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Maritime Archaeology Periodical

And even more puzzling, why did it take these chaeological research carried out in the early 1980’s
groups of farmers more than 1,000 years to reach has revealed rich material remains from both its
the Aegean (Crete) by sea from the east (Levant, land (estimated half or one third of its total size) and
Cyprus), or overland the western Aegean coast from underwater sections. Although investigated many
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Central Anatolia? These are only few of the many years ago (Fig. 4), the site of Ag. Petros is still con-
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tantalizing and still unanswered questions which sidered today, in many respects, a typical example
come to mind when trying to reconstruct the ‘stories’ of an early island permanent settlement, probably
and ‘events’ of the Neolithic groups arriving in the one of many that were founded in the Aegean by
Aegean islands and coastal areas on both sides of early groups of farmers on their way from Anatolia
the Aegean, sometime after 7,000 BCE. Admitted- to Greece. The possibility that the village of Ag.
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ly, this new stage of development in the Aegean is Petros was founded by foragers already living in the
much more robust and archaeologically conspicu- Sporades (the Mesolithic Cyclops cave on Youra is
ous, in comparison to the preceding foraging period. only a few miles away from the north coast of Kyra
Indeed, an interesting array of markers concerning Panagia (Fig. 2)) does not seem to be supported so
habitation preferences, socioeconomic features, and far by any archaeological evidence; this means, in
technological or ideological practices are clearly dis- a practical sense, that the Mesolithic sea-foraging
played in the material record for the first settlements cultural tradition had already died out in the area
founded by the early farmers upon their arrival in before the new groups arrived. Although hunting,
the islands. Although the actual number of excavated sea food gathering, and fishing had not been entirely
sites in the Aegean islands may not be impressive, abandoned, as already noted, the new way of life is
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they do manage to give a clear picture of the life of now clearly marked by the founding of year-round,
these pioneering maritime communities. fully fledged Neolithic settlements, the introduction
A typical picture of such an early maritime com- of farming, and the exploitation of domesticated
munity in the Aegean is provided by the Early animals transported by sea from the mainland. One
Neolithic settlement of Agios Petros, which was es- may also add the technology of pottery production,
tablished by farmers on the slope of the present-day but more importantly, the strong evidence of more
tiny island in the bay of Kyra Panagia in the North- intensive sea networks of social contact, communi-
ern Sporades around 6,000 BCE (Fig. 3). It is a rare cation, and exchange between places in the Aegean
example of an island site that has survived the rapid and beyond (earlier designated by the rather general
sea level rise of the last 8,000 years, and where ar- term ‘Aegean connectivity’).
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16 AMMErMAN 2011, BrAMI 2014.
17 DOUKA et al 2017, ÇİLİNGİrOĞLU 2017.
18 EFSTrATIOU 1985.
19 rEINGrUBEr 2017.
20 HOrEjS 2016.

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