93-103

Kitrini Limni : four years of research

• Ζιώτα, Χριστίνα
• Καλογήρου, Άννα
• Φωτιάδης, Μιχάλης
• Χονδρογιάννη-Μετόκη, Αρετή

In this paper we outline the history of prehistoric occupation in the Kitrini Limnibasin, Nomos Kozanis, and present information about the use of silicious rocks, the objects of primarily ideological function, and the pottery from the excavated site, Megaio Nisi Galanis. Kitrini Limni was first settled by neolithic agriculturalists in the sixth millennium B.C. Population density reached its maximum in the fourth millennium B.C., dwindling thereafter. By 2000 B.C. the agricultural society that had exploited the basin for nearly four millennia had been disarticulated, and the basin bottom was abandoned. A major environmental change, documented in the region’s palynological record by Bottena (1974), occurred several hundred years after that abandonment. Neolithic agriculture appears indeed to have been remarkably well adapted to the region and to have not threatened the conditions of its own existence. With the exception of quartz, Kitrini Limni and its mountainous hinterland areessentially deprived of sources of silicious rocks suitable for tools. Quartz was used, yet the vast majority of chipped stone tools were locally made on a variety of high quality cherts and obsidian, all imported. Such tools were regularly recycled. Local materials (clays, animal bone, mussels) as well as exotic ones (Spondylusshell, gold), were used for a rich repertory of symbols, from figurines to seals. The pottery from the lowest excavated deposits belongs to the Late Neolithic (late fifth millennium B.C. in radiocarbon years), and is characterized by mid- and large size open vessels with carinated profiles, fine grain pastes, evenly built thin walls, and subtle decoration; vessels are fired black in their upper part, red below. Later deposits contain pottery of strikingly different character: small, finely finished hemispherical bowls are a highlight, as is the abundance of large jars with uneven walls and carelessly executed details. Strainers, «fruit-stands», and angular containers appear. The parallels with the Thessalian «Rachmani phase» are many, including the regular occurrence of crusted surfaces. A thin scatter of Early Bronze Age ceramic material has been documented in the surface of the site.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ιστορία, Αρχαία

προϊστορία, Κοζάνη, συνέδρια

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