Introduction. Stable Places and Changing Perceptions: Cave Archaeology in Greece [with Fanis Mavridis & Lina Kormazopoulou] (original) (raw)

2013, Stable Places and Changing Perceptions: Cave Archaeology in Greece, BAR IS 2558

Caves are natural underground chambers formed by a variety of processes that range from microorganisms to a combination of chemical and other factors, chiefly tectonic forces and water erosion. The great majority has been formed in limestone landscapes by dissolution. Availability of space and size vary greatly (Figs. 2). Rockshelters are shallow cavities that commonly lack the formation of speleothems and the characteristic conditions of cave environments (Fig. 3). Several living species are endemic to caves since they represent particular ecological niches. Karstic environments usually present undisturbed records of landform evolution (Strauss 1997, 6), where climatic and past environmental conditions as well as human activities are preserved (Fig. 4). According to Geoff Bailey and Nena Galanidou, the latter typically occur in the form of low resolution palimpsests resulting from low rates of sedimentation and mixing by natural and anthropogenic processes (Bailey and Galanidou 2009, 215). Caves are considered as important elements of world cultural heritage, having been actively used by man, with significant scientific, historical, archaeological, and anthropological value. However, it is not only their unique value, regarding these aspects, that makes caves particularly important. Even when they do not preserve any human or other traces (e.g. palaeontological), they constitute exceptional natural monuments, sometimes of a rare beauty, and are therefore protected by public or international authorities like UNESCO (see also a relevant introduction by Stavroula Samartzidou-Orkopoulou 2005, 10-13). An extended list of cave uses varying through time and space can be provided, however, the list would never be full: places for permanent or periodical residence, production or storage, dump places, water sources, mines/quarries, pens or shelters for animals, cult or burial sites, spots for execution, refuges from danger or refuges for outlaws, outcasts and victims of epidemics as well as places for biological, environmental, palaeontological, archaeological, anthropological or other scientific research, touristic destinations etc. Some of the above mentioned uses of caves, such as refuges or places of exile or isolation, are characteristic of marginal landscapes and, in this sense, caves in some cases, share common characteristics with other marginal environments, like seascapes.