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The Cave of CYCLOPE, Yioura. The Neolithic and Mesolithic strata
The cave of Cyclope is a wide and impressive case, the biggest in the area of the Northern Sporades, a chain of islands extending eastwards into the North Aegean. The cave is situated on the SW side of Yioura, a remote, wild and totally uninhabited island, one of the northernmost of the group, with steep outline and no natural harbors.

The cave of Cyclope has been known for about two decades; a few surface sherds dated to the prehistoric and roman periods has been selected occasionally. In June 1992 began the first systematic excavation at the cave as part of a larger project that covers all the area of the deserted islands of the Northern Sporades. The cave deposits have been investigated in six trenches (A, B, C, D, E, Z) which brought to light roman, classical-hellenistic, neolithic and mesolithic layers with big concentration of finds.

Four of the trenches so far excavated in the cave (A, B, C, Z) yielded alternating living floors of the Early, Middle and Late Aegean Neolithic (6500-3000 BC). The MN finds in particular consist of an exceptional red-on-white painted ware of a unique style and fine decorative repertoire thus far recorded only in Yioura and the neibourghing site of Agios Petros. The pottery styles present of course, affinities with the contemporaneous painted pottery of the mainland (Thessaly and Central Greece) but also present idiosyncrasies that suggest a very local culture run by a very local population, the so-named "Yioura-Agios Petros culture". The motifs were executed by thin brush, sometimes of one hair, and remind strongly of the weaving art.

A big number of the features of the Late Neolithic pottery from Yioura are reminiscent of the Asia Minor's cultures, which suggests clear relation with the east Aegean coast. Generally the LN is a period of internationalization, when pottery styles spread out of their local place of origin. In the case of Yioura the natural setting of the Sporades as a chain extending eastward in the north Aegean consists a natural bridge to Lemnos and the Troad, which facilitated any cultural exchange through this natural naval route. The Euboean Gulf, protected unlike the open sea to the east of Euboea, is considered to be an extension of this route to the south, which would facilitate the communication with the Pelopponnese and the Cyclades.

The non-pottery layers came to light from the very first season of digging (1992) at the depth of 0.95m in trench B. The following seasons the very same layers appeared in trench C, at the depth of 1.25m. It is more than 2.00m thick and consists of about 10 thinner layers alternating with layers of ashes, living floors and strata where the faunal assemblages are totally absent. These mesolithic deposits at the Cave of Cyclope have rendered Yioura one of the most important prehistoric sites of the Aegean.

The non-pottery deposits and especially trench V have provided us with an excellent and unique stratigraphy on the sequence of the preneolithic strata. All of the strata decline to the east and south and differentiate from one another in colour and composition. Charcoal is selected from all layers for the radiodating and the identification of floral remains. The faunal layers produced huge assemblages of bones in thousands (animal/bird bones, fish bones/scales/otoliths, shells, land snails).

Fifty five bone hooks of various sizes and types recovered within these layers is a unique material so far all over the Aegean giving a particular importance to the archaeological research in the cave. They are made of bone and are of two basic types, the actual hook and the thin horizontal tool with pointed both ends.

The absolute datings from the neolithic and mesolithic levels of the cave helped us conclude with certainty on the limits between Early Neolithic, Preceramic Neolithic and Mesolithic. Many samples from the mesolithic and neolithic layers are being worked at the laboratory of Archaeometry in Athens. So far the radiodatings of the pottery layers justify absolutely the relative chronology. Indicatively, in trench C/west, levels 5 and 6 gave the following dates: 5032-4928 B.C. (Late Neolithic I) and 6189-6117 B.C. (Early Neolithic) respectively. B.C. and has come from trench C/west, Level 8, sq. 1-4. The dates of the mesolithic strata range between 7000-6700 and 8500 B.C. and there is a normal sequence from layer to layer with a difference of 200-300 years. However, more datings are expected from the deepest layers of trench C/east. Once the final dates are produced, our aim will be to reexamine all the data from the so far excavated preneolithic sites, and given the well stratified evidence from Yioura along with the radiodatings, contribute to the elucidation of the sequence of such early phases, in terms of both relative and absolute chronology.

Adamantios Sampson
University of Aegean      

Bibliography:
Archaeology in the Northern Sporades, Greece - A. Sampson, Municipality of Alonissos 2001