The Epipalaeolithic Site of Ouriakos on the Island of Lemnos and its Place in the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the East Mediterranean Region

Abstract

Until a few yeas ago Lemnos, the eighth largest Greek island and located in the north-eastern Aegean Sea between Mount Athos, Samothrace, Imbros and Lesbos Fig. 1 , was known mainly for the Bronze Age settlement of Poliòchni and the archaic and classical city of Hephaestia and its sanctuary, the Kavirion. The island extends over an area of 478 sq. km. At present its shortest distance from the mainland coast of northwestern Anatolia is ca. 62 km. Although of volcanic origin, some areas of the island consist of depressions covered with Holocene alluvium, sometimes spotted with shallow salt basins and lagoons, which are common along the north-eastern coast and the innermost part of Moudros Bay

Lemnos Adası Ouriakos Epipaleolitik Yerleşimi ve Doğu Akdeniz’in Geç Pleistosen Dönemde İskan Edilmesi Sürecindeki Yeri

Abstract

Birkaç yıl öncesine kadar Lemnos Limni Adası, önemli Arkaik ve Klasik ören yerleri, Venedik dönemine kadar devam eden “Lemnos Kili” üretimi ve ticareti, kuzeybatı Anadolu’daki yerleşimlerle kıyaslanabilen ve karmaşık katmanlı Tunç Çağı Poliokhni yerleşimi ile tanınırdı. Yakın zamanda keşfedilen, Poliokhni’dekine benzer, örneğin Myrina ve Koukonisi’dekiler ve adanın çeşitli sahillerindekiler gibi kimi Tunç Çağı yerleşimleri, Lemnos’un muhtemelen Hellespontos’un kontrolüyle ilgili olarak Ege dünyasının Tunç Çağı’nda rolünün önemine işaret etmektedir.

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