Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology

The Belgammel Ram was found off the coast of Libya in 1964, and examined during 2008–9. The following techniques were used: surface non-contact digitizing using a laser scanner, reflectance transformation imaging using polynomial texture mapping and hemi-spherical harmonics, digital photogrammetry with dense surface modelling, structured light optical scanning, and X-ray fluorescence analysis.

Η ναυτιλία ήταν πάντοτε συνυφασμένη με την ιστορία και την παράδοση της περιοχής μας. Η αρχαία ελληνική ναυπηγική και ναυσιπλοΐα, αποδεικνύουν τον διαχρονικό, στενό δεσμό των Ελλήνων με τη θάλασσα. Η ιστορία της ελληνικής πλεύσεως στη Μεσόγειο, μια ιστορία ναυτικών ταξιδιών, ναυπηγικών επιτευγμάτων, διακίνησης ιδεών και τεχνολογικών εξελίξεων, χρονολογείται από την προϊστορική αρχαιότητα έως τις αρχές του 20ού αιώνα.

Από την  Εποχή του Χαλκού (3η χιλιετία π.Χ.) ήδη οι κάτοικοι της Μεσογείου και του Αιγαίου θα εξελιχθούν σε πραγματικούς ναυτικούς ταξιδεύοντας ολοένα και μακρύτερα: Σικελία, Μικρά Ασία, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, Δαλματικές Ακτές. Κατά τη 2η χιλιετία π.Χ. τα ηνία στον αυτό ναυτιλιακό πολιτισμό έχει η Μινωική Κρήτη. Στα 1450 π.Χ. τον Μινωικό Πολιτισμό διαδέχεται ο Μυκηναϊκός. Οι Μυκηναίοι με νέα και καλύτερα πλοία, με έδρα την Πελοπόννησο, εξαπλώνονται σε όλη την Μεσόγειο.

Σε συνεργασία με αρχαιολόγους, μάγειρες, προμηθευτές, διατροφολόγους και προπονητές, επιχείρησα μια πολύπλευρη προσέγγιση της αρχαίας κυπριακής διατροφής εντοπίζοντας αρχικά τα είδη που καλλιεργούνται, και καταναλώνονται μέχρι σήμερα στο νησί,

Behavioural models are being increasingly employed by archaeologists and anthropologists to understand how contemporary hunter-gatherer populations respond to variations in resource availability through innovations in their material culture. Such models tend to overlook social behavioural responses which could also be employed by populations to help offset the risk of failure, sometimes in a less costly manner than material expressions.

A behavioural model developed from the data of 55 contemporary hunter-gatherer societies predicts how populations will adopt social behaviours when resources are scare and the risk of failure is high; and suggests that as the availability of resources becomes increasingly variable, populations will adopt a suite of social behaviours to ensure kin relationships are maintained and available resources are not overexploited.

This paper describes the application of the contemporary behavioural model onto the archaeological record of the Upper Palaeolithic, suggesting possible social adaptations employed by Gravettian and Aurignacian modern human populations as they colonised and adapted to the new and changing European landscape. Results suggest that the full range of modern human social behavioural expressions had a slow development during the advancement of modern humans into Europe, but then became a standard form of expression by the onset of the Gravettian.

The behavioural capacities of Neanderthal foragers throughout the Middle Palaeolithic have been the focus of intense debate for the past 40 years. Though new archaeological and genetic data has increased our understanding of Neanderthal resource acquisition, migration and phylogeny the nature of these records have left us with little understanding of Neanderthal social behavioural expressions and their role within Neanderthal society. This paper presents the culmination of four years of research which has utilised both ethnographic analogy and statistical behavioural modelling to determine how the environment of Europe during MIS-3 would have influenced the Neanderthal expression of a range of social behaviours. Results suggest that Neanderthal behaviour was influenced by the acquisition of food resources and that both Neanderthal and AMHs adopted similar behavioural frameworks throughout the MP/UP transition; which suggests both species displayed a behavioural and cognitive parity throughout the transition and that other factors (notably physiology and demography) may have limited the Neanderthal ability to create symbolic artefacts.

Previous research has highlighted links between environmental productivity, food resource acquisition, and tool complexity. Presented here are a series of analyses which pose the question: do the choices in food acquisition by hunter-gatherer (H-G) society’s impact upon their social and spiritual expressions? Two sets of analyses, the first employing data from the contemporary ethnographic record and the second based upon the archaeological record of the Gravettian, suggest that the method of food acquisition and associated technological complexity influence certain behavioural expressions within a society; notably in the fields social cohesion, social control and spiritualism. Food acquisition, therefore, deserves consideration as a proxy for certain social variables which may not be directly observable within the archaeological record.

Around 30,000 the archaeological record shows that modern human societies, dominant in Europe, began incorporating a range of symbolic elements into their everyday lives. However, questions remain as to how this 'Golden Age' came to be, and what factors may
have influenced human societies to develop this large range of social expressions. Further, with the archaeological record highlighting the Neanderthal capacity for symbolic expression the question of whether this 'Golden Age' was the sole purview of Modern Humans needs to be addressed.

This paper presents a series of computation models, developed from the contemporary ethnographic record, which suggest that during the MP-UP transition both Modern Humans and Neanderthals developed similar social mechanism that helped offset the dual risk of a variable environment and increased competition. This paper posits that Neanderthals were capable of
symbolic behaviour but were limited in how and when they could express it by demographic and physiological restrictions rather than any perceived cognitive deficit.

This paper discusses how these limitations would have impacted Neanderthals during their encounters with Modern Humans, challenges the concept of so-called 'modern human behaviour', and concludes that the development of a range of consistent social expressions during the MP-UP transition represents a necessary 'Silver Age' for human forager societies.

An analysis of over 30 hunter-gatherer societies from different climatic regions has highlighted several behavioral trends which are linked to the latitudinal placement of a society. The analysis highlights specific behaviors such as kinship, art expression and spatial use which have not previously been linked to latitudinal location, and supports the work of Oswalt (1976) and Roscoe (2004). This paper emphasizes how latitude acts as a predictor for hunter-gatherer behaviour, and proposes how this variable can be used for modeling the behaviors of prehistoric populations of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.

An analysis of over 30 hunter-gatherer societies from different climatic regions has highlighted several behavioral trends which are linked to the latitudinal placement of a society. The analysis highlights specific behaviors such as kinship, art expression and spatial use which have not previously been linked to latitudinal location, and supports the work of Oswalt (1976) and Roscoe (2004). This paper emphasizes how latitude acts as a predictor for hunter-gatherer behaviour, and proposes how this variable can be used for modeling the behaviors of prehistoric populations of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.