Presence of Neandertals on the Island Agios Efstratios and Probable Networks of Contacts in the Northeastern Aegean during the Middle Palaeolithic

Eight years ago, on a tour at the northern Aegean Sea, I spotted one Paleolithic site with stone industry of Middle Palaeolithic and three Neolithic sites on the small and isolated island of Agios Efstratios. At two subsequent transits on the island, a fairly large material of lithic artifacts, shells and bones was collected. In order to clarify the exact period and type of habitation, Prof. J. K. Kozlowski and M. Kaczanowskavisited the site while later, with the cooperation of the geologist E. Kabouroglou, a surface survey was carried out throughout the island, particularly in the northern part of the island,at the Alonitsi areawhere the Palaeolithic site is. The geological formation and the volcanic activity of the island were studied in relation to the neighboring island of Lemnos, while special consideration was given to the isostatic history of the area, taking into account the position of the island on the Northern Aegean-Anatolian fault. The stratigraphy and stone industry of the site are examined in relation to the Palaeolithic sites that have been found in recent years on the neighboring islands of Lemnos and Imbros, as well as on the Kallipolis peninsula, suggesting a very early communication network.