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LEAF-POINTS FROM PETROTA (GREEK THRACE) AND THE PALAEOLITHIC CHRONOLOGY OF THE VRAHOS CHERT QUARRY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2016

Michael Fotiadis
Michael Fotiadis*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Archaeology, University of Ioannina
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

The Petrota chert source, in Greek Thrace, was exploited in the Middle Palaeolithic and again in the Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. An extensive scatter of products of that exploitation today surrounds the source. The site was systematically surveyed between 1998 and 2010. The present paper is devoted exclusively to the issue of the chronology of the Middle Palaeolithic component. The best, though still imperfect, indicator of chronology is the presence in the scatter of bifacially flaked leaf-points. A review of the literature on the chronostratigraphy of such artefacts in Europe, from Thuringia to Crimea, shows that they had a long career. They first appeared about 200,000 years ago and were still manufactured about 45,000 years ago. On the basis of various considerations, it is suggested that the leaf-points of Petrota and, accordingly, the Palaeolithic component at the site, belong to an advanced stage of that long period, probably dating between roughly 100,000 and 45/40,000 years ago.

Φυλλόσχημες αιχμές Πετρωτών Θράκης και η χρονολόγηση της Παλαιολιθικής του λατομείου πυριτολίθου του Βράχου

Ο πηγή πυριτολίθου των Πετρωτών, στη Δυτική Θράκη, ήταν υπό εκμετάλλευση στη Μέση Παλαιολιθική καθώς και τη Νεολιθική και την αρχή της Πρώιμης Εποχής του Χαλκού. Προϊόντα αυτής της εκμετάλλευσης βρίσκονται σήμερα διάσπαρτα σε μεγάλη έκταση γύρω από την πηγή. Η διασπορά ερευνήθηκε συστηματικά μεταξύ του 1998 και του 2010. Η παρούσα μελέτη αφορά αποκλειστικά στο ζήτημα της χρονολόγησης της Μέσης Παλαιολιθικής στη θέση. Η καλλίτερη, αν και όχι απόλυτα ικανοποιητική, ένδειξη για αυτή τη χρονολόγηση είναι η παρουσία αμφιπρόσωπα δουλεμένων φυλλόσχημων αιχμών. Η εξέταση της βιβλιογραφίας για τη χρονοστρωματογραφία τέτοιων αιχμών στην Ευρώπη, από τη Θουρινγκία ως την Κριμαία, δείχνει ότι πρωτοεμφανίστηκαν περίπου 200.000 χρόνια πριν και κατασκευάζονταν ακόμη 45.000 χρόνια πριν. Κατόπιν διαφόρων παρατηρήσεων, προτείνεται ότι οι φυλλόσχημες αιχμές των Πετρωτών και, κατ’ επέκταση, η Μέση Παλαιολιθική στη θέση ανήκουν σε ένα προχωρημένο στάδιο αυτής την μακράς περιόδου, χρονολογούμενο πιθανότατα μεταξύ περίπου 100.000 και 45/40.000 χρόνια πριν.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 111 , November 2016 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2016 

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