Eastern Mediterranean

An open-air sanctuary used between the Protogeometric and the Classical periods (roughly 1000 to 400 BCE) was recently identified on the western part of the summit of the Anavlochos massif in East Crete. The sanctuary was first located in 2016 by the Anavlochos Project, which is directed by Florence Gaignerot-Driessen (University of Cincinnati) and operates under the auspices of the École française d’Athènes and with the permission of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. It was excavated in 2017 and 2018.

The discovery of new hunter-gatherer and early farming occupations on the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus is dramatically changing our understanding of the timing and nature of the first occupants of the island. Archaeological evidence suggests that Epipalaeolithic hunters-gatherers in Cyprus arrived by at least 13,000 years ago. These early islanders remained deeply connected to their mainland (Levantine and/or Aegean) counterparts and, like them, experimented with plant and animal management.

The recent recognition of Late Epipalaeolithic sites on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus moves the date of early explorers to the island back at least 3000 years, changing our preconceptions about the nature of these first settling communities. Evidence at these early sites suggests that people were bringing plants and animals with them from the mainland (Simmons 1999), creating a sense of home in an unfamiliar landscape.

Oxygen and carbon isotopes extracted from gazelle tooth enamel are used to reconstruct the paleoenvironment during the occupation of Kharaneh IV

The Stahl Research Report is available on eScholarship.

Although the Mediterranean islands produced some of the most sophisticated cultures of the ancient world, until recently there was little evidence that these islands were occupied prior to the Neolithic. This perception has radically changed over the past decade. New research indicates that some remote islands, such as Crete and Naxos, may have been occupied by Neanderthals, and certainly by the Epipaleolithic it appears that continental-island voyages were far more common than previously believed.

Porter, B. W. (2013). Subsistence and Social Life on the Edge of Empires: The Dhiban Project’s 2013 Season. UC Berkeley: Archaeological Research Facility. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3jb3n082