{"id":12375,"date":"2023-11-19T11:37:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T09:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cig-icg.gr\/stelida-naxos-archaeological-project\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T12:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:34:40","slug":"stelida-naxos-archaeological-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/stelida-naxos-archaeological-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1216.8px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>The St\u00e9lida Naxos Archaeological Project (SNAP) was a geo-archaeological survey (2013-2014) and excavation (2015-2019) focused on the hill of Stelida on the northwestern coast of Naxos. The excavation was conducted as a collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades, and co-directed by Demetris Athanasoulis (Ephorate) and Tristan Carter (McMaster University).<\/p>\n<p>St\u00e9lida was first identified as an archaeological site in the early 1980s by the French School during a broader survey of Naxos, noted for its chert source and the abundant debris from associated stone tool workshops. The site\u2019s dating, however, remained uncertain, as the stone tools were both crudely made and previously unknown in the Cyclades. SNAP\u2019s analysis confirmed that the site was largely, if not entirely, pre-Neolithic, with a substantial portion of material dating to the early Mesolithic and earliest evidence for exploitation in the Paleolithic. This evidence indicates early maritime activity by mobile hunter-gatherers, with at least one phase of occupation in the 9th millennium BCE. Together, these findings challenge earlier assumptions that the Cyclades were first settled in the late Neolithic and contribute to a revised understanding of seafaring and early settlement in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Select Bibliography <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Carter, T., D.A. Contreras, S. Doyle, D.D. Mihailovic &amp; N. Skarpelis. 2016. &#8220;Early Holocene interaction in the Aegean islands: Mesolithic chert exploitation at St\u00e9lida (Naxos, Greece) in context.&#8221;\u00a0275-286. In <strong><em>G\u00e9oarch\u00e9ologie des \u00eeles de M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e<\/em>.<\/strong> M. Ghilardi ed. Paris: CNRS Editions<\/p>\n<p>Carter, T., D.A. Contreras, J. Holcomb, D.D. Mihailovi\u0107, P. Karkanas, G. Gu\u00e9rin, N. Taffin, D. Athanasoulis &amp; C. Lahaye. 2019. \u201cEarliest occupation of the Central Aegean (Naxos), Greece: Implications for hominin and Homo sapiens\u2019 behavior and dispersals.\u201d\u00a0<strong><em>Science Advances<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>5.10: eaax0997.<\/p>\n<p>Carter, T., D.A. Contreras, D.D. Mihailovi\u0107, T. Moutsiou, Y. Pitt, N. Singh &amp; C. Zogheib. 2025. \u201cMiddle Paleolithic Behavioral Insights from the Stelida Chert Source, Naxos (Greece).\u201d <strong><em>Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies<\/em><\/strong> 13.1-2: 32\u201359.<\/p>\n<p>Skarpelis, N., T. Carter, D.A. Contreras &amp; D.D. Mihailovi\u0107. 2017. \u201cPetrography and geochemistry of the siliceous rocks at St\u00e9lida, a chert source and early prehistoric stone tool manufacturing site on northwest Naxos, Greece.\u201d <strong><em>Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports<\/em><\/strong> 12: 819-833<\/p>\n<p>To learn more, visit the project website:<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/stelida.mcmaster.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/stelida.mcmaster.ca\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":15919,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12375","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cig-icg.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}