GERAKI - Anc. Geronthrai - 2006

Geraki. J. Crouwel (NIA/Amsterdam) reviews evidence for Middle Helladic settlement found in survey and excavation conducted since 1995 on the acropolis of Geraki (a site occupied intermittently from the Final Neolithic to the mid-20th century) (Figs 1-2). Following the destruction of the EHII fortified settlement (Fig. 3), Geraki was reoccupied during the Middle Helladic period (Figs 4-5). The fortification wall was partially rebuilt in the eastern sector, and remnants of other walls are also noted. Four cist tombs have been recovered. Of these, three were found in the British excavations of 1905 (one of which contained a small handmade matt-painted cup, a handmade greyware jug, and a bronze pin with a zoomorphic head) (Figs 6-7). The fourth is a recently-found adult male burial (containing a bone pin or awl) (Fig. 8), which was dug into the eroded mud-brick of the EHII fortification, thus destroying an earlier burial of a dog. In addition to several obsidian, stone, bronze and bone objects (Figs 9-10), a large quantity of very fragmentary Middle Helladic pottery was found in mixed fills. This largely consisted of local coarseware, but dark burnished (Figs 11-12), matt-painted and lustrous decorated wares (Fig. 13) are also represented (see also Figs 14-15). Despite the absence of stratigraphical evidence, the early, middle and late phases of Middle Helladic are identified, suggesting continuous occupation. The acropolis was abandoned on the Middle-Late Helladic transition and not reoccupied until the Protogeometric period.