The Francthi Cave, on the coast of south east Greece, is a remarkable site which, according to the archaeologists who excavated there has a 33 feet deep unbroken series of deposits covering the period from 20,000 BC down to 3,000 BC - in other words, from the far prehistoric
It is likewise inconceivable that the obsidian could have reached the Francthi Cave by accident.
The only remaining conclusion is that these primitive Stone Age savages were sufficiently accomplished sailors that they were able to explore the Mediterranean almost out of sight of land and return home with desirable objects such as pieces of obsidian.
The book is designed as a brief overview for the general reader with probably no prior knowledge of Greek or other ancient history.
Thus the locations of most interest -- Macedonia, Thessaly, Boeotia, Elis, Sesklo, Dimini, Lefkandi, Gla, Athens, Mycenae, Lerna, Pylos, Tiryns, Athens and the Francthi cave -- are all crammed into an area approximately an inch and a half square.
The attendant jumble must be very confusing for a reader not already familiar with these sites and aware of their relation to each other.
The visitor can admire the famous shipyards which are among the three traditional shipyards in Ermionida and in which fishing boats are constructed.
Across the sea from the village there is the Cave of Francthi.
The visitor can admire the bay of Kilada, the small island of Koronis and in the south the plain of Kilada.
www.ermionida.info /html/kilada.html (183 words)
e-MEM : Burial Customs(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02)
It is only by the Upper Paleolithic that burials are reported from a few sites such as Theopetra cave, Thessaly and Apidima, Peloponnese, with evident of offerings (bone tools).
Two caves, Francthi Cave, Peloponnese, and Theopetra Cave, Thessaly, have produced evidence of deliberate burials.
In the first site, a place near the entrance to the cave was selected for burying seven adults and two infants in the Lower Mesolithicperiod.
Geography pages for Dr. Rollinson's Courses and Resources(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02)
Notes : Not all the places and countries shown existed together at the same time.
Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age - cave dwellers, hunting and fishing) remains have been found in caves at Kebara in Mount Carmel (the Kebaran culture), at Shanidar, Zarzi, and Palegawra in Mesopotamia, and the Francthi cave in Greece.
Neolithic (New Stone Age, with the introduction of farming and houses and eventually pottery) cultures have been identified at the Wadi al Natuf (the Natufian culture) by Mount Carmel, and at Jericho, Beidha, Catal Huyuk, Cayonyu, Hassuna, and Jarmo.
Mike Jameson, as even those who knew him faintly (like me) was a wonderful, wonderful man and an innovative scholar.
As a relative amateur in fields he worked in, I can say that his work on the Francthi cave and then on Greek social / agricultural history was enormously useful, partly because he seems to have been a good collaborator with others, and partly because he wrote well for non-specialists.
The number of fine scholars who trained with him is impressive, and I hope we'll be hearing from them.
Amazon.com: The Palaeolithic Archaeology of Greece and Adjacent Areas: Books: G. Bailey,Catherine Perles,E. Adam,E. ...(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02)
Until recently, the Palaeolithic of Greece and the Balkans has been neglected by archaeologists bred in the classical tradition.
However recent work, such as the scientific excavation of sites like the Klithi rockshelter in Thessaly and the Francthi cave on the edge of the Argolid, has shown that Greeces earliest occupation is as fascinating as its later archaeology.
This valuable survey of recent work contains papers from the ICOPAG conference which met at Ioannina in 1994.
