" . . . the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." —Quarterly Research The marine molluscan material covered here is the largest sample of its kind yet excavated in Greece.

" . . . the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." —Quarterly Research The marine molluscan material covered here is the largest sample of its kind yet excavated in Greece.

A fresh and authoritative study of the ornaments recovered from the Franchthi Cave sediments, with illustrations included. The famous Franchthi Cave excavations in Greece brought to light an exceptionally long sequence of ornaments, spanning from the earliest Upper Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic. This volume focuses on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments and ornamental species, which constitute one of the largest collections in Europe for these periods combined. Franchthi is one of the few identified production centers for ornaments, which are overwhelmingly dominated by marine molluscs. The detailed publication of these collections (Cyclope neritea, Antalis sp. and Columbella rustica) will be useful to all malacologists and specialists in ornaments working around the Mediterranean. These reference collections, coupled with the examination of manufacturing and wear traces on the archaeological specimens, allow a detailed reconstruction of the whole production cycle from procurement to discard. The systematic association of unworked, freshly worked, and very worn shells suggests that the ornaments mostly served for the production or rejuvenation of embroidered garments. Despite the richness of the assemblages and varied local resources, the range of ornament types is surprisingly narrow and fundamentally stable through time. The ornaments from Franchthi Cave therefore paint a different portrait of the European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, one based on regional cultural continuity.

The subject of ‘Molluscs in Archaeology’ has not been dealt with collectively for several decades. This new volume in Oxbow’s Studying Scientific Archaeology series addresses many aspects of mollusks in archaeology. It will give the reader an overview of the whole topic; methods of analysis and approaches to interpretation. It aims to be a broad based text book giving readers an insight of how to apply analysis to different present and past landscapes and how to interpret those landscapes. It includes Marine, Freshwater and land snails studies, and examines topics such as diet, economy, climate, environmental and land-use, isotopes and mollusks as artifacts. It aims to provide archaeologists and students with the first port of call giving them a) methods and principles, and b) the potential information mollusks can provide. It concentrates on analysis and interpretation most archaeologists and students can undertake and understand, and to 'review' the 'heavier' science in terms of potential, application and interpretational value.

Despite their ubiquitous presence among prehistoric remains in Greece, ground stone tools have yet to attract the same kind of attention as have other categories of archaeological material, such as pottery or lithics. Flexible Stones provides a detailed analysis of the material discovered during the excavations at Franchthi Cave, Peloponnese, Greece. Approximately 500 tools, the raw material used for their manufacture, as well as the byproducts of such manufacture were found. Most of this collection comes from the Neolithic component of the site—including a small number of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cases—with a large number of the studied tools indicating multiple uses. Anna Stroulia sees the multifunctional character of these tools as a conscious choice that reflects a flexible attitude of tool makers and users toward tools and raw materials.

This fascicle describes the background of the Franchthi project and its excavation history and methodology. Particle size, mineralogy, and chemistry are all taken into consideration as the cultural remains and the sediments from the cave are analyzed to determine their origin and history. William Farrand constructs an integrated stratigraphy for the entire cave using excavators' notes, laboratory analyses, and personal field data to correlate sequences in separate trenches. On the basis of some 60 radiocarbon dates, the evolution and chronology of the sedimentary fill is postulated.

Molluscs are the most common invertebrate remains found at archaeological sites, but archaeomalacology (the study of molluscs in archaeological contexts) is a relatively new archaeological discipline and the field of zooarchaeology is seen by many as one mainly focused on the remains of vertebrates. The papers in this volume hope to redress this balance, bringing molluscan studies into mainstream zooarchaeological and archaeological debate, and resulting in a monograph with a truly international flavour.

This fascicle is the thirteenth in the series of Level One publications of the excavations at Franchthi Cave and is the third and final installment of the report on the site's chipped stone industries. The objective of Catherine Perlès's study is to make sense of the chronology of the site in its economic, technological, and typological dimensions. All phases of the Neolithic are represented at Franchthi Cave. Rich with more than 3,000 reconstructed pieces, this study offers a representative and technical typology that is unequaled today. The first part of the analysis offers diagnostic elements to facilitate comparisons between the lithic sequence and surface dating and is more descriptive than interpretive. The second part is dedicated to a step-by-step analysis of the Franchthi material in a well-defined chrono-stratigraphical framework. The third and most interpretive portion of the study addresses itself more specifically to those who are interested in the socio-economic organizational problems of Neolithic societies. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece—Thomas W. Jacobsen, editor, with Karen D. Vitelli

"With the long-awaited publication of these three volumes we have the first thorough documentation of one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean, that of Franchthi Cave in the Argolid Peninsula of Greece." --American Anthropologist "... the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." --Quarterly Research "Fascicle I is an introduction to the monograph series. It is complemented by a set of maps, plans, and profiles, most of them oversized, needed to match the scope of the project. The maps are of excellent quality... " --American Antiquity This volume is an introduction to the series as well as the site and excavations. Its principal purpose is to provide a group of illustrations, many of them oversized, fundamental to the stratigraphic and environmental interpretation of the site.

Vol. 2: Since 2007, the Belgian School at Athens has undertaken excavations on the Kefali or Buffo hill, east of the village of Sissi, on the north coast of Crete where a Minoan site was occupied approximately between 2500 and 1200 BC. This volume is the follow-up of an earlier one on the 2007-2008 excavations (published as 'Aegis 1') and presents a preliminary report on the excavations carried out in 2009 and 2010. It concentrates on the different zones examined within the cemetery and settlement. There are also reports on the Late Minoan pottery, site conservation and environmental analysis as well as a paper on the use of GIS at Sissi