Ch5 Paul Halstead

7/30/2019 Ch5 Paul Halstead

1/13

Paul Halstead38

5. Resettling the Neolithic: faunal evidence forseasons of consumption and residence at Neolithic

sites in Greece

Paul Halstead

Introduction

Had Eric Higgs lived to see the new millennium, it seems

unlikely that the works of Julian Thomas or Alasdair

Whittle would have been preferred reading at his Panton

Street lair in Cambridge. And yet, on one issue, the

palaeoeconomists of the 1970s and early 1980s could

happily have made common cause with those who have

sought to rethink the Neolithic in the 1990s; both groups

emphasised the need to dismantle the traditional package

of Neolithic material culture, farming and sedentism (e.g.

Barker 1975; Dennell 1983; Jarman et al. 1982; Thomas

1996; Whittle 1996a). Moreover, despite radical diff-

erences of agenda, both groups stressed the heterogeneity

of the European Neolithic and the desirability of

exploring this variability in its local and regional context.

Nonetheless, both groups have at times perhaps been

over-zealous in their enthusiasm for discarding the

traditional model without due attention to the local and

regional archaeological record. At worst, the traditional

model of a Neolithic package has been supplanted by a

more fashionable, but equally unfounded, pan-European

orthodoxy of gradual and piecemeal adoption ofdomesticates, sedentary life and Neolithic material

culture.

This chapter focuses on one particular aspect of the

Neolithic package sedentism which is explored in

the context of the archaeological record from what is

today Greece. Though a rather arbitrary geographical

unit for the Neolithic, Greece is large enough to

encompass a range of site types of diverse date and in a

variety of ecological settings; yet it is small enough for a

short paper to do reasonable justice to the available

evidence. True to the critical spirit and contextual

sensitivities of both the palaeoeconomists and more recent

writers on the Neolithic, it is not claimed that the results

of this study can be extrapolated to the rest of Europe; on

the contrary, similar empirical studies are needed for

other areas.

The basic argument advanced here is that the Neolithic

of Greece is in need of resettling rather than unsettling.

As Whittle has noted, recent discussion of Neolithic

(im)mobility has embraced a range of temporal and

spatial scales, ranging from seasonal to generational and

from local to regional (Whittle 1997). Arguably, much

recent discussion of Neolithic mobility has been muddied

by the conflation of very different analytical scales. Beforeproceeding to argue for a largely sedentary Greek

Neolithic, therefore, some clarification is offered as to

the terms in which sedentism is understood here.

Sedentism

The primary focus of this study is on whether individual

sites were occupied year-round or only seasonally.

Sedentism or mobility on this time scale is a central issue

for any attempt to explore the economic, demographic,

social or ideological strategies of Neolithic populations.

It is clear from ethnographic counter-examples that

neither agriculture nor the storage of agricultural productsnecessarily ties farmers to a fixed residence. On the other

hand, the duration and timing, as well as scale, of

habitation in a given locality plainly constrain the range

of viable subsistence strategies. The distinction between

year-round and seasonal habitation may be crucial,

therefore, in modelling Neolithic subsistence activity,

even at the fundamental level of relative dependence on

cultivation, animal husbandry and foraging (e.g. for the

Neolithic of Greece: Halstead 1989). The degree of

permanence of residence exercises an equally powerful

influence on the nature of social interaction. While

seasonal mobility offers a valuable safety valve for conflict

resolution within local residential groups, year-round co-

residence demands more active measures to maintain


2/13

Resettling the Neolithic: faunal evidence from Neolithic sites in Greece 39

harmony. And, while seasonal mobility may present

embedded opportunities for socialisation on a regional

scale, year-round sedentism may require strategies for

maintaining the inter-group relationships essential for

biological and social reproduction. Likewise, sedentary

and mobile populations are likely to have perceived thecultural landscapes that they inhabited in quite different

terms, with far-reaching implications for resource use

and ownership, for the nature of social relationships

within and between local groups, and for cosmology (e.g.

Barrett 1994; Chapman 1997; Edmonds 1999; Kotsakis

1999; Whittle 1996b).

It must be emphasised, however, that sedentism, in

the sense of year-round residence, does not preclude a

significant degree of mobility. For any Neolithic habit-

ation site, it is assumed here that, at minimum:

on a more or less daily basis, most inhabitants will

have ranged off-site (within a site catchment of up to,say, one hours walk) to work fields or gardens, gather

food and fuel, collect water, graze livestock, and so

on;

on a seasonal basis, at least some inhabitants will

have ranged several hours from the site, possibly

involving overnight absence, in pursuit of game, fruits,

raw materials, information, and so on;

on a seasonal or inter-annual basis, some inhabitants

will have visited neighbouring or more distant sites,

variously to escape conflict at home, to acquire

resources not available locally or to socialise with kin,

friends and exchange partners;

on an inter-annual or generational time scale,individuals or groups of inhabitants will have taken

up long-term residence at different sites as a result of

exogamy, conflict and fission, or subsistence failure;

on a generational or longer time scale, some sites

will have been abandoned, temporarily or permanently,

as a consequence of conflict, disease, subsistence

failure, environmental degradation, ritual contamina-

tion, and so on.

It is worth noting that mobility on these temporal and

spatial scales is probably characteristic of all modern

Greek villages (e.g. du Boulay 1974; Karakasidou 1997;

Sutton 2000), the majority of which would be classifiedby most Neolithic specialists as unambiguously sedentary.

Methodological considerations

The extent to which habitation at Neolithic sites in Greece

was seasonal or year-round is explored here primarily

through faunal evidence for season of death of domestic

animals. In practice, the analysis concentrates on

domestic animals dying in their first year or so of life, as

only such young remains can be aged with sufficient

accuracy to shed much light on season of death. Because

of the relative scarcity of young cattle remains (and, even

more so, of wild animals), the following analysis focuses

on sheep, goats and pigs.

In assessing age at death, neonatal postcranial

remains, recognisable by their distinctive surface texture

and internal structure as well as size and gross mor-

phology (e.g. Prummel 1987), are assumed to represent

animals dying within one month or so of birth. Otherwise,

assessment of age at death is based solely on eruption andwear of mandibular cheek teeth, information on which is

available in varying detail for different sites. Both timing

of eruption and speed of wear are subject to some

variability. For goats and sheep, ages are assigned to

successive stages of dental eruption and wear following

the studies of a range of herds/flocks by Deniz and Payne

(1982) and Jones (in press) respectively, in each case

adopting age ranges which encompass 95% of cases. In

the case of pigs, for which such precise information is

not available, ages are assigned to successive stages of

dental development following Higham (1967).

Interpretation of these age data in terms of season(s)of death entails assumptions about the timing of lambing/

kidding and farrowing. The peak lambing/kidding period

in recent, unimproved sheep and goats fell during

January-February in lowland northern Greece and a

month or so earlier in lowland southern Greece (Halstead

field notes). In the last few decades, herders have

increasingly manipulated the timing of births, usually to

take advantage of seasonal market conditions, by

improving feeding and housing (so that females come

into oestrus earlier) and by restricting the movements of

breeding males. Despite archaeobotanical evidence that

fodder was provided for livestock at Neolithic sites in

northern Greece (Valamoti 2004), the decreasing statureof domestic animals through the course of the Neolithic,

in Greece (e.g. von den Driesch 1987) as elsewhere,

argues against intensive feeding on a scale sufficient to

neutralise natural seasonal influences on the timing of

births. Farrowing dates seem to have been rather variable

in recent, unimproved pigs, not least because sows

sometimes produced two litters per year (or five litters in

three years), but there is evidence for a single farrowing

season in one of the faunal assemblages discussed below.

Among extensively herded pigs in woodland in northern

Greece, the main farrowing season falls rather later than

the peak lambing and kidding period (Halstead fieldnotes) and, given the role of the autumn glut of acorns in

bringing pigs to peak nutritional condition and the nearly

four-month duration of gestation, this may plausibly be

taken as the norm for Neolithic Greece. Thus farrowing

is assumed here to have taken place in March-April, in

northern Greece, and in February-March, in the south. It

must be acknowledged that such normative birth seasons

only represent the central tendency in lambing, kidding

and farrowing times; for a variety of reasons, some earlier

and later births are inevitable. For the sake of simplicity,

however, it is provisionally assumed that the faunal

evidence reviewed is largely derived from births during

the peak season. For the same reason, although slightly

earlier birth dates have been assumed here for southern


3/13

Paul Halstead40

than for northern Greece, a common definition is used

for the four seasons: winter December to February,

spring March to May, summer June to August, and

autumn September to November.

Interpretation of evidence for the timing of animal

deaths in terms of season(s) of human habitation assumesthat the remains of young domesticates represent animals

killed on-site, or introduced soon after death, rather than

the delayed transport of preserved body parts between

sites. This assumption seems secure, not least because

analysis here focuses on the mandible, which is of modest

meat utility (Binford 1978) and so unlikely to have been

curated and transported between sites on a significant

scale. Whether or not faunal evidence of human activity

in all seasons of the year indicates year-round occupation

(rather than complementary seasonal activities in

different years) is discussed towards the end of this

chapter. Two factors should be noted, however, thatmilitate against demonstrating activity at a given site in

every season.

First, the combination of a two-month birth period

and of variability in dental development ensures that

much of the mandibular evidence, that forms the core of

the following analysis, could potentially be assigned to a

range of seasons (cf. OConnor 1998). To reduce the risk

of imprecisely aged specimens creating a spurious picture

of occupation in all seasons, an assessment is initially

made below of the minimum season(s) represented by the

evidence from each site. For example, if neonatal remains

of sheep/goats clearly indicate late winter deaths, first-

year sheep mandibles aged more broadly to late winter-early summer and to autumn-winter may both be

attributed to late winter. This procedure thus entails the

rather unrealistically cautious assumption that the late

winter-early summer specimens were fast developers,

while the autumn-winter jaws were slow developers.

Because the evidence for different seasons also tends to

be of variable precision (see below), the effect of this

procedure may well be to obscure indications of occu-

pation in some seasons of the year.

Secondly, it should be emphasised that the slaughter

of young domesticates in recent, sedentary rural

communities in Europe is often markedly seasonal, for acombination of ecological and cultural reasons (e.g.

Cobbett 1979; cf. Halstead 1998 for some Greek

examples). It is perfectly plausible that the slaughter of

young livestock in the Neolithic may similarly have

displayed some seasonality for reasons unconnected to

temporal patterns of residence. Ironically, for this reason,

year-round residence may be easier to demonstrate for

Mesolithic sites in Denmark, with a diversity of wild

animals including migratory species of restricted seasonal

availability, than for Neolithic sites in Greece, with sparse

evidence for hunting, fishing or fowling.

Any archaeobotanical evidence for cereal and pulse

grain crops is also noted for each site. It is assumed that

such grain crops were mainly sown in mid- to late autumn

or early winter (October-December; not spring see

Hillman 1981, 1478) and harvested around early

summer (June [pulses] and July [cereals] in northern

Greece, one month earlier in southern Greece). Whether

or not grain crops were grown in the vicinity of each site

is discussed below. The sparse archaeobotanical evidencefor gathering of seasonally available fruits and nuts is not

considered, because the quantities involved are too small

to preclude the possibility of exchange between sites

rather than collection in the vicinity of each archaeo-

logical site.

Seasons of consumption and residence at

Neolithic tell sites in Thessaly, northern

Greece

The depth of occupation debris at Neolithic tell sites in

Thessaly provides striking evidence for habitation ofconsiderable duration and was regarded by Childe (1957,

60) as indicative of sedentism and an advanced farming

regime (cf. Kotsakis this volume). Strictly speaking,

however, tell formation indicates recurrent building

activity on a generational or longer time scale, rather

than year-round residence. Moreover, tell formation is a

cumulative process and so impressive mounds might well

conceal the remains of very transient early occupation, as

Whittle has argued with reference to thin early levels at

Thessalian tells such as Sesklo and Akhillion (Whittle

1996a). Until recently, groups of transhumant or nomadic

shepherds from the surrounding mountains over-wintered

in the immediate vicinity of many lowland Thessalian

tell sites and a similar pattern of regular seasonal

movements has been suggested for the Neolithic (Jarman

et al. 1982, 1501). A third possibility should also be

considered that the Neolithic inhabitants of Thessaly

moved on a more irregular basis, occupying individual

sites at different seasons in different years.

Middle Neolithic late Neolithic Plateia Magoula

Zarkou

The idea of seasonally mobile Neolithic settlement

received apparent support from geoarchaeological

investigations around the tell site at Plateia MagoulaZarkou, on the northern edge of the flat, west Thessalian

basin (Fig. 5.1) and close to the Pinios, one of the largest

rivers in Greece. Coring suggested that early occupation

was located in an active floodplain, subject to annual

inundation in winter-spring until river incision, perhaps

from the later middle Neolithic onwards, reduced the

risk of flooding; as a result, it has been argued, early

Neolithic and middle Neolithic human occupation at

Plateia Magoula Zarkou would necessarily have been

seasonal (van Andel et al. 1995; van Andel and Runnels

1995; Whittle 1996b, 17). As van Andel et al. (1995,

138) make clear, however, they were unable to determine

the frequency of flooding, leaving open the possibility

that the early Neolithic-middle Neolithic settlement was


4/13


flooded no more frequently than such major and long-

established European cities as Athens and Prague.

Modest assemblages of faunal remains (overwhelm-

ingly of domestic mammals) are reported from both

middle Neolithic (Becker 1999) and late Neolithic

(Becker 1991) levels at Plateia Magoula Zarkou. Neonatalsheep/goat are reported from both levels (Becker 1999,

12 table 4; 1991, 20 table 5), implying a human presence

around or up to a month after the suggested lambing/

kidding season of January-February, thus in mid-winter

to early spring. Dental data for age at death of sheep and

goats are not published in a format compatible with that

used below for other sites, but young pig mandibles (Table

5.1) imply deaths in early spring to early summer and in

mid-autumn to mid-winter during the middle Neolithic;

and in late spring to late summer, in mid-autumn to mid-

winter and in early winter to mid-spring during the late

Neolithic. The neonatal sheep/goats thus indicate human

habitation at middle Neolithic and late Neolithic Plateia

Magoula Zarkou firmly in the middle of the winter-spring

period, when flooding supposedly drove people away from

the site. Most of the young pig deaths are potentiallycompatible with this same period, but additional late

Neolithic activity is implied at some less precisely

identifiable stage(s) of the remaining mid-spring to early

winter period. Information on the timing of deaths of

first-year lambs and kids might further fill in the seasonal

cycle, while middle Neolithic caches of bitter vetch, Vicia

ervilia (Kroll cited in Becker 1991, 77 table 14; Jones

and Halstead 1993), if cultivated locally, would confirm

a human presence in mid-autumn to early winter (for

sowing) and in early summer (for harvesting).

Figure 5.1 Map of Greece, showing the location of sites discussed in the text.

Key: 1. Plateia Magoula Zarkou, 2. Prodromos 12 and 3, 3. Akhillion, 4. Ag. Sofia, 5. Dimini, 6. Doliana, 7. Cave

of Zas, 8. Makriyalos.


5/13

Paul Halstead42

Table5

.1AgesandsuggestedseasonsofdeathofpigsatENProdromos1-2and3,MNandLNPlateiaMagoulaZa

rkou,LNAg.Sofia,LNDimini,LNM

akriyalos(Pit

212),F

NCaveofZasandFNDoliana.

SuggestedagesfordentalstagesafterHigh

am(1967).Assumingbirthseasons

ofMarch-April(NGreece)andFeb

ruary-March

(SGreece).MortalitydataforProdromos1-2and3fromHalsteadandJones(1980,99fig.3;andunpublishedre

cords),forPlateia

MagoulaZarkoufromBecker(1991,24table8),forAgiaSofiafromvondenDrieschandEnderle(1976,44table

11),forDimini,

Makriyalos,CaveofZasandDolianafrom

authorsunpublishedrecords.

Key:d4fourthdeciduouspremolar,M1firstmolar,M2secondmolar,U

unerupted,E-erupting,Winw

ear

Prodromos

1-2

3

PlateiaMago

ula

Zarkou

Agia

Sofia

Dimini

Makri-

yalos

Caveof

Zas

Doliana

Age

stage

Agein

months

EN

EN

MN

LN

LN

LN

LNPit

212

FN

FN

Neo-

natal

0-1

-

-

-

-

March-

May

-

March-

May

Feb-

April

March-

May

d4E

0-2

-

-

March-

June

-

-

-

-

-

-

d4W

M1U

2-4

May-

Aug

-

-

M

ay-

Aug

May-

Aug

May-

Aug

May-

Aug

-

-

M1E

4-7

July-N

ov

-

-

-

-

July-Nov

July-Nov

-

July-Nov

M1W

M2U

7-9

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Oct-Jan

Sept-Dec

Oct-Jan

M2E

9-12

-

Dec-

April

-

D

ec-

A

pril

Dec-

April

-

Dec-

April

Nov-

March

Dec-

April


6/13


Early Neolithic Prodromos 13

A cluster of Neolithic sites at Prodromos in the southern

part of the west Thessalian basin lies close to the margin

of recent marsh. Prodromos 3 forms an impressively tall

tell, topped by Bronze Age and historical deposits.

Prodromos 1 and 2 may represent two closely spaced low

mounds, but with the benefit of hindsight might be

interpreted as parts of a disturbed flat-extended site (see

below). The deposits of Prodomos 12 and the lower

levels of Prodromos 3 were assigned to early Neolithic

and the transition to middle Neolithic.

First-year pig mandibles from Prodromos 12 are

assignable to deaths in late spring to late summer, in

mid-summer to late autumn and in mid-autumn to mid-

winter; specimens from Prodromos 3 are assignable to

deaths in mid-autumn to mid-winter and in early winter

to mid-spring (Table 5.1). This evidence could be

accommodated to short periods of human presence inlate summer to mid-autumn at Prodromos 12 and in

early or mid-winter at Prodromos 3, but is more likely to

represent activity extending earlier and later at both sites.

First-year mandibles of sheep/goats, assigned broadly to

the periods between mid- or late summer and mid-winter

(both sites) and between mid-autumn and mid-spring

(Prodromos 12 only), are compatible with the evidence

from young pig deaths (Table 5.2). Samples of cereal and

pulse grains (Halstead and Jones 1980, 115 table 8), if

derived from local cultivation, would favour an extended

human presence at Prodromos 12, from harvest time in

early and mid-summer until sowing time in mid-autumn

to early winter. The apparent late winter to mid-spring

gap at Prodromos 12, reflecting the lack of records of

neonatal remains or of very young mandibles, should be

treated with particular caution for two reasons. First, this

site was excavated under rescue conditions, so that

retrieval of small specimens may be worse than at the

other tells discussed here. Secondly, neonatal bones were

not distinguished as a separate category during recording

of the Prodomos assemblages, but might be included

among the lamb/kid specimens represented by unfused

scapula, pelvis, distal humerus and proximal radius

recorded at both sites (Halstead and Jones 1980, 112

table 4c).

Early Neolithic-middle Neolithic Akhillion

The tell site of Akhillion is located in the rolling hills on

the southern edge of the Thessalian lowlands and is thus

safe from the risk of flooding. Published mortality data

do not distinguish between early Neolithic and middle

Neolithic material (Bknyi 1989, 323 table 13.8), but

newborn specimens of sheep/goat and pig suggest deaths

of livestock and a human presence in mid-winter to early

spring and in spring, respectively. The use of very coarse

age categories (juvenile, subadult) precludes dis-

cussion of faunal evidence for the rest of the annual cycle.Sparse finds of cereal and pulse grains from both early

Neolithic and middle Neolithic levels (Renfrew 1989),

however, if derived from crops grown locally, would again

entail a human presence in mid-autumn to early winter

(sowing) and early to mid-summer (harvesting). Despite

the paucity of relevant data, therefore, there is some

evidence for occupation in all seasons of the year.

Late Neolithic Agia Sofia

The Agia Sofia mound is located in the slightly elevated

north-eastern part of the Thessalian plain. The man-

dibular evidence for age at death of young un-

differentiated sheep/goats (probably mostly sheep) and

young pigs is published in reasonable detail for the late

Neolithic Agia Sofia assemblage (von den Driesch and

Enderle 1976). First-year pigs died in spring, in late

spring to late summer, in mid-autumn to mid-winter,

and in early winter to mid-spring (Table 5.1), implying

activity at the site during spring and also later in the year

at minimum in early or mid-winter. First-year sheep(/goat) deaths in late winter to late spring, in early spring

to mid-summer, between mid-spring and mid-winter, and

between mid-autumn and mid-spring (Table 5.2) are

consistent with the evidence of young pigs, suggesting

activity at the site at least during (and probably extending

beyond) spring.

Late Neolithic Dimini

Dimini occupies a slight rise on the edge of the coastal

plain of Volos and the modest sample of young sheep and

goat mandibles (Halstead 1992 and original records)

documents deaths in late winter to mid-spring, in mid- tolate spring, in early spring to mid-summer, in mid-

summer to early winter, in late summer or early autumn

to mid-winter, and in mid-autumn to early or mid-spring

(Table 5.2). The few jaws from first-year pigs suggest

deaths at least during late spring to late summer, during

mid-summer to late autumn, and during mid-autumn to

mid-winter (Table 5.1). Young sheep/goat and pig deaths

thus concur in indicating occupation at least during late

winter or spring and also, less precisely, during summer

to mid-winter (minimally mid- to late autumn, but

probably longer). Caches of both cereals and pulses (Kroll

1979), if grown locally, would indicate a human presence

during mid-autumn to early winter (sowing) and early to

mid-summer (harvesting) and so strengthen the evidence

for activity in all seasons.

Discussion: going nowhere in Neolithic Thessaly?

For none of these Thessalian tells can occupation be

demonstrated for all seasons of the year, but this may

well be an artefact of the nature of the available evidence.

Activity can be firmly documented at some sites in late

winter-early spring and/or spring because neonatal and

infant remains are very distinctive and can be aged very

precisely, but such remains are subject to acute preser-

vation and retrieval biases and so their absence may shed

no light on season(s) of human activity. As animals


7/13

Paul Halstead44

Prodromos

1-2

3

Agia

Sofia

Dimini

Makriyalos

CaveofZas

Doli-

ana

Ageinmonths

EN

EN

LN

LN

LNPit212

LN

FN

FN

A

ge

stage

Sheep

Goat

Sh/G

t

Sh/Gt

Sh/Gt

Sheep

Goat

Sheep

Goat

Sheep

Goat

Sheep

Goat

Sheep

N

eo-

natal

0-1

0-1

-

-

-

-

Jan-March

Dec-Feb

Dec-Feb

Jan-

March

d4W

M

1U

1-2

1-3

-

-

Feb-

May

Feb-

April

-

Feb-

April

-

-

-

Jan-

March

-

-

M

1E

3

2-5

-

-

March-

July

April-

May

March-

July

April-

May

March-

July

-

Feb-

June

March-

April

-

-

M

1W

M

2U

(C1-2)

3-6

4-6

-

-

-

-

April-

Aug

May-

Aug

-

April-

July

-

April-

July

April-

Aug

M

1W

M

2U

(C3-4)

5-9

5-8

-

-

-

-

June-

Nov

-

-

May-

Sept

May-

Oct

May-

Sept

-

M

1W

M

2U

(C5)

6-10

6-11

July

-

Jan

-

July-

Dec

-

July-

Dec

July-

Jan

-

-

-

June-

Dec

July-

Dec

M

1W

M

2U

(C6+)

8-11

7-11

Aug

-

Jan

Aug-

Jan

April

-Jan

Sept-

Jan

Aug-

Jan

Sept-

Jan

Aug-

Jan

Aug-

Dec

-

Aug-

Dec

July-

Dec

Sept-

Jan

M

2E

9-13

9-14

Oct-

Apr

il

-

Oct-

April

Oct-

March

Oct-

April

Oct-

March

Oct-

April

-

-

-

Sept-

March

-

Table5

.2Agesandsuggestedseason(s)ofd

eathofsheepandgoatsatENProdromos1-2and3,LNAgiaSofia,LN

Dimini,LNMakriyalos(Pit212),LN

andFNCave

ofZas,

andFNDoliana.

SuggestedagesfordentalstagesafterJones(inpress),forsheep,andDeniza

ndPayne(1982),forgoat;Jonessub-stageC6+modifiedtoexcludespecimenswith

eruptingM2.AssumingbirthseasonsofJa

nuary-February(NGreece)andDe

cember-January(SGreece).MortalitydataforAgiaSofiafromvonde

nDrieschand

Enderle(1976,39table8),forDiminifrom

Halstead(1992,46fig.7;andunpu

blishedrecords),forProdromos1-2

and3,Makriyalos,CaveofZasandDolianafrom

author

sunpublishedrecords.

Key:se

eTable7.1.

Paul Halstead


8/13


progress through the first year, their mandibles become

increasingly robust (e.g. Munson and Garniewicz 2003)

and also larger, greatly enhancing the likelihood of both

survival and retrieval; at the same time, because of

variability in the timing of tooth eruption and, especially,

in the speed of tooth wear, the precision of agedetermination declines (cf. OConnor 1998). As a result,

although later first-year animals are well represented in

at least some of these assemblages, human activity tends

to be identified for rather broad periods (summer-autumn,

autumn-winter) rather than for single seasons. The

clearest seasonal gaps in the evidence for human presence

can plausibly be attributed to coarse analytical methods

(e.g. late winter to mid-spring at Prodromos 12, summer

to early winter at Akhillion), insufficient detail in

published records (e.g. mid-spring to early winter at

middle Neolithic Plateia Magoula Zarkou), or small

sample size (e.g. late winter to early autumn at Prodomos3).

Figure 5.2 offers a simplified overview of the evidence

for seasons of occupation discussed in detail above.

Faunal evidence is distinguished as very strong, strong

or moderate (i.e. deaths assigned to a period of two-three

months, four months or five months, respectively); weak

evidence (deaths assigned to a period of six or more

months) is treated in Figure 5.2 in the same way as an

absence of evidence. In addition, the times of year are

highlighted at which reported crop remains would if

grown locally require a human presence for sowing and

harvesting.

With due allowance for variation in sample size,retrieval standards, and the precision of recording or

reporting relevant data, the faunal evidence consistently

indicates a human presence in winter and/or spring,

probably extending into more or less of the summer-

autumn period. Other than the very unreliable absence of

evidence for late winter-spring activity at Prodromos 1

2, there is no hint that different sites occupied com-

plementary positions in a system of regular seasonal

movements. Nor is there any support for the claim that

the inhabitants of Plateia Magoula Zarkou were driven

away from the site in winter-spring by flooding. If

Neolithic tells were abandoned, therefore, in the contextof regular seasonal movements, it seems that their

inhabitants must have moved to un-recognized sites of a

different type and/or located outside the Thessalian

lowlands. Seasonal movement with livestock to summer

pastures at high altitude, as practised by recent specialised

pastoralists, is compatible with the faunal evidence, but

as yet there is no evidence in favour of this practice nor

would it necessarily have involved movement of the entire

human population of a tell settlement. Moreover, the

window for such an absence is narrowed if cereals and

pulses were grown in the vicinity of these sites, implying

habitation at least during the June-July harvest season,

and perhaps later if crops required processing for storage

on a large scale. Local cultivation cannot be demon-

strated, but cereal and pulse grains seem to be encountered

in all tell excavations (Kroll 1981), despite the lack of

systematic sampling. Crops must have been grown round

at least some of these sites, therefore, unless we posit the

importing of cereals and pulses from sites that, again,

remain to be discovered.Consideration of the extent and probable number of

inhabitants of known sites leaves little room for doubt

that cereals and pulses were grown in significant

quantities around all Neolithic tells in Thessaly (Halstead

1989). When the practical implications of local crop

husbandry are also taken into account (Fig. 5.2), the case

is further strengthened for occupation of these sites in all

seasons of the year. Given the longevity and coarse

chronological resolution of these tell sites, it must be

acknowledged that the faunal and archaeobotanical

assemblages are compatible with a pattern of irregular

seasonal mobility, in which individual sites were occupiedat different seasons in different years. Such opportunistic

residential mobility, however, seems far less likely than

year-round habitation to have led to the accumulation (or

even purposive creation cf. Chapman 1997; Kotsakis

1999) of monumental tell sites. Arguably the most

parsimonious interpretation of the available evidence

(from early Neolithic, middle Neolithic and late Neolithic

levels alike) is that these Thessalian tell sites were

occupied year-round by at least some of their in-

habitants.

Seasonality of consumption and residence atnon-tell Neolithic sites in Greece

In addition to the impressive tells, known in largest

numbers in lowland central and northern Greece, at least

three other types of Neolithic site are now well docu-

mented in Greece: small and short-lived open sites,

located in large numbers by survey projects in southern

Greece, but also found in northern Greece; caves,

frequently used in the later Neolithic, especially in

southern Greece; and flat-extended open sites, recently

recognized in northern Greece. The small open sites and,

for obvious geological reasons, the caves are often located

in agriculturally marginal locations, and inter alia havebeen interpreted as seasonal herding camps. The flat-

extended sites are, like the tells, found in the fertile

lowlands, but represent a radically different form of

spatial organization, with habitation traces drifting

laterally through time rather than building up vertically

on the same spot (Kotsakis 1999). Ditches encircling the

flat-extended site of Makriyalos (Pappa and Besios 1999)

are somewhat reminiscent of Neolithic enclosures in

north-west Europe and perhaps invite speculation that

these sites represent seasonal gathering places, rather

than an alternative form of long-term residential site.

The bioarchaeological evidence for seasonality of human

activity is reviewed here for one site in each of these

three non-tell categories (Fig. 5.3).


9/13

Paul Halstead46

Figure 5.2 Evidence for season(s) of Neolithic human activity at tell sites in Thessaly.

Key: Dark fill very strong faunal evidence (deaths within period of 23 months);

Medium fill strong faunal evidence (deaths within period of 4 months);

Light fill moderate faunal evidence (deaths within period of 5 months);

Unfilled weak (deaths within period of 6+ months) or no faunal evidence;

Bold outline probable harvest and sowing periods for cereal and pulse crops;SG3 etc type of faunal evidence for activity in any month (e.g., S2, SG3, P4, G5 = sheep, sheep/goat, pig and goat deaths

attributed to periods of 2, 3, 4 and 5 months, respectively).

EN-MN Akhillion

July

August

September

October

November

December

May

P3

April

P3

March

SG3, P3

February

SG3

January

SG3

June

Autumn

(Sept-Nov)

Summer

(June-Aug)

Spring

(March-May)

Winter

(Dec - Feb)

EN Prodromos 1-2

February

March

April

December

P4

January

P4

May

P4June

P4

July

P4, P5

August

P4, P5

September

P5

October

P4, P5

November

P4, P5

EN Prodromos 3

May

JuneJuly

August

September

November

P4

October

P4

April

P5

March

P5

February

P5

January

P4, P5December

P4, P5

MN Plateia Magoula Zarkou

August

September

December

P4

November

P4

October

P4

July June

P4

May

P4

April

P4

March

SG3, P4

February

SG3

January

SG3, P4

LN Plateia Magoula Zarkou

March SG3,

P5

April P5

May P4

September

June

P4

July

P4

August

P4

October

P4

November

P4

December

P4, P5

January

SG3, P4, P5February

SG3, P5

LN Ag Sofia

September

December

P4, P5

November

P4

October

P4

August

P4

July

P4, SG5June

P4, SG5

May

SG4, P3, P4,

SG5

April

SG4, P3, P5,

SG5

March

SG4, P3, P5,

SG5

February

P4, P5

January

P4, P5

LN Dimini

October

P4, S5, P5

September

S5, P5

August

P4, P5

July

P4, G5, P5June

P4, G5

May

S2, P4, G5

April

S2, S3, G5

March

S3, G5

February

S3

January

P4, S5

November

P4, S5, P5

December

P4, S5


10/13


Final Neolithic Doliana, Ipiros

Rescue work uncovered a small, short-lived open site of

final Neolithic date in the Doliana basin, at 400m altitude

on the western flank of the Pindos Mountains of north-

west Greece. The brevity of occupation and lack of

building remains other than two successive hut floors

favoured interpretation as a seasonal herding camp

(Dousougli 1996); a nearby pollen core has also been

interpreted in terms of seasonal herding (Willis 1997). A

modest faunal assemblage (Halstead et al. in preparation)

included neonatal remains of sheep/goats and pigs,

suggesting activity in mid-winter to early spring and in

spring, respectively. Young mandibles indicate first-year

deaths of sheep in mid-spring to late summer, in mid-

summer to early winter, and in early autumn to mid-

winter (Table 5.2), and first-year deaths of pigs in mid-

summer to late autumn, in mid-autumn to mid-winter,

and in early winter to mid-spring (Table 5.1). Themandibular evidence thus implies further human activity

at some stage(s) between early summer and early winter

at minimum, during mid- to late summer (sheep) and

during mid- to late autumn (pigs). Although seasonal

abandonment of the site cannot be ruled out, inter-

pretation in terms of year-round activity would perhaps

require less special pleading.

Late Neolithic-final Neolithic cave of Zas,

Cyclades

The cave of Zas is located at 600m altitude on the

limestone mountain that dominates the island of Naxos.

The cave is small and dark enough to cast doubt on its

use as a habitation site, while an abundance of metal

finds perhaps suggests a ceremonial or symbolic function

(Broodbank 2000, 165). Either way, an agriculturally

marginal location perhaps invites suggestions of use by

seasonally mobile herders (Zachos 1999). The late

Neolithic and final Neolithic faunal assemblage from this

cave has benefited from strikingly better preservation

(carnivore attrition was negligible) and retrieval (deposits

were systematically and intensively sieved) than all other

sites discussed in this chapter. In addition, the present

author (with collaborators) recorded this assemblage (and

those from Doliana and Makriyalos) recently, and thushas access to records far more detailed than would be

tolerated by most publishers.

Remains of newborn sheep/goats (both late Neolithic

and final Neolithic) and newborn pigs (final Neolithic)

imply activity at the cave in winter and in late winter to

mid-spring, respectively, that is at the time of year when

seasonally mobile herders might have been expected to

be absent from the vicinity. At this site, sheep and goats

are almost equally represented, but the latter exhibit more

first-year deaths. In the larger final Neolithic assemblage,

mandibles of lambs and kids suggest deaths in mid-winter

to early spring, in early to mid-spring, in mid-spring tomid-summer, in late spring to early or mid-autumn, in

early or mid- or late summer to early winter, and in early

autumn to early spring (Table 5.2); pigs are rare, but late

first-year mandibles imply deaths at least in early autumn

to early winter and in late autumn to early spring (Table

5.1). The smaller late Neolithic sample provides a less

continuous, but broadly similar, record of deaths of first-

year lambs and kids. Although only securely demon-strable for winter-spring, human activity in all seasons is

the most parsimonious reading of the faunal data,

especially for the larger final Neolithic assemblage.

Cereal and pulse grains were found in considerable

numbers in both the late Neolithic and final Neolithic

levels (Zachos 1999, 1567) and, if grown locally, would

strengthen the case for a human presence nearby in late

spring-early summer (harvest) and mid-autumn to early

winter (sowing). Whatever the function of the cave,

therefore, it seems more likely to have been used by people

from a nearby and relatively sedentary settlement than as

a shelter for mobile herders taking advantage of summerpasture on Mt. Zas.

Late Neolithic Makriyalos, Central Macedonia

The flat-extended site of Makriyalos is located on gentle

slopes close to the sea. Extensive excavation of enclosure

ditches, borrow pits and huts of early late Neolithic and

late late Neolithic date yielded one of the largest faunal

assemblages from prehistoric Greece. Unlike Zas, the

assemblage did not avoid carnivore attrition, nor did

rescue excavation permit the same high standards of

retrieval, but again recent and detailed dental records are

available. Analysis is restricted here to a single short-

lived context, in order to reduce the risk that apparent

evidence for year-round activity might in fact represent

the conflation of numerous seasonal visits, the timing of

which varied from year to year or even from century to

century. The early late Neolithic Pit 212, with a diameter

of 30m, produced the remains of at least several hundred

domestic animals and a wealth of pottery, both apparently

deposited rapidly over a period of months or just a handful

of years and interpreted as the remains of large-scale

collective feasting (Pappa et al. 2004, 1644). It should

be noted that the evidence for seasonality from Pit 212

seems to be very similar to that for the rest of the early

late Neolithic assemblage.Remains of newborn sheep/goats and pigs indicate

deaths in mid-winter to early spring and in spring,

respectively. Young mandibles of sheep and goats suggest

deaths in late winter to mid-spring, in mid- to late spring,

in early spring to mid-summer, in mid- or late spring to

late summer, in early summer to late autumn, in mid-

summer to early or mid-winter, in late summer or early

autumn to mid-winter, and in mid-autumn to early or

mid-spring. Young mandibles of pigs suggest deaths in

late spring to late summer, in mid-summer to late autumn,

in mid-autumn to mid-winter, and in early winter to mid-

spring. Pit 212 provides the strongest faunal evidence yetconsidered for human activity in all seasons and this is

strengthened by two further considerations. First, pre-


11/13

Paul Halstead48

liminary results from a study of enamel hypoplasia in the

pig mandibles (cf. Dobney et al. 2002) provide empirical

support for a single farrowing season (U. Albarella and

K. Dobney pers. comm .); this makes it unlikely that the

observed range of ages at death of young pigs represents

seasonal slaughter of animals born at different times ofyear. Secondly, in the case of sheep, every stage of first-

year dental development is represented - and the same is

almost true of pigs and largely so of goats; thus the

argument for slaughter in every season of the year is

independent of the assumptions made here as to the

timing (absolute or relative) of lambing, kidding and

farrowing. In addition, Pit 212 yielded archaeobotanical

samples rich in cereal chaff and these crop remains, if

grown locally, provide supporting evidence for human

activity at Makriyalos in mid-autumn to early winter

(sowing) and in mid-summer (harvesting). Finally, as

noted above, Pit 212 represents a relatively shortdepositional episode, probably spanning at most a

handful of years; the record of deaths in all seasons,

therefore, is highly unlikely to be an artefact of com-

plementary seasonal episodes of slaughter in different

years. Pit 212 surely results from year-round slaughter

and consumption at late Neolithic Makriyalos.

Discussion: going nowhere in Neolithic Greece?

If tell sites have long been equated with sedentary

occupation, the reverse has often been assumed for

Neolithic caves and small open sites and, more

tentatively, for flat-extended sites. Contrary to these

expectations, bioarchaeological evidence from the small

open site of Doliana, from the Cave of Zas and from the

flat-extended site of Makriyalos, is, in each case, more or

less strongly suggestive of year-round human activity

(Fig. 5.3). These three sites cannot be treated as typical

of all such sites, but nor is there any reason to imagine

that they are unusual other than in the quantity and/or

quality of available bioarchaeological data.

Conclusions

While bioarchaeological evidence for year-round activity

at Neolithic sites in Greece is of variable strength, it mustbe underlined that several of the assemblages discussed

are small and that most are of coarse chronological

resolution, while most publications of data sets from tells

address different research questions and so provide

insufficient detail for assessment of seasonality. More-

over, almost any set of dental data could be accommodated

Figure 5.3 Evidence for season(s) of Neolithic human activity at non-tell sites in Greece. Key: see Figure 5.2.

LN M akriyalos Pit 2 12

December

P4, P5, S5

November

P4, P5, S5

October

P4, P5, S5

September

P5, S5

August

G4, P4, P5,

G5 July

P4, P5, G4,

G5, G5

June

G4, P4, G5,

G5

May

S2, P4, G4,

G5, G5

Apr il

S2, P3, S3,

P5, G5, G5

March

P3, SG3,

S3, P5, G5

February

SG3, S3, P5

January

SG3, P4, P5,

S5

FN Doliana

January

S3, P4, P5,

S5

February

S3, P5

March

S3, P3, P5

April

P3, P5, S5

May

P3, S5June

S5

July

P5, S5

August

P5, S5

September

P5, S5

October

P4, P5, S5

November

P4, P5, S5

December

P4, P5, S5

LN Zas

November

S5

October

S5

September

G5, S5

August

G5, S5

July

G4, G5

June

G4, G5, G5

May

G4, G5, G5

April

G4, G5

March

G5

February

SG3, G5

January

SG3

December

SG3, S5

FN Zas

November

P4, S5, P5

October

P4, S5

September

P4, G5, S5

August

G5, S5July

G4, G5

June

G4, G5

May

G4, G5

April

S2, P3, G4,

March

S2, S3, P3,

P5

February

SG3, S3, P3,

P5

January

SG3, S3, P5

December

SG3, P4, S5,

P5


12/13


to seasonal slaughter by assuming the appropriate

combination of early or late birth, precocious or tardy

tooth eruption, and fast or slow tooth wear. On the other

hand, it is striking that the strength of the evidence for

year-round activity is related not to the type, location or

date of each site, but to sample size and preservation,retrieval standards, the level of detail of available dental

records, and the chronological resolution of each

excavation. The most parsimonious interpretation of the

evidence is that all of these sites were used more or less

year-round.

As has already been stressed, human activity in the

Neolithic of Greece must have taken place off-site (i.e.

away from archaeologically recognizable sites). It is also

highly likely that known archaeological sites include loci

(e.g. some of the ephemeral scatters of Neolithic material

located by several survey projects in southern Greece)

used on only a seasonal or shorter-term basis. It seems,however, that most excavated Neolithic sites, including

tells, flat-extended sites and at least some caves and small

open-air sites, were used more or less year-round by at

least some of their occupants. Although uncomfortably

close to traditional assumptions of a sedentary Neolithic,

this conclusion poses some interesting questions:

how did local aggregations maintain communal

solidarity in the face of the tensions inevitably arising

from long-term co-residence and despite the divisive

tendencies implied on most open sites by domestic

architecture?

how did neighbouring sites (often close enough for

regular contact in herding, gathering, hunting, etc)interact and how did they avoid (or win) conflicts?

how did communities, or individuals, maintain the

distant social relationships needed to find marriage

partners and implied by exotic objects and long-

distance stylistic similarities?

Answers to these questions are beyond the scope of

this chapter, but the wealth of fine, often decorated

tablewares in Neolithic ceramic assemblages from Greece

suggests that the consumption of food and drink (and,

perhaps, other stimulants) was of fundamental social, as

well as nutritional, significance (Halstead 1995; Kotsakis

1983; Sherratt 1991; Vitelli 1989). Faunal evidence most dramatically, the massive assemblage from Pit 212

at Makriyalos suggests that consumption of the meat of

domestic animals played a major role in such commensal

politics (Pappa et al. 2004, 1644).

While the recurring desire to question the link between

farming and sedentism is undoubtedly healthy, the

available evidence for the Neolithic of Greece favours a

largely sedentary pattern of settlement, which in turn

poses some important and interesting questions con-

cerning social reproduction in the early farming pop-

ulations of this region. Faunal remains both provide

evidence for sedentary habitation and offer some hints as

to how the attendant stresses on social life may have been

resolved.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Doug Bailey and Alasdair Whittle, for

encouraging dissent, and to Amy Bogaard and Valasia

Isaakidou, for comments on drafts of this paper. For

access to faunal material discussed here, I am indebted toGiorgos Hourmouziadis (Prodromos and Dimini),

Angelika Dousougli (Doliana), Kostas Zachos (Zas), and

Maria Pappa and Manthos Besios (Makriyalos). I also

thank Pat Collins and Valasia Isaakidou, for helping to

record the Doliana, Zas and Makriyalos assemblages;

Umberto Albarella and Keith Dobney, for preliminary

results of their analysis of enamel hypoplasia in the

Makriyalos pigs; and Gill Jones, for access in advance of

publication to her study of sheep tooth eruption and wear.

Bibliography

Barker, G. 1975. Early Neolithic land use in Yugoslavia.Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 41, 85104.

Barrett, J.C. 1994. Fragments from antiquity: an archaeology

of social life in Britain, 29001200 BC. Oxford: Blackwell.

Becker, C. 1991. Die Tierknochenfunde von der Plateia

Magoula Zarkou neue Untersuchungen zu Haustierhaltung,

Jagd und Rohstoffverwendung im neolithisch-

bronzezeitlichen Thessalien. Prhistorische Zeitschrift 66,

1478.

Becker, C. 1999. The middle Neolithic and the Plateia Magoula

Zarkou a review of current archaeozoological research in

Thessaly (Greece). Anthropozoologica 30, 322.

Binford, L.R. 1978. Nunamiut ethnoarchaeology. New York:

Academic Press.Bknyi, S. 1989. Animal remains. In M. Gimbutas, S. Winn

and D. Shimabuku (eds),Achilleion: a Neolithic settlement

in Thessaly, Greece, 64005600 BC, 31532. Los Angeles:

Institute of Archaeology, University of California.

Broodbank, C. 2000. An island archaeology of the early

Cyclades. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapman, J. 1997. The origin of tells in eastern Hungary. In P.

Topping (ed.), Neolithic landscapes , 13964. Oxford:

Oxbow.

Childe, V.G. 1957. The dawn of European civilisation. London:

Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Cobbett, W. 1979. Cottage economy (17th edition). Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Deniz, E. and Payne, S. 1982. Eruption and wear in themandibular dentition as a guide to ageing Turkish Angora

goats. In B. Wilson, C. Grigson and S. Payne (eds),Ageing

and sexing animal bones from archaeological sites , 155

205. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.

Dennell, R.W. 1983. European economic prehistory. London:

Academic Press.

Dobney, K., Ervynck, A. and Ferla, B.L. 2002. Assessment

and further development of the recording and interpretation

of linear enamel hypoplasia in archaeological pig

populations. Environmental Archaeology 7, 3546.

Dousougli, A. 1996. Epirus the Ionian islands. In G.A.

Papathanassopoulos (ed.),Neolithic culture in Greece, 46

48. Athens: Goulandris Foundation.du Boulay, J. 1974. Portrait of a Greek mountain village.

Oxford: Clarendon.


13/13

Paul Halstead50

Edmonds, M. 1999. Ancestral geographies of the Neolithic.

London: Routledge.

Halstead, P. 1989. Like rising damp? An ecological approach to

the spread of farming in southeast and central Europe. In A.

Milles, D. Williams and N. Gardner (eds), The beginnings of

agriculture, 2353. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.

Halstead, P. 1992. Dimini and the DMP: faunal remains and

animal exploitation in late Neolithic Thessaly.Annual of the

British School at Athens 87, 2959.

Halstead, P. 1995. From sharing to hoarding: the Neolithic

foundations of Aegean Bronze Age society? In R. Laffineur

and W.-D. Niemeier (eds), Politeia: society and state in the

Aegean Bronze Age, 1120. Lige: University of Lige.

Halstead, P. 1998. Mortality models and milking: problems of

uniformitarianism, optimality and equifinality reconsidered.

Anthropozoologica 27, 320.

Halstead, P. and Jones, G. 1980. Early Neolithic economy in

Thessaly - some evidence from excavations at Prodromos.

Anthropologika 1, 93117.

Halstead, P., Collins, P. and Isaakidou, V. in preparation. Faunalremains from Final Neolithic Doliana.

Higham, C.F.W. 1967. Stock rearing as a cultural factor in

prehistoric Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33,

84106.

Hillman, G. 1981. Reconstructing crop husbandry practices from

charred remains of crops. In R. Mercer (ed.), Farming practice

in British prehistory, 12362. Edinburgh: Edinburgh

University Press.

Jarman, M.R., Bailey, G.N. and Jarman, H.N. (eds) 1982. Early

European agriculture. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Jones, G. in press. Tooth eruption and wear observed in live sheep

from Butser Hill, the Cotswold Farm Park and five farms in

the Pentland Hills, UK. In D. Ruscillo (ed.), Advances in

methods of ageing and sexing animal remains. Oxford: Oxbow

Books.

Jones, G. and Halstead, P. 1993. Charred plant remains from

Neolithic-Bronze Age Plateia Magoula Zarkou, Thessaly.

Annual of the British School at Athens 88, 13.

Karakasidou, A.N. 1997. Fields of wheat, hills of blood. Chicago:

Chicago University Press.

Kotsakis, K. 1983. Keramiki Tekhnologia kai Keramiki

Diaforopoiisi: Provlimata tis Graptis Keramikis tis Mesis

Neolithikis Epokhis tou Sesklou. PhD thesis, University of

Thessaloniki.

Kotsakis, K. 1999. What tells can tell: social space and settlement

in the Greek Neolithic. In P. Halstead (ed.),Neolithic societyin Greece, 6676. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Kroll, H. 1979. Kulturpflanzen aus Dimini.Archaeo-Physika 8,

17389.

Kroll, H. 1981. Thessalische Kulturpflanzen. Zeitschrift fr

Archologie 15, 97103.

Munson, P.J. and Garniewicz, R.C. 2003. Age-mediated

survivorship of ungulate mandibles and teeth in canid-ravaged

faunal assemblages.Journal of Archaeological Science 30,

40516.

OConnor, T.P. 1998. On the difficulty of detecting seasonal

slaughtering of sheep. Environmental Archaeology 3, 511.

Pappa, M. and Besios, M. 1999. The Makriyalos project: rescue

excavations at the Neolithic site of Makriyalos, Pieria, northern

Greece. In P. Halstead (ed.),Neolithic society in Greece, 108

120. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Pappa, M., Halstead, P., Kotsakis, K. and Urem-Kotsou, D. 2004.

Evidence for large-scale feasting at Late Neolithic Makriyalos,

N. Greece. In P. Halstead and J. Barrett (eds), Food, cuisine

and society in prehistoric Greece. Oxford: Oxbow.

Prummel, W. 1987. Atlas for identification of foetal skeletal

elements of cattle, horse, sheep and pig: part 2.

Archaeozoologia 1, 1142.

Renfrew, J.M. 1989. Carbonized grain and seeds. In M. Gimbutas,

S. Winn and D. Shimabuku (eds), Achilleion: a Neolithic

settlement in Thessaly, Greece, 64005600 BC, 30710. Los

Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California.

Sherratt, A.G. 1991. Palaeoethnobotany: from crops to cuisine. In

F. Queiroga and A.P. Dinis (eds), Paleoecologia e Arqueologia

2, 22136. Vila Nova de Famaliao: Centro de Estudos

Arqueologicos Famalicenses.

Sutton, S.B. (ed.) 2000. Contingent countryside: settlement,

economy, and land use in the southern Argolid since 1700.

Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Thomas, J. 1996. Neolithic houses in mainland Britain and Ireland a sceptical view. In T. Darvill and J. Thomas (eds),Neolithic

houses in northwest Europe and beyond, 112. Oxford:

Oxbow Books.

Valamoti, S.-M. 2004. Plants and people in late Neolithic and

early Bronze Age Greece: an archaeobotanical investigation.

Oxford: Archaeopress.

van Andel, T., Gallis, K. and Toufexis, G. 1995. Early

Neolithic farming in a Thessalian river landscape, Greece. In J.

Lewin, M.G. Macklin and J.C. Woodward (eds),

Mediterranean Quaternary river environments , 13143.

Rotterdam: Balkema.

van Andel, T. and Runnels, C. 1995. The earliest farmers in

Europe.Antiquity 69, 481500.

Vitelli, K.D. 1989. Were pots first made for food? Doubts from

Franchthi. World Archaeology 21, 1729.

von den Driesch, A. 1987. Haus- und Jagdtiere im

vorgeschichtlichen Thessalien. Prhistorische Zeitschrift62,

121.

von den Driesch, A. and Enderle, K. 1976. Die Tierreste aus der

Agia Sofia-Magoula in Thessalien. In V. Miloji, A. von den

Driesch, K. Enderle, J. Miloji-v. Zumbusch and K. Kilian

(eds), Die deutschen Ausgrabungen auf Magulen um Larisa

in Thessalien, 1966, 1554. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt.

Whittle, A. 1996a. Europe in the Neolithic: the creation of new

worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Whittle, A. 1996b. Houses in context: buildings as process. In T.

Darvill and J. Thomas (eds), Neolithic houses in northwestEurope and beyond, 1326. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Whittle, A. 1997. Moving on and moving around: Neolithic

settlement mobility. In P. Topping (ed.),Neolithic landscapes,

1522. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Willis, K.J. 1997. Vegetational history of the Klithi environment:

a palaeoecological viewpoint. In G. Bailey (ed.), Klithi:

Palaeolithic settlement and quaternary landscapes in

northwest Greece, 2: Klithi in its local and regional setting ,

395413. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological

Research.

Zachos, K.L. 1999. Zas Cave on Naxos and the role of caves in

the Aegean Late Neolithic. In P. Halstead (ed.), Neolithic

society in Greece, 15363. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic

Press.

Documents

Ch5 Paul Halstead