Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece

This fascicle completes the presentation of the ceramic remains from the Franchthi Cave excavations.

A report on the prehistoric ceramic figurines recovered from the Franchthi Cave in Greece. Talalay reports on a small body of figurines (twenty-four figurines and twenty-one fragments) recovered during excavations at Franchthi Cave and at the nearby open-air settlement along the present shoreline. She also reexamines the theoretical and methodological foundations of scholarship in the field of figurine studies. A thorough and pathfinding study of the most important body of figurines from southern Greece, this book will be especially valuable to specialists in prehistoric Greece and to all scholars interested in early representations of the human figure in prehistoric art and in the significance of these representations to the members of early human communities. The book also makes a contribution to the growing body of literature on gender in early societies with a critical evaluation of the uses of evidence in addressing gender issues.

The second of two systematic reports on the more than one million sherds of pottery recovered from the Franchthi Cave in Greece. Over two and a quarter metric tons of pottery were recovered from Neolithic deposits at Franchthi and Paralia which will significantly increase our understanding of Neolithic pottery and Neolithic society in southern Greece. Through the development and application of a new system of ceramic classification, this fascile analyzes the pottery from the earlier Neolithic deposits as a direct reflection of the human behavior that produced it.

This fascicle describes the background of the Franchthi project and its excavation history and methodology. Particle size, mineralogy, and chemistry are all taken into consideration as the cultural remains and the sediments from the cave are analyzed to determine their origin and history. William Farrand constructs an integrated stratigraphy for the entire cave using excavators' notes, laboratory analyses, and personal field data to correlate sequences in separate trenches. On the basis of some 60 radiocarbon dates, the evolution and chronology of the sedimentary fill is postulated.

The famous Franchthi Cave excavations in Greece brought to light an exceptionally long sequence of ornaments, spanning from the earliest Upper Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic. This volume focuses on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments and ornamental species, which constitute one of the largest collections in Europe for these periods combined. Franchthi is one of the few identified production centers for ornaments, which are overwhelmingly dominated by marine molluscs. The detailed publication of these collections (Cyclope neritea, Antalis sp. and Columbella rustica) will be useful to all malacologists and specialists in ornaments working around the Mediterranean. These reference collections, coupled with the examination of manufacturing and wear traces on the archaeological specimens, allow a detailed reconstruction of the whole production cycle from procurement to discard. The systematic association of unworked, freshly worked and very worn shells suggests that the ornaments mostly served for the production or rejuvenation of embroidered garments. Despite the richness of the assemblages and varied local resources, the range of ornament types is surprisingly narrow and fundamentally stable through time. The ornaments from Franchthi Cave therefore paint a different portrait of the European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, one based on regional cultural continuity.

The first of two systematic reports on the more than one million sherds of pottery recovered from the Franchthi Cave in Greece. Over two and a quarter metric tons of pottery were recovered from Neolithic deposits at Franchthi and Paralia which will significantly increase our understanding of Neolithic pottery and Neolithic society in southern Greece. Through the development and application of a new system of ceramic classification, this fascile analyzes the pottery from the earlier Neolithic deposits as a direct reflection of the human behavior that produced it.