Faunal remains

partie de W. Cavanagh et al., Excavations at Kouphovouno, Laconia. Results from the 2001 and 2002 seasons, in Annual of the British School at Athens, 2007, n°102The excavations at the site of Kouphovouno (approximately 3 km SW of Sparta: FIG. 1) arose as part of a scientific project to investigate the evolution of complex societies in the Aegean world, from the Middle Neolithic to EB II, that is c.5800–c.2300 BC. The site is a tell settlement which extends over 4–5 ha.Kouphovouno was chosen for a number of reasons arising from the current state of research in the Aegean, in the light of both excavation and survey. Intensive and extensive surveys over the last twenty years have revealed relatively few sites in southern Greece spanning the Middle and Late Neolithic periods, and these have not been excavated,2 while the transition from Final Neolithic to Early Bronze Age still lacks precise definition. In northern and central Greece, by contrast, our knowledge of the Neolithic and start of the Bronze Age is based on the excavation of settlements with continuous occupation over the phases of both periods