41-54

Prehistoric research at Kitrini Limni, nomos Kozanis, 1988 : a short report

• Φωτιάδης, Μιχάλης

The setting for the research reported is the Kitrini Limni basin in Nomos Kozanis (660 masl), an area exceptionally rich in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites which will be destroyed in the future by the expanding strip mine of the Public Power Corporation of Greece (AEH). Fieldwork in the area during 1988 included intensive surface survey in two sites (Megaio Nisi Galants [ΜΝΓ] and Mikro Nisi Akrinis[MNA]), excavation in the first site, environmental reconaissance of the basin and surrounding mountains, and analytical study of stone tools and pottery from the 1987season. Major conclusions to date are:(1) Locations along the basin margins that could have served as camps of pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers are today buried under several dozen meters of coarse sediments of Holocene age.(2) The prehistoric farmers settled on a soil developing on a soft, well-drained clay marl, probably incised by shallow streams. That prehistoric surface is today completely buried under at least one meter of recent lacustrine sediments of a very different texture.(3) Settlement in the area began in the sixth millennium, but it was heaviest in the fourth and third millennia, when at least 13 sites (some larger than 5 ha) were occupied within an area ca. 50 km2. All these sites were abandonned by the end of the Early Bronze Age, and they were never resettled to any significant extent.(4) Walls and floors of buildings were constructed by the techniques of wattleand-daub (MNA: Late/Final Neolithic surface material) and pisé (ΜΝΓ: Final Neolithic/ Early Bronze Age excavated structures), and at least the daub was, quite remarkably, asand-and-lime concrete rather than a natural clay.(5) The region kept extensive contacts with distant parts of the Aegean and the Balkan world, as indicated by the frequency of obsidian, sea shell, imported pottery, and a variety of rocks, used for chipped and ground stone tools. Virtually none of the rocks used for ground stone tools originated within the watershed of Kitrini Limni. The nearest possible source for a few of the hard rocks used for axe-adze tools lies 15-20 kmaway. (6) The wide range of artifact classes is suggestive of a sophisticated society with a strong cultural identity, rather than of a marginal outpost of primitive farmers. The high concentration of settlement in a geographically constricted area, in particular, hints to the possibility of a political organization above the community level.(7) After abandonment, a shallow lake covered the lowest part of the basin(drained in the 1950s). Marshy conditions since then prevented the human use of this landscape, and thereby created a highly favorable environment for the preservation of its prehistoric remains. Experimental work at ΜΝΓ, has also permitted distinctions between areas of primary and secondary refuse, detection of changes in uses of space through time, and evaluation of different factors of site formation processes. Perhaps the most important conclusion, however, concerns the long term prospects for the region: if the invaluable information encoded in the prehistoric sites of Kitrini Limni is to be indeed saved from decay, a project of much greater scale than the present one is required.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

προϊστορία, Κοζάνη, συνέδρια

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