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Cave Settings

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Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definitions

Cave: natural cavity in a rock which is enterable by people.

Karst: a terrain that is formed principally by the solution of the rock.

Introduction

Caves constitute a disproportionately large part of the surviving archaeological record for many prehistoric periods (Straus, 1997). Their stability in the landscape attracted humans in search of shelter early in the history of humankind, and at the same time, they facilitated the accumulation of sediment and cultural material. The lengthy geologic and archaeological record that has built up within some caves provides the basic data of prehistoric archaeology in many regions of the world. Caves are also parts of drainage systems as well as ground water flow paths, making them important water sources that may partly explain their early use. It has been suggested that caves provide ready-made natural structures without the need of any significant adaptation of human behavior, and in this way, they were convenient and useful for a...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ephoreia of Palaeoanthropology & Speleology of Southern Greece, Ardittou 34b, Athens, 11636, Greece

    Panagiotis Karkanas

  2. Department of Archaeology, Emeritus at Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Paul Goldberg

Authors
  1. Panagiotis Karkanas
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  2. Paul Goldberg
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Correspondence to Panagiotis Karkanas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

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Karkanas, P., Goldberg, P. (2017). Cave Settings. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_151

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