An Aurignacian Assemblage from the Island of Lemnos (Greece): Some Aspects of the Beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in the Northeast Aegean

The discovery of an Aurignacian lithic assemblage along the northern coast of the Island of Lemnos in the northeastern Aegean Sea has opened new perspectives on the study of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in this region. The site is located some 93 m from the present seashore. It was discovered in the summer of 2020, ca. 2 km west of the Pournias Bay. The lithics were exposed in a well-defined oval concentration, ca. 25 × 10 m wide, buried by a Holocene sand dune. They were uncovered following sand removal by a bulldozer for the construction of a parking lot. The knapped stones are made almost exclusively from hydrothermal siliceous rocks, a raw material available on the island. Raman spectroscopy and optical observations confirmed that this raw material is chalcedony. The surfaces of most artefacts are weathered due to deposition in an environment rich in marine salt, which does not preserve any organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating. The knapped stone assemblage consists of diagnostic artefacts, among which are different types of carinated end scrapers, cores, and a few bladelets. The discovery of an Aurignacian site plays an important role in the study of the Paleolithic peopling of Lemnos and the Northeast Aegean in general, a period that was previously known only through Epipaleolithic sites discovered and excavated mainly along the eastern coast of the island.