Before the Neolithic, in the Aegean and the Ionian sea

The Cyclops cave on Youra brought to light, in the early 1990s, a clear and coherent sequence of the Mesolithic period in the Aegean, dated between the 10th and the early 7th millennium BC. The finds, including certain indications of animal domestication, led to an immediate revision of our understanding of the stage of “Neolithization.” The period of “introduction” and “preparation” of the Neolithic was now understood to have lasted three millennia before the emergence of a “fully formed” Neolithic in the mid‑7th millennium BC.

However, the evidence is not uniform throughout the Aegean and mainland Greece. While on Youra the nomadic fishing groups appear to have made attempts at managing animal resources, no such indications exist at contemporary sites slightly further south (Maroulas on Kythnos, Franchthi cave). Some new stratigraphic units of Mesolithic have also been identified in other caves—for example, the Sarakinos cave in Boeotia and more caves in the Mani peninsula—but they do not provide the same wealth of information.

These differences are also apparent on a broader geographical scale. Another Mesolithic of similar characteristics to the Aegean is observed along the coasts of Asia Minor and as far as the region of Antalya, north of Cyprus. In contrast, on Cyprus itself and along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the Pre‑Pottery Neolithic is unfolding; the same applies to the Anatolian interior, where permanent villages and an incipient Neolithic economy based on cultivation and the exploitation of domesticated animals are evident. These cultural synchronisms likely indicate waves of influence between different regions, in which the sea played a crucial connective role.

The question that usually concerns researchers in the case of the Aegean revolves around whether Neolithization was introduced from elsewhere or developed locally. Indeed, it appears that certain elements of the new economy in the Aegean—perhaps even the populations themselves—came from other geographical regions. However, this notion of “introduction” is problematic. It would be preferable to view the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean as a single broader entity, within which some populations in fertile inland areas and on Cyprus were settled in permanent villages, while others (fishing groups), reliant on the sea and travel, continued to live nomadically and were slower to adopt elements of the Neolithic way of life.

This discussion has recently expanded to include the Ionian region as well, with the first stratified evidence of Mesolithic occupation in the area of Nafpaktia, including environmental indicators similar to those in the Aegean (shell middens).

2025, Y. Facorellis, M. Fedi, M. Ntinou, E. Vardala-Theodorou, S. Katsarou, A. Darlas, Preliminary results on the calculation of the Marine reservoir effect during the Palaeolithic period based on samples from coastal caves in Karavostasi, Manis, Peloponnese, Greece, 9th Symposium for Archaeometry of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry, “Materializing the Past: Narratives via Archaeological Science”, Patras, 5-8 November 2025, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences.

2025, S. Katsarou, A. Nagel, A. Karadima, Akarnania’s ancient caves in modern times: new archaeological research and material evidence, Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Western Greece and Beyond. Farewell to Franziska Lang, International Conference, Technical University of Darmstadt, 11-12 December 2025 (Organizer: Technical University of Darmstadt).

2025, S. Katsarou, Cave excavations and their contribution to understanding Greek prehistory, Half a Century of Cave Protection and Research. Symposium Dedicated to the Memory of Evangelia Protonotariou-Deilaki, Athens, Epigraphic Museum, 9 October 2025 (Organizer: Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology). [in Greek]

2025, I. Efstathiou, S. Katsarou, A. Papadea, G. Valvis, Caves in the Ionian sea and western Greece: Human activity, new evidence and research perspectives, Half a Century of Cave Protection and Research. Symposium Dedicated to the Memory of Evangelia Protonotariou-Deilaki, Athens, Epigraphic Museum, 9 October 2025 (Organizer: Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology). [in Greek]

2025, S. Katsarou, E. Karkazi, A. Darlas, Coast and karst dynamics: the case of Limnopoula rockshelter, Varassova, Nafpaktia, 6th International Maritime Archaeology Graduate Symposium (MAGS 2025), Ioannina, 2-5 April 2025 (Organizers: University of Ioannina & Honor Frost Foundation).

2024, S. Katsarou, K. Sporn, From Greece to Germany. The Ludwig Reisch collection and Palaeolithic research at the Kephalari cave in the Argolid, Archaeology & Arts 145 (August 2024), pp. 20-33. [in Greek]

2021, S. Katsarou, The art of carving in prehistoric period. In: Engraving. From Prehistory to Present-Day Greece. Exhibition. 29 December 2021-28 February 2022, Athens, School of Fine Arts, Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece. Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 13-15.

2021, S. Katsarou, A. Nagel, Introduction: On reading caves and ancient Greek cult. In: S. Katsarou, A. Nagel (eds.), Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece. New Approaches to Landscape and Ritual, pp. 1-16. London/New York. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003015765-1

2017, S. Katsarou, A. Darlas, Cave heritage in Greece: Aetoloakarnania, Archaeological Reports 63 (Archaeology in Greece 2016-2017), pp. 89-105. https://doi.org/10.1017/S057060841800008X

2010, S. Katsarou, A. Sampson, The Aegean Mesolithic: A hybrid culture, an outward society. In: A. Sampson (ed.), Mesolithic Greece, 9,000-6,500 BC, pp. 173-182. Athens. Ιon Publishing Group. [in Greek]

2009, S. Katsarou-Τzeveleki, Building and applying ‘Insularity Theory’: Review of Knapp’s Prehistoric and Protohistoric Cyprus, 2008, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 9(1), pp. 123-128. https://www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/291/230

2007, A. Sampson, S. Katsarou, The prehistory of Cyprus. In: A. Sampson, The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Mediterranean, pp. 317-351. Αthens. Editions Kardamitsas. [in Greek]

2006, Α. Σάμψων, Σ. Κατσαρού-Τζεβελέκη, Κύπρος. Η Εποχή του Λίθου και η Χαλκολιθική. Στο: Ιστορία των Ελλήνων, τόμος 15:Κύπρος. Αθήνα. Εκδόσεις Δομή. [in Greek]

2005, S. Katsarou-Tzeveleki, A. Sampson, The earliest habitation of Cyprus. The ‘Cypriot’ influence to the Aegean indigenous versus imported Neolithization debate. In: A. Sampson, Τhe Prehistory of the Aegean Basin. Palaeolithic-Mesolithic-Neolithic, pp. 88-114. Athens. Editions Atrapos. [in Greek]

2004, A. Sampson, S. Katsarou, Cyprus, Aegean and the Near East during the PPN, Neo-Lithics. The Newsletter of Southwest Asian Neolithic Research 1/04, pp. 13-15. https://www.exoriente.org/repository/NEO-LITHICS/NEO-LITHICS_2004_1.pdf

2001, S. Katsarou-Tzeveleki, Aegean and Cyprus in the Early Holocene: Brothers or distant relatives?, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 1(1), pp. 43-55. https://www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/19/8

2001, S. Katsarou, Aegean and Cyprus in the Early Holocene. Brothers or distant relatives?, The Aegean Basin between the Balkans, Anatolia and Near East: Local Experimentations and Outward Interactions in an Island Society, Rhodos, University of the Aegean, 23 March 2001 (Organizer: Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean).

2000, S. Katsarou, Wall paintings and reliefs in the Pre-pottery and Pottery Neolithic of Anatolia and Mesopotamia, “Cultures of the Oriental Peoples,” 4th Prehistoric Archaeology Conference of the University of Ioannina, Ioannina, March 18-19, 2000 (Organizer: Department of Archaeology, University of Ioannina). Unpublished Proceedings; uploaded on www.academia.edu.[in Greek]