Reconstructing Activities at a MiddlePleistocene – Early Holocene Chert Quarry of Stélida (Naxos, Greece): An Integrated GIS and Artifact Analysis

 I completed my Honours B.A. in Anthropology at McMaster in 2013, with an Interdisciplinary Minor in Archaeology. I have been working for three seasons at the Neolithic tell site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey in the chipped stone lab. My Master’s research, however, will stem from my involvement in the Stélida Naxos Archaeological Project, a survey directed by my supervisor Dr. Tristan Carter on the island of Naxos in the Greek Cyclades.

My research takes a geoarchaeological approach to the lithic assemblages from our chert quarry site, the exploitation of which spans primarily the Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods (>300,000 to ca. 10,000 years ago). I will employ several Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis tools to interrogate the various site formation processes that have altered artifact distribution during that time period. My primary aim is to differentiate legitimate areas of hominin activity from those where environmental and anthropogenic factors have collaborated to recreate a modified archaeological record.