Special Issue: Early Personal Ornaments --- Cultural Implications of Uniformity in Ornament Assemblages: Paleolithic and Mesolithic Ornaments from Franchthi Cave, Greece

Abstract

The Paleolithic and Mesolithic ornament assemblages from the Franchthi Cave are possibly the richest in Europe in the number of specimens. They are also, undoubtedly, the most restricted in terms of ornament types and the most uniform through time. Perforated Tritia neritea, Tritia pellucida, Antalis sp. and Columbella rustica constitute the dominant types throughout the sequence, from the earliest Upper Paleolithic to the end of the Mesolithic. Pre-Aurignacian, Aurignacian, and Gravettian assemblages, for instance, are completely similar in terms of types and frequency, and the same holds true for the Final Upper Paleolithic and the Lower Mesolithic. Such stability in the choice of ornament types, despite repeated changes in the status and function of the site, contradicts the dis-continuities exemplified by the lithic assemblages. This raises the question of the cultural proxies we use to define past cultural entities and suggests a revision of the paleogeography of prehistoric Europe. This special issue is guest-edited by Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer (Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University) and Marjolein D. Bosch (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge). This is article #11 of 12.