Antler artifacts from the Neolithic lakeside settlement Anarghiri IXb, Western Macedonia, Greece

The thesis addresses antler working and antler artifacts from the Neolithic lakeside settlement of Anarghiri IXb which is located in the Four Lakes region in Western Macedonia, Greece. This research contributes to our current understanding of the antler working in the Neolithic lakeside settlements of Western Macedonia in Greece by examining the biggest so far unearthed assemblage in Greece. The goal of this research is to establish a typology of the collected worked antler assemblage, to reveal the preferences of raw material, to reconstruct the manufacturing stages of the artifacts and to highlight the differences of antler exploitation in the habitation phases of the settlement. The study that was conducted from 2016 to 2018 brought to light interesting aspects concerning the use of antler in various everyday activities. Red deer antler prevails in the assemblage diachronically and antler was used mainly for the manufacture of tools that were used in woodworking activities or soil digging. Moreover, antler was used for the manufacture of hunting and fishing equipment and for the shaping of personal ornaments such as pendants and rings. A big part of the assemblage consists of blanks and waste material which shows that part of the manufacture was held inside the settlement. The attribution of the artifacts to the habitation phases of the settlements provided interesting information about the continuity of various tool forms and more importantly it provided a worked antler typology from the end of the 6th mil BC to the end of the 5th mil BC