ZAKYNTHOS ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT - 2013

Zakynthos Archaeology Project. G.J. van Wijngaarden (Amsterdam) reports on studies carried forward in 2013.

Study of the lithic finds (led by G. Kourtessi-Phillipakis) focused on research area C, at Vasilikos in the southeast of the island. Finds from this area are almost exclusively made from the pebble flint locally available on beaches and on terraces in the hills of Vasilikos. By contrast, lithics from the other two research areas, A and B, mostly derive from nodules that can be found in the Zakynthos mountains.

The prehistoric pottery (C. Wiersma) includes substantial quantities of a distinctive red-orange fabric with grey-black core, which is generally only broadly dated as Early Bronze to Iron Age. Within this group, certain sherds can now be dated to the Early or Middle Bronze Age, including several probable Aeginetan imports. Very few sherds can securely be identified as Neolithic. A particular study was made (by A. Krijnen) of a large quantity of handmade sherds found in 2006 near the beach of Vasilikos (FIG. 1) the fabric of which is different from most prehistoric pottery although the surface treatment is consistent with a prehistoric date.

Trial trenches opened in 2012 at Lithakia- Kamaroti revealed part of a house with two floors dated to Late Helladic IIIA2-IIIB and Late Helladic IIIB-IIIC respectively, although most of the excavated area produced only the levelling deposits laid when the area underwent major landscaping in Classical-Hellenistic times. These deposits contained large quantities of decorated Mycenaean pottery, probably from additional Mycenaean structures. A high proportion of these Mycenaean finds (studied by G.J. van Wijngaarden) were dining shapes (for drinking, eating, or pouring) in high quality fine ware. Such a large proportion of fine ware suggests that the building served a special function. This pottery spans the entire Late Helladic period, from LH I to LH IIIC, and the proportion of LH I and LH II is too large to be counted as heirlooms, Kamaroti was probably settled throughout the Mycenaean period.

In 2011, two 20m-long mechanical cores were obtained (by N. Kontopoulos and P. Avramidis) from the central alluvial plain which connected the three research areas. Analysis of macro-fossilized remains, coupled with C14 dates provides insight in the sequences of marine water, lagoon water and fresh water environments in this area, on the basis of which tentative reconstructions of the formation of the central plain are made. In 2013 TL dates were obtained (by NCSR Demokritos) from remains in the lower layers of the cores. These show that in the Middle Pleistocene (60,000-58,000 BP), the area was a fully marine environment, indicating that the island of Vasilikos (research area C) was separated from the rest of Zakynthos.