FRANCHTHI CAVE - 2012

Franchthi Cave. The ASCSA reports on the following studies conducted in 2012.

Ornaments (C. Perlès): work focused on re-examination of the identification of the raw materials used for the Neolithic geometric beads (a number of pieces being re-assigned to serpentinite, steatite, limestone or marble) and on a first microscopic examination of presumed shell tools.

Faunal remains (N. Munri and M. Stiner): work focused on the comprehensive analysis of deposits dating to the Neolithic-Mesolithic transition in trenches F/AS and F/AN (NISP=~2000) and on continued collection of fauna in the later Neolithic sequence in trench F/AN (NISP=~2000). Franchthi Cave is a rare site in the Mediterranean that preserves intact the Final Mesolithic and Initial Neolithic deposits essential to document the nature of the forager-producer transition in the region. It is uniquely suited for testing three alternate hypotheses about the arrival of agriculture in Greece: was an agriculture lifestyle imported to the region by seafaring colonists, was farming adopted from neighbouring agriculturalists by local residents, or was domestication an in situ development in this particular region?

Preliminary observations of the Final Mesolithic-Initial Neolithic fauna indicate an established domestic economy from the earliest Initial Neolithic units (F/AN Unit 163). Red deer, a wild ungulate species, dominates the Mesolithic sequence but is rapidly replaced by domestic sheep/goat across only three F/AN units (% Caprine = >Unit 164 <10%; 163 =64%; 162=76%; 161=90%). The Mesolithic layers are characterized by dense bone assemblages, much of which were recovered from the water screened fraction as a highly fragmented and burned bone mulch. Taphonomic study of fragmentation and burning patterns on small unidentifiable bone chips in the Initial Neolithic and Final Mesolithic deposits suggests that some mixing occurred between the Final Mesolithic and Initial Neolithic layers. In general, the unidentifiable fraction of the Final Mesolithic assemblage is characterized by very high rates of burning (F/AN mean 77%) and high fragmentation. The Neolithic faunas are also burned, but in significantly lower frequencies (F/AN mean 58%), and are less fragmented. Rates of burning in units dating to the latest Mesolithic and earliest Neolithic (F/AN 160-164) show an intermediate degree of burning (70%) expressed as a gradual decline across the units. This trend corresponds to that demonstrated for red deer and caprine abundance. Given the mixing of the Mesolithic bone mulch into the Initial Neolithic units, it is possible that some larger bone fragments may also have migrated. The presence of red deer bones in the first couple of Initial Neolithic cuts, and caprine bones in the last few Final Mesolithic units, is better explained by small scale sediment mixing than a gradual adoption of agriculture by Mesolithic foragers. The faunal remains thus suggest that domestic caprines arrived at Franchthi from elsewhere and immediately became the primary meat source in local human diets.