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Some Mycenaean tombs at Palaiokastro, Arcadia1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

K. Demakopoulou  and
J. H. Crouwel
K. Demakopoulou
Affiliation:
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
J. H. Crouwel
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
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Abstract

This paper presents the results of brief investigations, carried out by C. Christou in 1957, in a Mycenaean cemetery at Palaiokastro in NW Arcadia. The pottery and bronzes collected from the chamber tombs mostly date to LH IIIC, a period hitherto scarcely documented in this part of Greece. The finds, which include some remarkable pots, a type II bronze sword and other weaponry, reveal links with other parts of mainland Greece and beyond.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 93 , November 1998 , pp. 269 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1998

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References

2 See especially Meyer, E., Peloponnesische Wanderungen (Zürich-Leipzig, 1939), 103–6Google Scholar; Charneux and Ginouvès 1956) 523–37. The site has been identified with Bouphagion, mentioned in Pausanias viii. 26, 8.

3 Some of the walls were attributed by Christou to Mycenaean times. For obsidian finds, see Charnaux and Ginouvès 1956, 538.

4 Charneux and Ginouvès 1956, 536–7.

5 Charneux and Ginouvès 1956, 537 with fig. 18; Desborough, V. R. d'A., The Last Mycenaeans and their Successors (Oxford, 1964), 92Google Scholar. For stirrup jars with shoulder decoration of groups of joining semi-circles (FM 43) joined by parallel chevrons (FM 58), see Mycenaean Achaea, especially figs. 214 b–c (PM 73, 389), 217 a (PM 213). For the popularity in Achaea of decorating the entire belly of closed vessels with bands of equal width, see ibid., 73 (group C); Mountjoy 1990, 267–70 (vessels attributed to LH III C); Mountjoy 1993, 114.

6 See Kiossé, Ch., To Βήμα 29.1.1989Google Scholar; AR 35 (1988–1989), 34Google Scholar; Rutter, J. B., AJA 97 (1993), 788CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Daux, G., BCH 82 (1958), 717Google Scholar; AR for 1957 in JHS 78 (1958), 11Google Scholar. See also McDonald, W. A. and Simpson, R. Hope, AJA 65 (1961), 227CrossRefGoogle Scholar no. 11; id. in The Minnesota Messenia Expedition (Minneapolis, 1972) 308Google Scholar no. 330 (11); Ålin, P., Das Ende der mykenischen Fundstätten auf dem griechischen Festland (SIMA 1; Göteborg, 1962), 73–5Google Scholar; Desbourough (n. 5), 87, 92; Demakopoulou 1969, 226–8; Howell, R. J., BSA 65 (1970) 101–2, 114–15Google Scholar no. 55 with fig. 10 (map); Leekley, D. and Noyes, R., Archaeological Excavations in Southern Greece (Park Ridge, NJ, 1976), 53Google Scholar; Simpson, R. Hope and Dickinson, O. T. P. K., A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the Bronze Age, i; The Mainland and Islands (SIMA 52; Göteborg, 1979), 83Google Scholar no. B 32 with map B.

8 Published in Demakopoulou 1969, 226–8, figs. 1–2; see also e.g. Catling, H. W., Antiquity 35 (1961), 117CrossRefGoogle Scholar no. 9; Mycenaean Achaea, 178; Bouzek, J., The Aegean, Anatolia and Europe: Cultural Interrelations in the Second Millennium BC (SIMA 29; Göteborg, 1985), 125Google Scholar; Buchholz, H.-G., Ägäische Bronzezeit (Darmstadt, 1987), 502–3Google Scholar and fig. 123; Kilian-Dirlmeier, I., Die Schwerter in Griechenland, Bulgarien und Albanien (PBF IV.2; Stuttgart, 1993), 98Google Scholar; Papazoglou-Manioudaki 1994, 179, 181.

9 See, most recently, Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 8), 94–104, etc.; Papazoglou-Manioudaki 1994, 177–81.

10 Catling (n. 8), 115–22, also BSA 63 (1968), 98–104Google Scholar s.v. no. 2. Our sword has previously been attributed to Catling's group II ‘developed’, which has parallel raised ridges curving out at the top of the blade instead of ‘blood channels’; see Demakopoulou 1969, 227; Papazoglou-Manioudaki 1994, 180. In her new classification of Type II swords, Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 8), 97–8 attributes our example to her group C, variant 3 (corresponding with Catling's group II ‘developed’) and not with her variant 2 (corresponding with Catling's group III).

11 Papazoglou-Manioudaki 1994, 173, 177–81 no. 1, figs. 3–5 and pls 26 c, 27 a.

12 Höckmann, O., Jahrbuch des Römisch-germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, 27 (1980), 136Google Scholar no. D 36, also 110 (table 14) and 113 (table 15, no. 22); Avila, R. A. J., Bronzene Lanzen- und Pfeilspitzen der griechischen Spätbronzezeit (PBF V.1; Munich, 1983). 52–3Google Scholar no. 110, pl. 17.

13 See especially Höckmann (n. 12), 25–36, 136 (type D, in particular variant II); Avila (n. 12), especially 52–3 (type VIII, which consists of only three ‘relatively slender weapons’: our two examples and another probably from Epirus (no. 112), a related spearhead (no. 113) coming from a ‘Protogeometric’ cremation burial at Phoinikia in central Crete).

14 Höckmann (n. 12) 136 no. D 37, also 110 (table 14) and 113 (table 15, no. 22); Avila (n. 12), 52–3 no. 111, pl. 16.

15 Sandars, N. K., PPS 20 (1955), 175–9, 191–3Google Scholar (list); also e.g. Foltinyi, S. in Kriegswesen 2. Archaeologia Homerica E (Göttingen, 1980), E 271–4Google Scholar; Add e.g. Calligas, P. in Φιλολάκων: Lakonian Studies in Honour of Hector Catling, ed. Sanders, J. (London, 1992), 36, 38Google Scholar, figs. 13 b and 14 (from a tomb at the Amyklaion, Lakonia).

16 Kilian-Dirlmeier, I., Nadeln der frühhelladischen bis archaischen Zeit von der Peloponnes (PBF 13; Munich, 1984)Google Scholar, no. 139, Pl.5.

17 A pin from looted chamber tombs at Platanos in Elis may have been similar; see Kilian-Dirlmeier (n. 16), no. 140, pl.5.

18 Cf. Bass, G. F., Cape Gelidonya: A Bronze Age Shipwreck. (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, NS 57.8; Philadelphia, 1967), 100Google Scholar no. B 133, figs. 112–13 (fragment of chisel?).

19 Demakopoulou, K. (ed.), The Mycenaean World (exhibition catalogue, Athens–Berlin; 1988)Google Scholar, no. 48.

20 See Kanta, A., The Late Minoan III Period in Crete: A Survey of Sites, Pottery and their Distribution (SIMA 58; 1980), 255–6Google Scholar, figs. 135·7, 137·4. etc.

21 For the decoration, see also Demakopoulou (n. 19).

22 For top disc decoration, see Perati, ii. 156–7, fig. 26.

23 Perati, ii. 124, figs. 12 (motif 30, called leaf-shaped; cf. motif 32, called tongue-shaped), 54 (stirrup jar 547); Kardara, C., Απλώματα Νάξον (Athens, 1977), 58Google Scholar, fig. 14 (motif 26, called calyx-shaped), pls. 25 and 32 (stirrup jars 921 and 924).

24 AR 1989–90, cover (from Spyropoulos' tomb 10).

25 Mycenaean Achaea, figs. 97 a and c (PM 206, 546), see also 71–2 (globular stirrup jars), 82, figs. 74 c–d and 226.3 (panelled body patterns), 78f., motifs 22–3 (FM 61A and 71: triangles in shoulder), 74 (small reserved triangles at top of solidly painted handles), For stirrup jars of FS 175 from elsewhere, see MDP 145 with fig. 181, 168–9 with figs. 215–6, 188–9. with fig. 247 (LH III C Early to Late).

26 Mycenaean Achaea, 68–70, figs. 52–62, 191–7; Mountjoy 1993, 114 with ill. 305; Mountjoy 1990, 267, fig. 24–right; Parlama 1971 and 1974.

27 Cf. also Mycenaean Achaea, figs. 209 a, 212 d (on shoulder of stirrup jars PM 224 and 459); Perati, ii. 120–1, fig. 10 (motif 26).

28 MDP figs. 166.24, 200.26, 235.20, and 239.1 (early to late LH III C); Mycenaean Achaea, fig. 253:30.

29 MDP 137, 161, 184, figs. 167, 203, 236 (shape attested in LH III C Early to Late); Mycenaean Achaea, 95–7, figs. 156–60, 248–51. For good parallels for our P4, see ibid., figs. 157 i = 250 c (A/A 780); Parlama 1971, 57 no. II.12; S. Marinatos, Arch. Eph. 1932, pl. 6, nos. 33, 36 (Kephallenia); K. Demakopoulou, A. Delt. 23 (1968), A 180 no. 66 (Epidaurus Limera); Perati, ii, fig. 77, variant A, pl. 108 a (no. 535).

30 Cf. two LH IIIC ‘deep bowls’ with vertical handles from Achaea, Mycenaean Achaea 115, figs. 178 c–d and 267 c (PM 912 and 1353); cf. also Marinatos (n. 29), pl. 5, no. 18 (Kephallenia).

31 Mycenaean Achaea 93–4, group A, fig. 246 a (PM 429a), see also figs. 152–4; Marinatos (n. 29), pl. 7, nos. 56, 61–2. For LH IIIC Early to Late jugs of FS 115 elsewhere, see MDP 143, 164 with fig. 210, 186 with fig. 241.

32 Mycenaean Achaea, 88, figs. 238 d and 239 c (BE 428, ring base), for decorative system, see 88–9, group B; Parlama 1971, 57 no. II.11 (no ring base); Yialouris, N., A. Delt. 19 (1964), B 2, 177Google Scholar, pl. 185 e (no ring base; from Trypa in Elis); see also Perati, ii, 207, fig. 79 (type D; alabastra with ring base). Alabastra with ring base (FS 99) but different decoration were common in Kos during LH III C, see Mycenaean Achaea, 88 with n. 61 (refs.).

33 See especially MP 571–5; Schachermeyer, F., Die ägäische Frühzeit, 4. Griechenland im Zeitalter der Wanderungen (Vienna, 1980), 103–12Google Scholar, figs. 26–9, pls. 7–11; MDP 155–6, 158–60, 169, 177–8; Mountjoy 1993, 98; Crouwel, J.H., The Mycenaean Pictorial Pottery (Well Built Mycenae 21; Oxford, 1991), 28–9Google Scholar, etc.

34 Demakopoulou, K., Τὸ μυκηναϊκὸ ὶερὸ στὸ ᾿Αμυκλαι̑ο καὶ ὴ YΕ ΙΙΙΓ περὶοδος στη Λακωνὶα (Athens, 1982)Google Scholar, nos. 119 and 136, pls. 51, 60 (the Amyklaion and Epidaurus Limera); P. Åström, Op. Ath. 5 (1964), 89, 91, fig. 1.4–6 (Achaea, Aigion area); Payne, H., Perachora, I (Oxford, 1940), 52Google Scholar nos. 17, 19–20, pl. 10; Graef, B. and Langlotz, E., Die antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen, I (Berlin 1909 and 1925)Google Scholar, no. 234, pl. 8; Broneer, O., Hesperia, 8 (1939), 364Google Scholar, fig. 46 m–n, cf. 389f., fig. 71; Mountjoy, P. A., Mycenaean Athens. (SIMA Pocket-book 127; Jonsered 1995)Google Scholar, figs. 72 b 8 and 72 a 3; Perdrizet, P., Fouilles de Delphes, v (Paris, 1908), 8–9Google Scholar, fig. 26 = Lerat, L., Guide de Delphes (Paris, 1991)Google Scholar, 15, 17, fig. 10; Jacopi, G., Clara Rhodos, 6–7 (1932–1933), 148Google Scholar no. 3, figs. 169–left, 171–2 = Benzi, M., Rodi e la civiltà micenea (Incunabula Graeca 94; Roma, 1992), 415–6Google Scholar no. 3, from Kameiros, tomb 48; cf. Macdonald, C., BSA 81 (1986), 139Google Scholar.

35 Cf. especially the stirrup jar from Kameiros in Rhodes (n. 34), which yields exact parallels for the shoulder triangles and the decoration of the body and top disc; for the latter, see also a fragment from Perachora, Payne (n. 34) 52 no. 17, pl. 10.

36 For fringed triangles, see Mycenaean Achaea, 69, I.8, figs. 62 b and 195.6 (PM 770; motif called isolated semicircles, FM 43); Parlama 1971, 56 no. II.1 = Parlama 1974, 46, no. 27.

37 Mycenaean Achaea 70–1, figs. 63–5, 198–200; Mountjoy 1990, 267, fig. 24–left; Parlama 1971, 56 nos. II.2–4.

38 Two shoulder zones: Mycenaean Achaea figs. 60 a–b and 195.11 (four-handled jar PM 200), cf. fig. 60 b (PM 382). For triangular and other shoulder patterns, see Mycenaean Achaea, figs. 195–7, 200.

39 Parlama 1974, 46 no. 29, cf. 44 no. 20 (shoulder decoration of two stirrup jars from Kafkania, Elis); FM 51.26 (= FS 175:36, stirrup jar from Asine).

40 MDP figs. 12.33–4, 38.19, 57.14 and fig. 77.32.

41 Mycenaean Achaea 84, figs. 123 g (PM 372) and 230.13–14.

42 MDP 20, fig. 12:30. For rounded alabastra (FS 83; MDP 25 with fig. 20) with hatched loop decoration, see Hankey, V., BSA 47 (1952), 65Google Scholar no. 416, pl. 16 (Chalcis); Demakopoulou, K., A. Delt. 23 (1968), A 155Google Scholar nos. 16–17 (no. 17 has two, no. 16 three handles; from Epidaurus Limera).

43 Cf. MDP 73–4 and 100 with figs. 84, 119 (FS 94), 60 and 95 with figs. 77·5 and 114.9 (hooked FM 19); Mycenaean Achaea, 89, D.1.

44 See Perati, ii, especially figs. 42 and 62 (stirrup jars 439 and 229), also 113–6, fig. 9 (motif 20); Kardara (n. 23), 50, fig. 3:9 (motif 9), pls. 21 b, 22 a and 23 b (Octopus stirrup jar of Perati type), cf. pls. 29, 34 a (no solid patches), see also 57, fig. 14:1–3 (floral motif 26, which is somewhat reminiscent of the remains of the curvilinear pattern with solid centre seen below the handle on our P17).

45 Jacopi (n. 34), 137–8. no. 5, figs. 160, 168 (Kameiros, tomb 47); CVA Cambridge 2, pl. v.9; CVA Copenhagen 2, pl. 61.2. For discussion, see MacDonald (n. 34), 139 (with the help of P.A. Mountjoy); Benzi (n. 34), 218–19.

46 Cf. MDP 164, fig. 208.1 (three-legged cylindrical alabastron of LH IIIC Middle from Perati); the motif goes back to LH III B 1, see fig. 114:24, 39.

47 See the four-handled jar from Klauss, Mycenaean Achaea, figs 61 a–b = 194 a (PM 368); Mountjoy 1990, 270 and fig. 27; Mountjoy 1993, fig. 303.

48 MDP 174, fig. 223.4 (middle LH IIIC krater fragment from the Argolid); Mycenaean Achaea fig. 235.17 (rounded alabastron); see also Perati, ii, figs. 8.17 c and 68 (Octopus stirrup jar no. 614), fig. 82 (cylindrical alabastron no. 404).

49 MDP 153–4 with fig. 197, 180 with fig. 233; Mountjoy 1993, ill. 225; Mycenaean Achaea, 116, figs. 178.9, 268 b.

50 The same may well be true of the splendid stirrup jar from the more recent excavations at Palaiokastro (supra n. 24).

51 See especially Sherratt, E. S., ‘The Pottery of Late Helladic IIIC and its Significance’ (D.Phil. thesis University of Oxford, 1981)Google Scholar; Rutter, J. B., ‘Cultural novelties in the post-palatial Aegean world: Indices of vitality or decline?’, in The Crisis years. The 12th century BC from beyond the Danube to the Tigris, eds. Ward, W. A. and Joukowsky, M. S. (Dubuque, 1992), 61–78Google Scholar; Deger-Jalkotzy, S., ‘The post-palatial period of Greece: An Aegean prelude to the 11th century in Cyprus’, in Cyprus in the 11th Century BC, ed. Karageorghis, V. (Nicosia, 1994), 11–30Google Scholar; ead. in Zweihundert Jahre Homer-Forschung, ed. Latacz, J. (Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1991), 148–9Google Scholar; Mountjoy 1993, 24–6, 97–108; Schachermeyr (n. 33), part II.

52 The LH III C pottery from Achaea, with its many stylistic peculiarities, is often difficult to date in terms of other mainland regions, such as the Argolid and eastern Attica. Still, Achaean-style banded stirrup jars, of which examples have been found at Delphi and Argos as well as at Palaiokastro (see n. 5), may well date to LH III C Late; see Mountjoy 1990, 267–70; also Sherratt (n. 51), chapter 14; Mycenaean Achaea, especially 127–35. For the closely related LH III C pottery from Elis, see Parlama 1971 (group from a chamber tomb at Agrapidochori in the Peneios valley) and 1974.

53 Roofed dromoi are not mentioned in Kontorli-Papadopoulou, L., ‘Some aspects concerning local peculiarities of the Mycenaean chamber tombs’, in Thanatos, ed. Laffineur, R. (Aegaeum 1; Liège, 1987), 145–59Google Scholar.

54 Iakovidis, S., in Χαριστὴριον εἰς Α.Κ. ᾿Ορλὰνδον, (Athens, 1966), 98–111Google Scholar. For the Pellanes group, see especially Waterhouse, H. and Simpson, R. Hope, BSA 56 (1960), 25–7Google Scholar, fig. 8; Spyropoulos, Th., A. Delt. 37 (1982), 112–13Google Scholar, fig. 1 and pls. 60–1. See also Pelon, O., Tholoi, tumuli et cercles funéraires (Paris, 1976), 443Google Scholar with n. 7; Kontorli-Papadopoulou (n. 53), 145–6 with refs.

55 See Papazoglou-Manioudaki 1994, especially 177–84, 199–200; also Mycenaean Achaea, 163–4 (spearheads), 166–7 (type II swords); Papadopoulos, , BSA 79 (1984), 221–4Google Scholar.

56 It has, in fact, been suggested that Palaiokastro belonged to a western Greek cultural koine in late Mycenaean times; see Papadopoulos, Th. J. in Klados: Essays in Honour of J. N. Coldstream. ed. Morris, C. (BICS, Supplement 63; London, 1995), 201, 205, 207Google Scholar.

57 For Mycenaean Arcadia, see Ålin (n. 7), 73–5; Hope Simpson and Dickinson (n. 7), 75 and site entries; Howell (n. 7), 113–17.

58 Desborough (n. 5), 92; Hope Simpson and Dickinson (n. 7), 75, 381.