A Handaxe from Kokkinopilos, Epirus, and Its Implications for the Paleolithic of Greece

Author(s): Curtis Runnels and Tjeerd H. van Andel

Source: Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 191-203
Published by: Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/529953
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 191

A Handaxe from Kokkinopilos, Epirus,

and its Implications for the Paleolithic of
Greece

CurtisRunnels
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts

Tjeerd H. van Andel

University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England

A complete,well-preserved Micoquian-typehandaxewas discoveredin 1991 at Kokkinopi-

los, Greece,stratified16 m belowapaleosolofLast Glacialage containingabundantMid-
dle Paleolithicartifacts.The handaxe was embeddedin "credbeds" (veryfine-grained,well-
induratedredsediments)and is the same age as the redbeds.The lithologyof the redbeds
suggestsslowsedimentationon thefloor ofa doline(sinkhole)with a variablebut oftenhigh
groundwaterlevel.A minimum age well in excessof 60,000 years (60 kyr)for the handaxe
isfurnishedby the degreeof maturityof theMiddlePaleolithicpaleosol.Taking into ac-
countthe thicknessof the overburden,correctingfor compaction,and assuminga reasonable
sedimentationrate, the estimatedage of the handaxe is 250+50 kyr.We identifytwoperi-
odsofPaleolithicactivityat Kokkinopilos:late LowerPaleolithicat ca. 250 kyrseparatedby
a hiatusfrom a MiddlePaleolithicof ca. 100-30 kyrago.

Introduction
The site of Kokkinopilos, Greece, was discovered in
1962 in the course of a survey of Macedonia and Epirus
by the late Eric Higgs of the University of Cambridge
(FIG. 1; Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 213-235). The
site consists of deposits of red clays, or "redbeds,"west of
the Louros River. The deposits extend for approximately
850 m N-s and 500 m E-W,and consist of thick beds (ca.
35-40 m) of silty clay that in recent times have been
subjected to extensive erosion that has transformed them
into badlands dissected by deep gullies. Vegetation is con-
fined to patches of relict soil that once formed the surface
of the deposit. Large quantities of stone tools in "sharp,"
uneroded condition, although heavily patinated, were col-
lected from the surface of this site from "chipping floors"
which were recognized in two test excavations in 1963
(Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 213-235). The indus-
tries were identified by Higgs and his colleagues as Middle
and Upper Paleolithic.
In the course of the 1991 season of the Boston Uni-
versity Nikopolis Project, we discovered a complete and
well-preservedhandaxe (a "biface"in French terminology)
protruding from the side of a deep erosional gully at
Kokkinopilos (FIGS. 2, 3). The handaxe can be classified
according to the typology of Bordes as Micoquian and
assigned to the later or developed Acheulean industry
(Bordes 1961: 57). The dimensions of the biface are
length 21.5 cm, width 11.4 cm, and thickness 6.5 cm.
The surface of the artifact has a thick white patination,
but the original chert, visible in one place on the surface,
is light bluish-gray.The bifacial flake scars vary from 1 cm
to 5.5 cm in length. Negative bulbar scars near the edges
of the tool are intact and sharp and the surfaces of the
artifact show no signs of abrasive wear.
The absence of any macroscopic traces of abrasivedam-
age or weathering, apart from the surface patination, is
evidence that the handaxe was still in its original deposi-
tional context. Since it was embedded in sediments with
a maximum grain size of fine silt (ca. 0.02 mm), it could
not have been transported by water. Other observations
argue against the possibility that it was in a secondary
context. The handaxe was in a horizontal position when
it was discovered (FIG. 4), and the bedding of secondary
deposits in the steep V-shaped gully bottom would not
be horizontal. The deposits in which the handaxe was
embedded are strongly indurated in exactly the same way
192 HandaxefromKokkinopilos, and vanAndel
Greece/Runnels
loannina
00
~to
O
KERKYRA 0 '
PAXOIAr
ArtaREECE
Nikopolis
Preveza Amvrakian
Gulf
LEVKASjI2-
KF LE50
KEFALLINIA
Figure 1. Map showing the location of Kokkinopilos in southern Epirus.
as the rest of the redbeds. Other lithic artifactswere noted
in the same layer that contained the handaxe, and these
specimens were separated by clay matrix from each other,
and not sorted by size as they would have been had they
formed a part of the fill of an erosional gully. Lastly, the
handaxe and the other artifacts at the findspot are heavily
patinated as the result of long contact with the red clays.
No artifactssuch as the unpatinated Upper Paleolithic and
later materialsobserved on the exposed upper surfacewere
noted in the layer with the handaxe, whereas in a recent
erosional gully fill such materials would likely have been
mixed with the older, patinated artifacts.
The Geological Interpretation of the
Kokkinopilos Redbeds
In the greater Kokkinopilos area (FIG. 5) fine-grained
Quaternary redbeds partly fill a depression in a N-s trend-
ing band of Liassic Pantokrator Limestone. On the east,
the redbeds are bordered by a low limestone ridge and by
the Louros River valley, the surface of the redbeds lying
from 50 to 70 m above the river. On the opposite side,
the valley of an ephemeral stream separates the redbeds
from the limestone slope beyond. This valley opens south-
2
km
\
Coript
ward into a broad, low-lying, enclosed basin: the Tsero-
polis-Mavri depression.
The Kokkinopilos redbeds are traversed by a complex
system of deep, barren gullies described in detail by Harris
and Vita-Finzi (1968). Erosion is vigorous here; many
living pine trees stand on exposed root pedestals 50-100
cm high. The main outflow of the gully system is eastward
into the Louros valley through a gap in the limestone
ridge (FIG. 5), but erosion proceeding northward from the
Tseropolis basin has cut into the main deposit as well, and
should soon decapitate the older drainage net.
From the beginning, the archaeological research of
Cambridge University at Kokkinopilos has been accom-
panied by investigations of the origin and age of the
redbeds. The first report (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964)
already contained a preliminary analysis of the deposits
and other, quite different interpretations soon followed
(Higgs and Vita-Finzi 1966; Harris and Vita-Finzi 1968).
In the early 1980s, the return of the Cambridge group to
Epirus inspired further geological work (Bailey et al.
1983a, 1983b; Bailey 1988; Huxtable et al. 1992), in
particulara more detailed study of the Kokkinopilos area
in 1985.
 20, 1993
JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol. 193

The origin and age of the Kokkinopilos redbeds are
critical to our interpretation of the early Paleolithic finds,
and our discussion of both rests on paleosol data we
present below for the first time and on an analysis of the
relevant literature.
The UpperPaleosol
The Kokkinopilos redbeds have been described in detail
by H. Tippett (in Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 221-
225) who recognized three zones labeled A, B, and C

A B C

2. The Kokkinopilos handaxe. Drawing by Priscilla Murray and Curtis Runnels.

Figure

Figure 2. T~heKokkinopilos handaxe. Drawing by Priscilla Murray and Curtis Runnels.

Figure 3. The Kokkinopilos handaxe. Photographs by James R. Wiseman.

A B C

I i
194 HandaxefromKokkinopilos, and vanAndel
Greece/Runnels
Figure 4. Handaxe in situ at Kokkinopilos. View to west. Notice the
horizontal position of artifact and that it is aligned approximately per-
pendicular to the direction of water flow in the gully. Photograph by
Priscilla Murray.
from the limestone bedrock upward, the last overlain by
a fourth, unnamed one that was itself topped by a thin
soil. We shall return below to the deeper strata, but focus
first on the uppermost zone, described by Tippett (Dak-
aris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 222): "Overlying this [the
reddish-yellow upper Zone C] again and often differen-
tiated sharply from it by a discontinuity of veining, is a
uniform dark red (Munsell 2.5YR 3/6) or yellowish-red
(5YR 4/8) deposit. Lastly, where the original ground-
surface is preserved, the highest layer of all is a thin soil,
supporting the modern vegetation."
This "uniform dark red or yellowish-red deposit" is
actually the Bt horizon of a paleosol, remnants of which
are seen widely in the area, particularly under the still-
intact surface along the eastern limestone ridge, more ex-
tensively on the divide between the eastern and western
stream systems, and here and there on the crests of the
ridges that separate the main gullies. It is of a type wide-
spread on Quaternarydeposits in Greece and elsewhere in
the Mediterranean (e.g., Brosche 1977; Brunnacker 1974,
1979; Demitrack 1986; Finke 1988; Pope and van Andel
1984; Pope, Runnels, and Ku 1984; Urushibara 1981),
but that must be clearly distinguished from the red, au-
tochthonous sediments on limestones usually described as
terra rossa (Barbaroux and Bousquet 1976).
Detailed soil descriptions following the scheme recom-
mended by Birkeland (1984: appendix 1) were made at
six points (FIG.5: numbered dots) where a reasonable soil
profile has been preserved under the woodland cover. We
cite two examples (TABLE 1); the others are identical. The
Bt horizon itself is hard and quite resistant to erosion, but
its A horizon and some of its E horizon may have been
removed before the present E horizon accumulated, per-
haps in part from wind-blown dust (MacLeod 1980).
No Bca horizon, so common elsewhere in Greece (Pope
and van Andel 1984; Demitrack 1986), exists, because
the Kokkinopilos redbeds themselves are entirely non-
calcareous. Otherwise, the soil characteristics are within
the range of late Pleistocene paleosols from the southern
Argolid (Pope and van Andel 1984), Thessaly (Demitrack
1986), and the Argive plain (Finke 1988). Failure to
recognize that the red zone above Tippett's Zone C is a
paleosol and not a deposit, and that as such it presents a
chronostratigraphic opportunity, has contributed to the
difficulties encountered in the past in deciphering the Kok-
kinopilos stratigraphy.
It is important to note that we observed heavily-patin-
ated Middle Paleolithic artifacts in direct association with
the B horizon of the paleosol at a depth of 60-100 cm
below the surface. The heavy patination of these artifacts
suggests that they have been in contact with the red clays
of the B horizon for many thousands of years, and were
not incorporated recently into this paleosol from the mod-
ern surface where only unpatinated artifacts of later age
are found. It should be particularly noted that this soil at
the top of the redbed is not itself a deposit, derived by
erosion from another place, but is the result of the weath-
ering and transformation of an existing sediment over
thousands of years.
The Redbeds
The deep red Bt horizon is superimposed on the top of
a 30-40 m-thick series of beds of uniform lithology, con-
 20, 1993 195
JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.

Table 1. Two typical profile descriptions of the soil at Kokkinopilos that contains
patinated Middle Paleolithic artifacts. Locations of the profiles are shown in Figure 5.
See text for interpretation of the profiles.

Soil profileKP-1
Site: On divide, west side of gullied area.
Elevation: ca. 150 m.
Horizon
A ca. 10 cm of sandy forest debris
E ca. 60 cm greyish brown clayey silt
Bt >80 cm of Bt; lower part buried. Color: red (2.5YR 4/6); Consistency: non-sticky (dry), sticky,
weakly plastic (wet); Texture: silty clay loam; Structure: angular blocky, medium size (2-5 cm);
Clay films: many (50-90%); thick; Silt caps: none; HCI: not effervescent.
C Grading into uniform reddish brown (10R 4/8) substrate.
SoilprofileKP-3
Site: West of and below stone houses above Ioannina road, at base of first Roman aqueduct
chimney.
Elevation: ca. 145 m.
Horizon
A thin layer of decayed pine needle and silty fine sand.
E ca. 60 cm grey-brown clayey silt thick.
Bt 8-10 cm, truncated at top; Color: red (2.5YR 3/6); Consistency: non-sticky (dry), sticky,
medium plastic (wet); Texture: silty clay loam; Structure: angular blocky, medium (1-2 cm); Clay
films: many (50-90%), thick; Silt caps: none; HCI: not effervescent.
C Grading into uniform reddish brown (10R 4/8) bedrock.

Figure 5. The Kokkinopilos site. North is at the top. Redbeds are
shaded; the remainder of the map area, except for the Louros valley
itself, consists of Liassic Pantokrator Limestone. Numbered dots indi-
cate soil profile descriptions; the handaxe findspot is marked with an
open circle. Ephemeral streams are dashed; those shown in the heart
of the Kokkinopilos site are schematic. Small triangles denote chim-
neys of the Roman aqueduct; squares with peaked tops are stone huts.
Contours in m above sea level after Topographic Map of Greece, scale
1:50,000, Arta and Pappadatai sheets.
\~180-/
ro
ocoo
??'
Io :
sisting of consolidated silty clays and clayey silts with
abundant red iron oxide as coloring matter and in the
form of micronodules. Tippett (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey
1964: 221-225) recognized three zones differentiated
mainly by color. We concur with this zonation, which can
be summarized from top to bottom as follows (FIG.6):
Tippett's Zone C: uniformly reddish-brown (5YR 4/6 to
10R 4/8), indistinctly stratified; Tippett's Zone B: more
yellowish-red (7.5YR 4/4 to 5YR 6/8), broadly banded
on a 50-200 cm scale in lighter and darker tones, with
abundant gray mottles, veins and streaks, the latter with
a vertical tendency; Tippett's Zone A: a deep red (10R 4/
8 to 2.5YR 4/6) zone with fewer gray streaks. The gray
mottling which we, contrary to MacLeod and Vita-Finzi
(1982), regard as a true fossil gley, marks Zone B as

.............
....
:iliif:::::::,f:
2?..::.::?..
:::.i....
??
''.:::~i 000
0
affected by fluctuating groundwater levels during slow
deposition. Later, vertical veining was superimposed by
~0 groundwater circulating in fissures or root channels.
~:::::,(
.: : :I~
.?:'::.?.::~:::i:
::i~::~:cX ~1:
K'i: At the base, exposed in deep southern gullies (e.g., FIG.
__________________ m':;?::::: 500 5: location 7), Zone A sediment fills voids in a deeply
corroded limestone breccia that grades into the karstic
limestone surface of the Lower Liassic Pantokrator Lime-
stone. The boundary between Zones A and B is irregular,
according to Tippett because of surface exposure and ero-
sion. Thin bands and patches of ochre illuvial/authigenic
clay with Mn-Fe coatings and veins (plinthite), which may
STSEROPOLIS :( be remnants of the lower parts of highly mature Bt hori-
zons, are abundant in upper Zone A and are also present
500om
between Zones B and C.
196 HandaxefromKokkinopilos,
Greece/Runnels
and vanAndel
A horizon(modern)
Bt horizon(M.Paleol.)
140 - ZONEC reddishbrown
(5YR 4/6 to 1OR4/8)
0o0 I
1 (MacLeod 1980; Spaargaren 1979). Moreover, the floors
ZONE B yellowish red
130 - 0 of even partly filled dolines tend to be flat, and surface
(7.5YR4/4 to 5YR6/8; gleyed)
Shandaxe
120 - " -
I ZONEA deep red
(10R4/8 to 2.5YR4/6; gray streaks)
[
j flanks consist of limestone as is the case here. The grain
110 -: - karst surface
m PANTOKRATOR
LIMESTONE
Figure6. Schematic sectionof the
stratigraphic
redbedsat Kokkinopilos,
showingthepositionof
thehandaxe.ZonenamesafterTippett(Dakaris,
Higgs,andHey 1964:221-225);positionsof
zoneboundariesareours.Elevations
andzone
thicknesses
havebeenestimatedfrommapandalti-
meterdataandareapproximate. Seetextfordetails.
OriginoftheRedbeds
The origin of the Kokkinopilos redbeds has been much
debated. Hey (in Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 225-
229), using Tippett's data, assumed an aeolian origin for
the deposits by means of long-distance dust transport,
perhaps from the Sahara, a view shared by MacLeod
(1980). In contrast, Higgs and Vita-Finzi (1966) and
Harris and Vita-Finzi (1968), invoking occurrences of
intercalated gravels at the edges of the Kokkinopilos de-
posit, saw the redbeds as alluvial fans, equivalent to Vita-
Finzi's (1969) "Older Fill." Later, MacLeod and Vita-
Finzi (1982) included the Kokkinopilos redbeds with
other Pleistocene sediments in a "Kokkinopilos Forma-
tion," which they regarded again as alluvial fan deposits.
We have not observed interbedded gravels or scree de-
posits in the Kokkinopilosareasensustricto,and regard
the very uniform, fine grain size (more than 60% below
0.02 mm) and lack of clear depositional bedding as in-
compatible with an alluvial fan origin.
Hey (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964: 225-229) re-
jected local weathering and dissolution as the mode of
origin of the Kokkinopilos redbeds because of the under-
lying karstic surface, which he regarded as subaerial. In
dolines (sinkholes), however, the contact between sedi-
ment and bedrock is often like this, because karstic cor-
rosion can occur below a sediment cover as well as at the
surface. In such doline or polje (large depression) fills,
fine-grained residual material derived from local dissolu-
tion of the substrate combines with water-borne particles
derived from the flanks of the depression or wind-blown
dust from farther away. Thus sedimentation rates, al-
though generally slow, exceed those permitted by the mere
accumulation of insoluble residue, a very slow process
stream flows are feeble. Consequently, coarse materialcon-
centrates at the edges, leaving a uniform, very fine deposit
derived from slope-wash, dissolution, and wind transport
to accumulate in the center, especially where the doline
size distributions cited by Tippett (Dakaris, Higgs, and
Hey 1964: 223) and MacLeod (1980: table 1) are quite
in accord with such a derivation. The remaining charac-
teristics of the beds point to intense chemical weathering
and diagenesis due to slow deposition and the seasonally
fluctuating groundwater levels indicated by the fossil gley
soils.
Consequently, we regard the texture of the Kokkino-
pilos redbeds as entirely compatible with an origin as the
fill of a doline somewhat similar in size to the modern
enclosed basins of Tseropolis-Mavri and Kalyvia-Kraneas
(FIG. 7) southof the Kokkinopilossite.A shallow,seasonal
lake, often drying out entirely, is the environment we
envisage and that has been common in the limestone ter-
rains of Greece until recently.
The Kokkinopilos deposits form the southernmost of a
series of similar patches of redbeds strung along the west-
ern side of the Pente Dendra double fault zone (Geological
Map of Greece, Thesprotikon sheet) that is associatedwith
an anticlinal overthrust to the west. Their alignment along
a major fault zone further supports the interpretation as
sinkhole deposits, and the geological map legend indeed
identifies them as Quaternary sinkhole fills.
Originally laid down in closed basins, the southward
tilt associated with uplift of the Pindos ranges caused by
collision between the Italian/Adriatic and northern Greek
blocks has rendered them vulnerable to headward erosion
by southflowing streams. The first victims were the de-
posits along the small western stream, followed recently
by erosion of the eastern deposits starting from the Louros
valley. Streams from the Tseropolis area are now about to
capture the eastern drainage system, and a similar fate
awaits Lake Ziros, where only a few hundred meters sep-
arate the headwaters of an actively eroding stream and the
sw tip of the lake.
Clearly,the redbeds have diverse origins (e.g., Schneider
1977), and it is useful to distinguish at least three cate-
gories of redbeds: 1) the products of autochthonous soil
formation on limestone substrates, probably aided by the
addition of wind-transported dust (terra rossa); 2) allo-
 20, 1993 197
JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.

o
co
I " ~30
300
.0000,:
\•
-

Ii '
N N" 40 C C
, '

)C
iii
iiii
o0

7 0 03 .....
.......
•
,

S/
.. ......... Kokkinolo
x •ifif~i........--,oo s-
?

:::::::::::::j::::...
........:':
.2?:??:?::?:::?:-::?.C>.??L
.:::
:::~
??.~
.::
.........
~if:~fff~: - .

t::::::::::::::::::g
c?:
??:
J

?Lo,:
`0N.. --:.::::':
, ?. -

0..
.L..
00 X.
101, N/....'i~:I~~r~~i~~ijii~:~:i..?::
'o"::~::l:~:::~:::
.C- "

. #,

101,::::::::::::::::::Ko~i~pro '0 ,
'? ?

%
%

~ ~ ~" ~ ~ ~ n .....
........ i~iiiijiii300 ?0
-•'--.- ;:: ::::;
:::
:?:?:1010 ""''.d ...-.
:.,;: \?
._p"'-Iio/ :::::::::i?:::::::::::`40?: C:)-

//

"":.......•.....
3000
2

levaions.n.Meers.
i[........ N-,
In ermitent ',,

E.
.9/ E...c...'92 cC

Figure 7. The greater Kokkinopilos area showing the Pente Dendra fault zone, and flat-bottomed intramontane basins thought
to be poijes. North is at the top. Contour interval 20 m to 200 m, thereafter 100 m. Drainage shown with dashed lines.
198 HandaxefromKokkinopilos, and vanAndel
Greece/Runnels
chthonous deposits partly owing their red color to local
soil formation under conditions of slow deposition, and
partly to the addition of particles eroded from pre-existing
red sediments, perhaps formed in different climates; and
3) red soil horizons whose color is due to illuvial and
authigenic clay and iron oxide precipitation. This last cat-
egory is not a deposit in the true sense of the word.
Redness by itself therefore does not permit either genetic
or stratigraphic conclusions.
Furthermore, in a tectonically active terrain underlain
by extensive limestones the traditional, best understood
fluviatile source-to-sea system of erosion and deposition
is supplemented by another that involves closed basins
without outlets. Such closed (or formerly closed) intra-
montane basins are common in Epirus and elsewhere in
Greece, and form either as tectonic depressions or by
large-scale limestone solution (dolines or poljes: Ford and
Williams 1989: chapter 9). Both kinds can be large, and
may have complex histories. Neither type has received
adequate attention in Greece.
Failure to consider these distinctions in sediment type,
sediment origin, and depositional system combined with
a narrow focus on river deposition have tended to confuse
the discussion of the late Quaternary geology of Epirus,
as Lewin, Macklin, and Woodward (1991) note.
Age of the Main Kokkinopilos Paleosol
Quaternary Mediterranean soils form a chronosequence
that passes through a series of distinct maturity stages,
and so can be used to ascertain their relative and (if cali-
brated with dating techniques) also their absolute ages,
within broad limits (for a summary see Birkeland 1984;
details and examples, in e.g., Ajmone Marsan, Barberis,
and Arduina 1988; Busacca 1987; Gile, Peterson, and
Grossman 1966; Harden 1982; Leeder 1975; MacFadden
and Weldon 1987; Pope and van Andel 1984; Wieder
and Yaalon 1982).
The characteristics of the red soil horizon just below
the surface at Kokkinopilos, which we shall designate for
convenience the "Mid-Paleolithic Soil," fit this chronose-
quence; they are equivalent to the Middle Loutro Soils of
the southern Argolid (Pope and van Andel 1984; Pope,
Runnels, and Ku 1984), the Agia Sophia and Rodia Soils
of Thessaly (Demitrack 1986), and the late Pleistocene
paleosols of the Argive Plain (Finke 1988).
The paleosols from the southern Argolid and Thessaly
have been dated by U/Th disequilibrium methods to
52?13 kyr for the Middle Loutro Soil (Pope, Runnels,
and Ku 1984), 27-42 kyr for the Agia Sophia, and more
than 54 kyr for the Rodia Soils in Thessaly (Demitrack
1986: table 2). The soil dates imply ages for their sub-
strates ranging from 40 kyr to more than 60 kyr. The
Argive Plain paleosol correlates with low sea levels of the
middle and late Last Glacial between 50 kyr and 75 kyr
(van Andel, Zangger, and Perissoratis 1990), placing its
substrate early in the Last Glacial. The maturity of the
Kokkinopilos paleosol suggests that it formed early in the
range of dated soils, placing deposition of the youngest
Kokkinopilos redbeds at somewhat more than 60 kyr.
Soil profiles of latest Pleistocene to middle Holocene
age are absent in the Kokkinopilos area, and the remnants
of the Mid-Paleolithic Soil preserved around the vents of
a subterranean Roman aqueduct that traverses the area
imply that the landscape was still essentially intact at the
time of the aqueduct's construction. Today only two size-
able strips of Mid-Paleolithic Soil remain, one at the foot
of the limestone ridge separating the area from the Louros
valley, and the other on the western divide.
Age of the Redbeds
We have no dates for the units of the redbed sequence
or for its base; the deposits appear to contain neither
fossils nor material suitable for isotopic dating. Thus we
can bracket the age of Zone B in which the handaxe was
found (FIG. 6) only by the time-honored but admittedly
suspectmethod of estimatingsedimentationrates.
It is evidentthat, in this areawithout significantsupply
of stream-borne non-calcareous clastics, sedimentation
rates have been slow. How slow? Kukal (1990: 101-103)
has compiled data for wind-borne sedimentation rates
from many sources; not surprisinglythe amounts vary
widely from less than 1 to nearly100 cm/1000 yrs, but a
representative number would be 10-15 cm/1000 yrs be-
fore compaction.We note that we are not dealingwith
loess (ca. 60% medium-coarse silt), which can form at
higher rates, but with much finer dust deposits.
Altimeterreadingstaken within one hour at midday
and calibrated against the 140 m contour, yielded an ele-
vation of 144 m for the Middle Paleolithic Soil above the
handaxe site and 128 m for the find itself, a present thick-
ness of 16 m for the interval (FIG. 8). The deposits are
very fine-grained (about 50% clay; Dakaris, Higgs, and
Hey 1964: 223; MacLeod and Vita-Finzi 1982: 34), and
an initial porosity of 40-50% is reasonable. Because the
present porosity is very low, the original thickness must
have been considerably greater (22-28 m). With an esti-
mated sedimentation rate of 10-15 cm/kyr and a youngest
age of the deposits of ca. 60 kyr, this would yield a rough
estimate of 250? 50 kyr for the age of the handaxe.
Obviously, the uncertainties attached to this estimate
 20, 1993 199
JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.

Figure 8. View of the eroded redbeds at Kokkinopilos showing the position of the handaxe
in Zone B (bottom arrow) ca. 16 m below the Middle Paleolithic paleosol (upper arrow,
below trees). View to Nw. Photograph by James R. Wiseman.

are numerous and substantial (e.g., dust fall rates and their
variation with time and climate, rates of dissolution, in-
tervals of non-deposition or erosion, amount of compac-
tion) and make this age far from robust, but even if the
assumed sedimentation rate was five times as high (a num-
ber that seems exceptional for this sheltered area), it would
still place the handaxe long before the last interglacial.
Conclusions
The discovery of a well preserved handaxe in a geolog-
ical context that permits an estimate of the age of the
artifact adds to our understanding in two ways. The Eu-
ropean distribution of Micoquian-type handaxes must be
expanded to include Greece, and Greek prehistory must
be expanded to include the Lower Paleolithic. Evidence
for Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites in Greece is at
present very rare (see Runnels and van Andel in press for
a summary), and this handaxe, along with the Lower
Paleolithic finds from Thessaly, provides evidence for the
presence of human ancestors in western Greece-whether
these were Homo erectus,archaic sapients, or early Nean-
derthals-200,000 or more years ago.
200 HandaxefromKokkinopilos, and vanAndel
Greece/Runnels
Our observations also suggest a revision of earlier in-
terpretations of the Kokkinopilos site. It is difficult to
relate the observations reported in this paper to the results
of the investigations at Kokkinopilos by Higgs and his
team in the 1960s. We observed a mature soil horizon at
the surface of the deposits that contains a patinated Middle
Paleolithic industry. Below this soil there is a deposit
(Zone C) of 8-9 m thickness that appears to be sterile.
The handaxe was stratified in the next layer (Zone B, 16
m or more below the present surface), where it was seen
to be in association with heavily-patinated stone tools and
flaking debris. In 1963 Higgs excavated two test pits at
Kokkinopilos on the sE edge of the deposit, and these are
referred to as site a and Site 3 (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey
1964: 213-221). As a result of these excavations, two
Paleolithic industries at Kokkinopilos were identified: an
unpatinated Upper Paleolithic assemblage was collected
from the top of Zone B, at a depth of about 4 m, which
consisted of flakes, blades, steep scrapers, and backed
blades. A heavily patinated industry was found at the
bottom of Zone B, at a depth of less than 10 m, and was
classified as a typical Middle Paleolithic or Mousterian
industry with one fragment of a typical Mousterian hand-
axe, bifacially flaked points, and the rare use of the Lev-
allois technique to produce a variety of points, sidescra-
pers, and denticulates (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey 1964:
229-244). The zone below the depth of 10 m was
thought to be culturally sterile (Dakaris, Higgs, and Hey
1964: 217).
The soil profiles exposed on the east edge of the site
near the limestone bedrock (FIG.5: profiles 3, 4, and 5),
and in the middle of the redbeds (FIG.5: profiles 1, 2, and
6) contain in large numbers a patinated Middle Paleolithic
assemblage entirely different from the Upper Paleolithic
claimed by Higgs to lie at a depth of 4 m below the
surface at the top of Zone B. This industry cannot be
distinguished from the Middle Paleolithic surface materi-
als collected by Higgs, and the discrepancy between his
and our observations can perhaps be partly explained by
the continuing high rate of erosion at Kokkinopilos that
has exposed these soil profiles with the Middle Paleolithic
sites only recently. The erosion has exposed nearly 1 m of
the root system of even very young pine trees, indicating
that it has considerably altered the site since the comple-
tion of fieldwork by Higgs and his team. We were unable
to locate the excavations made by Higgs. They are not
located on any published map, and the great amount of
erosion that has occurred since the time of the excavations
has possibly obliterated all traces of them. It is probable
that sites ( and p3were excavated in gullies where earlier
erosion and redepositionof clays from the surrounding
layersmay have led to the mixing of lithic industriesre-
covered from those sites (Bailey 1988: 40). This may
explain why our observed sequence cannot be closely
matchedto the publishedstratigraphicprofilesfrom the
excavations.
We postulatethat the handaxeand associatedindustry
at Kokkinopilosis to be dated to 250 + 50 kyr.Deposi-
tion continued at Kokkinopilos,coveringthe Acheulean
industrywith a layer (Zone C) nearly9 m in thickness.
The makersof the later,highly-developedMiddle Paleo-
lithicindustrywith foliateleafpointsoccupieda stableland
surfacethatfollowedthe near-cessationof deposition,and
the sites were incorporatedin the soil that developed
during a period of stability. Higgs and his colleagues
(Dakaris,Higgs, and Hey 1964: 219) dated the Upper
Paleolithic at Kokkinopilos,which follows the Middle
Paleolithic,to approximately35 kyr, and thus ca. 60-30
kyr is for us a reasonableestimateof the age of the soil.
This two-part chronostratigraphic sequenceof Paleo-
lithic industriesin Greece,with a late Lower Paleolithic
industrydatingto ca. 250 ?+ 50 kyr and a MiddlePaleo-
lithic industrydating to ca. 100-30 kyr, is broadlysup-
ported by researchelsewherein Greece.Evidencefor the
LowerPaleolithicin Greeceis veryrare.The only handaxe
to be reportedbeforethe presentfind was discoveredby
Higgs and his team at Palaiokastronin northernThessaly
(Higgs 1964), but the attributionand affiliationof this
artifactare difficultto confirm.The handaxewas an iso-
latedsurfacefind, and repeatedvisitsto the samearea(Pat
Carter,personalcommunication,1991) failedto identify
other artifacts.Recently,a Lower Paleolithicsite was dis-
covered at Rodia in Thessaly (Runnels 1990a, 1990b;
Runnels and van Andel in press).The assemblageat this
site consists of choppers, chopping tools, denticulates,
notches,side scrapers,and other tools madefromcobbles
andflakesof quartzandradiolarite.The Rodiaassemblage
was found in direct associationwith a terraceof the Pe-
neios Riverthat can be datedto greaterthan ca. 210 kyr
on the basisof a U/Th disequilibriumdate for partof the
same terracesystem in another part of the river valley
(Runnels and van Andel in press).
There seems to be a hiatus between the Lower Paleo-
lithic and Middle Paleolithic industries that have been
found in Greece. A Middle Paleolithic industry with two
facies ("basal Mousterian" and "micro-Mousterian")was
found in the lower levels at Asprochaliko cave, 2 km north
of Kokkinopilos in the Louros River valley. The earliest
Mousterian from the excavations at Asprochaliko (the
"basal"Mousterian from layer 18) has been dated to ca.

100 kyr recently by thermoluminescence dates on burned
flint (Huxtable et al. 1992). This finding places the begin-
ning of the Greek Middle Paleolithic late in the last inter-
glacial. The basal Mousterian, however, is rare in Greece,
but the overlying layer 14 at Asprochaliko contains a
small-scaleMousterian that is found at many open-air sites
in Greece. This Mousterian is dated at Asprochaliko (layer
14) to the earlier part of the last glaciation on the basis
of its stratigraphic relation with the basal Mousterian
(Huxtable et al. 1992: 111), and radiocarbon dates for
this later Mousterian suggest an age of ca. 37-39 kyr or
more (Bailey et al. 1983a: table 2), and this chronology
is in line with our estimate of ca. 60-30 kyr based on
radiocarbon and uranium-series dates for the small-scale
Mousterian in the Argolid and Thessaly (Pope, Runnels,
and Ku 1984; Runnels 1988: table 2; Runnels and van
Andel in press).
In conclusion, the Kokkinopilos handaxe may be re-
ferred on typological grounds to the latest Acheulean.
Some support for a late Acheulean affiliation of the Kok-
kinopilos handaxe can be found in Europe. Handaxes are
abundant in Europe, and they are usually considered as
typical artifacts of the Lower Paleolithic. Handaxes are
practically unknown from the Balkans (Gamble 1986:
152-153), however, and the Kokkinopilos specimen will
require a reevaluation of the distribution of handaxe in-
dustries in this region. The Acheulean was followed in
Europe by Mousterian flake tool industries that made use
of the Levallois technique, but the transition from the
Acheulean to the Mousterian is not well known. The
transition is not closely dated, and there were undoubtedly
areas where they overlapped in time as in Cantabria
(Spain), where the Acheulean ended sometime before 100
kyr (Bischoff, Garcia, and Straus 1992: 59-60). Recent
estimates place the transition at ca. 200 kyr or a little later
in France. Griin, Mellars, and Laville (1991), for example,
have recently published estimates based on electron spin
resonance (ESR) dating for a sequence of Acheulean and
Mousterian levels at the cave site of Pech de l'Az6 II. They
conclude that the Acheulean assemblage in the lower levels
at this site (9-5) with handaxes is ca. 128-162 kyr in age
or somewhat older (the wide scatter of ESR results does
not permit a more precise estimate), and Typical and
Denticulate Mousterian assemblagesfrom the higher levels
(4-2) are ca. 54-87 kyr in age. These two industries are
separated by a sterile level (5). Although the regions are
at the opposite ends of Europe, a similar sequence of
industries may characterizethe Greek Palaeolithic.
Acknowledgments
This study formed part of and was supported by the
Boston University Nikopolis Project, and we are grateful
20, 1993 201
JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.
to the director, James R. Wiseman, for his assistance and
encouragement. The participation of van Andel was in
part made possible by gifts from private donors to Stan-
ford University. We also extend our thanks to Angelika
Dousougli and Costas Zachos of the Archaeological Mu-
seum in Ioannina, Greece. Discussions with Geoff Bailey,
Pat Carter, and Charles Turner of the University of Cam-
bridge have been enlightening.
CurtisRunnels isAssociateProfessorin the DepartmentofAr-
chaeologyat BostonUniversity.His specialinterestsare Greek
prehistoryand diachronicregionalsurveys,and he has con-
ductedresearchon the Paleolithicand Mesolithicperiods,the
originsof agriculture,and the emergenceof complexsocieties.
Mailing address:DepartmentofArchaeology,BostonUniver-
sity, 675 CommonwealthAvenue, BostonMA 02215.
TjeerdH. vanAndel is HonoraryProfessorin theDepart-
mentsofEarth Sciencesand Archaeologyat the Universityof
Cambridge.His interestis in environmentalarchaeology,with
an emphasison ancientsettlementand land use, coastalgeoar-
chaeology,and the applicationofQuaternarygeologyand soil
stratigraphytoproblemsof the Paleolithicand Mesolithic.
Mailing address:DepartmentofEarth Sciences,Universityof
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