MOUNT LYKAION Sanctuary of Zeus - 2007

Mt Lykaion, Sanctuary of Zeus. M. Petropoulos (ΛΘ' ΕΠΚΑ), M.E. Voyatzis (ASCSA/Arizona) and D.G. Romano (ASCSA/Pennsylvania) report on the 2007 season of excavation and survey.

Trenches were opened in the lower and upper areas of the sanctuary, at the altar of Zeus, in the temenos, in the xenon, in the area of the stoa seats or steps and on the terrace SW of the hippodrome. The altar trench produced EH, MH and LH pottery, an LM II rock-crystal lentoid seal, plus pottery and votive objects from the Geo−Hel (miniature vases, bronze tripods and rings, iron blades and a spit, silver coins) and much animal bone. Use of the altar from the 3rd millenium BC is inferred. Some 52m² of the temenos area near the altar were excavated to bedrock, with virtually no finds. In the lower sanctuary, excavation within the xenon revealed a small area of the floor and evidence for interior wall-plaster. Trenches outside the N wall of the stoa exposed the building’s foundation and part of the interior.

Documentation of all extant blocks via a combination of topographical survey and architectural drawing continued, and the first actual state drawings of the buildings and monuments of the sanctuary were created. Architectural documentation focused on a ca. 40m l. series of steps or seats to the N of the stoa and on the E wall of the adjacent xenon.

Y. Pikoulas continued his historical study of the Mt Lykaion area, identifying anc. roads and towns, and M. Davison continued the cultural landscape study reported in 2006.