NEMEA - Sanctuary of Zeus - 2010

Informations Générales

Numéro de la notice

1880

Année de l'opération

2010

Chronologie

Néolithique

Âge du Bronze - Bronze Récent

Âge du Fer - Géométrique

Antiquité - Archaïque - Classique - Hellénistique - Romaine

Période byzantine - Protobyzantine

Mots-clés

Péribole - Temple - Édifice religieux - Établissement sportif - Sanctuaire

Nature de l'opération

Fouille - Programmée

Institution(s)

American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) (École américaine d'études classiques à Athènes)

Localisation

Toponyme
Archaia Nemea, Iraklio (Previous)

Notices et opérations liées

1986 1986 (1)1989 1990 1992 1992 (1)1994 1994 (1)1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 2008 200920102011 2012 2014

Description

Nemea, Sanctuary of Zeus. K. Shelton (Berkeley/ASCSA) reports on the 2010 season of excavation and study.

Temple of Zeus Reconstruction. Work continues to restore the entablature at the northeast corner of the temple, over the recently reconstructed columns (K-27, K-28, K-29, K-30). Surface finishing of K-27 above the 8^th drum was completed, together with the final fluting on the entire column in place. Finishing was also completed on the krepidoma and stylobate edges. Of the epistyle course, all nine triglyph-metope blocks were patched and joined (Fig. 1), while two of the ten architrave blocks were also restored. A study for reconstruction along the north side of the temple was advanced.

Excavation targetted two areas of the sanctuary (D/E-11/12 and E/F/G-19: Fig. 2) with the potential to enhance our understanding of early historic and prehistoric levels, and to produce well-stratified Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic remains that will aid continuing study and publication of material of these periods.

Area E/F/G-19. Excavation east of the Heroon wall was undertaken to investigate early periods of use, and to clarify the stratigraphy of the Heroon itself. Initial evidence indicates three major phases: a pre-Archaic (Geometric?), Archaic (sixth-century?), and Hellenistic-Roman. Two semi-coarse vessels found just below the current surface date the Hellenistic-Roman phase. The foundations of the Classical/Hellenistic enclosure wall in places lie directly on top of the Archaic wall, and elsewhere on fill (Fig. 3). The soft limestone slabs uncovered in earlier excavation have disintegrated badly, with only several centimeters now visible. The wall line had been seriously damaged by later action, probably ploughing, and only a fraction of the original construction is preserved. The Archaic phase is represented by yellow soils with whole vessels. Layers of soil and cobbles were alternately laid east to west and west to east, but always up-slope to the east. The Archaic wall of rounded stones associated with this phase lies in one course on top of a thin layer of fill and a mass of stone. This wall too was damaged by later action including the construction of the Classical/Hellenistic enclosure wall. Cut into the upper Archaic levels was a pit of hard reddish yellow soil, large pieces of carbon, and hunks of burned clay/soil (Fig. 4), but almost no sherds. The pattern of burning on some carbon suggests a textile, while postholes around the pit may belong to a small tent structure. The pre-Archaic phase contained very little pottery but more bone than elsewhere, clumps of yellow ochre, and a dump of burned stones without carbon. The bottom of this phase contained increasing amounts of pottery with greater proportions of Bronze Age and Neolithic pieces. A wide swathe of limestone ‘rubble’ was cleared under the Hellenistic and Archaic walls. This extensive mass of unorganized yet constructed stones, tightly packed with clean soil and clay (Fig. 5), extends to the north, south and west of the later enclosure walls. The small number of sherds recovered indicates a Geometric date for this phase.

A further trench was opened to explore the large area of stones (the “rock garden”) found in 1980 immediately west of the Hellenistic Heroon wall and to assess their relationship with the stones noted above and the later enclosure walls. The date and function of this stone packing remain unclear: it may have supported a mound, natural or artificial, or been a buttress against erosion. It contained at least three levels of large stones in a sparse matrix of clean soil and waterproof clay, with almost no pottery.

Along the west side of the square, three early use phases were revealed: pre-Archaic (below/before the Archaic wall), Archaic (construction/renewal of the Archaic mound), and Late Archaic/Early Classical (fill/packing over the mound). The latest phase is represented by a little, homogeneous pottery consisting mostly of fine kotyle sherds, plus a number of whole pots (kotylai, miniature kraters, a mug, small bowl, and olpe) deposited together with the clean soil matrix that surrounded them (Fig. 6). This ritual and repeated action is illustrated especially by a kotyle with carbon inside it (two nearby stones likely had been placed inside other examples). Pottery from this phase dates primarily to the later Archaic period with none later than the first half of the fifth century BC. The continuation of the Wall 1 uncovered in 1998 (F/16, 19-19/14) was exposed in a single course of stones (Fig. 7). No diagnostic sherds were found within it or in the layer in which it sits: the layers around and over it date to the Archaic period while those under it are Geometric and prehistoric. Its preliminary interpretation is as a retaining wall.

The deeper levels all date to the early historic and prehistoric periods. Few diagnostic sherds were recovered, just a few Geometric and Late Helladic decorated sherds while the undecorated are primarily Bronze Age with a few Neolithic.

The primary aim of excavation in D/E-11/12 was to determine the location of the hippodrome. At least two alluvial events were identified in the stratigraphy alternating with periods of human action, primarily cultivation, during the Early Christian and Hellenistic periods (Fig. 8). No positive evidence for the hippodrome was identified, a point confirmed by geophysical survey (see below). Mixed Byzantine and Early Modern material lay just below the surface layers.

A ground penetrating radar survey was conducted by A. Sarris and N. Papadopoulos (Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas), with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) applied to map the stratigraphy of the Holocene sediments and address the question of the location of the hippodrome (Fig. 9). An area of 25,000m² was covered using at least one geophysical technique, pinpointing a few regions meriting closer attention. The data are characterized by increase noise mainly due to intensive past usage as well as geological processes and previous excavations. Iso-resistivity surfaces and bathymetry maps of soil resistivity from the ERT transects identified no specific levelling of the subsurface on the west side of the site where the hippodrome was expected. The different subsurface strata provide no supporting evidence for the existence of the hippodrome in this area. However, a number of anomalies of possible interest were found around the temple. To the south and southwest of the temple a number of GPR reflectors suggest the existence of a compound consisting of a number of features. East of the temple, the GPR produced relatively strong reflections which partially correlate with magnetic or soil resistance anomalies, although their size suggests that they may be related to architectural remains. Similar signals were shown by the GPR data in the area of the car park from a depth of ca. 0.7-0.8m to at least 1.8m.

Auteur de la notice

Catherine MORGAN

Références bibliographiques

Unpublished field report, American School of Classical Studies at Athens