MOUNT PELION - 2008

The Pelion Cave Project. N. Andreasen (Danish Institute) and A. Darlas (EPSVE) report on the 2nd survey season, which focused on the E part of the mountain between the villages of Kalamaki in the S to Veneto in the N.
Fifty one localities were surveyed, counting 32 caves, 12 rock-shelters and 7 abandoned mines. A typology of 10 types of cave-use was developed. Three hundred and forty six surface finds were collected from 17 caves and rock-shelters, 2 of which had already been visited in 2006. The finds comprised mainly pottery sherds and animal bones. Diagnostic artefacts from 5 caves in the Mouresi municipality (Tsounaga, Tsouka, Gouronotrypa, Bourdovanou and Damouchari IV) consisted mostly of PH and Hel−Rom pottery, but also included polished stone tools and a human jaw. Four of the localities are deep caves and one is an anc. mine. A number of caves on the mountain were used from the LNeo/EBA. The character of their use cannot be established from surface finds, but is probably not exclusively related to herding.
Several previously undocumented caves played locally significant roles during World War II and the Gr Civil War. An important discovery was the find of a cave 2.5km SW of Veneto where the Gr Resistance stored ammunition and equipment during World War II. Although the Gr military emptied the cave of ammunition and explosives after the Civil War, more than 40 combat helmets were found at the site along with buckles, leather straps and military iron pack frames for mules. The helmets are World War I ‘Adrian’ style helmets and World War II M33 models, of which some have preserved leather padding. It is possible that this equipment was obtained from Italian units stationed at Pelion when they left the region in 1943.
Another cave above the village of Mouresi was used as a provisional field hospital for the Resistance during World War II and later as a refuge for several local families. The main chamber of the cave is accessed vertically and it is difficult to enter without a ladder. No artefacts or fireplaces were found, as visibility is severely limited.
A significant implication of the survey and the accompanying interviews is that the spectrum of activities performed at caves and in rock-shelters within our region is much broader than initially anticipated. Only in a few cases could artefact distributions or artefact types be related to any specific activity. Some cave uses connected to agro-pastoral, religious and military activities tend to be ephemeral and leave little cultural material behind. This is the case even where several persons, a family or groups of people are involved. One such example is a cave which served as a secret field hospital during World War II. At this locality there was no visible cultural material left on the surface that could point to such use. Other confirmed ‘refuge-caves’, partisan hide-outs or quarantine caves are equally invisible in an archaeological sense, despite their local and historical significance.