Spatial Differences in Site Use at the Middle Paleolithic site of Lakonis (Peloponnese, Greece)

Summary

Lakonis is a Middle Paleolithic rockshelter on the coast of the Mani Peninsula of southern Greece. It is well-known for the preservation of a Neandertal tooth in the late Middle Paleolithic layers, which is one of the few Pleistocene hominin remains from Greece. The site preserves several occupation areas spanning 120,000-40,000 BP. Lithic and faunal remains are abundant, though the faunas are highly fragmented due to heavy concretion of the sediments. During excavation, researchers defined at least three distinctive areas of the site: a rich hearth complex, Upper Bone breccia, and Lower Bone breccia. Analysis of the lithic assemblages suggests a number of key differences between the three contexts. The hearth complex is characterized by small numbers of unspecific artifacts. In contrast, the Upper and Lower Bone breccias are richer and characterized by higher proportions of retouched and broken tools as well as cores, some of which were heavily utilized. Cut mark frequencies and degree of bone burning also differ between the three areas. In this paper, we attempt to define different activity areas across Lakonis by comparing bone taphonomy to differences in the composition and the main technotypological characteristics of the lithic assemblages between the three distinct contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Connecting Middle Paleolithic Datasets: The Interplay of Zooarchaeological and Lithic Data for Unraveling Neanderthal Behavior

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14855