TY - JOUR
T1 - Mountain Landscape and Human Settlement in the Pindus Range: The Samarina highland zones of Western Macedonia, Greece
AU - Biagi, Paolo
AU - Starnini, Elisabetta
AU - Efstratiou, Nikos
AU - Nisbet, Renato
AU - Hughes, Philip
AU - Woodward, Jamie
PY - 2022/12/20
Y1 - 2022/12/20
N2 - Past human mountain settlement patterns and resource and high-altitude landscape exploitation are underexplored research fields in archaeology. This study presents data gathered during more than 20 years of fieldwork in the Pindos range of Western Macedonia g7(Greece), focussing in particular on Holocene land-use. The investigated territory is located around the Vlach town of Samarina. The area is partly bounded by Mounts Vasilitsa, Gurguliu, Bogdani, and Anitsa, and their interconnecting watersheds between ca. 1400 and 2000 m a.s.l. This research led to the discovery of many sites and findspots of lithic and ceramic artefacts attributed to the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, and several Historical periods. The radiocarbon results show an unexpected longue durée of Holocene human landscape use. The number of sites, their distribution, location, and subsistence strategies exhibit shifts between the Middle Palaeolithic and different periods of the Holocene, which are closely related to the exploitation of the mountain environment and its resources. Moreover, typical knapped stone artefacts have been used as a proxy for dating the glacial landforms which characterise the Samarina highland zone; we correlate them to the better-known moraine systems of Mount Tymphi in Epirus, and contribute to the reconstruction of the Pleistocene glacial landscapes of the Pindos Range.
AB - Past human mountain settlement patterns and resource and high-altitude landscape exploitation are underexplored research fields in archaeology. This study presents data gathered during more than 20 years of fieldwork in the Pindos range of Western Macedonia g7(Greece), focussing in particular on Holocene land-use. The investigated territory is located around the Vlach town of Samarina. The area is partly bounded by Mounts Vasilitsa, Gurguliu, Bogdani, and Anitsa, and their interconnecting watersheds between ca. 1400 and 2000 m a.s.l. This research led to the discovery of many sites and findspots of lithic and ceramic artefacts attributed to the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, and several Historical periods. The radiocarbon results show an unexpected longue durée of Holocene human landscape use. The number of sites, their distribution, location, and subsistence strategies exhibit shifts between the Middle Palaeolithic and different periods of the Holocene, which are closely related to the exploitation of the mountain environment and its resources. Moreover, typical knapped stone artefacts have been used as a proxy for dating the glacial landforms which characterise the Samarina highland zone; we correlate them to the better-known moraine systems of Mount Tymphi in Epirus, and contribute to the reconstruction of the Pleistocene glacial landscapes of the Pindos Range.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010096
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010096
M3 - Article
SN - 2073-445X
JO - Land
JF - Land
ER -
