Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and flora exploitation at the Palaeolithic cave of Theopetra, central Greece: the evidence from phytolith analysis

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Volumn 7, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 169-185

  Tsartsidou, Georgia ^a   Karkanas, Panagiotis ^a   Marshall, Gilbert ^b   Kyparissi Apostolika, Nina ^a  

^a Ephoreia of Palaeoanthropology–Speleology of Southern Greece ^*  (Greece)

^b ASCSA   (Greece)

Author keywords

Cave; Combustion features; Greece; Mesolithic; Palaeolithic; Phytoliths

Indexed keywords

EID: 84930204918     PISSN: 18669557     EISSN: 18669565     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12520-014-0183-6     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Adam E (1999) Preliminary presentation of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic stone industries of Theopetra Cave, western Thessaly. In: Bailey GN, Adam E, Panagopoulou E, Perles C, Zachos K (eds) The palaeolithic archaeology of Greece and adjacent areas, proceedings of the ICOPAG conference, Ioannina. British School at Athens Studies 3. British School at Athens, Athens, pp 266–270
2. Albert RM (2000) Study of the ash layers through phytolith analyses from the Middle Palaeolithic levels of Kebara and Tabun Caves. Dissertation, University of Barcelona
3. Albert RM (2010) Hearths and plant uses during the Upper Palaeolithic period at Klissoura cave 1 (Greece). The results from phytolith analysis. Eurasian Prehistory 7(2):71–85
4. Albert RM, Lavi O, Estroff L, Weiner S (1999) Mode of occupation of Tabun cave, Mt Carmel, Israel during the Mousterian period: a study of the sediments and phytoliths. J Archaeol Sci 26:1249–1260
5. Albert RM, Weiner S, Bar-Yosef O, Meignen L (2000) Phytoliths in the Middle Palaeolithic deposits of Kebara cave, Mt Carmel, Israel: study of the plant materials used for fuel and other purposes. J Archaeol Sci 27:931–947
6. Albert RM, Bar-Yosef O, Meignen L, Weiner S (2003) Quantitative phytolith study of hearths from the Natufian and Middle Palaeolithic levels of Hayonim cave (Galilee, Israel). J Archaeol Sci 30:461–480
7. Albert RM, Bamford MK, Cabanes D (2006) Taphonomy of phytoliths and macroplants in different soils from Olduvai gorge (Tanzania) and the application to Plio-Pliostocene palaeoanthropological samples. Quat Int 148:78–94
8. Albert RM, Shahack-Gross R, Cabanes D, Gilboa A, Lev-Yadun S, Portillo M, Sharon I, Boaretto E, Weiner S (2008) Phytolith-rich layers from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Dor (Israel): mode of formation and archaeological significance. J Archaeol Sci 35:57–75
9. Aleman J, Leys B, Apema R, Bentaleb I, Dubois MA, Lamba B, Lebamba J, Martin C, Ngomanda A, Truc L (2012) Reconstructing savannah tree cover from pollen, phytoliths and stable carbon isotopes. J Veg Sci 23:187–197
10. Alexandre A, Meunier JD, Lezine AM, Vincens A, Schwartz D (1997) Phytoliths: indicators of grassland dynamics during the late Holocene in intertropical Africa. Pal Pal Pal 136:213–229
11. Alexandre A, Meunier JD, Mariotti A, Soubies F (1999) Late Holocene phytolith and carbon-isotope record from a latosol at Salitre, south-central Brazil. Quat Res 51:187–194
12. Baczyńska B, Lityńska-Zając M (2005) Application of Lithospermum officinale L. in early Bronze Age medicine. Veg Hist Archaeobot 14:77–80
13. Barboni D, Bremond L, Bonnefille R (2007) Comparative study of modern phytolith assemblages from inter-tropical Africa. Pal Pal Pal 246:454–470
14. Bottema S (1979) Pollen analytical investigations in Thessaly (Greece). Palaeohistoria 21:19–40
15. Bremond L, Alexandre A, Villa E, Guiot J (2004) Advantages and disadvantages of phytolith analysis for the reconstruction of Mediterranean vegetation: an assessment based on modern phytolith, pollen and botanical data (Luberon, France). Rev Palaeobot Palynol 129:213–228
16. Bremond L, Alexandre A, Hély C, Guiot J (2005) A phytolith index as a proxy of tree cover density in tropical areas: calibration with Leaf Area Index along a forest–savannah transect in southeastern Cameroon. Glob Planet Chang 45:277–293
17. Bremond L, Alexandre A, Wooller MJ, Hély C, Williamson D, Schäfer PA, Majule A, Guiot J (2008) Phytolith indices as proxies of grass subfamilies on East African tropical mountains. Glob Planet Chang 61:209–224
18. Brothwell D, Brothwell P (1969) Food in antiquity. Thames and Hudson, London
19. Cabanes D, Burjachs F, Expósito I, Rodríguez A, Allué E, Euba I, Vergés JM (2009) Formation processes through archaeobotanical remains: the case of the Bronze Age levels in El Mirador cave, Sierra de Attapuerca Spain. Quat Int 193:160–173
20. Cabanes D, Mallol C, Expósito I, Baena J (2010) Phytolith evidence for hearths and beds in the late Mousterian occupations of Esquilleu cave (Cantabria, Spain). J Archaeol Sci 37:2947–2957
21. Cabanes D, Weiner S, Shahack-Gross R (2011) Stability of phytoliths in the archaeological record: a dissolution study of modern and fossil phytoliths. J Archaeol Sci 38:2480–2490
22. Facorellis Y, Kyparissi-Apostolika N, Maniatis Y (2001) The cave of Theopetra, Kalambaka: radiocarbon evidence for 50,000 years of human presence. Radiocarbon 43:1029–1048
23. Frogley MR, Tzedakis PC, Heaton THE (1999) Climate variability in northwest Greece during the Last Interglacial. Science 285:1886–1889
24. Hansen J (1991) The Palaeoethnobotany of Franchthi cave. Excavations at Franchthi cave, Greece, Fascicle 7. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
25. Harvati K, Panagopoulou E, Runnels C (2009) The palaeoanthropology of Greece. Evol Anthropol 18:131–143
26. Harvey EL, Fuller DQ (2004) Investigating crop processing using phytolith analysis: the example of rice and millets. J Archaeol Sci 32:739–752
27. Henry DO, Hietala HJ, Rosen AM, Demidenko YE, Usik VI, Armagan TL (2004) Human behavioural organization in the Middle Palaeolithic: were Neanderthals different? Am Anthropol 106:17–31
28. Henry AG, Brooks AS, Piperno DR (2011) Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium). PNAS 108(2):486–491
29. Horrocks M, Irwin GJ, McGlone MS, Nichol SL, Williams LJ (2003) Pollen, phytoliths and diatoms in prehistoric coprolites from Kohika, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. J Archaeol Sci 30:13–20
30. Jenkins E (2009) Phytolith taphonomy: a comparison of dry ashing and acid extraction on the breakdown of conjoined phytoliths formed in Triticum durum. J Archaeol Sci 36:2402–2407
31. Jiang H, Li X, Liu CJ, Wang YF, Li CS (2007) Fruits of Lithospermum officinale L. (Boraginaceae) used as an early plant decoration (2500 years BP) in Xinjiang, China. J Archaeol Sci 34:167–170
32. Karkanas P (1999) Lithostratigraphy and micromorphology of Theopetra Cave deposits, Thessaly, Greece: some preliminary results. In: Bailey GN, Adam E, Panagopoulou E, Perles C, Zachos K (eds) The palaeolithic archaeology of Greece and adjacent areas, proceedings of the ICOPAG conference, Ioannina. British School at Athens Studies 3. British School at Athens, Athens, pp 240–251
33. Karkanas P (2001) Site formation processes in Theopetra Cave: a record of climatic change during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in site formation processes in Theopetra Cave. Geoarchaeology 16(4):373–400
34. Karkanas P, Kyparissi-Apostolika N, Bar-Yosef O, Weiner S (1999) Mineral assemblages in Theopetra, Greece: a framework for understanding diagenesis in a prehistoric cave. J Archaeol Sci 26:1171–1180
35. Karkanas P, Bar-Yosef O, Goldberg P, Weiner S (2000) Diagenesis in prehistoric caves: the use of minerals that form in situ to assess the completeness of the archaeological record. J Archaeol Sci 27:915–929
36. Karkanas P, Rigaud JP, Simek JF, Albert RM, Weiner S (2002) Ash bones and guano: a study of the minerals and phytoliths in the sediments of Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. J Archaeol Sci 29:721–732
37. Kotzamani G (2009) From gathering to cultivation: archaeobotanical research on the early plant exploitation and the beginning of agriculture in Greece (Theopetra Schisto, Sidari, Dervenia). Dissertation, University of Thessaloniki, Greece (in Greek)
38. Koumouzelis M, Ginter B, Kozlowski K, Pawlikowski M, Bar-Yosef O, Albert RM, Litynska-Zajac M, Stworzewicz E, Wojtal P, Lipecki G, Tomek T, Bochenski ZM, Pazdur A (2001) The early Upper Palaeolithic in Greece: the excavations in Klisoura cave. J Archaeol Sci 28:515–539
39. Kyparissi-Apostolika N (1999) The palaeolithic deposits of Theopetra Cave in Thessaly (Greece). In: Bailey GN, Adam E, Panagopoulou E, Perles C, Zachos K (eds) The palaeolithic archaeology of Greece and adjacent areas, proceedings of the ICOPAG conference, Ioannina. British School at Athens Studies 3. British School at Athens, Athens, pp 232–239
40. Kyparissi-Apostolika N (2006) Twelve years of excavation and research, proceedings of the international conference (Trikala, 6–7 November 1998), 2nd edn. INSTAP and Ministry of Culture, Athens
41. Litynska-Zajac M (2010) Plant material from Klissoura cave 1 in Greece. Eurasian Prehistory 7(2):87–90
42. Madella M (2001) Understanding archaeological structures by means of phytolith analysis: a test from the Iron Age site Kilise Tepe-Turkey. In: Meunier JD, Colin F (eds) Phytoliths applications in earth science and human history. Balkema, Lisse, pp 173–182
43. Madella M, Jones MK, Goldberg P, Goren Y, Hovers E (2002) The exploitation of plant resources by Neanderthals in Amud cave (Israel): the evidence from phytolith studies. J Archaeol Sci 29:703–719
44. Madella M, Alexandre A, Ball T (2005) International code for phytolith nomenclature. Ann Bot 96:253–260
45. Madella M, Jones MK, Echlin P, Powers-Jones A, Moore M (2009) Plant water availability and analytical microscopy of phytoliths: implications for ancient irrigation in arid zones. Quat Int 193:32–40
46. Matsutani A (1987) Plant remains from the 1984 excavations at Douara cave. In: Akazawa T, Sakaguchi Y (eds) Paleolithic site of Douara cave and paleogeography of Palmyra basin in Syria. Part IV: 1984 excavations, bulletin no. 29. The University Museum, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp 117–122
47. Meignen L (2007) The hearths at Kebara cave and their role in site formation processes. In: Bar-Yosef O, Meignen L (eds) Kebara cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. The Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology, part I, American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 49. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, pp 91–122
48. Mithen S, Jenkins E, Jamjoum K, Nuimat S, Nortcliff S, Finlayson B (2008) Experimental crop growing in Jordan to develop methodology for the identification of ancient crop irrigation. World Archaeol 40(1):7–25
49. Mueller-Bieniek A (2010) Archaeobotany in the Mesolithic settlement of Maroulas/Kythnos. In: Sampson A, Kaczanowska M, Koslowski JK (eds) The prehistory of the island of Kythnos (Cyclades, Greece) and the Mesolithic settlement at Maroulas. The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences—The University of the Aegean, Krakow, pp 141–142
50. Nadel D, Weiss E, Smchoni O, Tsatskin A, Danin A, Kislev M (2004) Stone age hut in israel yields world's oldest evidence of bedding. PNAS 101(17):6821–6826
51. Ntinou M (2010) Wood charcoal analysis at Klissoura Cave 1 (Prosymna, Peloponnese): the Upper Palaeolithic vegetation. Eurasian Prehistory 7(2):47–69
52. Ntinou M, Kyparissi-Apostolika N (2008) The Pleistocene–Holocene charcoal record from Theopetra Cave, Thessaly, Greece: implications for vegetation, climate and human use. In: Damblon F, Court-Picon M (eds) Programme and abstracts, 4th International Meeting of Anthracology, Brussels, 8–13 September 2008 (p 105). Royal Belgian Institute of NATURAL Sciences, Brussels. ISSN: 0378-0902
53. Panagopoulou E (1999) The Theopetra Middle Palaeolithic assemblages: their relevance to the Middle Palaeolithic of Greece and adjacent areas. In: Bailey GN, Adam E, Panagopoulou E, Perles C, Zachos K (eds) The palaeolithic archaeology of Greece and adjacent areas. Proceedings of the ICOPAG conference, Ioannina. British School at Athens Studies 3. British School at Athens, Athens, pp 252–265
54. Piperno DR (2006) Phytoliths: a comprehensive guide for archaeologists and paleoecologists. Altamira, Lanham
55. Piperno DR, Weiss E, Holst I, Nadel D (2004) Processing of wild cereal grains in the upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis. Nature 430:670–673
56. Pustovoytov KE, Riehl S, Mittmann S (2004) Radiocarbon age of carbonate in fruits of Lithospermum from the early Bronze Age settlement of Hirbet ez-Zeraqon (Jordan). Veg Hist Archaeobot 13:207–212
57. Renfrew JM (1973) Palaeoethnobotany. The prehistoric food plants of the near east and Europe. Methuen, London
58. Roberts N, Rosen A (2009) Diversity and complexity in early farming communities of Southwest Asia: new insights into the economic and environmental basis of Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Curr Anthropol 50(3):393–402
59. Rosen AM (2001) Phytolith evidence for agro-pastoral economies in the Scythian period of southern Kazakhstan. In: Meunier JD, Colin F (eds) Phytoliths applications in earth science and human history. Balkema, Lisse, pp 183–198
60. Rosen AM (2003) Middle Palaeolithic plant exploitation: the microbotanical evidence. In: Henry DO (ed) Neanderthals in the Levant. Behavioral organization and the beginnings of human modernity. Continuum, London, pp 156–171
61. Rosen AM, Weiner S (1994) Identifying ancient irrigation: a new method using opaline phytoliths from emmer wheat. J Archaeol Sci 21:125–132
62. Roucoux KH, Tzedakis PC, Lawson IT, Margari V (2011) Vegetation history of the Penultimate Glacial period (Marine isotope stage 6) at Ioannina, north-west Greece. J Quat Sci 26(6):616–626
63. Ryan P (2011) Plants as material culture in the Near Eastern Neolithic: perspectives from the silica skeleton artifactual remains at Çatalhöyük. J Anthropol Archaeol 30:292–305
64. Sampson A (ed) (2011) The cave of the Cyclops. Mesolithic and Neolithic networks in the northern Aegean, Greece. Bone tool industries, dietary resources and the paleoenvironment and archaeometrical studies. Prehistory monographs 31 vol. II. INSTAP Academic, Philadelphia
65. Sánchez-Goñi ME, Eynaud E, Turon JL, Shackleton NJ (1999) High resolution palynological record off the Iberian margin: direct land–sea correlation for the Last Interglacial complex. Earth Planet Sci Lett 171:123–137
66. Schiegl S, Stockhammer P, Scott C, Wadley L (2004) A mineralogical and phytolith study of the Middle Stone Age hearths in Sibudu cave, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. S Afr J Sci 100:185–194
67. Schlichtherle H (1988) Neolithische Schmuckperlen aus Samenund Fruchtsteine. In: Küster H (ed) Der Prähistorische Mensch und seines Umwelt. Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Baden-Würtemberg 31. Theiss, Stuttgart, pp 199–203
68. Seidenkrantz MS, Bornmalm L, Johnsen SJ, Knudsen KL, Kuijpers A, Lauritzen SE, Leroy SAG, Mergeal I, Schweger C, Van Vliet-Lanoë B (1996) Two-step deglaciation at the oxygen isotope stage 6/5e transition: The Zeifen-Kattegat climate oscillation. Quat Sci Rev 15:63–75
69. Shahack-Gross R, Finkelstein I (2008) Subsistence practices in an arid environment: a geoarchaeological investigation in an Iron Age site, the Negev highlands, Israel. J Archaeol Sci 35:965–982
70. Shahack-Gross R, Albert RM, Gilboa A, Nagar-Hilman O, Sharon I, Weiner S (2005) Geoarchaeology in an urban context: the uses of space in a Phoenician monumental building at Tel Dor (Israel). J Archaeol Sci 32:1417–1431
71. Shillito LM (2011) Simultaneous thin section and phytolith observation at finely stratified deposits from Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey: implications for paleoeconomy and early Holocene paleoenvironment. J Quat Sci 26(6):576–588
72. Stiner M, Kozłowski J, Kuhn S, Karkanas P, Koumouzelis M (2010) Klissoura Cave 1 and the Upper Paleolithic of Southern Greece in cultural and ecological contexts. Eurasian Prehistory 7(2):309–321
73. Stravopodi E, Manolis S, Kyparissi-Apostolika N (1999) Palaeoanthropological findings from Theopetra Cave in Thessaly: a preliminary report. In: Bailey GN, Adam E, Panagopoulou E, Perles C, Zachos K (eds) The palaeolithic archaeology of Greece and adjacent areas, proceedings of the ICOPAG conference, Ioannina. British School at Athens Studies 3. British School at Athens, Athens, pp 271–281
74. Strömberg CAE (2004) Using phytolith assemblages to reconstruct the origins and spread of grass-dominated habitats in the Great Plains during the Late Eocene to Early Miocene. Pal Pal Pal 207:239–275
75. Tsartsidou G, Lev-Yadun S, Albert RM, Rosen AM, Efstratiou N, Weiner S (2007) The phytolith archaeological record: strengths and weaknesses evaluated based on a quantitative modern reference collection from Greece. J Archaeol Sci 34:1262–1275
76. Tsartsidou G, Lev-Yadun S, Efstratiou N, Weiner S (2008) Ethnoarchaeological study of phytolith assemblages from an agro-pastoral village in Northern Greece (Sarakini): development and application of a Phytolith Difference Index. J Archaeol Sci 35:600–613
77. Tsartsidou G, Lev-Yadun S, Efstratiou N, Weiner S (2009) Use of space in a Neolithic village in Greece (Makri): phytolith analysis and comparison of phytolith assemblages from an ethnographic setting in the same area. J Archaeol Sci 36:2342–2352
78. Tzedakis PC (1999) The last climatic cycle at Kopais, central Greece. J Geol Soc 156:425–434
79. Tzedakis PC, Frogley MR, Heaton THE (2003) Last Interglacial conditions in southern Europe: evidence from Ioannina, northwest Greece. Glob Planet Chang 36(3):157–170
80. Valladas H, Mercier N, Froget L, Joron JL, Reyss JL, Karkanas P, Panagopoulou E, Kyparissi-Apostolika N (2007) TL age-estimates for the Middle Palaeolithic layers at Theopetra Cave (Greece). Quat Geochronol 2:303–308
81. Weiner S (2010) Microarchaeology. Beyond the visible archaeological record. Cambridge University Press, New York
82. Weiss E, Wetterstrom W, Nadel D, Bar-Yosef O (2004) The broad spectrum revisited: evidence from plant remains. PNAS 101:9551–9555
83. Zurro D, Madella M, Briz I, Vila A (2009) Variability of the phytolith record in fisher–hunter–gatherer sites: an example from the Yamana society (Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). Quat Int 193:184–191