ISLAND ISOLATION AND CULTURAL INTERACTION IN THE EBA NORTHERN AEGEAN: A CASE STUDY FROM POLIOCHNI (LEMNOS)

Abstract

The results of recent exca_ations at Poliochni, an the island of Lemnos, carried out by the Italian Archaeological School at Athens in 1993-1998, provide an opportunity to move beyond current interpretative paradigms about the concepts of insularity. Westerm Anatolia, the coastal region of Eastern Macedonia and Cyclades represent three significant directional axes which mark the patterns of exchange, interaction and, occasionally, isolation of insular communities.

This paper discusses the insular colonization procedures on the island of Lemnos in comparison with those in other parts of the Northern Aegean at the end of the Fourth Millennium. B.C., in order to understand the centrality and the marginality of the inter-island and island-mainland relations. During the Black Period the archaeological records suggests movement of peoples coming from Western Anatolia and a point of interest is the absence of relationships between Cyclades and the Northern Aegean. In the next Blue Period the emergence of a wide fortified settlement suggests the transformation of the village into a well-planned settlement.