Levallois Core on Stelida Chert - (Part 2 of 3)
Channel: Prehistoric Living
Date: 27/07/2018

This is my first Levallois core on something other than obsidian, and this Stelida chert is dang tough, so don't expect a perfect example here. This video is full of mistakes and failures, and I'm not super proud of it, but I decided to post it regardless because I believe in transparency, and for some reason I didn't record much else during my week-long stay this year. Anyways, I kind of made a preferential type core, where a lot of preparation goes into shaping the core just right in order to remove a desired/preferred flake from the upper face of the core. I wish I had filmed the preparation stage and first flake removal, because that turned out to be the best part, but oh well, hope you can maybe learn something here, and I'll work on making and posting some better examples in the future. 

I did my Master's on Stelida, studying assemblage visibility and spatial integrity of the surface survey material we collected in 2013-2014, and I've been involved in excavations that started in 2015. Stelida is a chert source on the island of Naxos, Greece. The chert is primarily pervasively silicified clastic sediments, mostly shales and sandstones, with the predominant mineral in the siliceous material being quartz that infiltrated the parent rocks as hydrothermal fluids. 

The project is led by Dr. Tristan Carter, director of the Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project (SNAP), out of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. At Stelida we have found an abundance of evidence for Middle Palaeolithic exploitation, in the form of Levallois and Mousterian cores and products, along with Upper Palaeolithic blade cores and Mesolithic microlith technologies. We tentatively have Lower Palaeolithic as well, pushing back the exploitation of this insular resource to at least 260,000 years ago. These findings, along with several more on Crete and other islands, are opening up discussions regarding pre-Neolithic occupation of the Aegean Sea and potential Palaeolithic seafaring capabilities. 

Link to SNAP's YouTube page here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSzxoD-Fh7zaBV-Z5OnlxyQ

Link to SNAP's website here - 
https://stelida.mcmaster.ca/

The hill is now a major tourist destination due to the scenery and beaches, with a number of hotels and private residences being developed at a rapid pace, but the site's archaeology has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture and much of the upper portion of the hill has been designated as a protected area and off-limits to further construction.