by Chris Fowler
THE SOUTHERN AEGEAN
The Mesolithic is virtually non-existent in Thessaly (apart from Theopetra cave located on its western fringes), but this period is better represented in southern Greece, for instance in the Peloponnese (Franchthi, Klisoura, Zaimis), the Cycladic islands (Maroulas on Kythnos), and the Sporadic islands (Cyclops cave on Youra). It is also found in western Greece (Sidari). These sites provide a better understanding of the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition. Thus, at Maroulas paved round houses evoke PPNA or Cypriot patterns, and at Youra goats and small suids maybe indicate possible ‘pre-domestic’ herding, known in Cyprus in the tenth to ninth millennia BC (Kozlowski 2007). These facts speak of maritime contact between the PPN Orient and the Aegean ‘Mesolithic’.
At Franchthi, an aceramic level, described as ‘initial Neolithic’ and dated to the beginning of the seventh millennium, lies between the last Mesolithic and the first Neolithic occupations: gathering of wild plants and mollusc consumption are associated with emmer and barley cultivation and ovicaprine herding. The lithic assemblage (notched pieces, side scrapers, denticulates) remains partially in the previous tradition, but is enriched by trapezes and blades. A fully developed early Neolithic with pottery follows this level (Perlès 1990).
The Cretan case is similarly particular. There is some evidence for Mesolithic occupation in the southern part of this island. A food-producing economy appears about 7000 BC in the deepest layer of the Knossos sequence (stratum X, Evans 1964; layer 39, Efstratiou et al. 2004), the only early Neolithic site on the island: wheat, barley, and pea cultivation alongside sheep, pig, and cattle herding indicate it was fully developed, with hunting activities completely absent. This farming economy is clearly introduced from outside the island (Broodbank and Strasser 1991). Domestic dogs were present. The lithic artefacts, made of local material or of obsidian from Melos, are of little diagnostic value. Bone spatulas are recorded. Pottery is absent. Child burials were placed in the deepest level. The surrounding landscape was of oak forests along with pines, cypress, almond trees, and ashes associated with shrubs.
The development subsequent to the aceramic layer is difficult to understand. Evans attributed levels IX–IV of his excavation to the early Neolithic and created a subdivision between ENI and ENII (Evans 1964). By that time, constructions of fired mudbrick (a technique introduced externally), various pottery wares, and figurines appeared. Pottery of the earliest horizon (ENI) consists mainly of bowls, carinated bowls, sometimes with offset rims, short-necked spherical vessels, straight profiled bowls, small dishes, and pedestalled bowls, with trumpet lugs, ribbon handles, or triangular ears. Decoration is made of mouldings, dot-impressed triangles or bands, and incised motifs. This pottery has no clear affinities with that of the early Neolithic in mainland Greece or in the central Mediterranean and sophisticated shapes and decoration suggest a more probable middle Neolithic date. Recent radiocarbon dates from the Efstratiou excavations apparently confirm this: they show a real gap of only sporadic and short-lasting occupation between this aceramic level (c. 7000 BC) and the first pottery levels (dated to the mid sixth millennium). Hence, an important element of Evans’ ‘Early Neolithic’ is in fact middle Neolithic, and early Neolithic pottery on Crete remains ill-defined.
The stratified site of Sidari on Corfu, off the Adriatic coast in north-western Greece, offers a very different view (e.g. Sordinas 1969). The sequence starts in the late Mesolithic with a flake industry without real geometrics and dedicated to the exploitation of marine resources. Recent dating points to the first half of the seventh millennium BC. This layer is immediately followed by another with an identical lithic tradition, but with coarse pottery, sometimes with incised decoration, and the remains of ovicaprids. New radiocarbon dates place this occupation around 6400–6200 BC. It therefore seems that hunter-gatherers had adopted selected Neolithic features. Above a sterile deposit (perhaps corresponding to the 6200 BC event) an early Neolithic occupation with Adriatic Impressed Ware developed.
THE NEOLITHIZATION OF THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN: THE ADRIATIC AND THE ITALIAN PENINSULA
Sidari is a typical frontier site of the ‘arrhythmic’ model. Neolithization started c. 6300 BC, followed by an interlude and the ensuing emergence of the Impressed Ware horizon, which eventually became the vector of Neolithic innovations throughout the Adriatic basin and into the western Mediterranean. The origins of Impressed Ware groups in the central Mediterranean have long been discussed. By 1950, L. Bernabo Brea considered these groups directly related to populations with Impressed Pottery in the northern Levant, appearing from Cilicia to Byblos around 7000 BC. He suggested maritime leapfrog colonization without any stops directly from these areas (Bernabo Brea 1950). However, this hypothesis is difficult to defend: there is no strict chronological contemporaneity, the pottery styles are different in shape and decoration, and other cultural features (projectile points, houses with stone foundations, etc.) of Near Eastern origin are completely absent in the central Mediterranean. On the contrary, the early Neolithic Adriatic Impressed Ware seems to be a local development based on influences from the neighbouring Aegean area. The transmission of an agro-pastoral economy (emmer, einkorn, hard wheat, barley, sheep, goat, cattle, pig) to the southern part of the Italian peninsula illustrates an integrated or selective package which is well-documented in the Aegean region. Early Neolithic Impressed Ware arose as a cultural standard on both sides of the Otranto channel, formerly divided during the Mesolithic into an eastern area with small-sized flake industries lacking microburins and geometrics, and a south-eastern Italian area with trapeze industries with Castelnovian affinities (Martini in Tiné 1996). This division of hunter-gatherer groups may also be based on economic divergence. Yet the development of crop cultivation and stock-breeding, the use of pottery, and village-based life were to become widespread on both sides of the Adriatic basin from 6000–5900 BC. Dispersal displays a slow rhythm of expansion from south to north, from Albania to Dalmatia on the eastern side (Müller 1994; Forenbaher and Miracle 2005), and from Puglia to the Marche on the Italian side. To the west, this first expansion also reached Sicily.
The evolution of this first Adriatic Neolithic is emphasized by pottery. Several impressed or incised regional pottery groups developed, characterized by the progressive use of scratching (‘tremolo’, ‘graffite’) or painting (Tiné 1983). In southern Italy there was a sequence from archaic impressed ware (Fig. 4.3, 1), to Guadone with sophisticated decoration motifs, and then to Lagnano da Piede-Masseria la Quercia, the last two with painted pottery. In middle Neolithic assemblages, painted wares can be associated with high-quality ‘figulina’ ware: the horizons of white- or red-painted bands (Passo di Corvo, Catignano, Scaloria, Capri), followed by Serra d’Alto and Ripoli wares (Pessina and Tiné 2008). At the same time, in Dalmatia, the Danilo group with painted and scratched pottery appears after several stages of Impressed Ware (Müller 1994; Spataro 2002). In Sicily, an initial early Neolithic (the Kronio facies) is replaced by the local Stentinello culture, represented by characteristic impressed pottery which extends to Calabria (Acconia) and Malta (Ghar Dalam) and persists until the fifth millennium (Fig. 4.3, 2).
FIG. 4.3. Early Neolithic Impressed Ware of the central and western Mediterranean: 1. Archaic Impressa; 2. Stentinello; 3–6. Cardial.
To the north, on the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea (Sardinia, Corsica) and on the mainland (Latium, Umbria, Tuscany), the early Neolithic is represented by ceramics with shell-impressed dentellated horizontal and vertical lines (Filiestru, Basi, Pienza) (Trump 1983; Fugazzola Delpino et al. 2002). Subsequent middle Neolithic pottery groups (Sasso, Sarteano, Monte Venere, Bonu Ighinu) are characterized by cups, bowls, spherical or necked vessels, and incised or grooved decoration. In Liguria, an original early Neolithic horizon can be distinguished by various impressed decorations and chiefly the ‘stab and drag’ motif (Arene Candide cave) (Maggi 1997; Tiné 1999). In northern Italy, a number of early Neolithic cultural facies developed, characterized by
limited distribution and regionalism (Vhò, Gaban, Fagnigola, Isolino, Vlaška). One of those, the Fiorano group, is more expansive and extends from Emilia to Romagna and Venetia; the pottery shapes (handled cups, bottles) and the decorations (discontinuous lines, dot impressions) recall traits from the Sasso and Sarteano groups. The broad latitude of the Italian Peninsula, the variety of influences, and local creativity explain this amazing variability of cultural groups, which continued into middle and late Neolithic times.
The first settlements in south-east Italy were densely distributed (180 in the Tavoliere area alone). In general, sites are small, ranging from 0.5 to 2ha, open or surrounded by one or two ditches enclosing a ‘farmstead’. During the early Neolithic, a large number of settlements are found dispersed, for example along the Ofanto valley between the Tavoliere and the Murge. In the middle Neolithic, settlements become larger and can now be described as ‘villages’ (Passo di Corvo) with numerous C-shaped enclosures forming ‘compounds’ (Tiné 1983; Jones 1987). Habitation structures are poorly known. They are sub-rectangular (7–12 by 4–4.5m) and built with wood and daub (Rendina, Balsignano). In the south, marked settlement is shown by enclosure or terrace walls (Molfetta, Capo Alfiere), circular enclosures with massive walls for penning animals (Trasano), hearth structures, storage pits, and other structural features. The distribution of raw materials (flint from the Iblei mountains in Sicily, from the Gargano and La Defensola mines, or from the Lessini mountains near Verona, and obsidian from Lipari, from the Pontic islands, or from Mount Arci in Sardinia) stresses the importance of large-scale circulation from the start of the Neolithic (Galiberti 2005; Barfield in Pessina and Muscio 2000; Tykot 1992). Meat production was almost exclusively based on herding, especially cattle, although ovicaprids dominate numerically (Torre Sabea) (Guilaine and Cremonesi 2003). Intra-mural burials are isolated and scarce. With its numerous cremation burials, the Continenza cave (Abruzzo) constitutes an exceptional case. Figurines are poorly represented during the early Neolithic.
THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Broadly speaking, there are two opposing approaches to the Neolithization of this area: 1) that the Cardial, or first Neolithic, was established by maritime colonization from Italian sources, introducing the village, crop cultivation, stock breeding, polished stone tools, pottery, and a new ideology as an integrated package; 2) the Cardial represents the acculturation of hunter-gatherers who adopted the Neolithic way of life and food-producing techniques from the Italian area whilst retaining their cultural heritage and own creativity. In recent years, research has considerably complicated the controversy, and possible interactions between local hunter-gatherers and external introduction has been revisited.
The final Mesolithic of the western Mediterranean is characterized by a good knowledge of flint sources, production of regular blades, the use of the microburin technique, and trapezoidal and triangular microliths. Technical markers distinguish between the western Castelnovian centred on Provence, and along the Rhone and the western Alps (there is also an eastern Castelnovian in north-east Italy); the ‘Gazel-Cuzoul’ group in western Languedoc, the Pyrenees and Aquitania; the ‘Lower Ebro valley group’; the ‘Cocinian’ group in the Valencia/Alicante region; and the ‘Concheiros complex’ of Muge in Portugal (Guilaine and Manen 2007). The other regions are poorly documented. Red deer, boar, and roe deer were hunted, with ibex also stalked, particularly in high mountain areas. Plant gathering (Fabaceae, lens sp., Vicia, lathyrus, blackberries, sloes) is attested. Most radiocarbon dates corresponding to this late Mesolithic are clustered between 6600 and 6000 BC. A number of studies, chiefly of the Iberian Peninsula, suggest the subsequent progressive conversion of hunters to a food-producing economy, completed by the mid-sixth millennium. This is the ‘dual’ model (Juan Cabanilles and Marti 2002).
The first Neolithic features in southern France are introduced c. 5700–5600 BC by small pre-Cardial groups, a kind of maritime ‘colonizer’ originating from Italy. They founded small, short-lived settlements related to the pioneer farming of the coastal environment. The pottery styles (flat-based vessels, bowls, cooking pots, and bottles with impressed, grooved, and incised decoration) show stylistic links to southern and central Italy, and there are affinities with the Ligurian Impressed Ware of the Arene Candide type. Subsistence strategies were mainly based on crop cultivation (einkorn, emmer, barley) and stock-breeding (sheep and more particularly cattle). Hunting was almost absent. Obsidian imports came from Sardinia and Palmarola. Three sites are well documented: Pont de Roque Haute and Peiro Signado at Portiragnes (Herault), and the lower layer of the Pendimoun shelter at Castellar (Alpes-Maritimes). These small open-air settlements were probably simple ‘farmsteads’ like the first Neolithic settlements in southeast Italy (Guilaine et al. 2007). Italian links have also recently been discovered in the Valencia area (Spain).
After this first chronological stage, the ‘Franco-Iberian’ Cardial follows from about 5500 BC. By now, the Neolithic, formerly restricted to coastal and sub-coastal areas, extended to more continental regions following a fluvial axis (Rhone, Ebro, Genil) to the mountain ranges of the Pyrenees in Andorra and Aragon, and Sierra Nevada in Spain. At the same time, dense coastal settlement appears in Provence, Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia, and from the Cadiz region to central Portugal (Manen 2000; Van Willigen 2006). The chipped stone industry combines laminary production (sickles, knives) with a flake industry providing end scrapers or denticulates. Arrowheads can be ubiquitous (trapezes with abrupt retouch) or regionalized (Montclus points and Jean-Cros points in southern France, ‘double-bevelled’ segments in Spain). From now on, pots were round-based (bowls, globular vessels, bottles), although pointed-base amphorae are also known. Decorations are made of horizontal and vertical shell-impressed bands, and vertical and orthogonal mouldings, sometimes with finger impressions (Bernabeu 1989) (Fig. 4.3, 3–6). What could be a sophisticated bone industry produces spoons and spatulae.
Settlements are often close to water (shores, ponds, rivers, paludal zones), and in some coastal regions, sites could have disappeared due to the versilian marine transgression (Leucate). Settlement organization is not well known. Houses might have been rectangular, built with wood and daub (La Draga, near Gerona) and apsidal (Mas d’Is à Alacant, Alcoy). Close to the latter site were circular pits recalling similar features from south-east Italy (Bernabeu et al. 2003). At the same time, the frequent occupation of caves and rock shelters indicate the importance of pastoralism and hunting in ecological niches. By now, agriculture is particularly based on hard wheat (Triticum aestivo-compactum). Yet long-lasting occupation has not been demonstrated. The spread of the ‘Franco-Iberian’ Cardial from Provence to Portugal may have been rapid. Its origins, however, remain unclear because in southern France it had been preceded by ‘impressa’ pioneers from Italian countries. Possible Thyrrhenian influences (from the slightly older Cardial style present in Sardinia, Corsica, Latium, and Tuscany) cannot be ruled out. On the other hand, the integration of autochthonous Mesolithic populations cannot be totally rejected. Their heritages may be evident in burial traditions, as the few known burials are found in caves, and ornaments (cf. the continuous use of Columbella rustica for necklaces).
From 5200 BC, the Cardial is in competition with a culture that originates from it, but which will gradually eliminate it—the Epicardial (Van Willigen 2006). Spanning an area from the Rhone basin to Andalusia, the Epicardial shows a stronger expansion than the Cardial, with various pottery facies (grooves, impressed bands, parallel lines, garlands) and several chronological stages. In France, it extends to the western Alpine range, the Causses, and the Aquitanian fringes of the Massif Central. Colonization in the Iberian Peninsula is mainly across the central plateaus. Open-air settlement increases and storage pits show the importance of agricultural activities. About 4500 BC, the Epicardial splits into several distinct facies (Fagien, Montbolo, Molinot, etc.) and signals the transition to the middle Neolithic.
So far, no impressed or
Cardial pottery is known from the Balearic Islands. Prehistoric hunting expeditions may have caused the extinction of Myotragus balearicus, an endemic antelope, although natural conditions could also have been responsible. The first farmers were established on Majorca at c. 4000 BC. No human presence is noted in Minorca before the third millennium.
When the Neolithic established itself in southern France and the Iberian Peninsula with the emergence of Impressed Ware and Cardial settlements, it had already lost an important part of the cultural features originally present in the Near-Eastern PPNB. These western areas lack large villages, cemeteries, evident social differentiation, or an interest in figurines for domestic or religious practice (Table 4.1). All these characteristics only appear several hundred years later.
Table 4.1 Differences between the first eastern (PPNB) and the western (Impressa/Cardial) Mediterranean Neolithic cultures.
Near East (PPNB) Western Mediterranean (Cardial)
Possibility of huge agglomerations (more than 8ha) Small settlements (less than 1ha to 4ha)
Settlement hierarchy ?
Constructions of heavy (stone) or ‘transformed’ (mudbricks) materials Use of lighter building materials (wood, daub)
Possibility of cemeteries No cemeteries
Collective burials in specific buildings No collective burials