LEFKANDI, Xeropolis - 2013

Lefkandi, Xeropolis. I. Lemos (Oxford) reports on further work on the so-called ‘megaron’ in region I (now termed Building M), with some eight use-phases identified from LHIIIC Middle to Early Protogeometric. Study of Sub-Geometric and Late Geometric occupation in the area revealed two small Iron Age buildings which reused materials from earlier structures. (Fig.) One is associated with Walls 68 (in the north) and 69 (in the east), while the other probably reused the west wall of the second major phase of Building M. A third, Sub-Protogeometric or Late Geometric building located in the northwest is mostly lost to erosion. During this period, one pit was dug in the southwest part of Building M and another opened between Area M and the Late Geometric complex to the west (Area H). More work was undertaken in the area south of these structures where high quality Protogeometric ceramics were associated with walls and surfaces.

Study of the figurines continued, and in region II, examination of the stratigraphical sequences of the ‘ritual zone’ began. Contexts within or immediately surrounding structures B and C were targeted to test the potential for identifying remains of distinctively ritual activity. A pilot study of the faunal remains used domestic deposits from region I as comparanda against which to assess potential structured ritual deposits. Notable finds include a disarticulated but near complete sheep skeleton in a pit within structure B, and isolated specimens such as a large portion of naturally-shed antler and a butchered lion humerus. (Fig.) Further study of their contexts will be pursued.

Study of coarse and cooking wares from well-dated Late Bronze and Early Iron Age contexts used polarised light optical microscopy to verify the range of fabrics identified in hand specimen and examine the use of raw materials and methods of vessel construction. (Fig.)The majority of samples contained quartz and phyllite inclusions consistent with the results of previous analysis of Middle Bronze Age fabrics from Lefkandi. Coarser varieties of phyllite fabrics occur in both LBA and EIA samples from pithoi and cooking pots. A small group of EIA samples and one LBA sample have fabrics that appear to be gneissic in character rather than phyllitic or schistose. Further research is necessary to clarify whether this reflects lithological variation in the quartz and phyllite source region, or whether significantly different raw materials were used. Two pithos fragments and one body sherd have serpentinite-rich fabrics similar to those noted in the Middle Bronze Age material. The large quantities of serpentinite suggest that an ophiolitic suite of rocks was the source, the closest outcrops to Lefkandi being to the north, at Phylla. A distinctive fabric of very well sorted quartz and mica belongs to a probably northern Greek imported EIA amphora. Finally, while few quartz and phyllite fabrics have inclusions of limestone, one possibly EIA sherd has a limestone-rich fabric.

Dislocations showing different orientations of clay structure (not typical of wheel-thrown pots) were found in a handmade IA cooking pot and a Late Bronze Age coarse body sherd with internal wheel-rills. The latter may indicate that wheel-made cooking ware of this period was not thrown, but handmade and wheel-fashioned. Supporting evidence, while rarely conclusive, includes the absence of the spiral rill inside the vessel base that typically forms when clay is drawn up during wheel-throwing, and a rare example of a vessel wall being thicker as it rises (the wall of wheel-thrown pots is usually even or grows thinner). Analysis of preferred fabric orientation revealed coil traces in large LBA coarse tubs, but proved inconclusive for cooking ware (noting that the structures of LBA and handmade EIA cooking pots are very similar).