Information on the Middle Palaeolithic in Greece has been obtained from numerous open sites, some excavated caves and rockshelters covering the period 100,000-35,000 BP. Greece was probably the crossroads for the Middle Palaeolithic, where two anthropological types: Homo sapiens praesapiens and Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis coexisted for a certain time. Skeletal remains of the Neanderthal anthropological type, were found at Kalamakia Cave in Mani and date to 80,000-40,000 years BP. At Theopetra Cave in Kalambaka human footprints which date to approximately 46,000 BP were also discovered. The most reliable archaeological evidence for this period comes from the Angitis Cave in Drama and Theopetra in Kalambaka, the rockshelters Asprochaliko and Kokkinopilos in Epirus, and the Kalamakia and Lakonis Caves in Mani. Moreover, recent important finds from Alonnissos in the north Sporades, have confirmed that there were settlements not only on the mainland but also on the Aegean Islands. Inside the caves and rockshelters, where the Middle Palaeolithic hunters and gatherers took refuge, simple (Lakonis, Theopetra) or/and stonebuilt (Kalamakia) hearths were found which provided heating and facilitated food preparation. Makeshift cobbled beds were also discovered (Kalamakia). The rich bone material from Angitis, Theopetra, Kalamakia and Lakonis, have provided data for a reconstruction of the fauna in the diverse palaeoenviroments of the Greek area during the Middle Palaeolithic. The hunters in Mani preyed upon rhinoceros, pygmy elephants, deer, wild goats, wild pigs, cattle, rodents, reptiles and snails, and in Macedonia upon bears, rhinoceros, mammoth, deer and horses. Besides the thick woodland, based on the finds from Theopetra, the flora of the era, consisted of burdock, lithospermum, field gromwell, elder, wild almond etc., which were collected from the foothills and plains. In order to hunt and butcher the game (scraping, cutting), stone tools were used manufactured with the technique Levallois and the Mousterien technique, typical of the Middle Palaeolithic. The stone industry of the period included handaxes, centripetal flakes, characteristic Mousterien points, single or double scrapers and natural-backed blades. The transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic and the arrival and predomination of the present anthropological type (Homo sapiens sapiens) in the Greek area remains problematic due to the fragmentary character of the material. |