Mycenaean Eleon and Eastern Boeotia during the Bronze Age

MYCENAEAN ELEON AND EASTERN BOEOTIA DURING THE BRONZE AGE BRENDAN BURKE, BRYAN BURNS, AND ALEXANDRA CHARAMI Introduction The conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Institute in Greece also marked the tenth season of the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project. 1 The synergasia began with a surface survey of tilled fields immediately below a natural outcrop of limestone that forms a small plateau 14 km east of Thebes. This is the archaeological site we identify as ancient Eleon, located at the center of the agricultural plain that extends east from Thebes to the harbor site of Aulis on the Euboean Gulf (Figure 1). The inhabitants of this acropolis, with a high point of 265.5 meters above sea level, looked out over the plain in all directions, including north to the Ipatos mountain range and the routes linking Thebes to the Euboean Gulf and Attica. The material collected in these first EBAP units suggested significant activity at the settlement site above, throughout the The synergasia, between the Canadian Institute in Greece and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia, is currently under the direction of Alexandra Charami (EAB), Bryan Burns (Wellesley College) and Brendan Burke from the University of Victoria. Research funding comes from an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (#435-2012-0185), the Loeb Classical Library fund, and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory. We gratefully acknowledge the dedicated efforts of the students and affiliated scholars who contribute so much to the project. 1 Late Bronze Age. Ten years on, we know much more about the Mycenaean age at Eleon, though we have only partially uncovered the significant remains preserved at the site. The current paper offers a representative sample of the Late Helladic phases, including our current work on a group of Early Mycenaean burials. In the palatial period we understand Eleon to be a secondary center within the administrative network centered at Thebes. Activity at the site is strong in the post-palatial period as well, with evidence suggesting a shift in network ties to sites along the Euboean Gulf. Regional Connections Eleon held a significant place in the regional hierarchy during the Mycenaean palatial period, as indicated by references on two Linear B tablets from Thebes (Ft 140 and X 155).2 Both tablets are associated with the destruction of the administrative center, and offer a centralized perspective on an economic hierarchy operating during the LH IIIB2 period. While the extremely fragmentary tablet X 155 preserves only a single word, the place name for Eleon, Ft 140 offers significant details about commodities raised at several locations. The page-shaped tablet records five toponyms with varying amounts of olives (OLIV) and 2 Aravantinos 2008; 2010α, pp. 59–60; Del Freo 2010, pp. 45–47. wheat (GRA), marked with a notation (PE) that likely refers to Mycenaean pe-mo, meaning seed: Ft 140: .1 te-qa-i GRA + PE 38 OLIV 44 .2 e-u-te-re-u GRA 14 OLIV 87 .3 ku-te-we-so GRA 20 OLIV 43 .4 o-ke-u-ri-jo GRA 3T5 .5 e-re-o-ni GRA 12 T 7 OLIV 20 GRA 88 OLIV 194 .6 vacat .7 vacat .8 to-so-pa .9 vacat Most scholars accept the identification of the toponyms from lines 1, 2 and 5 as Thebes, Eutresis, and Eleon (Il 2.502). Although the other two place names are unidentified, the tablet indicates the management of agricultural productivity within a day’s journey both east and west of Thebes. The “seed” amounts for each place are most likely a measure of the productive capacity of land, setting an expectation for future collection.3 In other words, the administration at Thebes was anticipating “so much grain at Thebes,” “so much at Eleon,” and several other key sites. 3 Killen 1999, 2006. 3 Compared to the much further distances suggested by the possible identifications of other toponyms with the Euboean sites of Amarynthos and Karystos, the administrative management suggested by Ft 140 is an on-going relationship of the type paralleled in other Mycenaean regions. In Messenia, for example, Nichoria and Iklaina appear to be second-order sites in the taxation documents at Pylos. 4 To investigate this potential model of secondary centers in Boeotia, we conducted our systematic survey between 2007 and 2009, with the project’s initial synergates including Vassilis Aravantinos, Yannis Fappas, and Susan Lupack. The survey area consisted of a 10 by 16 km portion of the plain east of Thebes, designed to include sites where palatial period activity was already documented by earlier work. Chief among these were Bronze Age Tanagra, where the famous painted larnakes were recovered in excavations of chamber tomb cemeteries at Gephyra and Dendron.5 And Eleon, adjacent to the village of Arma (previously named Dritsa and Harma), was long known because of its significant architectural features and surface remains.6 The survey pottery identified in our initial study of Eleon point to a long span of Bronze Age activity, from Early Helladic to Bennet 2011; Cosmopoulos 2006; Shelmerdine 1981. Vermeule 1965; Spyropoulos 1969, 1976, 1983; Cavanagh and Mee 1995; Marinatos 1997; Burke 2007. 6 Ulrichs 1863, pp. 79-80; Frazer 1898, pp. 65; Hope Simpson and Dickinson 1979, pp. 246–247; Fossey 1988, pp. 94–95; Van Effenterre 1989. 4 5 LH IIIC. This included several types associated with the transition from Middle Helladic into the Late Helladic I, including mattpainted and bichrome wares.7 In the current phase of investigations, we are also recovering more substantial remains of this era, where we have now identified a large funerary structure of the Early Mycenaean period. Early Mycenaean Eleon The chief goal of excavations in 2015 was the exploration of the early Mycenaean funerary structure that is located at the center of our artificial grid-system. Three joining walls form the west, south, and east sides of a rectangular that measured 10 meters across its southern end. Polished blue limestone blocks were used to cap each of the three walls, and have inspired us to name the complex the Blue Stone Structure, or BSS (Figure 2). Within the perimeter walls are two cobbled surfaces at different elevations that were partially uncovered, and still continue into the northern baulk. Over these paved surfaces, running roughly north-south were support walls which were then covered in a clay cap to build up the mass of a tumulus over the entire structure. The removal of a portion of the mound and some of the upper structures has enabled us to identify, so far, four cist graves concentrated within the southern end of the BSS. As the area is 7 Aravantinos et al. 2016, especially pp. 313-320. 5 not yet fully excavated, the relationship between the structure and individual burials is not entirely clear, but the tombs excavated so far seem to have been dug and built within the space established by the prior construction of the BSS. The four graves vary somewhat in their form. We have numbered them according to the sequence of excavation. It’s important to note that this construction leaves out numerous burials such as two stone cists to the west, both of which were contaminated with later material showing they were likely opened and emptied long ago. A claylined cist tomb further to the north contained the intact remains of a child, and can be dated to the Middle Helladic period by stratigraphy. Tomb #1, a large cist tomb measuring 1.75 x 0.85 m, offers the most information thus far. Its built stone walls were capped by a red brecciated limestone that had broken in two. The commingled remains of numerous burials were found in the tomb fill. Our bioarchaeologist Dr. Nicholas Herrmann has identified three individuals in his preliminary analysis of the osteological remains people: a juvenile, an adult, and another adult of more advanced age, as indicated by degenerative joint disease. On the tomb floor in the northwest corner was a small kantharos with a burnished treatment typical of LH I, providing the best evidence yet for burial depositions (Figure 3). The east wall of the tomb structure was displaced by the same disturbance that broke the cover stone. The Early Mycenaean date of all the graves is further confirmed by ceramics found in association with the construction of the cobble-stone platforms built at various levels above the individual graves. The platforms may have signaled the end of new interments and the recognition of the Blue Stone Structure as a monument to an earlier generation of residents, although the initial study of ceramics suggests these levels and the tumulus mound were all built during the LH I period. Although we have yet to reveal the full form of the Blue Stone Structure, its form and history are remarkably rare. A parallel for the rectangular architectural enclosure is found at Paralimni, where smaller cist graves span Mycenaean and Geometric periods.8 Tumuli of Middle Helladic date are known from the western Peloponnese, the Argolid, and Attica, but comparable mounds are relatively rare in Boeotia and Euboea. We look forward to a fuller set of information on the community at Eleon, to enable comparisons with similar burial groups at Thebes, Orchomenos, and across the region. Palatial Period Activities It is difficult to trace fortunes of the community at Mycenaean Eleon, who arguably fell under the Theban administration by the palatial period. Yet we can see the strong 8 Spyropoulos 1973. 7 indications of the site’s agricultural and economic productivity throughout this era. Good examples are found in the Northwest quadrant of our excavation area, where our team has uncovered a multi-room complex that spans periods before and after the collapse of palatial centers (Figure 4). The northern section is divided into two large rooms, each of which features a centrally positioned hearth. The area preserves some evidence for Palatial period activity, with datable pottery found in fills below the Postpalatial floors and walking surfaces. As a result, the pottery is usually very fragmented, but recognizable LH IIIA and LH IIIB material includes kylikes, mugs, and small patterned juglets. Floor levels associated with this phase also preserve some evidence for craft activities like cloth production and a rare tool for jewellery making. The Eleon stone jewellery mould is a flat fragment of red steatite, measuring 7.3 x 4.8 cm with a thickness of 2.2 cm (Figure 5). The deeply cut matrices are preserved on both faces, with a total of seven designs. One face preserves a large waz lily, papyrus, cockle shell, and pendant spiral, while the second face offers variations on three of these: a smaller waz lily, a larger papyrus, and a cockle shell with more detailed grooves. Four of the matrices feature shallow channels that would facilitate the manufacture of string holes in solid ornaments, so that they could be more easily worn as jewellery. The Eleon designs are all familiar motifs, appropriate for flat-back ornaments that are most commonly made of glass and often produced in conjunction with gold versions.9 Neither of the two Mycenaean glass ornaments found thus far at Eleon – one flatbacked rosette, one grooved conical bead – match the designs preserved on the mould. But various close parallels are found among the glass and gold jewellery found in numerous tombs and workshops at Thebes, as well as in the chamber tombs of Tanagra, east of Eleon.10 Postpalatial Connections While the mould helps us characterize the Palatial phases (LH IIIA-IIIB) of the site of ancient Eleon in the Northwest complex, the most coherent phase of occupation in this area dates to the LH IIIC Early period. Because of careful stratigraphical analysis at Eleon we have identified two subphases within LH IIIC Early – a stratified unburnt level that is followed by a burnt destruction well in evidence in the north-west area. Here a large structure is divided into two large rooms, each of which features a centrally positioned hearth. From the west a ramp leads to one of the hearth rooms and around this western hearth in 2015 we discovered three column supports with a fourth likely missing. 9 Xenaki-Sakellariou 1985, pp. 292-312, especially nos. 59, 73, 107, 111; Laffineur 1995. 10 Aravantinos 2010β, pp. 75-76. 9 The structure measures approximately 11 (E-W) by 14 meters (N-S) – though it clearly continues to the north on its western side (Figure 4). The burnt phase in the Northwest saw a reconstruction that selectively built around the earlier remains, leaving a collapsed deposit of wall stones, mudbricks, and roofing material accumulated in the center of the rooms. Excavations in 2014 yielded 225 kg of burnt clay. This included mudbricks (typically measuring 29 x 10 x 8.5 cm), slabs of wall pavement, and chunks of daub with reed impressions. We also have evidence for pitched roofs. The remains of at least six separate pan tiles, as well as some corresponding cover tiles, were recovered. Several fragments were joined together to preserve the full dimensions of a pan tile, 53.5 x 44.5 cm. The morphology of this tile is demonstrably consistent with tiles found at Thebes, Gla and Mitrou. In terms of comparative material, the burnt destructions have good parallels in the ground floor assemblages of Lefkandi households in phase 1b, likewise destroyed by fire.11 Evidence from Eleon suggests that the two destructions are roughly contemporary, indicating regional instability at this time. The floor level beneath this collapse contained fineware ceramics, cooking wares and storage vessels, copper alloy blades, and textile tools. In an adjacent space to the east, more industrial 11 Van Damme forthcoming. activity is indicated by a series of six hearths positioned around a central stone that may have been a post supporting the roof. Presumably the southern half of the room was unroofed, since the largest hearths are clustered here, including three that are built directly upon the other. The building’s second phase preserves the best evidence for its construction, use, and destruction in a fiery event dated to the LH IIIC early period. In Room 1, as delimited by walls on the north and west, we uncovered a sunken basin and tile hearth. Within was an extensive ceramic assemblage that included 18 complete or well preserved pots - three jugs and a hydria, four deep bowls, three kylikes, two cooking pots, a dipper, and a kalathos. The large number of serving and drinking vessels are complemented by those necessary for storage and food processing. The three linear kylikes may have fallen from a shelf above the lekane in the final destruction (Figure 6). Also present are patterned kraters, and what is the earliest LH IIIC pictorial krater identified at Eleon, featuring a bird tucked beneath a probable antithetic spiral. An LH IIIC transport stirrup jar suggests trade at this time and so if we look east (rather than west toward Thebes), we find our best parallels in levels of Lefkandi 1A for synchronization. Selective excavation in the Southwest has revealed at least three structures which have well-defined phasing. The earliest 11 building that we have exposed thus far can be called Building A, found mostly in 2012 this small room included a pebble surface exposed in 2013, dating to LH IIIB. Above the palatial level destruction is Building B, dating to the LH IIIC Early period. Adjacent and continuing to the north is Building C, dating to the LH IIIC Middle period. High quality ceramics, some of them complete, of this period were found outside Building C and in the construction levels of the building. Although the architecture is poorly preserved, the fragmentary finds include highly elaborate forms, such as pictorial pottery and terracotta bull figurines. To summarize, the Mycenaean occupation uncovered at Eleon features architectural units with large rooms and tiled roofs. Substantial stone walls are reused in several architectural phases with associated deposits dated to LH IIIB2, LH IIIC Early and LH IIIC Middle periods. Without the major disruption recorded at many other Mycenaean sites, the population of Eleon continued to be active in agricultural, pastoral, and industrial activities suggested by grind stones, storage vessels, and textile tools. The stone jewellery mould suggests access to imported resources during the IIIB period. The destruction deposit of the IIIC early period preserves a number of bronze blades and vessels. The broad array of ceramic fine wares and figurines suggest a concentration of ceremonial and ritual practices in the IIIC Middle period. Given the proximity and conscious preservation of earlier remains, we suggest that cult activity and memorialization of the past were of key importance to the people at Eleon throughout its history. Bibliography Aravantinos, V. 2008. “Τα τοπωνυμικά των αρχείων Γραμμικής Β των Θηβών,” in Επετηρίς της Εταιρείας Βοιωτικών Μελετών. Δ΄ Διεθνές Συνέδριο Βοιωτικών Μελετών, ed. V. Aravantinos, Athens, pp. 123-180. ––––– 2010α. “Mycenaean Thebes: Old questions, new answers,” in Espace civil, espace religieux en Égée durant la période Mycénienne: Approches épigrahique, linguitique et archéologique, ed. I. Boehm and S. Müller-Celka, (eds.), Lyon, pp. 51-72. _____. 2010β Archaeological Museum of Thebes, Athens. Aravantinos, V., L. Godart and A. Sacconi. 2001. Thèbes: Fouilles de la Cadmée I: Les tablettes en linéaire B de la Odos Pelopidou, Édition et commentaire, Pisa and Rome. Aravantinos, V., B. Burke, B. Burns, Y. Fappas, and S. Lupack. 2013. “The Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project, 2007-2008,” in AETHSE: Third Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece, ed. A. MazarakisAinian, Volos, pp. 945-53. Bennet, J. 2011. “The Geography of the Mycenaean Kingdoms,” in A Companion to Linear B Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World, Vol. 2, ed. Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo Davies, Leuven, pp. 137-168. Bintliff, J., E. Farinetti, P.Howard, K. Sarri, and K. Sbonias. 2002. “Classical Farms, Hidden Prehistoric Landscapes and Greek Rural Survey: A Response and an Update,” JMA 15, pp. 260-266. Bintliff, J., P. Howard, and A.M. Snodgrass. 1999. “The Hidden Landscape of Prehistoric Greece,” JMA 12: 139-168. Burke, B. 2007. “Mycenaean Memory and Bronze Age Lament,” in Lament: Studies in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Beyond, ed. A. Suter, Oxford, pp. 70-92. _____. 2009. “Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project 2009 Report,” Teiresias: A Review and Bibliography of Boiotian Studies 39, pp. 11-13. 13 Burke, B., B. Burns, S. Lupack, and V. Aravantinos. 2007. “The Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (EBAP),” Teiresias: A Review and Bibliography of Boiotian Studies 37, pp. 25-27. Burke, B., B. Burns, and A. Charami 2014. “The Polygonal Wall at Ancient Eleon and the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project,” in Meditations on the Diversity of the Built Environment in the Aegean Basin: A Colloquium in Memory of Frederick E. Winter, June 22-23 2012. Ed. D. Rupp, Athens, pp. 249-264. Burrows, R.M. and P.N. Ure. 1907/1908. “Excavations at Rhitsona in Boeotia,” BSA 14, pp. 226-318. Cavanagh, W., and C. Mee. 1995. “Mourning Before and After the Dark Age,” in Klados: Essays in Honour of J. N. Coldstream (BICS Supplement 63), ed. C. Morris, London, pp. 45-61. Cosmopoulos, M. B. 2006. “The Political Landscape of Mycenaean States: Apu2 and the Hither Province of Pylos,” AJA 110, pp. 205-228. Dakouri-Hild, A. 2001. “The House of Kadmos in Mycenaean Thebes Reconsidered: Architecture, Chronology and Context,” BSA 96, pp. 81-122. _____. 2005. “Breaking the Mould? Production and Economy in the Theban State,” in Autochthon: Papers Presented to O.T.P.K. Dickinson on the Occasion of his Retirement (BAR International Series 1432), ed. A. Dakouri-Hild and S. Sherratt, Oxford, pp. 207-224. Del Freo, M. 2010. “The Geographical Names in the Linear B Texts from Thebes,” Pasiphae. Rivista di Filologia e Antichità Egee III, pp. 41-67. Fossey, J.M. 1988. Topography and Population of Ancient Boiotia, Chicago. Frazer, J.G. 1898. Pausanias's Description of Greece V: Commentary on Books IX, X, Addenda, London. Hope Simpson, R. and O. Dickinson. 1979. A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age I: The Mainland and the Islands, Göteborg. Hope Simpson, R. and J.F. Lazenby. 1970. The Catalogue of the Ships in Homer's Iliad, Oxford. Jones, H.L. ed. 1924. The Geography of Strabo. London. Killen, J.T. 1999. “Some Observations on the New Thebes Tablets,” BICS 43, pp. 217-219. ––––– 2006. “Thoughts on the functions of the new Thebes tablets,” in Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben: ihr Aufschlusswert für die Mykenische Sprache und Kultur, ed. S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Vienna, pp. 79-110. Laffineur, R. 1995. “Craftsmen and craftsmanship in Mycenaean Greece: For a multimedia approach,” in Politeia: Society and State in the Aegean Bronze Age (Aegaeum 12), ed. R. Laffineur and W-D. Niemeier , Liège & Austin, pp. 189-199. Leake, W. M. 1835. Travels in Northern Greece II: Attica, Boeotia, Phocis, Locris and Euboea, London. Palaima, T. G. 2011. “Euboea, Athens, Thebes and Kadmos: The Implications of the Linear B References,” in Euboea and Athens: Proceedings of a Colloquium in Memory of Malcolm B. Wallace, ed. D. W. Rupp and J. E. Tomlinson, Toronto, pp. 53-75. Shelmerdine, C. W. 1981. “Nichoria in Context: A Major Town in the Pylos Kingdom,” AJA 85, pp. 319-325. Spyropoulos, T. 1969. “Excavation in the Mycenaean Cemetery at Tanagra,” Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών 2, pp. 20-25. ––––– 1973. “Παραλίμνη, ” Aρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον 28, Χρονικά Β 1, pp. 26566. ––––– 1976. “Aνασκαφή μυκηναϊκής Tανάγρας,” Πρακτικά της εν Aθήναις Aρχαιολογικής Eταιρείας 132, pp. 61-68. ––––– 1983. “Aνασκαφή μυκηναϊκής Tανάγρας,” Πρακτικά της εν Aθήναις Aρχαιολογικής Eταιρείας 139, pp. 102-108. Ulrichs, H. N. 1863. Reisen und Forschungen in Griechenland II: Topographische und Archaologische Abhandlungen. Berlin. Van Damme, T. forthcoming. “Euboean Connections with Eastern Boeotia: Ceramics and Synchronisms between Lefkandi and Ancient Eleon,” in An Island between Two Worlds: The Archaeology of Euboea from Prehistoric to Classical Times. The Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference held in Eretria, Greece, July 12-14, 2013. Van Effenterre, H. 1989. Les Béotiens: Aux frontières de l'Athènes Antique, Paris. 15 Vermeule, E. 1965. “Painted Mycenaean Larnakes,” JHS 85, pp. 125-148 Winter, F.E. 1971. Greek Fortifications. Toronto. Figure 1. Map of the major Mycenaean sites of Eastern Boeotia. Figure 2. Aerial view of the Blue Stone Structure, with individual tombs numbered. 17 Figure 3. Early Mycenaean kantharos from Tomb #1. Figure 4. Aerial view of the Northwest complex, dating to several phases of Late Helladic IIIB – IIIC activity. Figure 5. Steatite jewellery mould with matrices carved on two faces. 19 Figure 6. Late Helladic IIIC early kylikes, fallen into a sunken lekane.