KYTHERA ISLAND PROJECT - 2014

Kythera Island Project. C. Broodbank (Cambridge/BSA) and E. Kiriatzi (BSA Fitch Laboratory) report the completion of a programme of site revisits (Fig. 1) in order to take GPS readings, note current site condition and any changes over the last 12-16 years, check the profile of the material on the ground relative to that collected and studied, improve and standardize site descriptions, and create a full photographic record. A few additional sites were encountered, although their very small number reinforces the overall integrity of the survey results. One consequence of the 2014 walking, allied to re-examination of Mesolithic and pre-Bronze Age lithic finds by Danica Mihailovic (Belgrade), was the recognition of a persistent presence of such generically early scatters, especially on the stable plateau landscapes in the north-west part of the survey area. These finds vary in date from Mesolithic to Neolithic, but collectively reveal a distinct early use of the landscape the interpretation of which, while not straightforward, is compatible with seasonal hunting, perhaps of small game and migrating birds.

Chemical analysis of the full suite of prehistoric ceramic samples from Kastri, when compared with petrographical data, suggest greater variability than initially identified and probably more production sites in different parts of the island during the Bronze Age (reinforcing the need to sample the more spatially spread out survey pottery). In collaboration with Myrto Georgakopoulou (UCL Qatar), chemical analysis of Byzantine and Venetian samples was completed as part of a broader collaboration on Islamic and contemporary ceramic technologies.