Emerging Evidence for Neolithic Ithaca

The article presents new evidence for the Neolithic habitation on Ithaca, consisting of ceramic and stone finds, recognised among material from the University of Ioannina excavations at the site of Agios Athanasios-School of Homer in the northwest part of Ithaca, Greece. The new Neolithic site is considered within the wider cultural context of the Ionian Islands, in the late 5th/4th millennium BC. Our current knowledge suggests a permanent Neolithic occupation at the site, as opposed to seasonal occupation or to a special purpose occupation. The Neolithic people at the School of Homer may have been part of a dynamic network of Late/Final Neolithic installations in Western Greece, engaging themselves in inter-regional communal connections along the routes of the most ancient seafaring in the Ionian Sea