KALAPODI - 2008

Kalapodi. W.-D. Niemeier (Director, DAI) reports on the 5th season of excavation, which continued to concentrate on the area of the S temple.
West of the W pteron of the Ar S temple, destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC, its limestone W pediment was excavated, lying as it had fallen. Whether and in what medium this pediment was decorated will only become clear after the difficult recovery of the severely burnt blocks. Also found in their fallen positions were terracotta fragments of the sima and the central acroterion (a horse protome). The combination of wood and stone in this temple is of particular interest. The stone pediment rested on wooden columns and a wooden entablature. Fig. 1 shows N. Hellner’s restoration of the W façade.
W of the W ramp, the remains of the W pediment were removed in the process of building a bronze foundry in the final quarter of the 5thCt BC. Three moulding pits have so far been discovered, 2 contained remains of clay moulds destroyed after moulding in the lost-wax technique. A working platform was constructed of reused roof tiles from the first Cl N temple, destroyed by an earthquake in 426 BC. It appears that a statue for the second Cl temple was made here.
In the Geo temple (discovered in 2007, since when its E part has been excavated), more of the metal votives placed at the time of its ritual interment, before the creation of a larger successor, were found. They include iron lance points and knives, bronze necklaces, rings and bird pendants. Of special interest is a bronze bowl with a repoussé relief of a circle of men, depicted frontally and touching each others’ hands (Fig. 2). This is an import of N Syrian LHittite origin, a find interpreted as indicating that the international significance of the sanctuary (noted by Herodotus I.46 for the 6th Ct) may have its origins as early as the 8thCt BC.
In the NE, the excavation of the Myc strata was completed with the removal of 2 baulks. This produced further important finds, mainly fragments of vessels used in the consumption of wine: cups, kylikes and kraters of the LHIIIC M phase with impressive figural decoration. These include further pieces of a krater of which sherds had been found in previous excavations. This bears a depiction so far unique (Fig. 3): men, armed with swords and carrying full sacks on poles over their shoulders, climb a ladder and enter a building, probably a fortification, with its masonry rendered in a chequerboard pattern. One man has fallen off the ladder and lies beneath it. A notable votive from the Myc layers is a lentoid seal of the Island Sanctuaries Group in veined limestone, depicting 2 bulls standing back-to-back (Fig. 4).
The Central Archaeological Council has now authorized the removal of the open structure, constructed after the Persian destruction from spolia in the ruined cella. It will therefore be possible to examine the older, Geo to Myc, phases here, in the assumed original centre of the sanctuary.