ABSTRACT
Island biogeography has placed excessive emphasis on physical space as a fixedparameter determining colonisation. While geographical characteristics are im-portant, it should be evident at this point in our discussion that we must consider islands not just in space but also in time. Placing islands ‘in time’ (à la Patton 1996) enables us to follow and understand more fully the mutual interactions between communities and their island worlds. In practical terms, this entails piecing together the evidence for initial colonisation, abandonment, and recolonisation from the islands and interpreting it in light of the theories we have discussed. This is clearly not possible for all the islands of the Mediterranean, so instead we focus here on a selection of islands and, where possible, follow the development of their communities from prehistory up to the recent past.
