Books in the Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece series

Despite their ubiquitous presence among prehistoric remains in Greece, ground stone tools have yet to attract the kind of attention as have other categories of archaeological material, such as pottery or lithics. This title provides an analysis of the material discovered during the excavations at Franchthi Cave, Peloponnese, Greece.

Presents the fascicle that completes the presentation of the ceramic remains from the Franchthi Cave excavations. This volume gives careful attention to the analyses of the earlier Neolithic ceramics on the context of the finds and to the traces of the potters' procedures. The conclusions of these analyses differ from earlier preliminary reports.

This fascicle describes the background of the Franchthi project and its excavation history and methodology. Particle size, mineralogy, and chemistry are all taken into consideration as the cultural remains and the sediments from the cave are analyzed to determine their origin and history. William Farrand constructs an integrated stratigraphy for the entire cave using excavators' notes, laboratory analyses, and personal field data to correlate sequences in separate trenches. On the basis of some 60 radiocarbon dates, the evolution and chronology of the sedimentary fill is postulated.

With the long-awaited publication of these three volumes we have the first thorough documentation of one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean, that of Franchthi Cave in the Argolid Peninsula of Greece."e; -American Anthropologist... an exceptional contribution to the hitherto very inadequate knowledge of this period in Greece."e; -Antiquity... the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes."e; -Quarterly ResearchPerles's study is impressive in the systematic application of a well-thought-out methodology."e; -American AntiquityThis study of chipped/flaked stone tools found in the excavations at Franchthi Cave is the first of its kind in Greek archaeology, if not in the whole of southeastern European prehistory.