People

 Aikaterini Glykou, Alumni

Alumna

Aikaterini Glykou (Greece, 1975)

M.A. in Archaeology and History of Art

PhD project
Neustadt LA 156 – A Submarine Site of the Late Mesolithic and Earliest Neolithic in Schleswig-Holstein. Studies on the Subsistence Strategies of the Last Hunters, Gatherers and Fishers at the Baltic Coast of Northern Germany
This study presents an analysis of ceramics and faunal remains and its results. For this purpose, 7509 pottery sherds and 12698 animal bones were studied. The spatial distribution of the finds over the excavated area confirms the distribution patterns of a refuse area. As based on 42 radiocarbon dates, a duration of about 650 years can be estimated for the use of the site. The occurrence of time intervals in the sequence probably indicates discontinuities in the use of the site. Observations on seasonal site use are based on an analysis of the faunal record, which shows the exploitation of particular species mainly during autumn and winter.

The pottery assemblage consists of pointed-based pottery (66.7 %), lamps (1.7 %), funnel beakers (5.3 %) and unclassified ceramics (26.3 %). The technological analysis included two parts. A study comparing the manufacturing techniques revealed pronounced technological similarities between the H-, U- and N-techniques. In particular, the N-technique differs from the other techniques in three aspects: tempering material, thickness, and fragmentation. Due to the fact that a small scale use of the N-technique has already been confirmed for the manufacturing of the pointed-based pottery, it is assumed that this technique presents a technological development generated by the H- and U-techniques. Thus, all manufacturing techniques are thought to be part of the same ceramic tradition. Radiocarbon dates of sherds from these three manufacturing techniques confirmed a parallel use of all three, though the N-Technik first appears in the most recent stage of the tradition. Typological analysis of the funnel type 0 beaker shows pronounced similarities with the shape of the pointed based pottery, and can be seen as a transitional type as already suggested in a previous study. The stratigraphical distribution of the ceramics and the radiocarbon dates suggest a contemporary use of the two ceramic assemblages, which probably lasted some decades.

Comparison of the pointed-based pottery from Neustadt with ceramic assemblages from Northern Germany and Denmark has provided a wide variation of types, though it has not been possible to identify significant regional differences. The Funnel Beaker assemblage from Neustadt has been compared with ceramic inventories of the northern group of the Funnel Beaker culture, which revealed considerable similarities to the ceramic forms of the Oxie- Group. Thus, the south distribution borders of the Oxie-Group might need revision.

The faunal remains from Neustadt consist mainly of wild mammals (91.3 %), while only 6.5 % of the bones belong to domesticated animals (cattle, sheep/goats and dogs). Wild birds are only represented in 2 %, reptiles only in 0.3 % of the remains. The high frequency of cutting marks on the bones indicates that they belong to food remains. According to the analysis of cutting marks, procedures such as butchering and filleting seem to be stable for both big and small game. The same observations apply for sea mammals, which have obviously been treated in the same manner as terrestrial mammals. On the basis of secondary modifications on the corresponding bones, red deer, wild boar, aurochs, roe deer, harp seal, grey seal and the common porpoise were of great economical significance, although the focus lay on seal hunting which is probably a spatial feature of the site. The occurrence of new born harp seal in Neustadt indicates the existence of a breeding population in the Southern Baltic, which had not been previously known.

Cattle, and sheep or goat are represented with very low percentages (0.03 % and 0.04 %). A 14C-date from a bovine marks its first appearance in Southern Scandinavia at 4016 cal BC. The morphometrical identification of the bone coming from a bovine has been confirmed by DNA analysis. Despite observation of a very early appearance of the first domesticated cattle in these assemblages, its economical significance needs to be revised. Because of their scarce occurrence in the faunal assemblages in Northern Germany and Denmark until approximately 3950/3900 cal BC, when they started to appear in greater numbers, it is not possible to prove that their occurrence is linked to a shift in economy, neither in Neustadt nor in other contemporaneous assemblages. Therefore, their occurrence should not be linked to a local breeding population.

To conclude, the chronological frame for the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Northern Germany must be revised as a result. This also means that characterisation of such assemblages as being Neolithic is in question. Additional indications have been revealed by a 14C-date from a Funnel Beaker of the transitional type 0 which dates to 3950 calBC. This is in accordance with the beginning of a frequent occurence of domesticated animals. Hence, a new dating for the beginning of the Neolithic in Northern Germany at 3950 calBC is suggested.
Research interests Archaeozoology and maritime archaeology
Post PhD Position Post-doctoral fellow at the Archaeological Research Laboratory of Stockholm University
Education

Since 2008
Member of the Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes” at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel.

October 2005 - December 2007
Research on the zoological material and the pottery from the terminal Mesolithic-earliest Neolithic settlement site Neustadt LA 156, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Archaeological and zoological workteam at the Archaological State Museum Schleswig-Holstein.

March 2003 - March 2004
Studies at the University Kiel, Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Institute for Zoologie. Spesialisation on archaeozoology and maritime archaelogy.

September 1994 - June 1993
Studies on Archaeology and History of Art at the “National and Kapodistrian University of Athens”, degree of Archaeology and History of Art, Grade: ‘Very Good’ (7, 33/10).

Work experience

August 2008
Participation on the excavation of the Minoic Palast of Zominthos-Crete. Fauna determination.

Since November 2007
Research assistant at the international project “Pottery use among late Foragers and early Farmers in the Baltic” funded from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

July 2007
Scientific diver at the diving prospection of the Bay of Gorica (Prespa Lake, Albany) under the supervision of Dr. Karl-F. Rittershofer (DAI, German Archaeological Institute-Frankfurt).

March 2004
Underwater archaeology internship. Participation on the EU-project for the prospection of the Darsser-Kogge from 1923 and for the prospection of settlement sites and shipwrecks in the area of Fischland-Darss, Baltic. Animal bones research (Darsser-Koggr, from a late medieval to early modern times, Stralsund).

June 2002 - December 2002
Scientific supervision of an excavation at a cemetery with exclusively newborns burials (Archaic to Roman Period) Kylindra, Island of Astypalaia. 22nd Ephorate of prehistoric and classical archaeology, Rhodos.

June 2001
Scientific assistant in the excavations held at Viglatouri of Oxilithos (Euboa Island) under the supervision of the Honorary Curator of Euboa, Mrs E. Sapouna- Sakellaraki.

December 2000 - July 2001 & October 2001 - April 2002
Animal bones research from the sites Piges Angiti (northern Greece, Pleistocene Period) and Cyclops cave (Sporades, Holocene Period) in the above mentioned Ephorate, under the supervision of Dr. Aikaterini Trantalidou.

November 2000
Archaeozoology internship EPEAEK (Education and Primary Vocational Training) programme. Participation on seminars in archaeozoology and osteology in Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology & Speleology.

June 1997, June 1998 & June 1999, June 2000
Participation in the excavations held at Viglatouri of Oxilithos (Euboea Island) under the supervision of the Honorary Curator of Euboea, Mrs E. Sapouna-Sakellaraki.

Selected publications

in press
Glykou, A., Heinrich, D., Enghoff, I. B.: In besonderer Weise bearbeitete Wirbel von Thunfischen, Thunnus thynnus (Linnaeus 1758) – Objekte unbekannter Funktion. In: Offa.

in press
Glykou, A.,: Neustadt LA 156: A submarine site from the late Meoslithic-Ertebølle and the earliest Neolithic-Funnel Beaker Culture in Northern Germany: The first results of the typological and technological analysis of the ceramics. Berichte der RGK.

in press
Glykou, A.,: Technological and typological analysis of Ertebølle and early Funnel Beaker pottery from Neustadt LA 156 and contemporary sites in northern Germany. Archaeological Studies Leiden University.

2009
Schmölcke, U., Glykou, A., Heinrich, D.: Some aspects of the faunal development in the south-western Baltic area during the Littorina transgression. In: Harff, J. and Lüth, F. (eds.): SINCOS – Sinking Coasts. Geosphere, Ecosphere and Anthroposphere of the Holocene Southern Baltic Sea. Bericht der RGK 88, 2007: 205-217.

2008
Hartz, S., Glykou, A.: Neues aus Neustadt: Ausgrabungen zur Ertebølle- und frühen Trichterbecher Kultur in Schleswig-Holstein. In: Archäologische Nachrichten Schleswig-Holstein: 17-19.

2008
Schmölcke, U., Glykou, A.: Die steinzeitliche Tierwelt in Norddeutschland - Ein Forschungsschwerpunkt der Schleswig-Kieler Archäozoologie. Archäologische Nachrichten Schleswig-Holstein: 20-21.

2007
Schmölcke, U., Glykou, A.: Pelikane, Schildkröten, Störe und Sattelrobben in Schleswig-Holstein. Exotik an der steinzeitlichen Ostsee. Schr. Naturwiss. Ver. Schlesw-Holst 69, 41-52.

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