NEMEA - Sanctuary of Zeus - 2011

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

Work continued to restore the entablature at the northeast corner of the Temple of Zeus, over the previously reconstructed columns. Seven of ten architrave blocks were restored fully with the final three nearing completion. Excavation (Figs 1,2) revealed evidence of Bronze Age occupation under the later Heroön, and of a greater investment in site formation during the Archaic period than previously suspected.

Trench 1 (F19), which was excavated to early Archaic levels in 2010, now produced evidence of a possible tool-making area, including chert debitage, quartz crystal, possible stone lids, and a pounding stone, all in close proximity to a possible pit. Along with other prehistoric sherds, the stem and foot of an LH IIIB krateriskos with horizontal bands dates for these finds. Other nearby contexts revealed further evidence of prehistoric activity, in the form of an LH IIIC Early rosette deep bowl (Fig. 3) and a kitchenware jug/jar.

Excavation in Trenches 2, 5 (F19) and 4 (E19) and 5 focused on defining the western boundary wall of the Heroön, its phasing, and its relationship to the massive stone packing underneath it. Alternating layers of soil and stones were built up against the slope of the hill or mound to the east, although it was not possible to expose them feature to their full depth. This packing possibly functioned as an embankment perhaps to redirect the river or prevent flooding, and seems too substantial to be a support or foundation for the enclosure wall. The presence of early Archaic material within the accumulated fill supports an Archaic date for the artificial earthen mound. In the area directly outside the Hellenistic western Heroön enclosure wall (Fig. 4), the Archaic enclosure wall rested directly upon a layer of tightly-packed large stones that slopes downward to the west (its absolute western limit remains undetermined). The purpose of this layer is unclear although it has several construction phases and must relate in function to the stone packing east of the Heroön enclosure described below. Archaic finds include a crushed, but mostly preserved, bronze omphalos phiale (Fig. 5) which seems to have been deliberately deposited with the large stones, and fragments of an Attic black-figure vessel. Just outside the line of the Archaic enclosure wall and within Classical fill was a single course of stones that may have been a boundary marker or part of a later makeshift embankment for the Heroön mound. In the southwestern corner of F19, a wall discovered in 1980 which appears to predate both the Hellenistic and the Archaic Heroön walls was re-examined to establish its relationship to the two boundary walls.

In G19, two main phases of Archaic activity were revealed. The earlier consisted of a number of fills of which only some covered the entirety of the trench. G19 wall i continued to the east after a gap where stones had been robbed-out. A foundation trench for this wall provides an Archaic date for its construction. Overall, these phases date to the end of the sixth-early fifth centuries, and represent the final phase in the construction of the Heroön mound. These fills contained a number of whole pots (a kantharos, kotyle, and cup/mug) deposited along with the mound layers. An earlier phase in the construction of the mound consisted of a deep east-west channel cut through prehistoric levels (Fig. 6). The location and the sandy soil that filled the cut indicate that it was likely a water channel to divert or control the flow of the Nemea River or its floodplain. The channel was in part artificially filled with debris containing Archaic pottery and other objects. The quantity of Neolithic-LH III sherds in these layers suggests earlier activity in the area, but not necessarily within the confines of the Heroön.

In E19 excavation revealed the northeast-southwest extent of wall ii, and its corner and the beginning of a cross wall at the south end. The full extant height of the wall was revealed, foundation course included. The eastern face consists of two or three courses of medium to very large cut limestone blocks, all likely re-used, set in a quasi-polygonal fashion. The western side presents a completely different construction style, featuring much smaller stones joined in a more haphazard fashion. On the northern end a mass of tightly packed large leveling stones directly abut the western face of the wall and should be contemporary with, or later than, its construction. The wall foundations rest on a level of large stones revealed at both the northern and southern ends (Fig. 7): at least at the southern end they extend out from the eastern face of the wall and run directly underneath it. Their purpose is unclear. The southernmost stones abut (and perhaps partially fill) a cutting into virgin clay soil similar to that in G19. On the basis of related pottery, the cutting and the stone feature both date to the Late Archaic/Early Classical period, around the time of the construction of the Heroön mound. Wall ii must therefore be contemporary or later, although the apparent re-use of stones in its construction implies a later date.

Two Early Christian tile-covered graves uncovered in illegal excavation immediately to the north of the temple in K13 were cleaned and recorded. The southern grave corresponds to J13, grave 3: previously excavated, its cover tiles were left in situ and have now been disturbed. The northern grave contained a single skeleton with the skull to the west: no evidence of offerings was found, which is typical for the burial type and period.