THE STUDY OF COASTAL PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF DOKOS ISLAND, GREECE, USING REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES

• M. Geraga, G. Papatheodorou, G. Ferentinos (Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 261 10 Rio-Patras, Greece)
• S. Tsaila-Monopoli (Laboratory of Palaeontology, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 261 10 Patras, Greece)

The reconstruction of the paleoenvironment and the understanding of its influence on humans are necessary for the study of human culture during the Stone Age. Prehistoric rockshelters and caves provide the most interesting sites for comprehensive archaeological studies in the Mediterranean area, since their sedimentary records can provide significant information for both human culture and regional environment.

In this work, high resolution palaeoclimatic data derived from marine sediments from the SW Aegean Sea, Greece, is presented and is correlated with the geoarchaelogical studies from the adjacent Franchthi Cave. The palaeoclimatic data is based on the micropaleontological analyses and analyses of oxygen isotopes of the marine sediments from two cores of about 2m long, whilst the chronological framework is based on 9 AMS datings.

The time span of the paleoclimatic record is about 45ka. During that time in general three main climatic periods have been observed between 45-21ka BP, 21-10ka BP and 10-0ka BP, corresponding to ST3, ST2 and ST1 respectively. Furthermore a series of climatic events of short duration has been observed during the Last Glacial period and Holocene. During the Last Glacial period 5 cold events have been observed at about 37 ka BP, 26ka BP, 20.5ka BP, 14ka BP and 11ka BP which seems to corresponds with the Heinrich 4 (H4), H3, H2, H1 and Younger Dryas events, respectively. During the Holocene three cold events have been observed at about 9.7ka BP, 7.3ka BP and 6ka BP which seems to coincide with three of the eight cold events which have been observed during the Holocene at sediments of cores from North Atlantic.

The correlation between the above presented marine data and the lithostratigraphic sequence in trenches FA and HH1 at the Franchthi Cave shows that there is a good agreement between distinct climatic changes and ethno-lithostratigraphic changes or hiatuses. The abovementioned support the view that the climate had an impact on the cultural changes during the Stone Age at least at the SW Aegean area.