The Pelion Cave Project: an ethno-archaeological investigation of the human use of caves in the early Modern and Modern period in east Thessaly

Abstract

In 2006-08, an international project under Danish direction and in cooperation with the Ephorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology of Northern Greece was undertaken on Pelion Mountain in Southeast Thessaly, Greece. The Pelion Cave Project (PCP) was a diachronic, regional survey with the goal of documenting the diversity, complexity, and development in the use of caves in the Modern period (c. 1500 AD-present).

Caves and rockshelters on the mountain were classified by function and characterized by location and material content. The purpose of the study was two-fold: 1) to enrich our understanding of the mountain's cultural history with information about cave use in the recent past, and 2) to collect a body of data as a basis for hypotheses and possible analogies concerning site use and function in the past. The results of the project are now being prepared for publication in a monograph.