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Franchthi
Cave is located on the northern tip of Kiladha
Bay in the Argolid. It is a limestone formation
about 150 m long and 45 m in maximum width. Most
of the interior of the cave is today filled with
massive breakdown from the roof. At the very
back of the cave is a small pool of brackish
water.
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Excavations
at the cave were carried out between 1967 and
1976 by an international archaeological team and
local workers under the direction of Prof.
Thomas Jacobsen. Trenches were opened in the
front portion of the cave and along the beach
outside the cave. The excavations revealed a
rare sequence of human occupation spanning the
Upper Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic
period (ca. 25,000-3000 B.C.)
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The life of
the modern village of Kiladha revolves around
the sea. Most of its residents are employed in
the greek merchant marine or in commercial
fishing in the immediate area and all over the
world. But what was the relationship of the
prehistoric residents of the area to the sea?
This is the question that this exhibit will
explore by means of a trip back in time. Our
guides in this trip will be the changes of the
prehistoric landscape as reconstructed with
clues from underwater geophysical investigations
in Kiladha Bay, together with some of the…trash
left behind by the prehistoric users of the cave
(e.g., thousands of fish bones, sea shells, and
obsidian tools). Most of these finds are small
and were found during the sifting of the
excavated dirt in the dry and water sieves. |
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Our
time trip starts ca. 25,000 B.C. in a period
called Upper Palaeolithic. This is the beginning
of the last Ice Age. At this time, the southern
Argolid was not covered by glaciers as was
northern Europe, but the climate was very dry
and cold. The landscape was therefore very
different than it is today. Kiladha Bay, as we
know it, did not exist: The sea was about
100-120 m lower than current levels, the coast
was about 6-7 km away from the cave, and in
place of the bay was a vast flat plain.
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During
this time small groups of hunters of wild
animals began to use the cave as a hunting camp.
The excavations revealed no remains of
buildings, but they did bring to light carcasses
of animals (mostly of wild ass), projectile
points used to hunt the prey, ashes from
cooking, and small stone knives employed to cut
the meat. Nothing was found (e.g., fish bones or
sea shells) to suggest that these nomads
exploited marine resources. It is possible,
though, that they consumed both fish and
shellfish at the beach without ever taking them
all the way back to the cave.
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The
first secure evidence for the use of marine
resources at Franchthi comes from the end of the
Palaeolithic period, ca. 12,000-9500 B.C. By
that time the Ice Age was ending, the climate
got warmer, and the glaciers to the north had
started to melt. The result was an expansion of
the ocean and a dramatic change in the
landscape: Sea level in the Franchthi area rose
about 50-60 m, the plain in front of the cave
shrank considerably, and the distance of the
coast to the cave was reduced to about 3 km.
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The
cave was still not settled on a permanent basis,
as indicated by the lack of architectural
remains. It served as a base camp for nomadic
groups that hunted primarily deer and gathered
mostly wild lentils, pistachios, and almonds.
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The
nomads of the end of the Palaeolithic period ,
fished occasionally, as shown by a few fish
bones found in deposits of this period. Most of
them come from eel, sea bass, and gray mullet.
These fish are typical of Mediterranean lagoons,
suggesting that perhaps the beach closest to the
cave at that time was a shallow lagoon. The
fishing equipment of this period has not been
preserved, but the catch was likely made with
techniques similar to those used in modern
lagoon fisheries (e.g., simple traps, spears,
and complex reed enclosures). |
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The
number of shells excavated in deposits of the
end of the Palaeolithic period point to sea
shell gathering as another activity of these
nomads. The most common shells, limpets, were
used as food. Shellfish was perhaps a delicacy
for the prehistoric inhabitants of the cave as
it is for local people today. Τhe so-called tusk
shell, on the other hand, with its natural bead
shape, was used as raw material for ornaments.
The presence of tusk shell ornaments suggests at
least two things:
• The people who used the cave at that time were
interested in body ornamentation.
• They had time for activities not directly
related to the everyday struggle for survival.
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The
most impressive evidence, however, for a
relationship with the sea during the end of the
Palaeolithic period comes from about 10 small
pieces of a black shiny volcanic stone called
obsidian. This is a very high quality raw
material for the manufacture of tools (e.g.,
knives and arrowheads), and its source is
located on the Cycladic island of Melos. The
presence of obsidian in late Palaeolithic layers
at Franchthi Cave attests to one of the oldest
open sea voyages in the Mediterranean.
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Almost
all the pieces of obsidian found are less than
10 mm in maximum diameter and were found during
water-sieving. Had this meticulous technique not
been used at Franchthi, the tiny finds that put
this site on the map of world prehistory would
never have been discovered. This exceptional
discovery owes a great deal to the local workers
who participated in the operation of the water
sieve and the Kiladha women who spent endless
hours sorting the water sieve residue. They all
deserve a big thank you.
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Melian
obsidian was taken to Franchthi either by the
groups of hunter-gatherers who used the cave as
one of their base camps at the end of the
Palaeolithic period or through exchanges between
Franchthi people and bands living closer to
Melos. It can not have been taken to the cave by
residents of Melos since this island was not yet
permanently settled. Regardless of the way
obsidian reached Franchthi, one thing is
certain: some of the people who lived in
southern Greece at the end of the Palaeolithic
period were skillful seafarers and undertook
many exploratory expeditions in the Cyclades and
the Aegean in general. Otherwise they would not
have discovered either the island of Melos or
its obsidian sources.
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With
what means did the trip to Melos take place?
Direct evidence of the seacraft from that era is
lacking, since they were made of perishable
materials. Boats could, however, have been
similar to a papirella, a paddled reed boat used
until recently in Corfu. Mr. Spyros Agathos
built a papirella about 6 m long and 180 kg in
weight for the archaeologists. This craft proved
its worthiness during a trip it made from
Laurion to Melos, surviving winds of 6 knots and
waves 1.5 m high.
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Why
did the trip to Melos take place? Given that the
quantity of obsidian found from this period is
very small compared to the local flint used also
for tool making, it is almost certain that the
acquisition of obsidian was an incidental
activity of the trip to Melos. What its
principal goal was is for the moment a mystery.
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Our
next stop is the mesolithic period, which spans
9500 to 7000 B.C. Temperatures kept rising,
raising the sea level another 20 m, and bringing
the coastline about 2 km from the cave.
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The
cave was still used, although more intensively,
as a base camp for hunters of wild animals
(primarily deer) and gatherers of wild plants
(e.g., lentils, pears, pistachios, barley, and
oats). No architectural remains have been found
from this period either, but the cave was used
as a place for burying some of the dead. |
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The
mesolithic inhabitants of franchti fished more
intensively than their predecessors. Tuna is the
dominant species, but many grouper and barracuda
bones were also found. These fish live in a
fully marine rather than a lagoon environment.
Methods suited for lagoon fisheries were no
longer employed. Nets, traps, and boats were
probably used, although none has been preserved.
Most of the tuna caught weighed about 8-15 kg.
Some, however, weighed about 200 kg!
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The
mesolithic inhabitants of franchti gathered
large numbers of sea shells from a species
called Cerithium vulgatum to eat and probably
also for use as a bait. They also gathered
thousands of the small sea shells known as
Cyclope neritea. They ate the flesh and often
turned the shell into an ornament by piercing it
with a stone drill. These shells were probably
strung together to form a necklace. Small sea
pebbles--another material of marine origin--were
also used for making ornaments in this period. A
hole was made in the pebble using a stone drill,
a rather difficult and time-consuming process.
Some of these ornaments might look crude and
unattractive but we should remember that each
social group and each era has its own taste. In
this sense it is unlikely that prehistoric
people would find us moderns elegant.
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The
number of obsidian tools found in the mesolithic
deposits of franchti is much higher than before,
but still low compared to the number of tools
made of local flint. This suggests either that
the open sea voyages were not undertaken for the
procurement of obsidian or that obsidian reached
the cave through exchanges between the franchti
dwellers and other groups. It is even possible
that the shiny and exotic obsidian came to the
site more like a souvenir from a faraway place
rather than because it was a first rate raw
material for the manufacture of tools. |
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The
fourth and last stop of our trip is during the
neolithic period, which spans ca. 7000-3000 B.C.
By that time sea level had risen even higher and
the coast of the southern Argolid had been
broken into small bays. At the beginning of this
period Franchthi Cave was less than 1 km away
from the coast.
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The
nature of the neolithic occupation at Franchthi
was very different than earlier ones. The
changes may even be called revolutionary:
• The cave no longer served as a base camp for
hunter-gatherers. There was instead a permanent
settlement at Franchthi--a village--which
extended beyond the confines of the cave into
the area in front of the cave, and also into an
area that is now under-water.
• The main subsistence activities were farming
and animal husbandry. Franchthi people
cultivated domesticated plants (e.g., wheat,
barley, and lentils) and raised domesticated
animals (e.g., sheep, goats, and pigs).
• The neolithic period also marks the beginning
of pottery making.
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Although
the coast was now much closer to the cave,
little emphasis was given to fishing. Sea bream
were the most numerous fish caught throughout
the neolithic period; large tuna were rarely
fished. The low emphasis on fishing may have to
do with the central role of farming and
husbandry in the life of the neolithic
community. Only a few fishhooks made of bone
were found from this period. These hooks,
however, are too large to have been used to
catch small fish. For this purpose, other tools,
which were not preserved (e.g., nets or traps of
a fine mesh), must have been employed.
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The
neolithic inhabitants of Franchthi gathered
large numbers of cockle shells. They ate their
flesh and used the shells as raw material for
the manufacture of beads. They also made
pendants and bracelets from the tough sea shell
called spondylus and from the brittle pinna
shell. The processing of these materials must
have been difficult and time-consuming and was
probably done by a group of ornament specialists
or jewelers, as we would call them today.
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The
situation with obsidian is very different during
the neolithic period. Obsidian now came to
Franchthi in large quantities, as was the case
for many other villages around Greece. There is
evidence to suggest that now relatively few
specialists sailed to Melos to acquire obsidian,
and then traveled from village to village,
making tools on demand at each location. There
is no doubt that Franchthi people had the skills
to sail to Melos. Nevertheless, they chose to
procure this important raw material from
itinerant specialists.
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Our
trip stops sometime around 3000 B.C. and ends,
of course, with the sea. The sea level continued
to rise, giving the bay its present
configuration, shrinking the vital farming space
of the Franchthi community, and eventually
flooding the coastal part of the settlement.
Franchthi was abandoned at that time, perhaps
also as a result of massive breakdown from the
roof of the cave. |
Exhibition: Anna
Stroulia, Ph.D., Archaeology and
Anthropology.
Technical supervision:
Gregory Manariotis.
Sponsors: Schrader Endowment and Municipality of
Kranidi.
The exhibit text is based on studies by T.
Cullen, T. Jacobsen, M. Jameson, J. Hansen, M.
Miller, S. Payne, C. Perlès, M. Rose, C.
Runnels, J. Shackleton, T. Van Andel, and K.
Vitelli.
Most of the photographic material comes from the
Indiana University Archives.
M. Antoniadis, V. Dimitriou, M. Fotiadis, A.
Kalogirou, M. Liossi, O. Mantzari, D. Kamizis,
C. Perlès, M.R. Strezewski, M. Strezewski, and
K. Vitelli helped in the preparation of the
exhibit.
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