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Middle Palaeolithic Artefacts

Middle Palaeolithic artefacts have been documented throughout the site, with notable concentrations near the highest-quality chert outcrops at the southern peak, as well as in front of two small rockshelters measuring less than 3 square meters.

Distribution of Middle Palaeolithic chipped stone artefacts.

Technological Assemblage of the Middle Palaeolithic

Our survey uncovered a substantial array of artefacts characteristic of Middle Palaeolithic technologies, predominantly flakes from discoidal cores. These were followed by Levallois flake and blade industries, with the latter knapped from large uni- and bi-directional cores.

Among modified tool types, we recorded a high frequency of notched and denticulated pieces, supplemented by side-scrapers fashioned from Levallois and canted asymmetrical flakes. Additionally, a small number of combination tools and points were identified. Thus far, no artefacts diagnostic of the Upper Palaeolithic have been recovered.

Temporal Framework of Middle Palaeolithic Material

Without absolute dates, establishing a precise chronology for the Middle Palaeolithic material remains challenging. A key research question is whether these artefacts reflect brief episodes of intensive exploitation or instead represent sustained quarrying and knapping activities spanning the Middle – Late Pleistocene.

At least part of the assemblage can be tentatively linked to the Denticulate Mousterian facies of the Mediterranean coast, which first emerged in Western Europe during isotope stages 7 and 5 (243,000–130,000 BP) and became increasingly prevalent during stage 3 (50,000–38,000 BP) (Thiébaut 2010: 379, Fig. 25).

The Levallois blade component likely predates this phase or corresponds to an early stage of the Denticulate Mousterian, as it is a defining feature of early Middle Palaeolithic assemblages on the Greek mainland and sites associated with the last interglacial in Western Europe and the Mediterranean (ca. 130,000–80,000 BP) (Huxtable et al. 1992). Further east, Levallois blades appear even earlier, characterizing Levantine early Mousterian assemblages dated to 100–250 ka (Bar-Yosef & Kuhn, 1999: 326).

Early Human Presence and Neanderthal Activity in the Cyclades

The Stélida material offers compelling evidence that the exploitation of the Cyclades occurred much earlier than previously believed. The Middle – Late Pleistocene dates align with emerging discoveries of early human occupation and visitation in Crete.

Additionally, throughout the Aegean and the broader Mediterranean region, Levallois technologies have been exclusively linked to Neanderthal populations. The finds at Stélida may represent the first definitive evidence of Neanderthals on Naxos and, more broadly, in the Cyclades.