Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Lit** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:37 am

features
Paleolithic Tools - Plakias, Crete
Volume 64 Number 1, January/February 2011
by Zach Zorich

A research team led by Thomas Strasser of Providence College and Eleni Panagopoulou of the Greek Ministry of Culture announced the discovery of stone tools at two sites on the island of Crete that are between 130,000 and 700,000 years old. The tools resemble those made by Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus, showing that one of these early human ancestors boated across at least 40 miles of open sea to reach the island, the earliest indirect evidence of seafaring. "If hominins could move around the Mediterranean before 130,000 years ago, they could cross other bodies of water as well," says team member Curtis Runnels of Boston University, who helped analyze the tools. "When similar finds on other islands are confirmed, the door will be opened to the re-evaluation of every assumption we have made about early hominin migrations."

http://www.archaeology.org/1101/topten/crete.html

by **yialousa1971** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 9:16 am

Cretan Tools Point To 130,000-Year-Old Sea Travel

by The Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece January 3, 2011, 04:10 pm ET

Archaeologists on the island of Crete have discovered what may be evidence of one of the world's first sea voyages by human ancestors, the Greek Culture Ministry said Monday. A ministry statement said experts from Greece and the U.S. have found rough axes and other tools thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years old close to shelters on the island's south coast.

Crete has been separated from the mainland for about five million years, so whoever made the tools must have traveled there by sea (a distance of at least 40 miles). That would upset the current view that human ancestors migrated to Europe from Africa by land alone.

"The results of the survey not only provide evidence of sea voyages in the Mediterranean tens of thousands of years earlier than we were aware of so far, but also change our understanding of early hominids' cognitive abilities," the ministry statement said.

The previous earliest evidence of open-sea travel in Greece dates back 11,000 years (worldwide, about 60,000 years — although considerably earlier dates have been proposed).

The tools were found during a survey of caves and rock shelters near the village of Plakias by archaeologists from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Culture Ministry.

Such rough stone implements are associated with Heidelberg Man and Homo Erectus, extinct precursors of the modern human race, which evolved from Africa about 200,000 years ago.

"Up to now we had no proof of Early Stone Age presence on Crete," said senior ministry archaeologist Maria Vlazaki, who was not involved in the survey. She said it was unclear where the hominids had sailed from, or whether the settlements were permanent.

"They may have come from Africa or from the east," she said. "Future study should help."

The team of archaeologists has applied for permission to conduct a more thorough excavation of the area, which Greek authorities are expected to approve later this year.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132621681

by **yialousa1971** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 9:18 am

This undated hand out photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry on Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, shows an Early Stone Age axe discovered by a US-Greek team of archaeologists on the southern island of Crete. A ministry statement said Monday that this and other similar finds, dating back at least 130,000 years, point to what may be one of the earliest signs of human seafaring.

This undated hand out photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry on Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, shows four Early Stone Age axes discovered by a US-Greek team of archaeologists on the southern island of Crete. A ministry statement said Monday that these and other similar finds, dating back at least 130,000 years, point to what may be one of the earliest signs of human seafaring.

by **Lit** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:51 am

Archaeologists discover earliest evidence of seafaring in Crete

ATHENS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua)-- Greek and foreign archaeologists have traced the earliest evidence of seafaring in tools dating back to 130,000 years ago during excavations on Crete island, the Greek Culture Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

In over a century of systematic archaeological research on the southern Greek island, scientists had not found evidence that Crete was inhabited before the Neolithic period (7,000-3,000 B.C.).

Recent findings of an excavation at Plakias- Preveli near the city of Rethymnon, which started in 2008 by a research team led by Thomas Strasser of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and Eleni Panagopoulou of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, show that Crete was inhabited as early as the Palaeolithic period.

Noting that even 130,000 years ago Crete was an island, archaeologists present the tools found as evidence that the ancestors of modern man sailed earlier than we thought so far.

full story below:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/s ... 678079.htm

by **Mikiko** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:34 pm

This is irrelevant to Cyprus as there is no publicity on the local press .

by **Oracle** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 2:15 pm

Mikiko wrote:This is irrelevant to Cyprus as there is no publicity on the local press .

What a shortsighted remark. If you are only interested in the "local press" why do you bother with a far-reaching Internet based forum?

We have a number of wide-ranging topics which stimulate thought if not a multitude of posts.