| Prehistorical Era |
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| Written by Jimmy |
| Wednesday, 24 September 2008 23:26 |
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Prehistoric Epoch Today’s Alonnisos had the name Ikos during ancient times. Its history dates from Palaeolithic times, when the island was united with the other islands of the Northern Sporades and with Thessaly. The discovery of Prehistoric animals and human tools in Kokkinokastro takes us into the Neanderthal period (100,000 years B.C.). Many Palaeolithic tools have also been discovered in other areas. The island was inhabited during the Mycenaean period (1600-1100 B.C.). According to tradition, people from Crete under the leadership of Prince Staphylos set up colonies in Peparithos (Skopelos) and Ikos (Alonnisos). The Cretans were attracted by the islands’ natural richness and fertility. This was in the 16th century B.C. In Ikos and Skopelos the Cretans cultivated olives and vines. Ikos was famous in Classical times for the superior quality of its wine. Later (14th-13th centuries) Ikos became a Mycenaean colony. Ancient tradition relates the island more closely to Thessaly than to Crete. The Mycenaean city may have been situated close to the sea. The area of Kokkinokastro is highly suitable for such a settlement. At all events, the proto-Greeks settled in Ikos before the Cretans and the Mycenaeans. Large human skeletons have been found in many ancient graves; these may have been from the island’s proto-Greeks. At the end of the Mycenaean period Peleas, the father of Achilles, was invited to Ikos by one Molis, the then ruler of the island, and remained there until his death. There is a tradition that Peleas’s tomb was situated in the island. This may have been a vaulted tomb; a type known in ancient times. We can say that Alonnisos was very densely populated in prehistoric times. Prehistoric Remains Stone-age remains were found in 1970 on the tiny island of Vrachos (‘Rock’) at Kokkinokastro. Near the beach of Megali Ammos on the northern side of the island there are large fossils from a prehistoric animal. Certainly Alonnisos is of great significance to the palaeontologist. Off the island, at Kastraki, neolithic tools have been found. Many years ago the inhabitants of Rsoum found vaulted tombs, but they destroyed them. Bibliography: Alonnisos and the deserted islands – Adamantios Samson. (Published by the Northern Sporades newspaper.) Translation by Simon Darragh. |
