Papers by Thomas Strasser
Damnoni cave is a Mesolithic site located on the southwest side of Crete, in the Rethymnon distri... more Damnoni cave is a Mesolithic site located on the southwest side of Crete, in the Rethymnon district. The site was found by a targeted survey method used with success in the Kandia region of the East Peloponnese. In this method, Mesolithic sites are located by exploring
coastal areas with abundant fresh water, south-facing limestone caves, and nearby coasts with very steep bathymetry. While the importance of factors like fresh water may be obvious, the final factor is especially important; if the bathymetry is gradual, the Mesolithic sites would have been closer to the modern shore and inundated by the ever-rising sea levels since the last glacial maximum. At Damnoni, however, the subduction of the African tectonic plate under the European forces the White Mountains of west Crete dramatically up. Consequently, the bathymetric drop-off is 100 meters within a short distance from the shore at Damnoni. The region around Plakias, and specifically around the Damnoni Bay, fits all the environmental criteria for a Mesolithic site, and, in fact, the Plakias Mesolithic Surveydiscovered early Holocene tools in front of the cave in 2008.The survey, having met with such extraordinary success, moved on to the excavation phase in 2011. This paper presents the excavation method and the preliminary results of both the 2011 and 2013 field seasons.
American Journal of Archaeology, 1988
Page 1. Archaeological Survey in an Artifact-Rich Landscape: A Middle Neolithic Example from Neme... more Page 1. Archaeological Survey in an Artifact-Rich Landscape: A Middle Neolithic Example from Nemea, Greece JOHN F. CHERRY, JACK L. DAVIS, ANNE DEMITRACK, ELENI MANTZOURANI, THOMAS F. STRASSER, AND LAUREN E. TALALAY ...
Damnoni cave is a Mesolithic site located i southwest Crete. The site was found by a targeted sur... more Damnoni cave is a Mesolithic site located i southwest Crete. The site was found by a targeted survey method. In this method, Mesolithic sites are located by exploring coastal areas with abundant fresh water, south-facing limestone caves, and nearby coasts with very steep bathymetry. The region around Plakias, and specifically around the Damnoni Bay, fits all the environmental criteria for a Mesolithic site, and, in fact, the Plakias Mesolithic Survey discovered early Holocene tools in front of the cave in 2008. The survey, having met with such extraordinary success, moved on to the excavation phase in 2011. This paper presents the excavation method and the preliminary results of both the 2011 and 2013 field seasons.
Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabia... more Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula were the primary passageways for migrations to Eurasia. The Mediterranean is usually viewed as a barrier to early hominin movements because pre-sapiens hominins were thought to lack the technical means or the cognitive skills to construct boats. The discovery of early Palaeolithic artefacts in an archaeological survey on the Greek island of Crete challenges this view. Here we show that Palaeolithic artefacts in the Plakias region in southwestern Crete are associated with geological contexts that can be dated to the late Middle or early Late Pleistocene. Because Crete has been separated from the mainland throughout the Pleistocene, the presence of Pleistocene age artefacts there suggests that early hominins were able to cross open water. DATING PALAEOLITHIC SITES IN SOUTHWESTERN CRETE, GREECE d GSL elevation in metres below modern sea level (b.m.s.l.) is reported for a given MIS. e Uplift rate errors are consistently less than 0.01 m ka À1 .
Eurasian Prehistory
Lithic artifacts from eight findspots in the Plakias region of southwestern Crete are ascribed to... more Lithic artifacts from eight findspots in the Plakias region of southwestern Crete are ascribed to the Acheulean of the Middle Pleistocene on the basis of morphotypological characteristics, geologic contexts, and OSL assays. Considered in a regional context, the Cretan Acheulean is similar to the Acheulean found on sites in both the eastern and western portions of the Mediterranean region that resulted from an "Out of Africa" adaptive radiation of hominins (probably Homo erectus s. l.) that began ca. 0.8 -1.0 mya. We suggest that hominins may have arrived on Crete in the Middle Pleistocene as part of this hominin dispersal and that open-water crossing, at least in the southern Aegean, may have been involved.
d i n i n g i n t h e s a n c t ua r y o f de m e t e r a n d k or e 1 Vo l u m e 7 9 2 0 1 0 Cop... more d i n i n g i n t h e s a n c t ua r y o f de m e t e r a n d k or e 1 Vo l u m e 7 9 2 0 1 0 Copyright © The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, originally published in Hesperia 79 (2010), pp. 145-190. This offprint is supplied for personal, non-commercial use only. The definitive electronic version of the article can be found at <http://dx.
The Flotilla Fresco from Akrotiri on Thera depicts 14 sea-craft, with seven large ships seemingly... more The Flotilla Fresco from Akrotiri on Thera depicts 14 sea-craft, with seven large ships seemingly en route between two landmasses. There are, however, strong arguments against the idea of a long-distance voyage, and instead this study supports the concept of a nautical ceremony. By using palaeotopographical research, it is suggested additionally that the fresco depicts a specific setting inside the Theran caldera prior to the Bronze Age eruption; the perspective is from its interior eastern rim, looking west towards the oppositefacing cliffs of the crater's spits. This interpretation overcomes iconographic difficulties such as the placement of the boats and dolphins above the landmasses and the unique depiction of horizontally bedded rocks around the Departure Town.
Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabia... more Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula were the primary passageways for migrations to Eurasia. The Mediterranean is usually viewed as a barrier to early hominin movements because pre-sapiens hominins were thought to lack the technical means or the cognitive skills to construct boats. The discovery of early Palaeolithic artefacts in an archaeological survey on the Greek island of Crete challenges this view. Here we show that Palaeolithic artefacts in the Plakias region in southwestern Crete are associated with geological contexts that can be dated to the late Middle or early Late Pleistocene. Because Crete has been separated from the mainland throughout the Pleistocene, the presence of Pleistocene age artefacts there suggests that early hominins were able to cross open water. DATING PALAEOLITHIC SITES IN SOUTHWESTERN CRETE, GREECE d GSL elevation in metres below modern sea level (b.m.s.l.) is reported for a given MIS. e Uplift rate errors are consistently less than 0.01 m ka À1 .
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Papers by Thomas Strasser
coastal areas with abundant fresh water, south-facing limestone caves, and nearby coasts with very steep bathymetry. While the importance of factors like fresh water may be obvious, the final factor is especially important; if the bathymetry is gradual, the Mesolithic sites would have been closer to the modern shore and inundated by the ever-rising sea levels since the last glacial maximum. At Damnoni, however, the subduction of the African tectonic plate under the European forces the White Mountains of west Crete dramatically up. Consequently, the bathymetric drop-off is 100 meters within a short distance from the shore at Damnoni. The region around Plakias, and specifically around the Damnoni Bay, fits all the environmental criteria for a Mesolithic site, and, in fact, the Plakias Mesolithic Surveydiscovered early Holocene tools in front of the cave in 2008.The survey, having met with such extraordinary success, moved on to the excavation phase in 2011. This paper presents the excavation method and the preliminary results of both the 2011 and 2013 field seasons.
coastal areas with abundant fresh water, south-facing limestone caves, and nearby coasts with very steep bathymetry. While the importance of factors like fresh water may be obvious, the final factor is especially important; if the bathymetry is gradual, the Mesolithic sites would have been closer to the modern shore and inundated by the ever-rising sea levels since the last glacial maximum. At Damnoni, however, the subduction of the African tectonic plate under the European forces the White Mountains of west Crete dramatically up. Consequently, the bathymetric drop-off is 100 meters within a short distance from the shore at Damnoni. The region around Plakias, and specifically around the Damnoni Bay, fits all the environmental criteria for a Mesolithic site, and, in fact, the Plakias Mesolithic Surveydiscovered early Holocene tools in front of the cave in 2008.The survey, having met with such extraordinary success, moved on to the excavation phase in 2011. This paper presents the excavation method and the preliminary results of both the 2011 and 2013 field seasons.