Characterization of stone artifacts from the Middle and Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic deposits of Drakaina Cave, Kephalonia, Ionian Islands: a mineralogical-geochemical approach for determination of local and “exotic” raw materials and their sources

Abstract

This work presents the results of the mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical study carried out on representative samples from the large assemblage of the Neolithic stone artifacts found in Drakaina Cave, at Kephalonia island, western Greece. The aim of this study is the determination of the raw materials used for the manufacture of lithic/stone implements, as well as their possible sources. Of the artifacts under study, the chipped stone tools were manufactured on cherts from local sources, while the ground stone edged tools on gabbro and the discoid stone beads on talc, both imported in the Ionian Islands. Geochemical analyses indicate that the most probable source for the gabbro artifacts is the Pindos Mountains. Limestones and sandstones, used by the Neolithic stone workers for the production of various ground stone tools, such as grinding slabs, grinders, abraders, polishers and hammer stones, were acquired exclusively from local sources, as they are the predominant rock types of the island. The raw material for the manufacture of a zoomorphic vessel of white marble was most probably originated from Naxos, an island of the Cyclades complex in the south Aegean Sea.