Ftelia
Coordinates: 37 ° 27 ′ 39.6 ″ N , 25 ° 22 ′ 31.5 ″ E
Ftelia ( Greek Φτελιά ( f. Sg. )) Is an archaeological site from the Neolithic Age on the Greek island of Mykonos . It is assigned to the Saliagos culture of the early end of the Neolithic and is known for the diverse finds of building foundations, ceramics, metalwork and stone figures. The settlement was established using the 14 C method between 5000 and 4500 BC. Dated. It was discovered in 1992 and excavated from 1995, but the finds were only published in 2002.
The settlement
Ftelia is at the end of the Panormos Bay ( Ormos Panormou Όρμος Πάνορμου), on the north side of the island of Mykonos. The sandy beach there is interrupted by a low sandstone plateau that continues to the rear of the beach and on which the prehistoric settlement was built. Comparable to similar Neolithic sites on Kephala , Saliagos , Grotta and on Kythnos , the settlement is exposed to north winds almost all year round. Since the sea level was 10 m lower at the time of the settlement of Ftelia , it is assumed that the settlement was in the middle of a relatively fertile coastal plain. In ancient times the place was possibly identified with the grave of the mythical warrior Ajax the Little , this goes back to the structure of the terrain with a round hill, which was interpreted as a burial mound. As early as the Hellenistic era , the sandstone plateau was used as a quarry for the construction of houses, but further destruction of the site arose from the creation of a parking lot in the last decades of the 20th century, for which the surface was removed with a bulldozer. Archaeological finds can therefore only be made through excavations; no traces have been preserved on the surface.
In the excavations from 1995 onwards, six exploratory cuts were made in a rectangular grid pattern down to the natural rock. The archaeologists found wall foundations, a large number of ceramic shards of various types, stone tools, traces of metalworking and a total of 19 stone figures, 13 of which represent humans and 6 animals. The building foundations show several phases, which suggests permanent settlement over a longer period of time. The size of the settlement identified so far suggests around 150 to 200 residents.
Further excavations in a grid resulted in four successive development phases. The oldest remains of the wall stand directly on the sandstone of the plateau on the hill or lie in a thin layer of sand on top. They are between 5000 and 4900 BC. Dated. The only clearly recognizable building of this phase is to be interpreted as a megaron , with at least two rooms of about 3 x 3.80 m and 4.30 x 3.80 m. It is oriented in a north-south direction and its walls are preserved up to 1.50 m high. So far, only wall corners of two other buildings from the same era are known. The second phase has both rectangular and curved walls. It cannot be determined whether the buildings are round buildings or apses on an otherwise rectangular structure. The third and fourth phases can only be insufficiently separated. They are differentiated by their floor layers, whereby at least one building of the third phase must have been in use in the fourth. A singular double building from this era has been preserved, consisting of a straight wall in an almost exact north-south orientation and two semicircles to the east and west. It is interpreted as a granary.
All walls consist mainly of reading stones from the local granite, with flat stones being used for the foundations. Sandstone was occasionally used. There is evidence of adobe bricks, but they have not survived.
The culture
The inhabitants of Ftelia were already farming, flat peas were the staple food, more than 50% of all food finds could be assigned to this species. Next to it was the lentil as another legume . Barley is also proven to be the only grain. Next to it was the keeping of sheep and goats. Pigs and cattle were already known, but only played a subordinate role. Fishing and hunting for roe deer served as a supplement. Despite the location of the settlement by the sea, the finds indicate that fishing and the gathering of sea snails and mussels were not the focus of the diet, unlike on Saliagos, only a few remains have been found and so far no fishhooks or harpoon tips. The diet in Ftelia is interpreted in such a way that the inhabitants brought their methods of food production with them from the mainland and did not adapt them to the place of settlement on the island.
The settlement's ceramics come in a variety of shapes and techniques. These are almost exclusively open bowls and vessels with wide openings, jugs were still unknown. The types show parallels to the Dodecanese and Evia . Stone tools consist of grinding stones of various sizes and the polished heads of axes and hammers. Some polished stones are considered slingshot ammunition . Of clay were spinning weights , jewelry and figurines made, unknown is the purpose of three anchor-shaped artifacts made of clay. Three awls , a needle, an earring and two pieces of wire were found made of metal . The latter probably belonged to a piece of jewelry that cannot be identified.
The stone figures are without direct ancestors. There are clearly recognizable connections to the Cycladic idols of the early Bronze Age, even if it is not known how the tradition could be passed on due to a break in settlement continuity. There are many similarities in common, so depictions of women are typical in both cases. Two figures from Ftelia are well enough to show the stature of the women. Both have a lush pelvis, one shows small, high breasts, which also corresponds to the iconography of the Cycladic idols. Most of the figures only have heads, they are between 2.9 and 7.2 cm tall and, like the Cycladic idols, the faces are inclined upwards and stylized by a flat face with a protruding nose. The animal figures are the oldest in the region, two of them were attached to vases as handles.
meaning
Even before Saliagos, Ftelia is considered the most important, known settlement of the late Neolithic on the Cyclades. The location of the island of Mykonos and the cultural affinity to relatively distant regions suggests that Ftelia was an important hub through which techniques and materials such as rock and especially obsidian were exchanged.
literature
- Adamatios Sampson: The Neolithic Settlement at Ftelia, Mykonos . University of the Aegean, 2002, ISBN 960-87197-0-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adamantios Sampson: The Architectural Phases of the Neolotihic Settlement of Ftelia on Mykonos . In: NJ Brodie, J. Doole, G. Gavalas, C. Renfrew (Eds.): Horizon - a colloquium on the prehistory of the Cyclades . Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2008, ISBN 978-1-902937-36-6 , pp. 29-35.
- ↑ Francesca Megaloudi, Philippe Marinval: Données préliminaires sur l'économie végétale dur site de Ftelia, Cyclades (Grèce) au neolithique récent . In: Adamatios Sampson 2002, pp. 191-200.
- ^ Nellie Phoca-Cosmetatou: Economy and Occupation in the Cyclades during the Late Neolithic - the Example of Ftelia, Mykonos . In: NJ Brodie, J. Doole, G. Gavalas, C. Renfrew (Eds.): Horizon - a colloquium on the prehistory of the Cyclades . Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2008, ISBN 978-1-902937-36-6 , pp. 37-43.