runnels 1993

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A Handaxe from Kokkinopilos, Epirus, and Its Implications for the Paleolithic of GreeceAuthor(s): Curtis Runnels and Tjeerd H. van AndelSource: Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 191-203Published by: Boston UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/529953Accessed: 12/09/2010 16:14

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191

A Handaxe from Kokkinopilos, Epirus,and its Implications for the Paleolithic of

Greece

Curtis RunnelsBoston UniversityBoston, Massachusetts

Tjeerd H. van AndelUniversity of CambridgeCambridge, England

A complete, well-preserved icoquian-type andaxe was discovered n 1991 at Kokkinopi-los, Greece, tratified 16 m belowapaleosol ofLast Glacial age containing abundant Mid-dle Paleolithic artifacts. The handaxe was embedded n "credbeds"(veryfine-grained, well-indurated red sediments) and is the same age as the redbeds. The lithology fthe redbedssuggests lowsedimentation n the loor ofa doline (sinkhole) with a variable but often highgroundwater evel.A minimum age well in excessof 60,000 years (60 kyr) or the handaxeisfurnished by the degree of maturity of the Middle Paleolithic aleosol. Taking into ac-count the thickness f the overburden, orrecting or compaction, nd assuming a reasonablesedimentation ate, the estimated age of the handaxe s250+50 kyr. We identify woperi-ods ofPaleolithic activity at Kokkinopilos: ate Lower Paleolithic at ca. 250 kyr eparated bya hiatus rom a Middle Paleolithic of ca. 100-30 kyr ago.

IntroductionThe site of Kokkinopilos, Greece, was discovered in

1962 in the course of a survey of Macedonia and Epirusby the late Eric Higgs of the University of Cambridge(FIG. 1; Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 213-235). Thesite consists of deposits of red clays, or "redbeds," west ofthe Louros River. The deposits extend for approximately850 m N-s and 500 m E-W, and consist of thick beds (ca.35-40 m) of silty clay that in recent times have beensubjected to extensive erosion that has transformed theminto badlands dissected by deep gullies. Vegetation is con-fined to patches of relict soil that once formed the surfaceof the deposit. Large quantities of stone tools in "sharp,"uneroded condition, although heavily patinated, were col-lected from the surface of this site from "chipping floors"which were recognized in two test excavations in 1963(Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 213-235). The indus-tries were identified by Higgs and his colleagues as Middleand Upper Paleolithic.

In the course of the 1991 season of the Boston Uni-versity Nikopolis Project, we discovered a complete andwell-preserved handaxe (a "biface" n French terminology)protruding from the side of a deep erosional gully at

Kokkinopilos (FIGS. 2, 3). The handaxe can be classifiedaccording to the typology of Bordes as Micoquian and

assigned to the later or developed Acheulean industry(Bordes 1961: 57). The dimensions of the biface arelength 21.5 cm, width 11.4 cm, and thickness 6.5 cm.The surface of the artifact has a thick white patination,but the original chert, visible in one place on the surface,is light bluish-gray. The bifacial flake scars vary from 1 cmto 5.5 cm in length. Negative bulbar scars near the edgesof the tool are intact and sharp and the surfaces of theartifact show no signs of abrasive wear.

The absence of any macroscopic traces of abrasive dam-age or weathering, apart from the surface patination, isevidence that the handaxe was still in its original deposi-tional context. Since it was embedded in sediments witha maximum grain size of fine silt (ca. 0.02 mm), it couldnot have been transported by water. Other observationsargue against the possibility that it was in a secondarycontext. The handaxe was in a horizontal position whenit was discovered (FIG. 4), and the bedding of secondarydeposits in the steep V-shaped gully bottom would notbe horizontal. The deposits in which the handaxe wasembedded are strongly indurated in exactly the same way

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192 Handaxe from Kokkinopilos, reece/Runnels nd van Andel

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Figure 1. Map showing the location of Kokkinopilos in southern Epirus.

as the rest of the redbeds. Other lithic artifacts were notedin the same layer that contained the handaxe, and these

specimens were separated by clay matrix from each other,and not sorted by size as they would have been had theyformed a part of the fill of an erosional gully. Lastly, thehandaxe and the other artifacts at the findspot are heavilypatinated as the result of long contact with the red clays.No artifacts such as the unpatinated Upper Paleolithic andlater materials observed on the exposed upper surface werenoted in the layer with the handaxe, whereas in a recenterosional gully fill such materials would likely have beenmixed with the older, patinated artifacts.

The Geological Interpretation of theKokkinopilos Redbeds

In the greater Kokkinopilos area (FIG. 5) fine-grainedQuaternary redbeds partly fill a depression in a N-s trend-

ing band of Liassic Pantokrator Limestone. On the east,the redbeds are bordered by a low limestone ridge and bythe Louros River valley, the surface of the redbeds lyingfrom 50 to 70 m above the river. On the opposite side,the valley of an ephemeral stream separates the redbedsfrom the limestone slope beyond. This valley opens south-

ward into a broad, low-lying, enclosed basin: the Tsero-polis-Mavri depression.

The Kokkinopilos redbeds are traversed by a complexsystem of deep, barren gullies described in detail by Harrisand Vita-Finzi (1968). Erosion is vigorous here; manyliving pine trees stand on exposed root pedestals 50-100cm high. The main outflow of the gully system is eastwardinto the Louros valley through a gap in the limestone

ridge (FIG. 5), but erosion proceeding northward from the

Tseropolis basin has cut into the main deposit as well, andshould soon decapitate the older drainage net.

From the beginning, the archaeological research of

Cambridge University at Kokkinopilos has been accom-panied by investigations of the origin and age of theredbeds. The first report (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964)already contained a preliminary analysis of the depositsand other, quite different interpretations soon followed

(Higgs and Vita-Finzi 1966; Harris and Vita-Finzi 1968).In the early 1980s, the return of the Cambridge group to

Epirus inspired further geological work (Bailey et al.1983a, 1983b; Bailey 1988; Huxtable et al. 1992), in

particular a more detailed study of the Kokkinopilos areain 1985.

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Journal ofField Archaeology/Vol. 0, 1993 193

The origin and age of the Kokkinopilos redbeds arecritical to our interpretation of the early Paleolithic finds,and our discussion of both rests on paleosol data we

present below for the first time and on an analysis of the

relevant literature.

The Upper Paleosol

The Kokkinopilos redbeds have been described in detail

by H. Tippett (in Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 221-

225) who recognized three zones labeled A, B, and C

A B C

Figure. The Kokkinopilos handaxe. Drawing by Priscilla Murray and Curtis Runnels.

Figure 2. T~heKokkinopilos handaxe. Drawing by Priscilla Murray and Curtis Runnels.

Figure 3. The Kokkinopilos handaxe. Photographs by James R. Wiseman.

A B C

I i

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Figure 4. Handaxe in situ at Kokkinopilos. View to west. Notice thehorizontal position of artifact and that it is aligned approximately per-pendicular to the direction of water flow in the gully. Photograph byPriscilla Murray.

from the limestone bedrock upward, the last overlain bya fourth, unnamed one that was itself topped by a thinsoil. We shall return below to the deeper strata, but focusfirst on the uppermost zone, described by Tippett (Dak-aris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 222): "Overlying this [thereddish-yellow upper Zone C] again and often differen-tiated sharply from it by a discontinuity of veining, is auniform dark red (Munsell 2.5YR 3/6) or yellowish-red(5YR 4/8) deposit. Lastly, where the original ground-surface is preserved, the highest layer of all is a thin soil,supporting the modern vegetation."

This "uniform dark red or yellowish-red deposit" is

actually the Bt horizon of a paleosol, remnants of whichare seen widely in the area, particularly under the still-intact surface along the eastern limestone ridge, more ex-tensively on the divide between the eastern and western

stream systems, and here and there on the crests of theridges that separate the main gullies. It is of a type wide-

spread on Quaternary deposits in Greece and elsewhere inthe Mediterranean (e.g., Brosche 1977; Brunnacker 1974,1979; Demitrack 1986; Finke 1988; Pope and van Andel1984; Pope, Runnels, and Ku 1984; Urushibara 1981),but that must be clearly distinguished from the red, au-tochthonous sediments on limestones usually described asterra rossa (Barbaroux and Bousquet 1976).

Detailed soil descriptions following the scheme recom-mended by Birkeland (1984: appendix 1) were made atsix points (FIG. 5: numbered dots) where a reasonable soil

profile has been preserved under the woodland cover. Wecite two examples (TABLE 1); the others are identical. TheBt horizon itself is hard and quite resistant to erosion, butits A horizon and some of its E horizon may have beenremoved before the present E horizon accumulated, per-haps in part from wind-blown dust (MacLeod 1980).

No Bca horizon, so common elsewhere in Greece (Popeand van Andel 1984; Demitrack 1986), exists, becausethe Kokkinopilos redbeds themselves are entirely non-calcareous. Otherwise, the soil characteristics are withinthe range of late Pleistocene paleosols from the southern

Argolid (Pope and van Andel 1984), Thessaly (Demitrack1986), and the Argive plain (Finke 1988). Failure torecognize that the red zone above Tippett's Zone C is a

paleosol and not a deposit, and that as such it presents a

chronostratigraphic opportunity, has contributed to thedifficulties encountered in the past in deciphering the Kok-

kinopilos stratigraphy.It is important to note that we observed heavily-patin-

ated Middle Paleolithic artifacts in direct association withthe B horizon of the paleosol at a depth of 60-100 cmbelow the surface. The heavy patination of these artifacts

suggests that they have been in contact with the red claysof the B horizon for many thousands of years, and were

not incorporated recently into this paleosol from the mod-ern surface where only unpatinated artifacts of later ageare found. It should be particularly noted that this soil atthe top of the redbed is not itself a deposit, derived byerosion from another place, but is the result of the weath-ering and transformation of an existing sediment overthousands of years.

The Redbeds

The deep red Bt horizon is superimposed on the top ofa 30-40 m-thick series of beds of uniform lithology, con-

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Table 1. Two typical profile descriptions of the soil at Kokkinopilos that containspatinated Middle Paleolithic artifacts. Locations of the profiles are shown in Figure 5.See text for interpretation of the profiles.

Soil profile KP-1Site: On divide, west side of gullied area.Elevation: ca. 150 m.

HorizonA ca. 10 cm of sandy forest debrisE ca. 60 cm greyish brown clayey siltBt >80 cm of Bt; lower part buried. Color: red (2.5YR 4/6); Consistency: non-sticky (dry), sticky,

weakly plastic (wet); Texture: silty clay loam; Structure: angular blocky, medium size (2-5 cm);Clay films: many (50-90%); thick; Silt caps: none; HCI: not effervescent.

C Grading into uniform reddish brown (10R 4/8) substrate.Soil profile KP-3

Site: West of and below stone houses above Ioannina road, at base of first Roman aqueductchimney.

Elevation: ca. 145 m.Horizon

A thin layer of decayed pine needle and silty fine sand.

E ca. 60 cm grey-brown clayey silt thick.Bt 8-10 cm, truncated at top; Color: red (2.5YR 3/6); Consistency: non-sticky (dry), sticky,medium plastic (wet); Texture: silty clay loam; Structure: angular blocky, medium (1-2 cm); Clayfilms: many (50-90%), thick; Silt caps: none; HCI: not effervescent.

C Grading into uniform reddish brown (10R 4/8) bedrock.

Figure 5. The Kokkinopilos site. North is at the top. Redbeds areshaded; the remainder of the map area, except for the Louros valleyitself, consists of Liassic Pantokrator Limestone. Numbered dots indi-cate soil profile descriptions; the handaxe findspot is marked with anopen circle. Ephemeral streams are dashed; those shown in the heartof the Kokkinopilos site are schematic. Small triangles denote chim-neys of the Roman aqueduct; squares with peaked tops are stone huts.Contours in m above sea level after

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sisting of consolidated silty clays and clayey silts withabundant red iron oxide as coloring matter and in theform of micronodules. Tippett (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey1964: 221-225) recognized three zones differentiatedmainly by color. We concur with this zonation, which canbe summarized from top to bottom as follows (FIG. 6):Tippett's Zone C: uniformly reddish-brown (5YR 4/6 to10R 4/8), indistinctly stratified; Tippett's Zone B: moreyellowish-red (7.5YR 4/4 to 5YR 6/8), broadly bandedon a 50-200 cm scale in lighter and darker tones, withabundant gray mottles, veins and streaks, the latter witha vertical tendency; Tippett's Zone A: a deep red (10R 4/8 to 2.5YR 4/6) zone with fewer gray streaks. The graymottling which we, contrary to MacLeod and Vita-Finzi(1982), regard as a true fossil gley, marks Zone B asaffected by fluctuating groundwater levels during slowdeposition. Later, vertical veining was superimposed bygroundwater circulating in fissures or root channels.

At the base, exposed in deep southern gullies (e.g., FIG.5: location 7), Zone A sediment fills voids in a deeplycorroded limestone breccia that grades into the karsticlimestone surface of the Lower Liassic Pantokrator Lime-stone. The boundary between Zones A and B is irregular,according to Tippett because of surface exposure and ero-sion. Thin bands and patches of ochre illuvial/authigenicclay with Mn-Fe coatings and veins (plinthite), which maybe remnants of the lower parts of highly mature Bt hori-zons, are abundant in upper Zone A and are also presentbetween Zones B and C.

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A horizon modern)Bt horizon (M.Paleol.)

140 - ZONE C reddish brown(5YR 4/6 to 1OR /8)

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j [ (10R 4/8 to 2.5YR 4/6; gray streaks)

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Figure . Schematic tratigraphic ection f theredbeds t Kokkinopilos, howing he position fthe handaxe. one names fterTippett Dakaris,Higgs, and Hey 1964: 221-225); positions fzoneboundaries reours. Elevations ndzonethicknesses avebeen stimated rommap and alti-meter ata nd are approximate. ee ext or details.

Origin oftheRedbedsThe origin of the Kokkinopilos redbeds has been much

debated. Hey (in Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 225-229), using Tippett's data, assumed an aeolian origin forthe deposits by means of long-distance dust transport,perhaps from the Sahara, a view shared by MacLeod

(1980). In contrast, Higgs and Vita-Finzi (1966) andHarris and Vita-Finzi (1968), invoking occurrences ofintercalated gravels at the edges of the Kokkinopilos de-posit, saw the redbeds as alluvial fans, equivalent to Vita-Finzi's (1969) "Older Fill." Later, MacLeod and Vita-Finzi (1982) included the Kokkinopilos redbeds withother Pleistocene sediments in a "Kokkinopilos Forma-tion," which they regarded again as alluvial fan deposits.We have not observed interbedded gravels or scree de-posits in the Kokkinopilos area sensu stricto, and regardthe very uniform, fine grain size (more than 60% below0.02 mm) and lack of clear depositional bedding as in-

compatible with an alluvial fan origin.Hey (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 225-229) re-

jected local weathering and dissolution as the mode oforigin of the Kokkinopilos redbeds because of the under-lying karstic surface, which he regarded as subaerial. Indolines (sinkholes), however, the contact between sedi-ment and bedrock is often like this, because karstic cor-rosion can occur below a sediment cover as well as at thesurface. In such doline or polje (large depression) fills,fine-grained residual material derived from local dissolu-tion of the substrate combines with water-borne particles

derived from the flanks of the depression or wind-blowndust from farther away. Thus sedimentation rates, al-though generally slow, exceed those permitted by the mereaccumulation of insoluble residue, a very slow process(MacLeod 1980; Spaargaren 1979). Moreover, the floorsof even partly filled dolines tend to be flat, and surfacestream flows are feeble. Consequently, coarse material con-centrates at the edges, leaving a uniform, very fine depositderived from slope-wash, dissolution, and wind transportto accumulate in the center, especially where the dolineflanks consist of limestone as is the case here. The grainsize distributions cited by Tippett (Dakaris, Higgs, andHey 1964: 223) and MacLeod (1980: table 1) are quitein accord with such a derivation. The remaining charac-teristics of the beds point to intense chemical weatheringand diagenesis due to slow deposition and the seasonallyfluctuating groundwater levels indicated by the fossil gleysoils.

Consequently, we regard the texture of the Kokkino-pilos redbeds as entirely compatible with an origin as thefill of a doline somewhat similar in size to the modernenclosed basins of Tseropolis-Mavri and Kalyvia-Kraneas(FIG. 7) south of the Kokkinopilos ite. A shallow, easonallake, often drying out entirely, is the environment weenvisage and that has been common in the limestone ter-rains of Greece until recently.

The Kokkinopilos deposits form the southernmost of aseries of similar patches of redbeds strung along the west-

ern side of the Pente Dendra double fault zone (GeologicalMap of Greece, Thesprotikon sheet) that is associated withan anticlinal overthrust to the west. Their alignment alonga major fault zone further supports the interpretation assinkhole deposits, and the geological map legend indeedidentifies them as Quaternary sinkhole fills.

Originally laid down in closed basins, the southwardtilt associated with uplift of the Pindos ranges caused bycollision between the Italian/Adriatic and northern Greekblocks has rendered them vulnerable to headward erosionby southflowing streams. The first victims were the de-posits along the small western stream, followed recentlyby erosion of the eastern deposits starting from the Lourosvalley. Streams from the Tseropolis area are now about to

capture the eastern drainage system, and a similar fateawaits Lake Ziros, where only a few hundred meters sep-arate the headwaters of an actively eroding stream and thesw tip of the lake.

Clearly, he redbeds have diverse origins (e.g., Schneider1977), and it is useful to distinguish at least three cate-gories of redbeds: 1) the products of autochthonous soilformation on limestone substrates, probably aided by theaddition of wind-transported dust (terra rossa); 2) allo-

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Figure 7. The greater Kokkinopilos area showing the Pente Dendra fault zone, and flat-bottomed intramontane basins thoughtto be poijes. North is at the top. Contour interval 20 m to 200 m, thereafter 100 m. Drainage shown with dashed lines.

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chthonous deposits partly owing their red color to localsoil formation under conditions of slow deposition, andpartly to the addition of particles eroded from pre-existingred sediments, perhaps formed in different climates; and

3) red soil horizons whose color is due to illuvial andauthigenic clay and iron oxide precipitation. This last cat-egory is not a deposit in the true sense of the word.Redness by itself therefore does not permit either geneticor stratigraphic conclusions.

Furthermore, in a tectonically active terrain underlainby extensive limestones the traditional, best understoodfluviatile source-to-sea system of erosion and depositionis supplemented by another that involves closed basinswithout outlets. Such closed (or formerly closed) intra-montane basins are common in Epirus and elsewhere inGreece, and form either as tectonic depressions or bylarge-scale limestone solution (dolines or poljes: Ford andWilliams 1989: chapter 9). Both kinds can be large, andmay have complex histories. Neither type has receivedadequate attention in Greece.

Failure to consider these distinctions in sediment type,sediment origin, and depositional system combined witha narrow focus on river deposition have tended to confusethe discussion of the late Quaternary geology of Epirus,as Lewin, Macklin, and Woodward (1991) note.

Age of the Main Kokkinopilos Paleosol

Quaternary Mediterranean soils form a chronosequencethat passes through a series of distinct maturity stages,and so can be used to ascertain their relative and (if cali-brated with dating techniques) also their absolute ages,within broad limits (for a summary see Birkeland 1984;details and examples, in e.g., Ajmone Marsan, Barberis,and Arduina 1988; Busacca 1987; Gile, Peterson, andGrossman 1966; Harden 1982; Leeder 1975; MacFaddenand Weldon 1987; Pope and van Andel 1984; Wiederand Yaalon 1982).

The characteristics of the red soil horizon just belowthe surface at Kokkinopilos, which we shall designate for

convenience the "Mid-Paleolithic Soil," fit this chronose-quence; they are equivalent to the Middle Loutro Soils ofthe southern Argolid (Pope and van Andel 1984; Pope,Runnels, and Ku 1984), the Agia Sophia and Rodia Soilsof Thessaly (Demitrack 1986), and the late Pleistocenepaleosols of the Argive Plain (Finke 1988).

The paleosols from the southern Argolid and Thessalyhave been dated by U/Th disequilibrium methods to52?13 kyr for the Middle Loutro Soil (Pope, Runnels,and Ku 1984), 27-42 kyr for the Agia Sophia, and morethan 54 kyr for the Rodia Soils in Thessaly (Demitrack

1986: table 2). The soil dates imply ages for their sub-strates ranging from 40 kyr to more than 60 kyr. TheArgive Plain paleosol correlates with low sea levels of themiddle and late Last Glacial between 50 kyr and 75 kyr(van Andel, Zangger, and Perissoratis 1990), placing itssubstrate early in the Last Glacial. The maturity of theKokkinopilos paleosol suggests that it formed early in therange of dated soils, placing deposition of the youngestKokkinopilos redbeds at somewhat more than 60 kyr.

Soil profiles of latest Pleistocene to middle Holoceneage are absent in the Kokkinopilos area, and the remnantsof the Mid-Paleolithic Soil preserved around the vents ofa subterranean Roman aqueduct that traverses the areaimply that the landscape was still essentially intact at thetime of the aqueduct's construction. Today only two size-able strips of Mid-Paleolithic Soil remain, one at the foot

of the limestone ridge separating the area from the Lourosvalley, and the other on the western divide.

Age of the RedbedsWe have no dates for the units of the redbed sequence

or for its base; the deposits appear to contain neitherfossils nor material suitable for isotopic dating. Thus wecan bracket the age of Zone B in which the handaxe wasfound (FIG. 6) only by the time-honored but admittedlysuspect method of estimating edimentation ates.

It is evident hat, in this area without significant upplyof stream-borne non-calcareous clastics, sedimentationrates have been slow. How slow? Kukal (1990: 101-103)has compiled data for wind-borne sedimentation ratesfrom many sources; not surprisingly he amounts varywidely from less than 1 to nearly 100 cm/1000 yrs, but arepresentative number would be 10-15 cm/1000 yrs be-fore compaction. We note that we are not dealing withloess (ca. 60% medium-coarse silt), which can form athigher rates, but with much finer dust deposits.

Altimeter readings taken within one hour at middayand calibrated against the 140 m contour, yielded an ele-vation of 144 m for the Middle Paleolithic Soil above the

handaxe site and 128 m for the find itself, a present thick-ness of 16 m for the interval (FIG. 8). The deposits arevery fine-grained (about 50% clay; Dakaris, Higgs, andHey 1964: 223; MacLeod and Vita-Finzi 1982: 34), andan initial porosity of 40-50% is reasonable. Because thepresent porosity is very low, the original thickness musthave been considerably greater (22-28 m). With an esti-mated sedimentation rate of 10-15 cm/kyr and a youngestage of the deposits of ca. 60 kyr, this would yield a roughestimate of 250? 50 kyr for the age of the handaxe.

Obviously, the uncertainties attached to this estimate

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Journal ofFieldArchaeology/Vol. 0, 1993 199

Figure 8. View of the eroded redbeds at Kokkinopilos showing the position of the handaxein Zone B (bottom arrow) ca. 16 m below the Middle Paleolithic paleosol (upper arrow,below trees). View to Nw. Photograph by James R. Wiseman.

are numerous and substantial (e.g., dust fall rates and theirvariation with time and climate, rates of dissolution, in-tervals of non-deposition or erosion, amount of compac-tion) and make this age far from robust, but even if theassumed sedimentation rate was five times as high (a num-ber that seems exceptional for this sheltered area), it wouldstill place the handaxe long before the last interglacial.

ConclusionsThe discovery of a well preserved handaxe in a geolog-

ical context that permits an estimate of the age of the

artifact adds to our understanding in two ways. The Eu-ropean distribution of Micoquian-type handaxes must be

expanded to include Greece, and Greek prehistory mustbe expanded to include the Lower Paleolithic. Evidencefor Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites in Greece is at

present very rare (see Runnels and van Andel in press fora summary), and this handaxe, along with the LowerPaleolithic finds from Thessaly, provides evidence for the

presence of human ancestors in western Greece-whetherthese were Homo erectus, archaic sapients, or early Nean-derthals-200,000 or more years ago.

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Our observations also suggest a revision of earlier in-

terpretations of the Kokkinopilos site. It is difficult torelate the observations reported in this paper to the resultsof the investigations at Kokkinopilos by Higgs and histeam in the 1960s. We observed a mature soil horizon atthe surface of the deposits that contains a patinated MiddlePaleolithic industry. Below this soil there is a deposit(Zone C) of 8-9 m thickness that appears to be sterile.The handaxe was stratified in the next layer (Zone B, 16m or more below the present surface), where it was seento be in association with heavily-patinated stone tools and

flaking debris. In 1963 Higgs excavated two test pits at

Kokkinopilos on the sE edge of the deposit, and these arereferred to as site a and Site 3 (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey1964: 213-221). As a result of these excavations, twoPaleolithic industries at

Kokkinopiloswere identified: an

unpatinated Upper Paleolithic assemblage was collectedfrom the top of Zone B, at a depth of about 4 m, whichconsisted of flakes, blades, steep scrapers, and backedblades. A heavily patinated industry was found at thebottom of Zone B, at a depth of less than 10 m, and wasclassified as a typical Middle Paleolithic or Mousterian

industry with one fragment of a typical Mousterian hand-axe, bifacially flaked points, and the rare use of the Lev-allois technique to produce a variety of points, sidescra-

pers, and denticulates (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964:

229-244). The zone below the depth of 10 m was

thought to be culturally sterile (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey1964: 217).The soil profiles exposed on the east edge of the site

near the limestone bedrock (FIG. 5: profiles 3, 4, and 5),and in the middle of the redbeds (FIG. 5: profiles 1, 2, and

6) contain in large numbers a patinated Middle Paleolithic

assemblage entirely different from the Upper Paleolithicclaimed by Higgs to lie at a depth of 4 m below thesurface at the top of Zone B. This industry cannot be

distinguished from the Middle Paleolithic surface materi-als collected by Higgs, and the discrepancy between hisand our observations can perhaps be partly explained by

the continuing high rate of erosion at Kokkinopilos thathas exposed these soil profiles with the Middle Paleolithicsites only recently. The erosion has exposed nearly 1 m ofthe root system of even very young pine trees, indicatingthat it has considerably altered the site since the comple-tion of fieldwork by Higgs and his team. We were unableto locate the excavations made by Higgs. They are notlocated on any published map, and the great amount oferosion that has occurred since the time of the excavationshas possibly obliterated all traces of them. It is probablethat sites ( and p3were excavated in gullies where earlier

erosion and redeposition of clays from the surroundinglayers may have led to the mixing of lithic industries e-covered from those sites (Bailey 1988: 40). This mayexplain why our observed sequence cannot be closelymatched to the published stratigraphic rofiles rom theexcavations.

We postulate hat the handaxe and associated industryat Kokkinopilos s to be dated to 250 + 50 kyr. Deposi-tion continued at Kokkinopilos, overing the Acheuleanindustry with a layer (Zone C) nearly 9 m in thickness.The makers of the later, highly-developed Middle Paleo-lithic industry with foliate leafpoints ccupied a stable andsurface hat followed the near-cessation f deposition, andthe sites were incorporated n the soil that developedduring a period of stability. Higgs and his colleagues

(Dakaris, Higgs,and

Hey1964:

219)dated the

UpperPaleolithic at Kokkinopilos, which follows the MiddlePaleolithic, o approximately 5 kyr, and thus ca. 60-30kyr is for us a reasonable stimate of the age of the soil.

This two-part chronostratigraphic equence of Paleo-lithic industries n Greece, with a late Lower Paleolithicindustry dating to ca. 250 ?+ 50 kyr and a Middle Paleo-lithic industry dating to ca. 100-30 kyr, is broadly up-ported by research lsewhere n Greece. Evidence or theLower Paleolithic n Greece s very rare. The only handaxeto be reported before the present ind was discovered byHiggs and his team at Palaiokastron n northern Thessaly

(Higgs 1964), but the attribution and affiliation f thisartifact are difficult o confirm. The handaxe was an iso-lated surface ind, and repeated isits to the same area PatCarter, personal ommunication, 1991) failed to identifyother artifacts. Recently, a Lower Paleolithic ite was dis-covered at Rodia in Thessaly (Runnels 1990a, 1990b;Runnels and van Andel in press). The assemblage t thissite consists of choppers, chopping tools, denticulates,notches, side scrapers, nd other tools made from cobblesand flakes of quartz and radiolarite. he Rodia assemblagewas found in direct association with a terrace of the Pe-neios River that can be dated to greater han ca. 210 kyron the basis of a U/Th disequilibrium ate for part of thesame terrace system in another part of the river valley(Runnels and van Andel in press).

There seems to be a hiatus between the Lower Paleo-lithic and Middle Paleolithic industries that have beenfound in Greece. A Middle Paleolithic industry with twofacies ("basal Mousterian" and "micro-Mousterian") wasfound in the lower levels at Asprochaliko cave, 2 km northof Kokkinopilos in the Louros River valley. The earliestMousterian from the excavations at Asprochaliko (the"basal" Mousterian from layer 18) has been dated to ca.

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Journal ofFieldArchaeology/Vol. 0, 1993 201

100 kyr recently by thermoluminescence dates on burnedflint (Huxtable et al. 1992). This finding places the begin-ning of the Greek Middle Paleolithic late in the last inter-glacial. The basal Mousterian, however, is rare in Greece,but the overlying layer 14 at Asprochaliko contains asmall-scale Mousterian that is found at many open-air sitesin Greece. This Mousterian is dated at Asprochaliko (layer14) to the earlier part of the last glaciation on the basisof its stratigraphic relation with the basal Mousterian(Huxtable et al. 1992: 111), and radiocarbon dates forthis later Mousterian suggest an age of ca. 37-39 kyr ormore (Bailey et al. 1983a: table 2), and this chronologyis in line with our estimate of ca. 60-30 kyr based onradiocarbon and uranium-series dates for the small-scaleMousterian in the Argolid and Thessaly (Pope, Runnels,and Ku 1984; Runnels 1988: table 2; Runnels and van

Andel in press).In conclusion, the Kokkinopilos handaxe may be re-ferred on typological grounds to the latest Acheulean.Some support for a late Acheulean affiliation of the Kok-kinopilos handaxe can be found in Europe. Handaxes areabundant in Europe, and they are usually considered astypical artifacts of the Lower Paleolithic. Handaxes arepractically unknown from the Balkans (Gamble 1986:152-153), however, and the Kokkinopilos specimen willrequire a reevaluation of the distribution of handaxe in-dustries in this region. The Acheulean was followed inEurope by Mousterian flake tool industries that made useof the Levallois

technique,but

the transition from theAcheulean to the Mousterian is not well known. Thetransition is not closely dated, and there were undoubtedlyareas where they overlapped in time as in Cantabria(Spain), where the Acheulean ended sometime before 100kyr (Bischoff, Garcia, and Straus 1992: 59-60). Recentestimates place the transition at ca. 200 kyr or a little laterin France. Griin, Mellars, and Laville (1991), for example,have recently published estimates based on electron spinresonance (ESR) dating for a sequence of Acheulean andMousterian levels at the cave site of Pech de l'Az6 II. Theyconclude that the Acheulean assemblage in the lower levelsat this site (9-5) with handaxes is ca. 128-162

kyrin

ageor somewhat older (the wide scatter of ESR results doesnot permit a more precise estimate), and Typical andDenticulate Mousterian assemblages from the higher levels(4-2) are ca. 54-87 kyr in age. These two industries areseparated by a sterile level (5). Although the regions areat the opposite ends of Europe, a similar sequence ofindustries may characterize the Greek Palaeolithic.

AcknowledgmentsThis study formed part of and was supported by the

Boston University Nikopolis Project, and we are grateful

to the director, James R. Wiseman, for his assistance andencouragement. The participation of van Andel was inpart made possible by gifts from private donors to Stan-ford University. We also extend our thanks to AngelikaDousougli and Costas Zachos of the Archaeological Mu-seum in Ioannina, Greece. Discussions with Geoff Bailey,Pat Carter, and Charles Turner of the University of Cam-bridge have been enlightening.

Curtis Runnels isAssociate Professor n the Department ofAr-chaeology t Boston University. His special nterests are Greekprehistory nd diachronic egional urveys, nd he has con-ducted research n the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eriods, heorigins of agriculture, and the emergence fcomplex ocieties.Mailing address: Department ofArchaeology, oston Univer-

sity, 675 Commonwealth venue, Boston MA 02215.Tjeerd H. van Andel isHonorary Professor n the Depart-

ments ofEarth Sciences nd Archaeology t the University fCambridge. His interest s in environmental rchaeology, ithan emphasis n ancient settlement and land use, coastal eoar-chaeology, nd the application fQuaternary geology and soilstratigraphy oproblems f the Paleolithic and Mesolithic.Mailing address: Department ofEarth Sciences, University fCambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQEngland.

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