WYSIWYG

Settlement and Territoriality in Southern Greece during the Early and Middle Neolithic Periods

Abstract

As early as the Early Neolithic a ‘North-South divide’ developed in Greece, resulting in a very dense pattern of settlement in Thessaly and, evidently, much more openly spaced villages in the south. Is this pattern real or merely a consequence of some archaeological bias? The results of intensive surveys are reviewed to suggest that the pattern does give a reliable picture, and one not seriously obscured by a ‘hidden landscape’ of missing sites. A key element in the occupation of southern Greece is the long-lived village site; Kouphovouno, Laconia, is used to illustrate one such settlement of the Middle Neolithic period. In the concluding section it is argued that the forces of population growth and ecological constraints do not entirely explain the southern Greek pattern, and territoriality is put forward as an important mechanism.