Early Upper Palaeolithic Technical Behaviour at Apidima (Peloponnese, Greece): Technological Analysis of the Lithic Assemblage from Cave C

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Variability within the Aurignacian: New Research Outlooks" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Apidima cave complex (Caves A-E, Peloponnese, Greece) is among the most significant Palaeolithic sites in south-eastern Europe. Two fossilized human crania recovered from Cave A in the 1970s-80s, indicate the presence of an early H. sapiens population followed by a Neanderthal one in the Middle Pleistocene. Important discoveries were also made in Cave C, including a presumed Early Upper Palaeolithic human burial, pierced shells, and a lithic assemblage, of which only a small portion was preliminarily studied. Here, we present the first comprehensive analysis of the entire lithic assemblage. Two main reduction strategies were identified: a volumetric semi-circumferential debitage and a second reduction using bipolar-on-anvil percussion technique. Bladelets were the main target of the production, frequently modified on the edges by applying a direct marginal retouch, occasionally inverse or alternate. Several refits were identified, aiding in identifying the reduction sequences, often obliterated by the prevalent use of bipolar percussion, especially during the later stages of blank exploitation. The combination of technological and typological analysis allows us to attribute the Apidima Cave C lithic assemblage to the early phases of the Upper Palaeolithic, within the variability of the Aurignacian technocomplex.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Variability within the Aurignacian: New Research Outlooks

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51948