Alepotrypa Cave and Regional Networks of Southern Greece

Summary

During the Final Neolithic (4500-3200 BCE) there appears to have been a major restructuring in the regional settlement networks of southern Greece. This included a general shift in activity from the north to the south with a significant increase in the number of of small, short lived sites in southern Greece, particularly in coastal locations. Trade and exchange also appears to have intensified, with exotic materials moved further and more frequently than in previous periods. Alepotrypa Cave, and its associated open-air site of Ksagounaki, reflect these processes, being ideally situated in Diros Bay and with the recovery of notable imported raw material and finished goods.

In this paper, I examine Alepotrypa in its regional and historic context in order to explain the relationship between the local processes that occurred in Diros Bay with the larger regional processes that changed the social landscape of southern Greece. I also explore the structure and function of the regional interaction networks that developed in the Aegean and how they related to changes throughout the macro-region during the 4th millennium.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Long-Term Settlement Dynamics and Land Use on the Mani peninsula of Southern Greece

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