The “Springs of Aggitis” cave lies on the northern outskirts of the Drama basin in Eastern Macedonia, the flat part of which occupies 750 km. West of the natural cave entrance, where lie the springs of Aggitis river, a tributary of Strymonas river, animal bones from the Upper Pleistocene have accidentally been discovered. The bones come from the Ursus spelaeus, Mammuthus primige-nius, Equus caballus, Coelodonta antiquitatis, Megaloceros giganteus and Cervus speaes and have been found in red argilic layers, approximately 10 m below the present ground surface. The trial trench (4 x 1.5 m), east of the artificial cave entrance, proved that these Pleistocene fossil-bearing layers were 2.60 m. thick, the bone material was accompanied by Mousterian stone artifacts and its absolute dating was ± 50,000 years old. In this article we suggest that this was probably a killing-site, judging on the one hand from the limited amount of the stone materials and on the other from the absence of both the tool core and the exterior cover.Furthermore the tenure indicated that the tools were brought to the site already finished and the presence of humans did not last long.
The “Springs of Aggitis”
20 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
- A
- A
- A