Dawson Shima

Dawson – “One, None, and a Hundred Thousand”

“ONE, NONE, AND A HUNDRED THOUSAND”
Settlements and identities in the prehistoric Mediterranean Islands

HELEN DAWSON
University of Kent and Forum for Island Research and Experience
<[email protected]>
Abstract
This paper explores the relations between island settlement, identity and sense of place
in the prehistoric Mediterranean. It uses modern examples and archaeological case
studies to discuss the effects of colonisation and abandonment on island communities
and the creation of distinctive identities as a form of cultural resistance. Abandonment
had a homogenising effect on prehistoric cultures, as the resulting movement of people
encouraged cultural exchange. At the same time, however, certain traits were
maintained, reflecting people’s sense of place and community affiliation. This
homogeneity therefore is only superficial, masking different layers of identity
constructed through cultural interaction. Time and space are critical factors in the
creation of different cultural identities, which are not fixed but in continuous
transformation.

Keywords
Identity, island, settlement, ‘sense of place’, colonisation, abandonment

Introduction: Shifting places and ideas
What is identity? According to Luigi Pirandello, Sicilian writer and Nobel Prize winner for
literature (1934), we are ‘one, none, and a hundred thousand’. Following a mundane
argument with his wife, the main character of his novel Uno, Nessuno e Centomila
(1926) realises that, far from being unique, he has no single identity and, ultimately, that
he possesses multiple identities in the eyes of others. Europe’s early 20th Century
historical and cultural milieu influenced these ideas, and yet it is hard to let go of the
idea that Pirandello’s place of origin, the strangely named Caos (or Chaos) locality in the
Agrigento province of the island of Sicily, with its multiple layers of identity left by past
civilisations, had an impact on his outlook on life.
The relation between sense of place and identity, and specifically between settlement
continuity and the creation and transmission of insular identities, is the focus of this
paper. From an archaeological point of view, the settlement record for the
Mediterranean islands shows that their colonisation, abandonment and recolonisation
were all components of a punctuated - as opposed to linear - process, as islands were
rarely continuously occupied following their initial colonisation. A key feature to be
considered here is that Mediterranean islands colonised for the first time in the Bronze
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Age (a period spanning the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, associated with extensive
maritime trading) experienced shorter occupation periods than those occupied in the
Neolithic (the age of agriculture, 6th to 4th millennium BC), suggesting that Bronze Age
island settlements were abandoned more often and sooner than previously (Dawson,
2006: 40–41). In light of this phenomenon, this paper asks if and how abandonment and
resulting population mobility and interaction affected the creation of the islanders’
identity. Most archaeological studies of past identities focus on material culture,
emphasising uniformity or variation in the archaeological record in order to address,
amongst other things, issues of gender, status, and belief (eg Knapp and Meskell, 1997;
Meskell, 2001). Settlement strategies also give important insights into the islanders’
changing perception of their environment. This perception is affected by interaction with
other communities and, in turn, affects the islanders’ sense of identity, which is then
reflected in their material culture.
Over the past thirty years, archaeological island studies have moved from an original
concern with the timing and nature of what constitutes successful colonisation (and
thus mainly an environmental or biogeographical approach – with an emphasis on
‘nature’) (eg Cherry, 1981; Evans, 1973), to studying what happens after colonisation
(social interaction and isolation – with the emphasis on ‘culture’) (eg Anderson, 2004;
Broodbank, 2000; Stoddart 1999b). In reaction to the ‘laboratory paradigm’ of island
archaeology in the 1970s (eg Evans, 1973), which treated island cultures as simpler
versions of their mainland counterparts, a new generation of island studies emphasises
that islands are not conveniently bounded units of study, focusing instead on
reconstructing “encultured island biogeographies” (Broodbank, 2000: 28–32). Recent
approaches pivot around the idea that social interaction links island populations to other
communities well beyond their immediate visual geographical setting (Broodbank, 2000;
Rainbird, 1999, 2007), and that this interaction effectively ‘encultures’ or transforms the
landscape. The Mediterranean Sea, though physically rather stable in terms of sea
levels by the Bronze Age (Lambeck, 1996), was also progressively ‘encultured’, as
people acquired more efficient means to move across it and interacted with each other.

Island-mainland relations
Do island and mainland cultures differ and, if so, how and why? Do islands pose
specific challenges and opportunities that provide the setting for the development of
cultural differences? Ecological differences between islands and mainlands were
explained by Vayda and Rappaport (1963: 134) in terms of the ‘founder effect’ principle,
which postulates that an animal or plant species colonising an island will develop
differently from its parent population, because only part of the gene pool is brought to
the island. It was further suggested that human colonisers would also bring a selection
of cultural traits onto an island and thus eventually diverge from their mainland
population. This model could explain, for example, the cultural divergence between the
Aeolian and the Maltese archipelagos, which had both been colonised in the Neolithic
by settlers coming from Sicily (Evans, 1973, 1977).
This basic explanation for cultural divergence, inspired by biogeographical models,
works for the Mediterranean only as long as we also take consequent cultural
interaction into consideration as being largely responsible for change. In the 1990s,
island settlements were defined as ‘transformed’ or ‘transported’ landscapes (Gosden
and Head, 1994: 114), as useful plants and animals were introduced by people to the
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islands. Often, however, island communities had to adapt to newly found conditions and
diversify in the area of subsistence. The idea that they may have been more
conservative or archaising in other cultural realms (such as symbolism and belief), in
order to express ties to their parent population or because isolated, is open to question.
Although there are examples that appear to support these views, it is all too easy to
generalise about island cultures.

Figure 1 – map of Mediterranean islands mentioned in the text
Recent research developments from the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean
exemplify some of the points made so far. Several parallels were noted by Peltenburg
and his associates (2000, 2001, 2002) between the cultures of the island and the
Levantine mainland in the period of settlement establishment on Cyprus (9th millennium
BC or Pre-Pottery Neolithic period), following a shorter occupation of the island in the
10th millennium BC (for the latter see Ammerman and Noller, 2005 and Simmons, 1999).
The similarities were noticeable in the chipped stone tradition, in the manufacture of
mud bricks, and in the domestic architecture, as well as in the symbolic realm, with
parallels in mace-heads, engraved pebbles, figurative artwork, and in skull treatment
(Peltenburg et al, 2000: 845, 2001: 54). However, there were also significant differences.
At the site of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia, Cyprus, excavations revealed five water wells,
dated to the second half of the 9th millennium BC (Peltenburg et al, 2000, 2001, 2002).
These are among the earliest known wells in the world, and Peltenburg et al (2001: 55)
have pointed out that they are unparalleled so far on the mainland (ie in the Levantine
Corridor). The subsequent deposition inside the wells of whole articulated sheep and
goat skeletons and of human bones is also specific to Cyprus, though it apparently
echoes the tradition of removing skulls attested on the mainland (Peltenburg et al, 2001:
55). The evidence from this period on Cyprus indicates that domesticated animals
(sheep, goat, and cattle) were imported from the mainland to the island more than a
thousand years earlier than until recently believed. Cattle were also a very early
introduction to the island, though they disappeared in the 8th millennium and were
reintroduced much later in the early Bronze Age (Peltenburg et al, 2001: 46). These
features reinforce the idea that island communities were not simple replicas or miniature
versions of mainland ones. One reaches similar conclusions when considering the
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different paths followed by the early colonisers of the Maltese and Aeolian islands.
Although both groups originated from Sicily, they developed very different cultures.

Figure 2 – Map of Sicily, Malta and minor islands

Island identities: convergence and divergence
The Maltese and the Aeolian Islands were colonised in the Neolithic by people coming
from Sicily and went on to develop very differently, as the prehistoric people on Malta
began to build megalithic temples. These structures, unique in their layout and style, are
the oldest known standing stone structures in the world.
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Figure 3 - Haqar Qim Temple, Malta (photograph: Helen Dawson)
The idea that identity is a form of cultural resistance seems applicable to Malta, where
the “Temple culture” may have flourished because of internal social tensions or as a
response to interaction with Sicily (eg Bonanno, 1990; Dixon, 1998; Robb, 2001;
Stoddart, 1999a, 1999b). The Aeolian Islands, on the other hand, do not display such
distinctive cultural manifestations, in spite of sharing a Sicilian ancestry with the Maltese
colonisers, and of being both central and marginal to exchange networks at different
times throughout their prehistory. One might expect this, on that basis, to lead to
interesting cultural effects, such as those seen on Malta.
Malta
Malta lies c95 km south of Sicily and has a surface of 246 sq km. Traditional
explanations for cultural change on Malta, especially the end of the Temple period
(c3600–2500 BC), have invoked population replacement (Evans, 1971; Anati, 1988). A
lively debate has developed concerning the nature of Maltese society and its contact
with the outside world during the Temple period, in particular concerning ideas of
physical vs. cultural insularity (Robb, 2001). This complex debate can be reduced to two
opposing camps for explaining change: 1) those in favour of cultural factors and 2)
those in favour of population replacement.
1) Stoddart (1999b: 142) has pointed out that the evidence for abandonment of the
island at the end of the Temple period is weak, as there is a lack of settlement data in
general and the arguments in favour of abandonment are derived from cemeteries and
temples. Stoddart and Trump support the idea of continuity with evidence from the
Tarxien temples, which were transformed rather than abandoned or destroyed: the
temple of Tarxien itself became a cemetery, and the Xaghra hypogeum, the temple at
Borg-in-Nadur, and Skorba all became domestic sites (see Stoddart, 1999a: 70, 1999b:
141; Trump, 2002: 238–239). Thus, the building and subsequent demise of the temples
could be explained by increased/reduced contacts with the outside world (Trump, 2002:
31), rather than by abandonment.
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2) Leighton (1999), on the other hand, favours the population replacement theory. In the
Tarxien Cemetery phase, after the demise of the temples, Malta displays close cultural
parallels to Sicily. Stoddart (1999b: 141) and Trump (2002: 242) have commented that
this is evident in the appearance of cremation, the use of monochrome incised ware, the
first clear evidence for copper alloys (remarkably, the temples were built without any
knowledge of metal tools, which were present in Sicily), and the demise of temple
construction itself. Leighton explained these changes, which occurred in both the
mortuary and the daily sphere, by the arrival of new people from southern Sicily.
More recently, Robb has demonstrated that there were ‘necessary and regular’ contacts
between Malta and Sicily (2001: 183, 186–188) not just after the demise of the temples
but even during the Temple period. Trump (2002: 210–12) admits that relations with
Sicily continued throughout this time, as is evident from the importation of raw
materials, but also of exotic goods. This dismisses the necessity of immigration to
explain the reappearance of exchanged objects in the Tarxien Cemetery phase, since it
would appear that this exchange never ceased. In fact there is no indisputable evidence
of a physical abandonment of the island. Instead, it is possible that the temples were
constructed at a time when contact was seen as a threat to local identity, and that once
this contact became a ‘normal’ part of life, their function became redundant.
The development of the Maltese temples shares some aspects with the emergence of
Minoan ‘palaces’ or monumental architecture on the island of Crete in the 2nd
millennium BC. It would seem that complex identities, manifested for example through
Maltese temples and Minoan palaces, occurred on islands where occupation was
continuous and long-lasting, such as Crete and Malta. The fact that only Crete in the
Aegean developed such complex cultural phenomena as the Minoan palaces in the 2nd
millennium BC may have to do with its long history of settlement (Crete was colonised
around 7000 BC), given that, just like the Maltese temples, the palaces certainly did not
develop in physical or cultural isolation and there is no evidence on Crete for
abandonment or population replacement.
The Aeolian Islands
The seven Aeolian Islands lie north of Sicily, between 20 and 40 km from the coast and
between 55 and 115 km from southern Italy. They are all volcanic and they range in size
from Panarea (3.4 sq km) to Lìpari (37.6 sq km). Volcanic activity is most evident on
Vulcano and Stròmboli. In prehistoric times, none of the islands could support an
endogamous population at low densities (estimated at 300 individuals, below which
communities need to intermarry with other populations in order to survive – see Adams
and Kasakoff 1976). However, the archipelago as a whole was potentially
demographically self-sufficient. For this reason, it is best not to try to ascribe individual
communities to each of the seven islands, but rather to envisage an ‘Aeolian’
population. What then can be said of their prehistoric identity? The archipelago
experienced both phases of settlement expansion and contraction, with some island
communities behaving in rough synchrony at certain times (eg Filicudi and Salina were
both abandoned at the same time twice, in the Early and Late Copper Ages). Lipari was
the only island to be continuously occupied following its initial colonisation in the 6th
millennium BC, while occupation on the other islands was intermittent (Bernabò Brea,
1957; Balistreri et al, 1997: 643). Alicudi, the island furthest to the west (but not the
smallest), was occupied for a short period during the Early Bronze Age, which is the
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only time when the whole archipelago (apart from Vulcano, which was never
permanently settled, as far as is known) was occupied.
Evans considered that the Aeolian Islands were ‘too small, and certainly too closely
linked through the obsidian trade with their nearest neighbours ever to be able to build
up an independent cultural identity’ (1977: 21, emphasis added). In spite of their
‘openness’, the Aeolian Islands have yielded sites (such as La Calcara on Panarea) that,
though not monumental, suggest a ritual or symbolic behaviour linked to the natural
environment (such as volcanic fumaroles, or smoking holes), or the use of the island of
Vulcano as a burial ground in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC (Giustolisi, 1995:
10). In classical sources, the island of Vulcano is referred to as Hiera (the ‘sacred one’)
and in Christian culture it became the entrance to the underworld. Vulcano became a
burial ground repeatedly visited by surrounding islanders, thus acquiring prominence in
an island world without ever being settled. Clearly the Aeolian people avoided settling
Vulcano because the island is an active volcano, displaying a variety of volcanic
manifestations that still today inspire a sense of awe in visitors.
The Aeolian Islands’ culture may not have been innovative or unique, in the sense that is
ascribed to the Maltese temples, but it did develop in rather distinctive physical and
cultural conditions. The fact that the Aeolian Islands were abandoned and recolonised a
number of times, whereas Malta appears to have been continuously inhabited following
its initial settlement, would have affected cultural cohesion in the archipelago, with
Malta displaying a more distinctive culture when compared to the Sicilian mainland than
the Aeolian Islands.

Figure 4 – Aeolian islandscape: Middle Bronze Age village at Punta Milazzese, Panarea
island (photograph: Helen Dawson)
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What is ‘identity’?
The writer Pirandello’s affirmation that identity is not fixed, but mutable, reflects
concerns expressed recently by archaeologists dealing with past identities. Thomas, for
example, has stated that, “the diversity of forms of personal identity that may have
existed in the past remains an open question” (2005:188). Past identities were not
fossilised, but constantly in the making, tantalisingly evading a fixed definition and
challenging for us to investigate. The search for ‘true’ identity may be a lost cause, as
material culture can be effectively manipulated by individuals and communities to
project different identities at different times. Broodbank has pointed out that “insularity
is a cultural strategy that islanders might manipulate and ‘re-invent’ as a resistant
identity”, to oppose both physical and cultural displacement and threats (real and
perceived) (2000: 33). Similarly, Boomert and Bright have stated that “many islanders
use the island metaphor to establish and express social identity” as a form of cultural
resistance (2006: 17). Identity then (or identity at that particular moment in time),
according to these authors, would appear to be expressed more conspicuously when
under threat, whether from the inside or outside (as seen, for instance, from the example
of Malta, just discussed).

Is practice ‘identity’?
According to Conlin Casella and Fowler, “practice is not identity” (2004: 7). In
archaeological terms, it has long been accepted that archaeological cultures or
assemblages of material remains do not correspond to people (cf Childe, 1942: 26–7)
and that stylistic differences between periods are not necessarily brought on by
population replacements. In this respect, the previous discussion of the changes seen
on Malta raises several (still unanswered) questions. However, that practice is not
always identity seems a more acceptable stance. Social practices can be associated
with people and reflect their identity, or indeed affect their identity, so that insights
about identity can be gained by looking at such practices.
Archaeologically, the identity of social groups may be more amenable to study than that
of specific individuals. Nonetheless, even a study of collective or group identity poses
its challenges. Can we discern an island identity as opposed to a mainland identity in
the prehistoric Mediterranean? Is it possible to separate an Aeolian identity from a
broader Sicilian or southern Italian one? Therein lies the challenge: islanders are not a
fixed category: in prehistory, individuals may at one point or another become islanders,
but may return to the mainland or to another island in due course. Would this movement
affect an islander’s identity and if so how would the sense of belonging to a specific
place be maintained? As a Sicilian native of British descent who has lived in the UK over
ten years, I feel Sicilian as well as British but, as stated by Thomas, it is harder to
envisage “a similar sense of identity before the emergence of nations” (2005: 1888) as
we know them. Nonetheless, in the absence of nations, other geographical or cultural
entities would have played important roles, so that similarities may remain between past
and present.

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Sense of place
It has been persuasively argued that island cultures stretch beyond their terrestrial limits
and embrace the ‘islandscape’ (Broodbank, 2000: 21–3), which encompasses the island
itself, the nearest mainland, and/or other islands, as well as the intervening sea. Zedeño
has pointed out that “landscapes may not be bounded, but they are finite”, as they
extend “only as far as people’s experience, gained through direct and indirect
interaction with other lands and resources” (2000: 97). Thus the islandscape is not
unlimited. The people who inhabit the islandscape are of the utmost importance.
Contact across the islandscape is vital to ensure demographically viable populations on
small islands. I think of this network of contacts as an ‘extended island’, by analogy to
the network of mutual assistance afforded to the members of a typical Mediterranean
extended family.
At this point of the discussion, three modern examples may serve to illustrate the link
between settlement, sense of place and identity, especially in terms of cultural
adaptation, displacement (identity crisis), and cultural resilience. External influences can
have opposing effects on culture. At first sight, the indigenous Andamanese people,
who inhabit an archipelago off the eastern coast of India, conform to the stereotypical
island culture developing in pristine isolation. The reality is very different, as outside
contact has had dramatic effects on their livelihood. The Andamanese were first brought
into global awareness following the devastating tsunami in 2004. They were described
in the British press as ‘entirely naïve’, being physically and culturally vulnerable, mainly
as a result of the social crisis caused by the loss of traditional customs brought on by
tourism and contact with the outside world (Ramesh, 2006). However, this phenomenon
has deeper roots. A handful of radiocarbon dates suggests that the islands were initially
colonised two thousand years ago (not 60,000 years ago, as previously reported),
possibly as a result of expansion across the Indian Ocean (Cooper, 2002). Zarine
Cooper, who has devoted her lifetime to studying the archaeology of the Andamanese,
suggests that their initial hostility to outsiders (including cannibalism) and cultural
conservatism may have been in reaction to slave raids in the past, and therefore contact
with the outside world rather than isolation. In a further twist, British colonisers, who first
arrived here in 1789 (Krishnakumar, 2009: 106), brought with them diseases, which
severely curbed the indigenous population. Forest clearance has also deeply impacted
on the Andamanese way of life. The 1951 census counted just 273 individuals, a
dramatic decline from 4,800 in 1858 (ibid: 112). The surviving population falls short of
the minimum size to sustain an endogamous population. The Andamanese have
gradually absorbed Western habits and modified their cultural identity, so that the Indian
authorities believe their ‘stone-age’ culture can be saved only by ensuring their isolation,
even though the Andamanese have never been truly isolated. Social interaction and
adaptation can be a survival strategy, though cultural traits are lost and identity changes
as a result.
In an alternative scenario, cultural identity can be preserved, in spite of external
influences, and even exile and deportation (cf Anderson, 2006). Population size is an
important consideration here, as larger groups are more resilient. Piana degli Albanesi is
a locality in north-central Sicily inhabited by a community of about 7000 Sicilians of
Albanian descent. The town was founded in 1488 by a group of refugees from centralsouthern Albania, fleeing a Turkish invasion. The town was originally named Hora (‘the
town’) and until 1941 as “Piana dei Greci”, as the settlers’ orthodox religion was
identified as Greek, and was changed to “Piana degli Albanesi” by Mussolini as Italy
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was at war with Greece (La Rosa, 1993: 241). The inhabitants still maintain their original
Albanian dialect, rites, and traditional costumes, which are proudly displayed at times of
communal celebration, especially for Easter and weddings, while in their daily lives the
people are fully integrated within Sicilian/Italian society. Here (peaceful) social
interaction has not inhibited the maintenance of the original identity, which has been
incorporated into a wider cultural network.
Conversely, cultural resilience can be a strategy to oppose imposed interaction and
displacement. The inhabitants of Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Chagos archipelago in the
middle of the Indian Ocean, are a case in point. The Chagossians (1,500 individuals)
were deported in the 1960s–70s by the British, who struck a deal with the Americans so
that an American military base could be constructed on the island (Sand, 2009: 114).
The population was subsequently ravaged by high suicide rates, as depression,
homesickness, and lack of integration ensued when the islanders were relocated to the
Seychelles and then to Mauritius. Sand has defined this forced decolonisation “a human
rights black-hole” (ibid: 114). Notwithstanding the environmental impacts caused by the
nuclear militarisation of the island (ibid: 121), the displacement of the population has
had tremendous consequences on the islanders’ culture. In April 2006, 102
Chagossians were allowed to visit Diego Garcia for a week, to tend to graves and visit
their birthplaces (Pilger, 2006). The plight of the Chagossians continues, as they are still
fighting for their right to return to Diego Garcia, which is becoming increasingly
uninhabitable. In spite of this, the Chagossians are clinging to their cultural identity,
expressing it through traditions and songs, as a strategy to maintain social memory with
the hope of returning one day to the motherland.
What the three modern examples have in common is the idea that identity is strongly
associated with a feeling of belonging to a community, a feeling that is entwined with
sense of place rather than with isolation. As Barrett has put it, “staking a claim upon a
place in the world is also staking a claim upon [their] identity” (2005: 136). This is
sometimes reified through cultural individualism, as is the case of the prominent display
of Albanian costumes and traditions in Sicily at specific times of year, but can also be
understated, as is the case with the Chagossian people, who express their community
identity through songs and story telling, something that we clearly miss from the
archaeological record and that is inevitably bound to limit severely our understanding of
past identities. Having clarified the link between identity and sense of place, I will now
consider what island settlement practices in prehistory tell us about changing identities
in the past.

Colonisation and identity
Through colonisation, identity is transferred from one place to another. So how does
the act of colonisation affect identity? Rockman (2003: 17–19) has explained that this
will depend on whether colonisation takes place in an empty space (where the main
challenge is learning about the new environment) or in an already inhabited space
(where the relation between colonisers and colonised is important: is it a relation of
dominance or side-by-side cohabitation? How does this influence the cultural identity of
both?). Prehistoric Mediterranean colonists are generally assumed to have come from
the nearest mainland to inhabit empty islands. They were either small bands of huntergatherers or small farming communities, in which case colonists are often characterised
as ‘scouting agents’ or ‘pioneers’ (cf Irwin, 1992; Broodbank, 2000). Colonisation
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resulted in ‘asymmetrical relationships’, in the sense that some communities were more
reliant on others for survival in terms of resources and population pools (for a detailed
discussion see Broodbank, 2000 for the Aegean islands and Weisler,1995, 1996 for
Mangareva and Pitcairn islands in the southern Pacific). Colonisation and settlement
provide insights into identity, as shown by the development of divergent paths: upon
colonisation parent and offspring population will gradually diverge (the so-called
‘founder effect’ already discussed), leading to the establishment of ‘transformed
landscapes’ (eg Malta, Lipari, Cyprus).

Abandonment and identity
How does abandonment affect cultural identity? Does it strengthen or weaken identity?
Does abandonment affect ancestry, memory, tradition, social affiliation? The study of
abandonment is interesting in many respects, but principally because it gives an insight
into people’s thresholds of resistance. The inhabitants of smaller islands, for instance,
may decide to move on, faced with limited opportunities and lack of resources, and
lured away by better prospects on the mainland or nearest large island. Although
moving on physically, they may remain mentally attached to their place of origin, by
asserting their sense of belonging to a specific place (eg through story-telling, festivals,
place names, etc.). The strength of the association with the place of origin is likely to
depend on the cause of abandonment. If it is caused by physical threat (such as a
natural catastrophe or violent invasion), human resilience can be surprising and appear
irrational, as people are either reluctant to leave as they see no way out, or are stubborn
enough to return in order to rebuild. When abandonment is a settlement strategy or a
choice, people anticipate or perceive a better future elsewhere and are capable and
willing to move on (both physically and mentally). Clearly there are many other causes
for abandonment that cannot be discussed here. But the point to be made is that the
will to become integrated into a new society may prevail on the desire to assert strong
individuality. This may result in the loss of cultural traits, in order to avoid any isolating
effects.

Past identities
My study of island abandonment (for details see Dawson, 2005 and Dawson, 2008; only
a brief summary is presented here) focused on twenty Mediterranean islands and
analysed the duration of their prehistoric settlement in relation to their size, resources,
distance to nearest mainland and time of initial occupation.
The analysis showed that on islands smaller than 10 sq km, occupation periods were
shorter (c1700 v 2000 years) and abandonment periods were longer (c1800 v 1000
years) when compared to the general trends. On islands with obsidian sources (volcanic
glass, a desirable resource in prehistory) (vis Lìpari and Pantelleria, located north-east
and south-west of Sicily, Palmarola in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and Melos in the Cyclades,
see Figure 1) occupation periods were much longer (c 2250 years) than abandonment
periods (c450 years). Distance had no obvious effect on settlement longevity, while the
timing of the initial colonisation had a more obvious effect: islands colonised early (6th4th millennium BC) generally experienced initial occupation periods that lasted longer
than those colonised later (3rd-2nd millennium BC). Initial occupation periods on islands
colonised later were c800 years on average per island; whereas occupation on islands
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colonised earlier was 2250 years on average per island. Of the four obsidian islands,
Pantelleria experienced longer abandonment and was also colonised later than the
others. The fact that islands colonised later were abandoned sooner may reflect the fact
that these tended to be smaller and less favourable to prolonged occupation than those
occupied in earlier periods.

3000

length of initial colonisation (in years)

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
6

5

4

3

2

millennium of earliest colonisation (cal.BC)

Figure 5 – Initial island occupation period decreases with later colonisation (Dawson,
2004-2006: 40)
By the Bronze Age, islands had shifted from being an agricultural extension of the
mainland to becoming increasingly part of wider economic and cultural networks. Small
islands were thus colonised for the first time as part of the expansion of trading
networks and by and large remained occupied only as long as those networks were in
existence (usually just a few centuries). It was during this period that trading interests
developed in the Aegean began to expand into the western Mediterranean, as seen
from a number of sites established on the Italian coasts, which have produced large
quantities of Mycenaean (ie proto-Greek) pottery (Bietti Sestieri, 1988). Importantly, it
was at this time that maritime transportation became easier, thanks to deep-hulled
sailing ships (Broodbank, 1989: 327–9, 2000: 96; 2006: 217), which indirectly also made
abandonment a more viable option than before. Permanent occupation of small islands
would no longer be deemed viable in the absence of trading systems, and they were
abandoned.

Final reflections: settlement and complex identities
It would seem that complex identities developed on islands where occupation was
continuous and long-lasting. Abandonment also affected identity, as the resulting
movement of people encouraged the exchange of cultural traits, a sort of creolisation of
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the Mediterranean, or, as Horden and Purcell (2000) have put it, the “corruption” of
culture. Overall, “Mediterraneanization” or “the process of becoming economically,
politically, and culturally part of a larger world” (Morris, 2003: 46) had a homogenising
effect on culture. The islands’ abandonment and the resulting movement of people and
communication were key factors. To an extent, this explains why particularly complex
forms of cultural expression (such as palaces and temples) arose rarely and apparently
only on islands which could support continuous settlement and which offered the
opportunity for the development of culture in one place in the long term. However,
continuity of settlement is not a prerequisite for complexity, as not all islands with
continuous occupation developed prominently distinct cultures (eg Lipari). Although
from an archaeological point of view, monumental remains are more prominently visible,
we should not forget the intangible aspects of culture (eg oral history as seen from the
contemporary case studies), which may not survive in the archaeological record but can
be considered ‘complex’ in their own right. In the prehistoric Mediterranean islands,
changes in technology made it increasingly more feasible for people to move and to
seize opportunities if what was at hand was not deemed sufficient or if more alluring
alternatives were present. The question is: as people moved, how would they perceive
themselves or be perceived by others? Although this paper ultimately may not provide a
definitive answer to this question, it has highlighted the complexity of the issue, which
cannot be solved by recurring to generalisations or convenient island-mainland
dichotomies. Time, space, and movement are critical factors in the creation and
transformation of different identities. In the final analysis, Pirandello’s affirmation that
identity is at the same time unique, nil and multifarious is not an admission of defeat but
rather a recognition of the difficulty of the task that should not however discourage us
from pursuing it.

Acknowledgments
The ideas in this paper are a reflection on my MPhil and PhD research, and I am
grateful to my supervisors (Dr Simon Stoddart, Dr Cyprian Broodbank, and
Professor Ruth Whitehouse) for guiding me in the study of Mediterranean island
archaeology. Jago Cooper and Rebecca Rennell commented on an earlier draft of
the paper - we share a deep enthusiasm for islands through the Forum for Island
Research and Experience (www.fireonline.org). I also wish to thank Iain Orr for his
precious insights on contemporary island societies, particularly on the plight of
the Chagossians. Juan-José Fuldain kindly digitised the maps from my tracings.
Last but not least, Philip Hayward and the anonymous peer-reviewers made vital
comments on this work-in-progress. Any remaining mistakes are my own
responsibility.

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