results of excavation at an early iron age site which appears to give an insight into the habitation behaviour of the Thracian mountain population at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. It is proposed for the first time that a number of the so-called Thracian places found scattered all over the Rhodopi mountains are not, as at first thought, fortified acropoleis but sites with special functions, serving an agricultural and pastoral economy. It is further suggested that ethnoarchaeological observations can serve as valuable explanatory hypotheses which can be tested against the available excavation data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 88 , November 1993 , pp. 135 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1993

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References

1 I would like to express my deepest thanks to the numerous people who helped my adventure in the Rhodope uplands for the last six years. The Sarakini Ethnoarchaeological Project could never had started without the trust and support of Mr D. Triandaphyllos, Ephor of the Museum of Komotini. I thank him from here once again. To my friend Hasan Halil Ibram who introduced me to the closed world of the Pomaks I owe the success of my research. The drawings are by Christos Sismanidis whom I would like also to thank. My thanks to Ms V. Kyriazis for her help during the excavation of Tsouka. I would like also to express my gratitude to the British School at Athens for awarding me a three-month scholarship to study aspects of my ethnoarchaeological project in England; and to Dr K. Wardle and Dr D. G. J. Shipley for their help with the text.

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