The neolithic settlement of Kefala

* At cape Kefala, on the northwestern coast of Kea, an outdoor settlement of the Final Neolithic or Chalcolithic period (late 4th century, circe 3300 BC) was found. The small community lived in rectangular, stone-built houses and they were involved with agriculture, cattle-breeding, basketry, fishing and maritime trade (Melian obsidian), as well as metallurgy, as evidenced by the traces of copper smelters. The cemetery of the settlement consists of built, rectangular and circular, individual or common graves. It is considered to be the first organized cemetery in the Aegean outside the settlement. The findings and offerings of Kefala integrate it in the cultural phase of Attica-Aegena of the Final Neolithic period, which is not found anywhere else in the Cyclades. This element makes the position of Kea really important in the prehistoric Aegean, since along with the Cave of Za in Naxos (Late and Final Neolithic period) and the phase of Late Neolithic peiod from Saliagos of Antiparos they provide useful information about the appearence and the evolution in the Aegean of the transitional period between the Stone age and the Bronze age. * Source: www2.egeonet.gr