island colonisation and abandonment in mediterranean prehistory

538 Pages·2013·36.91 MB·English

ISLAND COLONISATION
AND
ABANDONMENT
IN MEDITERRANEAN PREHISTORY
HELEN SARAH DAWSON
Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) Thesis
Institute of Archaeology, University College London
March 2005
UMI Number: U591683
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ABSTRACT
This thesis studies the colonisation and abandonment of Mediterranean
islands in prehistory by placing them within a comparative framework. The
geographical scope is pan-Mediterranean and chronologically it encompasses
prehistory from the time when the earliest-known human records are found
on a few islands to the time when most Mediterranean islands had been
colonised (approximately from the end of the Pleistocene to the end of the
Iron Age). By questioning established geographical boundaries and
chronological restrictions and by incorporating recent theoretical advances in
island archaeology, this thesis provides alternative explanations to
colonisation paradigms prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s, expanding these to
include considerations of abandonment and recolonisation. After
investigating leading theoretical approaches to colonisation and abandonment,
the study reviews the bulk of available publications on Mediterranean island-
based projects from the past ten years, and presents a series of revised
colonisation and abandonment dates and models for the islands. At a broader
level, these new data indicate the need for clearer distinctions between
different types of island-human interaction (e.g. visitation, utilisation,
occupation, establishment, abandonment, and re-colonisation). The thesis
therefore also analyses - through a series of case studies - how human
activity on islands varied spatially and temporally and potential reasons
behind different colonisation and abandonment processes. The resulting
observations are placed against the backdrop of the changing
palaeogeography of the prehistoric Mediterranean, by taking into account
changes in sea levels and in the islands’ environments, and contextualised
within the broader scheme of reference of Mediterranean prehistory.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.________________________________________________ ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS__________________________________ xvii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION________________________________1
CHAPTER 2: THE MEDITERRANEAN_______________________ 14
THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE 15
Mediterranean Climate 18
MEDITERRANEAN PALAEOENVIRONMENT 20
Mediterranean Endemism 21
MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL PALAEOGEOGRAPHY 23
WEST MEDITERRANEAN PALAEOGEOGRAPHY 27
The Tyrrhenian Sea 28
The Adriatic and Ionian Seas 30
EAST MEDITERRANEAN PALAEOGEOGRAPHY 32
RECONSTRUCTING SEA LEVELS 34
Balearic Palaeogeography 34
Adriatic Island Palaeogeography 34
MARITIME MOVEMENT 35
CONCLUSIONS 38
CHAPTER 3: THEORIES OF COLONISATION________________39
Approaches to Mediterranean Island Colonisation 39
Cherry’s Model of Island Coloni sation 40
Recent Advances 46
'Colonisation’ Revisited 47
Discreteness of Islands 5 5
Migration Models and Potential Triggers for Colonisation 61
Configuration Studies 73
Resources 77
Conclusions: Towards a Comparative Approach 80
CHAPTER 4: COLONISATION DATA________________________ 84
SPANISH ISLANDS 85
Balearic Islands 87
Pitiussae Islands 93
Alboran 96
SARDINIA 96
CORSICA 98
Smaller Upper Tyrrhenian Islands 102
SICILY AND ITS SATELLITES 105
Ustica 108
Isole dello Stagnone 109
Egadi Islands 109
Aeolian Islands 110
The Pelagie islands and Pantelleria 112
Maltese Islands 114
NORTH AFRICAN ISLANDS 115
Mediterranean Morocco And Western Algeria 117
lie Plane 117
lies Habibas 117
Rachgoun 117
lies Chaffarinas 118
Tunisian Coast 118
Zembra 118
IlesCani 119
lies Kerkenna 119
Jerba 119
Libyan Coast 120
Seal island and Bombah (or Burdah) Island 120
Marsa Island 120
ADRIATIC ISLANDS 120
Tremiti Islands 121
Dalmatian Islands 122
Ionian Islands 125
SOUTH-WESTERN AEGEAN ISLANDS 127
THE CYCLADES 128
SOUTH-EASTERN AEGEAN ISLANDS 129
NORTH-EASTERN AEGEAN ISLANDS AND NORTHERN
SPORADHES 130
CRETE 131
CYPRUS 132
CONCLUSIONS 136
CHAPTER 5: BUILDING A NEW APPROACH TO ISLAND
COLONISATION____________________________________________139
The Pan Mediterranean Record. New Data, New Patterns? 139
Methodology 140
QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF ISLAND COLONISATION 142
Cumulative vs. Non-cumulative Colonisation Plots 145
Regional Patterns of Island Colonisation 149
Spanish Islands 150
Northern and central Tyrrhenian Islands 150
Southern Tyrrhenian: Aeolian Islands 151
North African Islands 152
Dalmatian (eastern-central Adriatic) Islands 152
Ionian Islands (south-eastern Adriatic) 152
SW Aegean Islands 153
Northern Sporadhes 153
NE Aegean Islands 153
SE Aegean Islands 153
The Cyclades 154
Quantitative Comparative Analysis 155
Aegean Islands 155
Sicily’s Satellite Islands 156
Northern Sporadhes and Tremiti Islands + Pianosa 157
Northern Sporadhes and Egadi Islands 157
Ionian and Dalmatian Islands 157
Cyclades and Dalmatian Islands 157
North-central Tyrrhenian and North African Islands 158
North-central Tyrrhenian and SW Aegean Islands 158
Spanish and Pelagie Islands + Pantelleria 158
Spanish and Aeolian Islands 159
North African Islands and Pelagie Islands + Pantelleria 159
North-central and Southern Tyrrhenian Islands 159
Discussion 159
Testing Biogeographical Theory: the Case of the Aeolian Islands 163
QUALITATIVE ASPECTS OF ISLAND COLONISATION 168
Human/Island interaction reconsidered 168
Visitation/Utilisation 170
Permanent Settlement 173
Establishment 176
CONCLUSIONS 177
CHAPTER 6: THEORIES OF ABANDONMENT.________________180
What is Abandonment? 183
Identifying Abandonment in the Archaeological Record: Case Stuties 188
What Can Cause Abandonment? 194
The Ecological Factor 199
The Demographic Factor 205
Prehistoric Demography 212
Estimating Minimum Populations 214
Estimating Island Carrying Capacity 217
The Cultural Factor 221
CONCLUSIONS 223
CHAPTER 7: THE ANALYSIS OF ABANDONMENT AND
RECOLONISATION DATA: RECONSTRUCTING ISLAND
HISTORIES THROUGH SELECTED CASE STUDIES......................227
Methodology 227
Case Studies 231
KYTHERA 231
NAXOS 233
MELOS 235
KEA 238
CYPRUS 240
The Akrotiri - pre-Khirokitia ‘gap’ 241
The Khirokitia-Sotira ‘gap’ 242
PALAGRUZA 243
HVAR 245
PITIUSSAE ISLANDS 247
AEOLIAN ISLANDS 250
Expansion 252
Contraction 253
Expansion 253
Contraction 254
Further contraction/final expansion 256
Salina 257
MALTA 257
JERBA 262
PANTELLERIA 263
PALMAROLA 264
TREMITI 264
DATA ANALYSIS 267
STUDY 1. Assessing the Patterns 268
Regional Patterns 268
Greek Islands: the 2200-1900 cal. BC ‘gap’ 268
Greek Islands: the 1050-800 cal. BC ‘gap’ 270
Overall Patterns 272
STUDY 2. Assessing Resources: Obsidian Islands 274
STUDY 3. Assessing the Impact of Size: Islands smaller than 10 sq km 275
STUDY 4. Assessing Distance: Islands with Dist. NM < 50 km 276
CONCLUSIONS 276
CHAPTER 8: ISLAND COLONISATION AND ABANDONMENT:
ISSUES AND THEMES_____________________________________
Looking Back, Across, and Forward 280
Mediterranean Island Colonisation and Abandonment: Issues and
Themes 285
The Study Of Islands And Prehistory 291
Final Considerations 294
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER 2
Fig. 2.1 The Mediterranean Region 374
Fig. 2.2 Approximate delimitation of the Mediterranean Area (from Blondel
and Aronson 1999) 375
Fig. 2.3. Croatian Islands, Fjord-like configuration (Author’s own) 376
Fig. 2.4. Example of continental Island (Satellite view of Sicily) 376
Fig. 2.5 Elevation belts (Dalmatian and Ionian Islands) (from Blondel and
Aronson 1999) 378
Fig. 2.6. Rates of Endemism in the Mediterranean region (from Blondel and
Aronson 1999) 379
Fig. 2.7. Global Sea-level curve (Fairbanks 1989) 380
Fig. 2.8. Map of the Western Mediterranean at 18,000 BP (from Shackleton
etal. 1984) 381
Fig. 2 .9. Map of the Western Mediterranean at 9,000 BP (from Shackleton et
al. 1984) 381
Fig. 2.10. Italy and surrounding islands in the Pliocene (Mussi 2001: 17) 382
Fig. 2.11. Egadi Islands. Bathymetry (Antonioli 1997: 148) 382
Fig. 2.12. Balkan Bathymetry (from Bailey and Gamble 1990) 383
Fig. 2.13. Cycladic Palaeogeography (from Lambeck 1996) 384
Fig. 2.14. Spanish Islands at 10,000 cal BC. Sea levels shown -90 m
compared to present (Bell 2004) 385
Fig. 2.15. Spanish Islands at 7,000 cal. BC. Sea levels shown -45 m
compared to present (Bell 2004) 385
Fig. 2.16. Adriatic Islands ca. 8,000 cal BC. Sea levels shown at - 20 m
compared to present (Bell 2004) 386
Fig. 2.17. Adriatic Islands ca. 6,000 cal BC. Sea levels shown at - 10 m
compared to present (Bell 2004) 386
Fig. 2.18. Principal Superficial Currents in the Mediterranean (Castagnino
Berlinghieri 2003) 387
Fig. 2.19. Currents in the month of March in the Aeolian Island area
(Castagnino Berlinghieri 2003: 166) 388
Fig. 2.20. Currents in the month of July in the Aeolian Island area
(Castagnino Berlinghieri 2003: 166) 388
CHAPTER 3
Fig. 3.1. Colonisation in the Eastern Mediterranean (Cherry 1981: 50) 389
Fig. 3.2. Colonisation in the Western Mediterranean (Cherry 1981: 51) 389
Fig. 3 .3. Cumulative Plot of Island Colonisation (Cherry 1981) 390
Fig. 3.4. Stepping Stone effect and Target-Di stance Ratio (from Mac Arthur
and Wilson 1967) 391
Fig. 3.5. ‘Seafaring Nurseries’in the Aegean (Broodbank 1999: 26) 391
Fig. 3.6. Likely Regions for ‘Autocatalysis’ in the Aegean (Broodbank 1999:
27) 391
Fig. 3 .7. Map of Central Adriatic Islands (Bass 1998) 392
Fig. 3.8. Northern Sporadhes. Possible colonisation trajectory (Broodbank
1999:29) 392
CHAPTER 4
Fig. 4.1. Differential Levels of Exploration in the Cyclades (Broodbank
2000) 393
Fig. 4.2. Spanish Islands with location of main sites mentioned in text (from
Ramis et al. 2002) 393
Fig. 4.3 Map showing the area of the Strait of Gibraltar and Alboran Island
394
Fig. 4.4. Map of Sardinia and Corsica showing main archaeological sites
(from Tykot 1994) 395
Fig. 4.5. Map of Central Mediterranean (from Malone 1997) 396
Fig. 4.6. Map of North-Central Tyrrhenian (from Traveller 2002) 396
Fig. 4.7. Map of Giannutri (from Traveller 2002) 397
Fig. 4.8. View of Giannutri (from Traveller 2002) 397
Fig. 4.9. View of Palmarola (from Traveller 2002) 397
Fig. 4.10. Map of the southern Tyrrhenian (from Traveller 2003) 398
Fig. 4.11 View of Vivara (Author’s own) 398
Fig. 4.12. View of Vivara from Procida (Author’s own) 399
Fig. 4.13. View of Procida and Vivara (Author’s own) 399
Fig. 4.14. Plan of Vivara with main archaeological sites( from Marazzi and
Tusa 1994) 400
Fig. 4.15. View of Montecristo (from Traveller 2002) 400
Fig. 4.16. Map of Sicily showing minor islands (La Rosa 1993) 401
Fig. 4.17. Map of Ustica (La Rosa 1993) 401
Fig. 4.18. Partial plan of Faraglioni village on Ustica (Holloway and Lukesh
1997) 402
Fig. 4.19. Map of Egadi Islands (western coast of Sicily) (La Rosa 1993)
393
Fig. 4.20. Map of Marettimo (La Rosa 1993) 403
Fig. 4.21. Map of Levanzo (La Rosa 1993) 403
Fig. 4.22. Map of Favignana (La Rosa 1993) 403
Fig. 4.23. Marettimo, view of interior (Author’s own) 404
Fig. 4.24. View towards Grotta del Genovese, Levanzo (Author’s own) 404
Fig. 4.25. Neolithic art inside Grotta del Genovese, Levanzo (from a
postcard) 405
Fig. 4.26. Favignana as seen from Levanzo (Author’s own) 405
Fig. 4.27. Map of Aeolian Islands (La Rosa 1997) 406
Fig. 4.28. Map of main archaeological sites in the Aeolian Archipelago
(Balistreri etal. 1997) 406
Fig. 4.29. Map of Lipari (La Rosa 1993) 407
Fig. 4.30. Map of Salina (La Rosa 1993) 407