"dc-publisher","dc-description","Redirect","Type","dc-creator","dc-title","Icon","Id","Collection","Chronology","Name","dc-date","UserLevel","dc-subject" "","Agora 13","","PublicationPage","","Table of Contents; Early and Middle Helladic; Catalogue","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-13::/Agora/Publications/Agora/Agora 013/Agora 013 013 (xii).png::1449::2048","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-13","Agora","","Agora 13, s. 13, p. xii","","","" "American School of Classical Studies at Athens","The finds in the Athenian Agora from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have added important chronological context to the earliest eras of Athenian history. The bulk of the items are pottery, but stone, bone, and metal objects also occur. Selected material from the Neolithic and from the Early and Middle Helladic periods is catalogued by fabric and then shape and forms the basis of detailed discussions of the wares (by technique, shapes, and decoration), the stone and bone objects, and their relative and absolute chronology. The major part of the volume is devoted to the Mycenaean period, the bulk of it to the cemetery of forty-odd tombs and graves with detailed discussions of architectural forms; of funeral rites; of offerings of pottery, bronze, ivory, and jewelry; and of chronology. Pottery from wells, roads, and other deposits as well as individual vases without significant context, augment the pottery from tombs as the basis of a detailed analysis of Mycenaean pottery. A chapter on historical conclusions deals with all areas of Mycenaean Athens.","","Publication","Immerwahr, S. A.","The Neolithic and Bronze Ages","Agora:Image:2009.09.0043::/Agora/2009/2009.09/2009.09.0043.jpg::379::500","Agora:Publication:Agora 13","Agora","","Agora XIII","1971","","" "","Monographs Excavations in the civic and cultural center of classical Athens began in 1931 and have continued almost without interruption to the present day. The first Athenian Agora volumes presenting the results of excavations appeared in 1953 and, as scholars complete their research, further titles continue to be published. Each volume covers a particular chronological period, set of buildings, or class of material culture. The series includes studies of lamps, sculpture, coins, inscriptions, and pottery. Because most of these ancient finds can be dated stratigraphically, these typological catalogues are invaluable reference works for archaeologists around the Mediterranean. All monographs are published by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. You can order monographs online through Oxbow Books. Portrait Sculpture Author: Harrison, E. B.Publication Date: 1953ISBN: 978-0-87661-201-9Volume: 1 Presented in catalogue form are 64 portrait heads, headless torsos, and fragments (of both categories) ranging in date from the first half of the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. The catalogue is preceded by an introduction dealing with “finding-places,” “material,” “forms of portraits,” and “subjects.” Special emphasis is placed on stylistic criteria for dating each work, and the more interesting examples are discussed in some detail. There are not many great works of art illustrated, but many interesting types. As the author says in her introduction, “the Agora portraits interest us, not because they are unique, but because they are representative.” JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Coins: From the Roman through the Venetian Period Author: Thompson, M.Publication Date: 1954ISBN: 978-0-87661-202-6Volume: 2 Of the 55,492 coins that were recovered from the Athenian Agora during excavations from 1931 to 1949, this catalogue presents 37,000. These range in date from the last century of the Roman Republic to the declining years of the Republic of Venice. As the short historical survey that introduces the book indicates, this volume is intended to be a tabulation rather than study. It was written to provide prompt publication of the material excavated, and the catalogue is clear, fully documented, and easy to refer to. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia Author: Wycherley, R. E.Publication Date: 1957ISBN: 978-0-87661-203-3Volume: 3 Here are presented all the ancient written references, both literary and epigraphical, to the Agora (including its environs) and its monuments. The introduction summarizes chronologically the authors cited, evaluating the contributions of each. The texts are given in the original Greek or Latin, followed by a translation and a commentary. They are grouped in parts: the Stoas, Shrines, Public Buildings and Offices, Market, Honorary Statues, Miscellaneous including Boundaries, Trees, Kerameikos, Panathenaic Street, Old Agora. Within each part the monuments are arranged alphabetically and under each monument the texts are listed alphabetically by author with inscriptions at the end. Many texts not given numbers in this order are included in the archaeological and topographical commentaries. Each section on a monument opens with a brief synopsis of the evidence contained in the texts which follow. The index of authors gives dates and editions as well as passages and inscriptions cited, and is followed by an index of subjects. The plates show plans of the Agora and its environs and of the route of Pausanias. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Greek Lamps and Their Survivals Author: Howland, R. H.Publication Date: 1973ISBN: 978-0-87661-204-0Volume: 4 The author has used the trustworthy chronological data supplied by the scientific excavation of “closed deposits” at the Athenian Agora to build a continuous series of lamp types from the 7th century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. Many photographs and profiles of sections permit ready identification, and a handy graphical chart of lamp types facilitates quick checking of the chronological range of each. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology Author: Robinson, H. S.Publication Date: 1959ISBN: 978-0-87661-205-7Volume: 5 A group of closed deposits, ranging in date from the 1st century B.C. to the early 7th century A.D., provide evidence for the relative and absolute chronology of pottery used during many centuries of Roman domination—from the sack of Athens by Sulla in 86 B.C. to the Byzantine period. A descriptive catalogue divides the pottery into eight groups, arranged into chronologically differentiated layers. Prefacing the catalogue of each group, a brief general description gives the location, chronological limitations, basis for dating, etc., and then the individual items are described in considerable detail. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Terracottas and Plastic Lamps of the Roman Period Author: Grandjouan, C.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-206-4Volume: 6 The volume contains a short introduction, a classification by types, a critical catalogue, a register of the dated contexts, concordances and indexes, and an excursus by T. B. L. Webster on the theatrical figurines. Nearly half of the 1,100 items are illustrated with photographs. The subjects of the (mostly fragmentary) figurines are revealing. To the Greek deities of earlier times are added Oriental figures like Serapis, Isis, Harpokrates, Attis, as well as Egyptian priests and Asiatic dancers. The molded “plastic” lamps that are included in this volume were probably made in the same workshops as the figurines. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Lamps of the Roman Period, First to Seventh Century after Christ Author: Perlzweig, J.Publication Date: 1961ISBN: 978-0-87661-207-1Volume: 7 Nearly 3,000 specimens of lamps of “Roman” character are catalogued in this volume that covers the period from the 1st century B.C. to the 8th century A.D. The lamps are not easy to classify because the appearance of the clay used is not an infallible guide to the place of manufacture and the molds used to create the shapes were used widely around the Mediterranean. Terracotta lamps were probably made for local consumption in most cities of Greece; only a few centers, notably Athens and Corinth, developed an export trade capable of competing with local manufacturers. Since lamps from Athens do appear at other sites, the presentation of a well-dated sample of these finds provides useful reference material for scholars working at other sites. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Late Geometric and Protoattic Pottery, Mid 8th to Late 7th Century B.C. Author: Brann, E. T. H.Publication Date: 1961ISBN: 978-0-87661-208-8Volume: 8 This volume reports on Athenian pottery found in the Athenian Agora up to 1960 that can dated from about the middle of the 8th century, when “the appearance of a painter of sufficient personal distinction to enliven the whole craft” marks a real break from the earlier Geometric style, through the third quarter of the 7th century when Protoattic gives way to black-figure and black wares. A sampling of contemporary imported ware is included. The material is treated first by shape and then, more extensively, by painting styles. Some 650 characteristic pieces are selected for cataloguing. The introduction discusses the development of the various shapes and styles, characterizing the special techniques and innovations of the period. The topographical features of the Agora that are indicated by the places of discovery of deposits of late Geometric and Protoattic pottery are summarized under wells, houses, workshops, sanctuaries, cemeteries, and roads. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Islamic Coins Author: Miles, G. C.Publication Date: 1962ISBN: 978-0-87661-209-5Volume: 9 All but 9 of the 6,449 Islamic coins found at Athenian Agora up to the date when this book was written belong to the Ottoman period. The earliest datable Ottoman coin is from the reign of Mehmed I (1413-21). Most of the coins come from overseas mints such as those of Istanbul, Cairo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Although the name of Athens cannot be read on any coin, the author thinks that many of the crude coppers of the 15th to 16th centuries A.D. were locally struck. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Weights, Measures and Tokens Authors: Lang, M., Crosby, M.Publication Date: 1964ISBN: 978-0-87661-210-1Volume: 10 The first part of this book deals with weights (14 bronze, 109-111 lead, 28 stone) and measures (75 dry, 28-31 liquid). Although humble objects, the detailed study of these everyday items provides archaeological evidence for substantial changes in weight standards at different times in Athenian history. This reinforces literary evidence for a highly centralized bureaucracy controlling trade and commerce. In the second part of the book, Crosby catalogues and discusses some 900 lead and 46 clay tokens uncovered during the Agora excavations. The bulk of the lead material dates from the Roman period, while all the clay pieces belong to the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries B.C. These tokens served diverse functions. Some were used as admission tickets for festivals and theater performances while others can be related to attendance at lawcourts or receipt of tax payments. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Archaic and Archaistic Sculpture Author: Harrison, E. B.Publication Date: 1965ISBN: 978-0-87661-211-7Volume: 11 Over 170 catalogued pieces of sculpture from the Athenian Agora are divided into four sections: the genuinely Archaic in date and form, the “archaistic” imitating Archaic originals (late 5th century to early 4th century B.C.), and two restricted groups of sculpture common in Athens. The latter are the Hekataia (a triple Hekate figure) and the herms. The chronological range is thus from the earliest Archaic kouros (ca. 600 B.C.) through the herms and Hekataia of the Roman period. Among other questions, the author explores the nature of the archaizing movement and the different types of herms and how they were used in the Agora. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries B.C. Authors: Sparkes, B. A., Tallcott, L.Publication Date: 1970ISBN: 978-0-87661-212-5Volume: 12 This massive (two-part) volume focuses on pottery produced between 600 and 300 B.C. with Sparkes discussing the black glaze and Talcott the domestic (household and kitchen) wares of the period. Over 2,040 pieces of black-glaze pottery are catalogued and described, with many drawings and photographs. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Neolithic and Bronze Ages Author: Immerwahr, S. A.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-213-2Volume: 13 The finds in the Athenian Agora from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have added important chronological context to the earliest eras of Athenian history. The bulk of the items are pottery, but stone, bone, and metal objects also occur. Selected material from the Neolithic and from the Early and Middle Helladic periods is catalogued by fabric and then shape and forms the basis of detailed discussions of the wares (by technique, shapes, and decoration), the stone and bone objects, and their relative and absolute chronology. The major part of the volume is devoted to the Mycenaean period, the bulk of it to the cemetery of forty-odd tombs and graves with detailed discussions of architectural forms; of funeral rites; of offerings of pottery, bronze, ivory, and jewelry; and of chronology. Pottery from wells, roads, and other deposits as well as individual vases without significant context, augment the pottery from tombs as the basis of a detailed analysis of Mycenaean pottery. A chapter on historical conclusions deals with all areas of Mycenaean Athens. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Agora of Athens. The History, Shape and Uses of an Ancient City Center Authors: Thompson, H. A., Wycherley, R. E.Publication Date: 1972ISBN: 978-0-87661-214-9Volume: 14 The subtitle, The History, Shape and Uses of an Ancient City Center, suggests the general character of this volume, which provides an overview of the area that served as the civic center of Athens from about 600 B.C. to A.D. 267. After a general resumé of the historical development of the Agora, the monuments are treated in detail, grouped by their use and purpose. Each monument is discussed in the light of both the literary and the archaeological evidence for its identification and its restoration. In the light of the topographical conclusions the route of Pausanias is traced. A chapter “After the Heruli” follows the fortunes of the area from A.D. 267 till the 19th century; the last century is treated in the detailed report of “The Excavations” up to 1971. This is a definitive survey of the historical and topographical results of 40 years of American excavations. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Athenian Councillors Authors: Merrit, B. D., Traill, J.Publication Date: 1974ISBN: 978-0-87661-215-6Volume: 15 This book presents 494 dedications made by, and honoring, members of the Athenian administrative assembly (prytaneis) between 408/7 B.C. and A.D. 231/2. The inscriptions are important because they enable scholars to reconstruct a more precise chronological framework for Hellenistic and later Athenian history while also increasing understanding of the political organization of Attica. With thousands of names from 700 years of administration listed, the dedications also provide a rich source for prosopographers. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Decrees Author: Woodhead, A. G.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-216-3Volume: 16 Edited texts, with extensive commentary, of some 344 fragments of Attic decrees dating from the mid-5th century B.C. to A.D. 203, found in excavations of the Athenian Agora before 1967, with brief notes on additional material found up to 1975. Well-documented discussions of individual archon years are supplied at the appropriate points in the chronological arrangement. In a field known for controversy, the author reviews the principal readings, restorations, and interpretations, achieving a balance between extreme positions. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Funerary Monuments Author: Bradeen, D. W.Publication Date: 1972ISBN: 978-0-87661-217-0Volume: 17 This volume presents the funerary inscriptions found in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1968. In addition, all Agora fragments of the public casualty lists known in 1971 have been included, together with fragments associated with them but found elsewhere, although the latter are not discussed in full. Of the 1,099 inscriptions catalogued here, 238 are published for the first time. With the exception of 6 (previously published), all contain a sure name, ethnic, or demotic. In accordance with the established policy of the Excavations of the Athenian Agora, a photograph is included of every stone for which none has appeared previously. The catalogue is arranged alphabetically by demotics and ethnics; the indexes include names, tribes, geographical names, significant Greek words, and Latin words. The author’s unparalleled familiarity with Attic funerary scripts enabled him to offer valuable chronological suggestions for otherwise undatable private monuments and his historical understanding gave new meaning to the public funerary monuments. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Dedicatory Monuments Author: Geagan, D.Publication Date: 2009ISBN: 978-0-87661-218-7Volume: 18 This is the last of five volumes presenting inscriptions discovered in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1967. Published here are inscriptions on monuments commemorating events or victories, on statues or other representations erected to honor individuals and deities, and on votive offerings to divinities. Most are dated to between the 4th century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D., but a few survive from the Archaic and Late Roman periods. A final section contains monuments that are potentially, but not certainly, dedicatory in character, and a small number of grave markers omitted from Agora XVII. Each of the 773 catalogue entries includes a description of the object inscribed, bibliography, a transcription of the Greek text, and commentary. There are photographs of each piece of which no adequate illustration has yet been published, including newly joined fragments. The volume concludes with concordances, bibliography, and an index of persons named in the inscriptions. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: Horoi, Poletai Records, and Leases of Public Lands Authors: Lalonde, G.V., Langdon, M. K., Walbank, M. B.Publication Date: 1991ISBN: 978-0-87661-219-4Volume: 19 The three types of inscription from the Athenian Agora presented in this volume are all concerned with important civic matters. Part I, by Gerald V. Lalonde, includes all the horoi found in the excavations; most of them had been brought into the area for reuse at a later period. An introductory essay discusses the various purposes the horoi served, whether as markers of actual boundaries or private records of security for debt. The various types are illustrated in photographs. In Part II Merle K. Langdon publishes all the known records of the Athenian poletai, a board of magistrates charged with letting contracts for public works, leasing the state-owned silver mines and the privilege of collecting taxes, and leasing or selling confiscated property. The catalogue is preceded by an account of the nature of these transactions and the history of the poletai. Part III, by Michael B. Walbank, presents the records of leases for public and sacred lands, which once stood in the Agora; the documents are now in both the Agora and the Epigraphical Museums in Athens. The discussion considers the history and the terms of the leases. The three sections are followed by combined concordances and indices, with photographs of all stones not previously published. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Church of the Holy Apostles Author: Frantz, A.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-220-0Volume: 20 The Church of the Holy Apostles stands at an important crossroads in the southeast corner of the area of the ancient Agora. The earliest church on the site, built over a wall of the 5th-century B.C. Mint and the foundations of the Roman Nymphaeum, is here dated to the last quarter of the 10th century on the basis of its plan and details. The original plan was revealed as a tetraconch cross-in-square with dome on pendentives carried on arches supported by four freestanding columns, the west of the four apses penetrating into the narthex. Fifteen tombs of this first period were excavated under the floor of the church proper and the narthex. In a second period, probably in the late 17th or early 18th century, repairs after damage from the 1687 fighting made changes in the narthex and dome and the interior was covered with paintings. War in 1826 again caused damage which was repaired in Period III with further changes and additions. Finally in 1876-1882 (Period IV) the west end was again rebuilt and the last vestiges of the west apse removed. The architectural type is studied in relation to other churches in Greece, and the restoration is described. The plates give the author’s photos of the structure before, during, and after restoration and drawings of elevations, sections, and plans. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Graffiti and Dipinti Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1976ISBN: 978-0-87661-221-7Volume: 21 Over 3,000 informal inscriptions scratched or painted on pottery, lamps, or other clay fragments have been found in the excavations of the Athenian Agora. In this volume, 859 of these graffiti and dipinti (representing those with sufficient content to be meaningful) are presented in catalogue and drawings. The texts consist of messages and lists, love names and curses, rough calculations, dedications, commercial and tax notations—in short, all manner of fascinating, all-too-human trivia. An introduction to each category defines the type, indicates special characteristics and suggests parallels, purpose, etc. Each example is illustrated in a line drawing with the exception of the tax notations (dipinti); in this case photographs seemed preferable owing to the fugitive medium and the run-on cursive forms. This skillful presentation of an important body of material contributes significantly to the study of informal Greek, especially in regard to letter forms and spelling, as well as to an understanding of the varying commercial practices in ancient Athens. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Mouldmade Bowls Author: Rotroff, SPublication Date: 1982ISBN: 978-0-87661-222-4Volume: 22 This volume is the first of two to present the Hellenistic fine ware from the excavations in the Athenian Agora. Its scope is restricted to the moldmade hemispherical bowls manufactured from the late 3rd century to the early 1st century B.C. in Athens. The material studied, consisting of some 1,400 fragments of which about 800 were inventoried by the excavators, was unearthed between 1931 and 1973. Of the inventoried pieces, 364 fragments of bowls and molds are catalogued and discussed here, with 40 additional imported pieces, 6 related moldmade examples of other shapes, and 5 pieces used in the manufacturing process. The author first discusses the origins and dating of the bowls and then takes up the various types, in order of appearance on the historical scene: pine-cone, imbricate, floral, and figured bowls and their workshops and chronology, long-petal bowls, and other special types such as concentric-semicircle and daisy bowls. The discussion is followed by a detailed catalogue including references to comparanda. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Attic Black-Figured Pottery Authors: Moore, M. B., Philippides, M. Z. P.Publication Date: 1986ISBN: 978-0-87661-223-1Volume: 23 This volume is the first of the Athenian Agora reports to deal specifically with figured wares; it is concerned with the black-figured pottery found in the excavations in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1967, most of it in dumped fill especially in wells and cisterns. These deposits have been published separately in previous reports; by presenting them as a body, the authors are able to show how it complements and supplements the existing chronological and stylistic framework of shapes and artists. All the important pieces are shown in photographs, as well as all complete vases and those with particular problems. Profile drawings and reconstructions of the composition are supplied in a few special cases. Summary descriptions of references and a site plan are given for the deposits, which are also identified in the concordance of catalogue and inventory numbers. There are indexes of potters, painters, groups, and classes; subjects; shape and ornament; collections and provenances; and a general index. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Late Antiquity, A.D. 267-700 Author: Frantz, A.Publication Date: 1988ISBN: 978-0-87661-224-8Volume: 24 This book collects for the first time the archaeological and historical evidence for the area of the Athenian Agora in late antiquity, a period which spans the last flourishing of the great philosophical schools, the defeat of classical paganism by Christianity, and the collapse of the late Roman Empire. Although the primary focus of this volume is the material uncovered by the Agora excavations, the study also takes into account past and current discoveries elsewhere in the city. The author draws on archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence to present a comprehensive account of the history and topography of the city in the years before A.D. 700. The course of Athenian construction and destruction is traced from the mid-3rd century, through the Herulian invasion, to the period of recovery in the 3rd and 4th centuries (ending with the invasion of the Visigoth, Alaric, in A.D. 396). The 5th century is described, which saw the closing of the schools of philosophy by Justinian and the first Christian churches, and the gradual decline of the city until the Slavic invasion of the 580s, when Athens began an accelerated slide into oblivion. Special attention is paid to questions surrounding the history of the philosophical and rhetorical schools, the establishment of Christianity, and the removal of works of art from Athens to Constantinople. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Ostraka Author: Lang, L.Publication Date: 1990ISBN: 978-0-87661-225-5Volume: 25 The scraps of pottery on which were written the names of candidates for ostracism are one of the most intriguing pieces of evidence for ancient democracy found in the Athenian Agora. This book is a complete catalogue and discussion of these sherds. Chapter One discusses the history of ostracism in Athens with brief remarks about the “candidates.” Chapter Two concentrates on the physical evidence of the ostraka, their identification, appearance, and content. Chapter Three presents the groups in which most of them were found; their distribution is indicated on a plan of the excavation area. Chapter Four is the catalogue of 1,145 ostraka, arranged by candidates. To these pieces are appended the 191 ostraka, almost all nominating Themistokles, found by Oscar Broneer in a well on the North Slope of the Acropolis. A large number of the Agora ostraka are illustrated with line drawings, a representative selection with photographs. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Greek Coins Authors: Kroll, J. H., Walker, A. S.Publication Date: 1993ISBN: 978-0-87661-226-2Volume: 26 This volume catalogues over 16,577 identifiable Greek coins produced by the excavations of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens between 1931 and 1990. The majority of the coins found and catalogued are Athenian bronze, from the 4th century B.C. through the 3rd century A.D. Included as well are the Athenian silver and the hundreds of non-Athenian gold, silver, and bronze coins that made their way into the Agora in antiquity Considerable attention is paid to the archaeological context of the coins and to presenting a pictorial record of the Greek coinage from the Agora, with more than 1,035 coins illustrated. Substantial introductory discussions place all the coins in clear historical and numismatic contexts and give a sense of the range of international commercial activity in the ancient city. This comprehensive reference work is indispensable for students and scholars of Greek coinage and history. Presenting a reliable chronology of Athens’ bronze coinage for the first time, it will be the standard reference for this important coinage in particular for years to come. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The East Side of the Agora: The Remains beneath the Stoa of Attalos Author: Townsend, R. F.Publication Date: 1995ISBN: 978-0-87661-227-9Volume: 27 The Stoa of Attalos now covers the remains several centuries of previous occupation. Mycenaean and Protogeometric burials represent the early use of the area. By the Late Geometric period, the presence of a few wells indicates a shift to domestic occupation; others containing 6th-century material suggest the presence of workshops and commercial activity as well as houses. The earliest physical remains are those of an Archaic altar; some rubble structures may have been hastily built by refugees during the Peloponnesian War. At the end of the 5th century, a group of public buildings was constructed, perhaps to house some of the lawcourts. About 300 B.C., these were replaced by an imposing structure, the Square Peristyle, which could have housed four lawcourts simultaneously, each with a jury of 500. Still unfinished when it was dismantled in the first quarter of the second century B.C., its materials were carefully reused in other projects, especially in South Stoa II. The evidence for these centuries is now limited to the meticulous records of the excavators and the finds now stored in the Stoa of Attalos, where some few remains still in situ are visible in the basement. The author’s success in making a coherent and orderly presentation rests on the care and diligence of the excavators as well as his own painstaking search through the records. The physical reconstruction is accompanied by a catalogue of archtitectural blocks; the discussion of the chronology is supported by the stratigraphic evidence and a catalogue of pottery. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings, Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia Authors: Alan L. Boegehold, John McK. Camp, II, Margaret Crosby, Mabel Lang, David R. Jordan, Rhys F. TownsendPublication Date: 1995ISBN: 978-0-87661-228-6Volume: 28 A comprehensive, three-part study of the sites and procedures of Athenian lawcourts in the 5th, 4th, and 3rd centuries B.C. Part I discusses various courts, their names and possible sites, and reconstructs their history and daily workings, synthesizing literary, documentary, and physical evidence. Part II discusses the buildings which could have served as courts and the objects found in them. Such court paraphernalia included ballots, receptacles for documents, water clocks (used to time speeches), allotments machines and their accessories (for assigning jurors to the courts), seating tokens, and a curse tablet. Part III collects 355 testimonia on Athenian lawcourts, with Greek text, translation, and commentary. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material Author: Rotroff, S.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-229-3Volume: 29 The second of two volumes on the Hellenistic fine ware unearthed in excavations in the Athenian Agora, this book presents the Hellenistic wheelmade table ware and votive vessels found between 1931 and 1982, some 1,500 Attic and 300 imported pieces. An introductory section includes chapters devoted to fixed points in the chronology of the pottery, to a general discussion of the decoration of Hellenistic pots, both stamped and painted, or “West Slope,” and to the question of workshops. The author dedicates much of the text to a typology of Attic Hellenistic fine ware, carefully examining the origins, development, chronology, forms, and decoration of each shape. The ordering of the material by function rather than by the form of vessels provides insight into life in Hellenistic Athens. Especially important is the development of a chronological framework that builds upon and refines the author’s earlier work in this area. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery Author: Moore, M. B.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-230-9Volume: 30 This volume presents the inventoried red-figure and white-ground pottery found in the Agora Excavations between 1931 and 1967. Although many of these vases have already been published in various reports and special studies, this is the first time that all have appeared together, and this study gives a full accounting of them. Because almost all the shapes known in Attic red figure have been found in the Agora, these pieces provide a unique opportunity for study. The two introductory sections serve as a useful overview for the entire state of knowledge of Attic red-figure painting. The first gives a brief description of each vase shape and its development, and then shows how the Agora pieces fit into this sequence; the second follows this same format for groups of painters. In the catalogue, measurements and descriptions are given for 1,684 pieces, with relevant comparanda and up-to-date references. Inscriptions, graffiti, and dipinti are included, as well as reconstruction drawings of some of the more important or unusual scenes. The volume concludes with deposit summaries, concordance, and six indexes. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The City Eleusinion Author: Miles, M.Publication Date: 1998ISBN: 978-0-87661-231-6Volume: 31 An archaeological study of the City Eleusinion in Athens, the sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter and the city terminus for the annual Eleusinian Mysteries. The book presents the stratigraphical evidence from excavations of a part of the sanctuary (conducted in the 1930s and 1959-1960), the remains of the Temple of Triptolemos, a Hellenistic stoa, and a propylon, and contains extensive descriptions of the context pottery, a discussion of the ritual vessel plemochoe, and catalogues of inscriptions, sculpture, and architectural pieces from the sanctuary. There is a survey of the topography of the sanctuary and its environs on the North Slope of the Acropolis, and a discussion of its relationship to Eleusis and its position as a landmark within the city of Athens. Since a significant portion of the sanctuary still lies unexcavated under the modern city, the book includes a detailed assessment of the only evidence known so far for the various phases of use of the sanctuary, from the earliest evidence of the 7th century B.C. to the late antique period. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Roman Pottery: Fine-Ware Imports Author: Hayes, J.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-232-3Volume: 32 Examples of Roman period red-gloss and red-slip pottery generally termed terra sigillata found during excavations in the Athenian Agora form the focus of this volume. These fine wares, like the other table wares of the first seven centuries A.D. discussed here, were all imported—a very different situation to earlier periods where Athens was known as a great ceramic-making center, and perhaps the result of mass destruction of potters’ workshops during the Sullan sack of 86 B.C. While the image of a demolished pottery industry is tragic, the consequent conglomeration of finewares from many parts of the Roman empire in one city makes the Athenian Agora a tremendous source of comparanda for archaeologists working all round the Mediterranean. Written by the world’s leading expert on Roman pottery, this huge catalogue illustrating and identifying multiple shapes and types of decoration will therefore be an essential reference book. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares Author: Rotroff, S.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-233-0Volume: 33 This manuscript represents the third and final volume in the publication of the Hellenistic pottery unearthed by the American excavations in the Athenian Agora. The first installment (Agora XXII) was devoted to the moldmade bowls and the second (Agora XXIX) to the remainder of the fine ware. The third presents the plain wares, including household pottery, oil containers, and cooking pottery. In all, about 1,400 Hellenistic vessels in these categories have been entered into the excavation record, which are represented here in a catalogue of 847 objects. The study constructs a typology, based on both form and fabric, and a chronology for these ceramics, using the fact that many of the pieces were found in “closed contexts” like wells. Finally, the author discusses the possible functions of the ceramic shapes found, and uses them to reconstruct some of the domestic and industrial activities of Hellenistic Athenians. While it documents the pottery assemblage of one site, this book will be an essential reference tool for archaeologists around the Mediterranean. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Vessel Glass Authors: Weinberg, G., Stern, M. E.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-234-7Volume: 34 Greek and Roman glass from vessels of all sizes and shapes is discussed in this volume which presents 402 fragments of glass vessels excavated in the Athenian Agora. Only 36 pieces date to the Classical and Hellenistic periods, when the Agora was at the height of its importance, and just 15 are assigned to the 9th to 19th centuries. The remaining 350 are subdivided into four periods covering the Roman and Late Antique history of Athens: 86 B.C.-ca . A.D. 100, A.D. 100-267, A.D. 267-395, and A.D. 395-ca. 700. The fragments all have a findspot which allows the author to make some comments about the possible uses of the original vessels. The volume is divided into the following sections: history of the project, historical overview, important contexts, discussion of the catalogue by period and by shape, catalogue, deposit summaries, concordance. Most catalogues of ancient glass present pieces out of context, where function and date can only be guessed at. This volume, by publishing the main types of glass from a single site, provides richer contextual information and will thus be an essential reference work for archaeologists and specialists in ancient art. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside","http://agathe.gr/publications/monographs.html","Webpage","","","","Agora:Webpage:3d47492a7d4cca98fbe7153655364ed8","Agora","","Publications: Monographs","","","" "","Agora 13","","PublicationPage","","The Neolithic and Bronze Ages; Index; Swindler Mary H","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-305::/Agora/Publications/Agora/Agora 013/Agora 013 305 (284).png::1449::2048","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-305","Agora","","Agora 13, s. 305, p. 284","","","" "","Anna Belza, PhD Candidate University of Cincinnati ASCSA Corinth Museum Project Volunteer; Fall 2020–Spring 2021; Project: Alice Leslie Walker Kosmopoulos, repatriation of Prehistoric material from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens; ; INTRODUCTION; ; Alice Leslie Walker Kosmopoulos was a student of the ASCSA 1909–1914, and associated with the School until 1937. She was assigned the study and publication of the pottery from the Corinth excavations (ca. 1896–1935); later the scope was narrowed to the pre- Byzantine pottery, and eventually to only the Prehistoric period material. The material she included in her study were from her own excavations at Corinth (1911, 1914, 1920, 1930, 1935); and those of other excavators (1904, 1905, 1908, 1916, 1926, 1931, 1932).; ; Kosmopoulos conducted her study at Corinth before relocating to Athens ca. 1935. Her reasons for moving were twofold: her poor health which was worsened by conditions at Corinth (e.g., dampness, mosquitos—she had previously contracted malaria at Corinth); her expulsion from the Corinth excavations due to her falling out with the ASCSA. Kosmopoulos writes about her interactions with the school in the preface to her published work: The Prehistoric Pottery of Corinth (1948). In sum, conflict between Kosmopoulos and the ASCSA regarded her poor/nonexistent publication record. Kosmopoulos responded by relocating some Prehistoric material from Corinth to Athens.; The Prehistoric pottery from Corinth was stored at the National Archaeological Museum (NAM) at Athens in order to facilitate Kosmopoulos’s study and publication process. When the ASCSA severed ties with Kosmospoulous (ca. 1937) they demanded the material be returned to Corinth. Some material was returned to Corinth and is referred to in the Corinth storage system as the Kosmopoulos series or K- series. A large quantity of pottery remained at the NAM following Kosmopoulos’s death in 1954.; Kosmopoulos published one volume on Prehistoric Corinth in 1948. The introductory volume provides basic insight into her ceramic classes and chronological scheme (see Appendix 1). She did not publish all the material that was removed from Corinth to Athens. Attempts were made to return the material to the Corinth Museum1 (viz., Lavezzi in the 1970s–1980s). Robert Bridges visited the NAM in the 1980s and did a basic inventory of the Corinth material. In September 2020 the material was returned to Corinth. The quantity and quality of the material was unknown.; My museum project involved: the unboxing and processing of the Prehistoric Corinth material returned from the NAM; separating the material into lots; and entering all the material into the Corinth records. The prime objective was to process material quickly in order to learn what Kosmopoulos had taken from Corinth and glean evidence of Prehistoric activity otherwise unknown. The quick processing benefited positively PhD candidates Jeffrey Banks (University of Cincinnati) and Katie Fine (Florida State University) who are writing dissertations about Early Bronze Age and Neolithic Corinth, respectively.2; After all the material was sorted, it became clear that it was possible to lot the pottery (more on this below, Phases 2 and 3). I also transcribed the Kosmopoulos label notebooks (Appendix 2) which were given to Ioulia Tzonou to eventually be incorporated into and assigned Corinth Notebook numbers. We do not have Komospoulos’ excavation notebooks from Corinth (the ASCSA archives have her Halae notebooks). Their exact whereabouts is unknown. At one point, decedents from her husband’s side of the family living in Peiraeus attempted to sell a trunk that belonged to her to Henry Robinson. Robinson declined to purchase the trunk blindly (i.e., without knowing the contents) at their high price: without knowing whether the notebooks were there, the trunk and its contents would have been a waste. Jeffrey Banks has attempted to reach out to the family members with no success as of yet (May 2021). Banks believes that the Corinth notebooks went to California with Kosmopoulos in the late 1930s. Kosmopoulos finalized the publication of her book in California and was then in the process of a planned second and third volume. It is almost certain that she had them with her as she continued her work in California because the second volume was meant to be a large presentation of the prehistoric material from Corinth. Problematically, the Halae books did make it to the ASCSA archives which was meant; to form part of the third volume of her study, but that body of material is much smaller and there are indications she was finished with it.; ; Phase 1: Processing the Kosmopoulos Material Returned to Corinth from the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, in 2020; Kosmopoulos used cardboard shoeboxes to store and transport her material. The material placed inside the shoeboxes was grouped in smaller packages of paper tyropita bags, reused envelopes, and, in some cases, loose in the box. Material occasionally was found grouped in clear plastic bags, likely a solution by the NAM to replace old paper bags that had decayed. The storage shoeboxes were transported to the basement of the Corinth Museum in thirty-three wooden storage trays. Processing occurred in the basement of the Corinth Museum.3; The system for processing material involved using iDig on an iPad and recording various information in Microsoft Excel on a Corinth project laptop. James Herbst and Manolis Papadakis set up a context labeled Kosmopoulos in the iDig database. Every “shoebox” was photographed: before opening to record all markings on the exterior of the box; when opened with the contents left in situ, showing the storage of the bags and interior markings; and unboxed with objects strewed. Shoeboxes often had writing on their exterior in one or more crayon colors. The writing was often illegible, written over/crossed out and remarked multiple times, and/or contained a series of undeciphered abbreviations. All but one shoebox were discarded after being photographed and all such marking recorded. In large part, these marking could not be deciphered. It is clear that some of the marking referred to the one time contents; but with the multiple reuses of the boxes and multiple packing and re-strewing of her material in Corinth and Athens over a twenty year period, these marking did not seem to correlate in any meaningful or useful way for what was stored within when they were opened in 2020.; The contents of the shoeboxes, mainly ceramics, were strewn on three tables in the Corinth Museum basement for processing. Contents from each shoebox were kept and photographed together so that any given object could possibly be associated/reassociated to the markings on the box if they are ever deciphered (i.e., everything from one shoebox was laid out together on a table). Sherds stored together in bags or envelopes were laid out atop the bags from which they came. The bags and envelopes also often had illegible and/or abbreviated handwriting in crayon. A few times, typewritten text was used instead. In some instances, these markings were clearly a count of sherds of various types (her classes or the colloquial classes of pottery at that time) stored within: e.g., “5–Urf[irnish], 2–B[lack]B[burnished], 3–Myc[enaean]”, etc.; It was often not possible to discern why Kosmopoulos separated sherds into individual bags, if not by diagnostic features or grouping of decorations. For example, all material of a single class is not conveniently grouped together nor are groups associated based upon their excavation context. The divisions of bags seem to reflect the process by which Kosmopoulos read the objects, recorded them, and stored them, probably working in small batches of pottery because of space issues at the NAM and in light of the considerable amount of material she was working with.; Kosmopoulos seems to have generally followed Wace and Blegen’s classification system for the Early Bronze Age and Wace and Thompson’s system for the Neolithic, though she did not use the same terminology/abbreviations as far as we can tell from the markings on bags and boxes (e.g., she often prefers German terms, likely from her work with Dörpfeld and study of the prehistorics at Leukas). Sherds contained inconsistent markings (discussed further in Phase 2 and Phase 3) that reveal various information: their find spot, their depth, and year excavated. The markings played a large part in our ability to re-lot the material and for Banks to recreate the original contexts for his dissertation (described in Phase 2 below).; Objects of note were removed to receive inventory numbers (CP or MF), discussed below; all those not selected for inventory numbers were stored together with other objects from the same bag (i.e., the Kosmopoulos bagging system was the organizing principle of recording individual “units” in the initial sorting and identifying of material). Some, such as Neolithic gray wares, were often boxed together even if sherds came from different envelopes in one shoebox. There was no clear reason to distinguish the Neolithic graywares and there were no sherd markings or envelope markings that would give a reason why they should not be combined and the storage units pared down. The original envelope context was recorded in the processing photos.; Once material had been processed, they were stored in Corinth Excavation cardboard boxes (open top) which were placed into wooden storage trays. Each box received two numbers: a “K-NAM” number and “box” number. K-NAM numbers represent the shoebox in which items were found: these numbers were not from the original boxes, but were assigned based on the order in which they were processed; they simply help identify all the material that was originally boxed together in the NAM (i.e., to retain an association of the material with the marking on the original shoeboxes). Box numbers identify subdivisions of storage within the shoe boxes: most often, this was simply the paper bags or envelopes within which items were stored. Again, the box numbers only reflect the order in which the material was processed, they were not derived from information on these bags. Box identifies items grouped together in Kosmopoulos bags; K- NAM identifies the shoebox in which larger groups of these bag/box objects were stored.; The individual cardboard boxes were then placed in a wooden tray in the basement of the museum. During the sorting and recording of these items, many objects were assigned inventory numbers: 530 objects were assigned Corinth Pottery (CP) numbers; 45 were assigned Miscellaneous Find (MF) numbers. Their original Box and K-NAM numbers were recorded with these inventoried pieces, but the objects were disassociated from the box/tray system described above.4 Inventoried objects were recorded in iDig as “Objects” and photographed individually. Later, each inventoried object was fully measured and described according to the Corinth Excavations recording system. A running list of the CP and MF numbers were printed out and left with the crates. Inventoried objects were set aside in their own trays in the Museum basement for conservation and photography to eventually process (as of June 2021, the objects have not been conserved or photographed). Eventually these will enter the study collection. A Neolithic expert in particular should go through the objects and vet whether all of these specimen are worth retaining as CPs/MFs, particularly in light of the greater number of objects selected.; K-NAM and box numbers and CP and MF numbers were recorded in three excel sheets. At the beginning of the processing system, before the use of iDig (about a 1-week period), we; were not recording shoebox/K-NAM numbers, as we were still attempting to discern Kosmopoulos’ recording and storage system. In order to record what processed objects/tyropita bags were found together in one shoebox, we recorded that information as “Packed in K-NAM Shoebox with K-NAM Museum Box #”. Using context numbers in iDig rectified this problem; however, we continued to record boxes found together and this was superseded by the K-NAM number system which was retroactively applied to all of the individual box units that had been sorted prior to the advent of this system.; For example, this is the format used to record processed material:; ; Other fields used in excel are:; ; Bag or card info to signify if there was any written information found with pottery on their bag or card:; Contents: sherd count, general chronology, shape, fabric.; CP assigned to objects: CP number(s) given to something from that box. MF assigned to objects: MF number(s) given to something from that box.; Other notes: includes comparanda or publication information in cases where these objects were published in Kosmopoulos’ book (book, page number, etc.), notes to Jeffrey Banks, Katie Fine, or Ioulia Tzonou about specific items from the box that may be of interest to their EBA, Neolithic, and Mycenaean studies, respectively.; Recorded in iDig: whether or not it was recorded in iDig (Yes = yes; Blank = no). Notations on sherds: markings in pen or pencil that were legible, originally made by; Kosmopoulos to preserve excavation context information.; ; ; In total 173 KNAM shoeboxes were processed into 267 cardboard boxes. Two boxes were found in the NAM material that need to be returned to Athens. The first is an orange box with pottery ranging in date from EBA–Classical, obsidian, and a loom weight. Pottery find spots were recorded on the sherds (e.g., Thera). A notecard was found inside the box stating that the material was seized from the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). It seems to be a study collection and seems to have nothing to do with Kosmopoulos or Corinth, returned to Corinth with the Kosmopoulos material by accident. The second box contained numerous tags from various sites (not Corinth), all placed within a foam mold for a bronze spearhead or knife. Banks believes that the latter box might have been the commercial packaging for a knife that was used to hold a bronze dagger found by Komopoulos at Corinth, which she dated to the Middle Neolithic (it was not, but almost certainly EBA); the whereabouts of the dagger are unknown, and it is likely to have eroded away or remains in Athens.; ; Phase 2: Establishing Original Contexts for the Kosmopoulos Material from the National Archaeological Museum; Kosmopoulos abbreviated original excavation context information (e.g., trench and/or year, depths) in pencil or pen on many sherds, almost certainly whenever she removed material from its original context-tagged pottery storage tin.5 Sherds determined to be insignificant were grouped in tins, labeled, and stored at Corinth in the Old Museum.6 All this material was originally taken to the NAM by Kosmopoulos but returned when ASCSA demanded the return of all Corinth material and severed ties with Kosmopoulos in ca. 1937. “Insignificant” material was returned, while the “significant” material remained at the NAM (i.e., highly diagnostic objects that seemingly would have been published in the Kosmopoulos planned—but never finished— volumes on prehistoric Corinth).; Jeffrey Banks and I sorted sherds back into their original contexts. Pottery was separated into trays based on the markings on them that designated their findspots. The EBA and Neolithic pottery were kept separate within their context units to facilitate future study. The process took place in the Museum basement and courtyard.; Two additional columns were added to the KNAM excel sheet to keep track of markings on sherds and where items were being combined/lotted: Kosmopoulos Area Notations on Sherds and Re-lotted. The former recorded markings found on sherds (e.g., “E35”). If notations; were illegible or difficult to distinguish, they were returned to their box and placed in a tray for future revisiting (highlighted in the excel sheet in orange so that we could return and reprocess these after an initial sorting). The latter column (“Re-lotted”) recorded whether items were re- lotted (yes or no) and, if so, into what trays they were combined (e.g., E35, 2TH, 11 Heer 7, etc.). In some cases, all the material from boxes were inventoried (i.e., received CP numbers) and thus did not get lotted (e.g., see table below—“No context pottery to sort”). In many cases, all material from a box was lotted by context, and that box number no longer exists as a discreet storage unit, other than as a recording unit for objects’ original location.; ; Banks partook in the process in order to better understand where the Early Bronze Age material was found and to see if it was possible to rectify stratigraphy based on elevation markings on some sherds. He was able to use the sherd markings and Kosmopoulos trench system and depths to reconstruct a number of contexts across the site and combine this information with her publication, various excavators notebooks, and archival material to get a full understanding of what most of the sherd markings mean.; ; Kosmopoulos Series in New Apotheke and Old Museum: Preparing it for Lotting with the K- NAM material; After processing all of the K-NAM material (i.e., the Kosmopoulos material that was returned to Corinth in 2020), Banks and I went to the ASCSA Apotheke7 to examine the “Kosmopoulos Series”8 material had never left Corinth, or which was returned to Corinth by Kosmopoulos in the 1930s. This was around Christmas break (Dec. 25, 2020–Jan 15, 2021) when the Italian conservation team vacated the facility for the holidays. At the end of this period, when the conservators returned, this “Kosmopoulos series” material was moved to the Old Museum so we could continue our work.9; The Kosmopoulos series material stored in the New Apotheke was sorted and examined previously by John Lavezzi and Katie Fine. Lavezzi had sorted the EBA and Neolithic material based on chronological periods and distinct wares (e.g., red slipped rims) to facilitate an eventual attempt to combine the NAM material and look for joins. Katie Fine sorted four trays of the material Lavezzi had not managed to sort while a regular member as museum project. Fine’s sorting grouped material based on features of sherds: (e.g., Prehistoric–Roman rims or bases) regardless of chronology or context. Both these sorting methods were no longer relevant in light of our greater understanding of the original excavation contexts which had become the primary lotting principle of the Kosmopoulos material.; Banks and I applied the same sorting technique described above to the material in the Kosmopoulos Series: sherds were separated into boxes based on the notations about original excavations. In total we sorted through twenty trays. The contents included: ceramics, figurine fragments, stone tools (various), and shells. Four trays were unsorted/unstudied material ranging in date from the Neolithic–Roman periods.; In January 2021, Banks and I began to work in the Old Museum courtyard with (ca. 48) trays of Kosmopoulos Series material.10 Mostly, this material lacked individual sherd markings, and the impression is that this was the “insignificant material” Kosmopoulos left behind in Corinth or sent back. Based on Banks’ understanding of the history of the Kosmopoulos material and its various storage and papsing processes it received while in Corinth, these were almost certainly stored in tins that distinguished original context and depth; at some point this information was lost when the material was combined into trays and the original storage tin units lost. Some tags were included in boxes within trays, making it possible to glean, at times, where some material originated from, although almost all of these tags identified that the sherds within had come from more than one context.; Material that could be assigned to a specific context were combined with the proper excavation context/lot units that had been assigned for the KNAM material and the Kosmopoulos Series material from the New Apotheke.11; ; Phase 3: Assigning Lot Numbers to Context Pottery; ; Once all of the K-NAM material was sorted by context, Ioulia Tzontou, Jeff Banks and I agreed that lot numbers could be assigned to the pottery based on original excavation units (for the most part, these refer to identifiable/spatially known trenches). The lotting could not have taken place if sherds had not been marked with excavation data (e.g., trench abbreviation, depth). Banks provides full detail about the lots and contexts in the study for his dissertation and is in the process of generating lot descriptions. The lotting process is ongoing as of June 2021: the final quantities of material that cannot be assigned to a specific context will have to be considered (e.g., combine all Kosmopoulos unidentified location material to a single lot, lots based upon possible locations, toss some material, etc.).; ; Topographical Reconstruction of Prehistoric Habitation at Corinth; ; The K-NAM material attests a larger spatial and chronological use of the site than known previously. The quantity of material returned doubled the amount of known Prehistoric ceramics found in excavations. For more information the topographical reconstruction of the site with deposit information, see Banks’ dissertation.; Chronological Implications; ; Weinberg’s publication of Neolithic–EBA material from his excavations remain an important source for understanding Prehistoric activity at Corinth.12 The K-NAM material offers a more nuanced understanding of chronological periods because of the quantity and quality of material and the fact that they derive from deposits across the site. See above and Banks’ dissertation for a thorough discussion of the relevance of the Kosmopoulos material.; It is unclear whether Kosmopoulos saved all the Prehistoric material from her excavations. It seems likely when one considers the amount of Final Neolithic grayware body sherds she saved. It remains possible that Kosmopoulos intended to papse material at a later date but never finished with the material or had the time to do so. This is especially true of the later material excavated in the 1930’s were the extreme volumes of material and particularly the inclusion of what would normally be termed “insignificant” sherds suggested a near to 100% retention of excavated material, at least until they had been studied.; Below is a rough count of the pottery from the K-NAM processing. It is meant to give an idea of quantities representing chronological periods. The number will surely change after specialists complete their studies. The numbers represent the Kosmopoulos material returned to Corinth from the NAM in 2020 (i.e., they do not include the Kosmopoulos material that had already been in Corinth since the later 1930’s).; EN: ~16 sherds, including 1 mendable variegated bowl (CP 3967) MN: ~70 sherds; LN: ~3,536 sherds EH: ~1,433 sherds; MH: ~2 sherds (CP 3970: Gray Minyan goblet; CP 3977:1 possible Standard matt painted figure 8 around handle); LH: ~10 LH III (CP 3974–3976); ; A few of the LH sherds were marked with “Zyg”, or “Zyg dump”. From Kosmopoulos’ publication, these almost certainly refer to a pile of pottery that had been dumped outside of the Old Museum: it included Bronze Age Zygouries and Neolithic Lechaeion Road East material and excavation unit tags and seems to have been thrown out after Blegen and Hill fell out with ASCSA and were no longer working at Corinth. Kosmopoulos recovered the material. These sherds were placed in the Zygouries study collection drawers in a small bag with a printed explanation included.; ; Endnotes; 1 For the sake of posterity: Corinth Museum refers to what is often referred to as the “New Museum”; more clearly, this is the contemporary Museum function currently (2020–2021). There are plans to build a new New Museum, so this may cause confusion in the future.; 2 For a detailed biographical/archival analysis of Kosmopoulos and her work on Corinth and Prehistoric Greece, see Banks’s dissertation (forthecoming).; 3 The basement provided poor light, and in many cases information and notations gleamed from Kosmopoulos were more apparent when viewed in the sunlight at, e.g., the ASCSA Apotheke on Asklepius Street. An additional reading of all the sherds in a more suitable location may reveal additional details of Kosmopoulos’ work and methodology, particularly since her notebooks are missing and the seriation of her excavation units could only be recreated by Banks based on the depth markings on sherds.; 4 Ioulia Tzontou (Assistant Director) selected sherds and objects to receive CP and MF numbers, particularly for the Neolithic. Jeffrey Banks selected Early Helladic sherds to receive CP numbers based on their relevance of specifically for inclusion in his study of the EH period for his dissertation and later publication.; 5 Kosmopoulos 1948, p. 8, fn. 19.; 6 For the sake of posterity: since there is a new museum being planned, “Old Museum” might refer to one of two structures. Old Museum is the original/first Museum, which currently functions solely as a storage space and makes due as a study space, located on the south side of Apollo Street, just west of the village plateia, along the northern edge of the archaeological site—west of the exit gate and east of the Roman North Market.; 7 For the sake of posterity: this storage facility if currently (2020–2021) referred to as the New Apotheke. There is currently plans to create another Apotheke and either also create a fresco lab or retain the New Apotheke as a frescolab as it is currently functioning as such. For sake of clarity, this apotheke is on the north side of Asklepius street, east of Cheliotomylos, northwest of the main archaeological site and current Museum.; 8 The Kosmopoulos Series is a term used to refer to the Kosmopoulos material stored in Corinth in tins (later in trays) that were assigned “K” numbers for storage recording (K-1, K-2, etc.); 9 See fn. 5 for more on the Old Museum.; 10 See fn. 5 for more on the Old Museum.; 11 See fn. 6 for more on the New Apotheke.; 12 Weinberg, S. S. 1937. “Remains from Prehistoric Corinth,” Hesperia 6, pp. 487–524.","","Report","","Kosmopoulos Material From the National Archaeological Museum at Athens Returned to Ancient Corinth Museum","","Corinth:Report:Kosmopoulos Trenches 2020 by Belza, Anna (2020-09-28 to 2020-11-20)","Corinth","","Kosmopoulos Trenches 2020 by Belza, Anna (2020-09-28 to 2020-11-20)","","","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | | Kosmopoulos Trenches" "","Picture Books The Athenian Agora Picture Book series, started in 1951, aims to make information about life in the ancient commercial and political center of Athens available to a wide audience. Each booklet describes a particular aspect of everyday activity, as revealed through the work of archaeologists and historians. The authors are all experts in their fields and many of the books are written by the original excavators. The texts are illustrated with material from the Agora excavations, much of which is either on display at the site or in the museum. Physical copies of these books are easy to obtain from our distributors in either the USA or UK. By clicking on the associated links, you will be transferred to your nearest outlet. Class sets can be ordered via bookstores. You can also immediately download low resolution PDFs by clicking on the download links. These are free for personal use. For permission to use in course packs, or for other commercial purposes, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01983, USA; Tel: 978 750 8400; Fax: 978 750 4250; http://www.copyright.com. Pots and Pans of Classical Athens Authors: Sparkes, B., Talcott, L.Publication Date: 1958ISBN: 0876616015Picture Book: 1 By mingling images on well-preserved Greek vases with the more fragmentary ceramics recovered during excavations at the Agora, the authors show how different vessel forms were used in Classical Athens. By linking the shapes of pots with their social functions, this book gives meaning to the ancient names, such as skyphos, olpe, kantharos, lekane, and hydria, that one encounters when visiting museums. The booklet is illustrated with over 60 black and white photographs. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside The Stoa of Attalos II in Athens Author: Thompson, H. A. T.Publication Date: 1992ISBN: 0876616341Picture Book: 2 Named after its donor, the King of Pergamon, the Stoa of Attalos was originally built around 150 B.C. Between 1953 and 1956 this long, columned, marble building was rebuilt by the American School of Classical Studies to store and display finds from the Agora excavations. Using original materials and techniques, the modern builders learned much about the construction and purpose of stoas, a ubiquitous classical building type. This heavily illustrated account presents some of their findings. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Miniature Sculpture from the Athenian Agora Author: Thompson, D. B.Publication Date: 1959ISBN: 0876616031Picture Book: 3 Small sculptured figures of humans and animals have been found all over the Agora, ranging in date from the earliest occupation of Athens to the end of the Late Roman period. This booklet presents a representative sample of these carvings, ranging from elegant ivory figures of Apollo to small toy horses recovered from children’s graves. Illustrated with almost 80 black and white photographs. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside The Athenian Citizen. Democracy in the Athenian Agora Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 2004ISBN: 0876616325Picture Book: 4 The artifacts and monuments of the Athenian Agora provide our best evidence for the workings of ancient democracy. As a concise introduction to these physical traces, this book has been a bestseller since it was first published almost 20 years ago. Showing how tribal identity was central to all aspects of civic life, the text guides the reader through the duties of citizenship; as soldier in times of war and as juror during the peace. The checks and balances that protected Athenian society from tyrants, such as legal assassination and ostracism, are described. Selected inscriptions are illustrated and discussed, as are ingenious devices such as allotment machines and water clocks, which ensured fairness in the courts. The book ends with some of the lasting products of classical administration; the silver coins accepted around the known world, and the standard weights and measures that continue to protect the consumer from unscrupulous merchants. Now illustrated entirely in color, with updates and revisions by the current director of excavations at the Agora, this new edition of an acknowledged classic will inform and fascinate visitors and students for many years to come. Online Version | Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Ancient Portraits from the Athenian Agora Author: Harrison, E. B.Publication Date: 1960ISBN: 0876616058Picture Book: 5 Although the famous bronze statues seen by the Roman tourist Pausanias have been melted down, the Agora preserves a number of fine portraits in stone. While a few of these are named, most of the portraits in this booklet represent ordinary men and women; priests, athletes, and officials. Referring to over 40 black and white photos, the author discusses hairstyles, clothing and facial expressions to shed light on the individuals depicted. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Amphoras and the Ancient Wine Trade Author: Grace, V. RPublication Date: 1961ISBN: 0876616198Picture Book: 6 Although this booklet is based on broken pottery found during the excavation of the Agora, the author ranges far beyond the confines of Athens in her discussion of the purpose and significance of different amphora types. She shows how chronological variations in shape and the geographical clues offered by stamped handles make amphoras a fascinating source of economic information. The booklet illustrates many different forms of amphora, all set into context by the well-written text. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside The Middle Ages in the Athenian Agora Author: Frantz, A.Publication Date: 1961ISBN: 0876616074Picture Book: 7 The story of the Agora did not end in A.D. 267, when the Herulians invaded the city. This booklet illustrates the ornate Early Christian carving and colorful green and brown glazed pottery that distinguished medieval Athens. Finds and architecture from the private houses that covered over the Classical remains are discussed, and the book ends with a survey of the Church of the Holy Apostles, the 11th-century church that stands at the southeast corner of the Agora. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Garden Lore of Ancient Athens Authors: Burr Thompson, D., Griswold, R. E.Publication Date: 1963ISBN: 0876616082Picture Book: 8 In the spring, the ground of the Agora archaeological park is covered in poppies and daisies while poplars and oaks shade many of the pathways. Some of these plants are wild and some were deliberately introduced to Athens in Classical times. This booklet presents evidence for ancient horticulture in the Agora (for example, structured antique gardens were uncovered around the Temple of Hephaistos). Its color plates also provide a useful guide to identifying modern Greek vegetation. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Lamps from the Athenian Agora Author: Perlzweig, J.Publication Date: 1963ISBN: 0876616090Picture Book: 9 At night, the darkness of the ancient Agora would have been pierced by the lights of oil lamps, and thousands of fragments of these distinctive objects have been found. This booklet presents the development of different styles of lamps and includes a very useful identification guide. The author discusses the manufacture of lamps in Athens, a major industry with over 50 known workshops in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. She also provides illustrations of particularly fine examples, including ornate festival lamps with many nozzles and bizarre shapes. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions from the Athenian Agora Author: Meritt, B. D.Publication Date: 1966ISBN: 0876616104Picture Book: 10 Many types of written records are found in the Agora, and this booklet presents a sample of more than 10,000 inventoried inscriptions on stone. The texts illustrated include diplomatic agreements, commemorative plaques for athletic victories, records of court judgements, boundary stones identifying different buildings, and fragmentary inscriptions featuring names (over 30,000 individual Athenians are now recorded). In a city of letters, even the problems faced by the librarians of the Library of Pantainos seem familiar: “No book shall be taken out for we have sworn an oath. Open from the first hour to the sixth.” Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Waterworks in the Athenian Agora Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1968ISBN: 0876616112Picture Book: 11 Preserved beneath the surface of the Agora are thousands of terracotta pipes, stone drainage channels, and lead pressure lines. These form a complex chain of waterworks, constructed and repaired over many different periods. This book discusses the complex engineering that channeled fresh water into the Agora and disposed of waste water, and shows some of the ornate wells and fountain houses where ancient Athenians gathered to drink and bathe. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside An Ancient Shopping Center: The Athenian Agora Author: Burr Thompson, D.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 087661635XPicture Book: 12 As well as being a political center, the Agora was the focus of a noisy and varied commercial life. This booklet illustrates the archaeological, documentary, and pictorial evidence for such diverse trades as shoe-making, fishmongering, weaving, and the manufacture of luxury goods and perfumes. Shopping was just one aspect of this public space: ancient Athenians would also have received medical treatment, been married and buried, made sacrifices, and received education in the Agora. The material remains from all of these activities are also discussed. Vivid illustrations and useful resources, such as a table of prices and coinage, bring the bustling marketplace to life. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Early Burials from the Agora Cemeteries Author: Immerwahr, S. A.Publication Date: 1973ISBN: 0876616139Picture Book: 13 Before the creation of the Agora as a civic center in the 7th century B.C., the region northwest of the Acropolis was a vast cemetery. Over 150 ancient burial places have been found by excavators, and a few of the more remarkable are described here. These range from a wealthy Mycenaean chamber tomb, filled with the vases and jewelry of a rich noblewoman, to the poignant pithos burial of an infant from around 725 B.C., accompanied by eight tiny vases. As well as describing the assemblages found, the author discusses the symbolism of funeral rites and the information about social status and identity that burials reveal. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Graffiti in the Athenian Agora Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1988ISBN: 0876616333Picture Book: 14 “Return the stamnos to Philippa’s brother Philip,” “cheap wine,” “Alkaios seems beautiful to Melis,” “Of Tharrios I am the cup.” Like fragments of overheard conversations, the thousands of informal inscriptions scratched and painted on potsherds, tiles, and other objects give us a unique insight into the everyday life of the Athenian Agora. Some are marks of ownership, or the notes of merchants, but many are sexual innuendos, often accompanied by graphic illustrations. Using her wide contextual knowledge, the author suggests why these scraps of sentences were written, and what they can tell us about one of the first widely literate societies. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Greek and Roman Coins in the Athenian Agora Author: Kleiner, F. S.Publication Date: 1975ISBN: 0876616155Picture Book: 15 Over 75,000 coins have been found during excavations at the Agora, many minted in the city but others brought from Athens’s far-flung commercial contacts. In addition to the mostly bronze and copper coins themselves, a building that may have served as the Athenian mint is described in this booklet. After describing the physical techniques of production, the author takes a chronological approach and includes numerous black and white photographs, making this concise guide a useful aid to the identification of lower-value Greek and Roman coinage. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside The Athenian Agora, A Short Guide in Color Author: Camp, J.Publication Date: 2003ISBN: 0876616430Picture Book: 16 In a newly revised version of this popular site guide, the current director of excavations in the Athenian Agora gives a brief account of the history of the ancient center of Athens. The text has been updated and expanded to cover the most recent archaeological discoveries, and the guide now features numerous color illustrations. Each monument still visible on the site is described in turn, and helpful maps and plans are a particular feature of this edition. Birthplace of democracy, the Agora remains one of the most fascinating archaeological sites in the world, and this is the essential companion for any visitor. Online Version | Google Books | English PDF | Greek PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Socrates in the Agora Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1978ISBN: 0876616171Picture Book: 17 As far as we know, the 5th-century B.C. Greek philosopher Socrates himself wrote nothing. We discover his thoughts and deeds entirely through the writings of his followers, disciples who accompanied him on his walks through the Athenian Agora or engaged in dialogue with him in the Stoa Basileios. Rather than examining his ideas in abstract, this stimulating little book aims to place Socrates in his physical setting, using textual references to follow his progress through the material remains still visible. The author not only sheds new light on the great philosopher’s life, but also provides a vivid reconstruction, through following the career of one of its most famous citizens, of daily life at the center of classical Athens. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Mediaeval and Modern Coins in the Athenian Agora Author: Kleiner, F. S.Publication Date: 1978ISBN: 087661618XPicture Book: 18 From the thousands of pieces of Late Roman “small change” discovered trodden into beaten earth floors and dropped into wells to the hoards of 19th-century A.D. silver French francs discovered beneath modern houses, many post-classical coins have been discovered during excavations at the Agora. This booklet presents Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, Turkish, and modern Greek coins, with many pieces illustrated with clear black and white photos of both obverse and reverse. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Gods and Heroes in the Athenian Agora Author: Camp, J.Publication Date: 1980ISBN: 0876616236Picture Book: 19 Religion played a part in almost every aspect of civic life, so shrines, temples, altars, and dedications are conspicuous at almost every turn during a visit to the Agora. The author of this booklet shows where and how the major Olympian gods were worshipped, and then turns his attention to lesser known deities, such as Hekate, the triple-bodied goddess of the crossroads. He argues that the cults of heroes, such as Theseus, one of the legendary founders of Athens, were much more popular than the official state religion focused on the Olympian gods. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Bronzeworkers in the Athenian Agora Author: Mattusch, C. C.Publication Date: 1982ISBN: 0876616244Picture Book: 20 The conspicuous Temple of Hephaistos, Greek god of metalworkers, prominently situated on the western side of the Agora, reflects the esteem in which bronzeworkers were held by the Athenians. Although many of the objects these craftsmen produced have now been melted down, the statues, lamps, and vessels that remain testify to the high standards of their craftsmanship. As well as illustrating some of the surviving finished products, the author discusses the techniques used to cast bronze and the level of skill involved in producing complex metal statuary. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Ancient Athenian Building Methods Authors: Camp, J., Dinsmoor Jr., W. B.Publication Date: 1984ISBN: 0876616260Picture Book: 21 While this booklet is illustrated solely with materials from the Athenian Agora, it also provides a concise introduction to building styles and techniques that will be useful to anyone interested in ancient Greek architecture. From financing to tools, and from mason’s marks to the clamps that held blocks together, no detail is ommitted in this well-illustrated text. The different parts of monumental buildings, from the foundations to the tile roofs, are all discussed with clear drawings to indicate how the whole was constructed. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Birds of the Athenian Agora Authors: Lamberton, R. D., Rotroff, S. I.Publication Date: 1985ISBN: 0876616279Picture Book: 22 As well as the Little Owl, or glaux, so often seen accompanying the goddess Athena, many other birds played an important role in Greek art and symbolism. This booklet describes the ways in which the Greeks viewed birds, from useful hawks and fowl to exotic parakeets and peacocks. Some of the birds most often depicted are imaginary—from the griffin to the “phallos bird,” whose head and neck consisted of an erect penis. The book ends with a birder’s guide to species likely to be seen on a visit to the Agora archaeological park today. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Life, Death, and Litigation in the Athenian Agora Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1994ISBN: 0876616376Picture Book: 23 Athens was a famously litigious city in antiquity, as the sheer quantity of evidence for legal activity found in the Agora makes clear. Every kind of case, from assault and battery to murder, and from small debts to contested fortunes, were heard in various buildings and spaces around the civic center, and the speeches given in defence and prosecution remain some of the masterpieces of Greek literature. As well as describing the spaces where judgments were made (such as the Stoa Basileios, office of the King Archon), the author discusses the progress of some famous cases (known from the speeches of orators like Demosthenes), such as the patrimony suit of a woman named Plangon against the nobleman Mantias, or the assault charge leveled by Ariston against Konon and his sons. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Horses and Horsemanship in the Athenian Agora Author: Camp, J.Publication Date: 1998ISBN: 0876616392Picture Book: 24 This concise and beautifully illustrated book demonstrates the many roles played by the horse in the lives of the Greeks, from its place in myth and early history to its significance as a marker of social status and its use in warfare, transportation, games, and festivals. From their arrival in Greece, at the start of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000 B.C.), horses were a powerful symbol of rank. Bridles and other horse trappings are often found in graves, alongside vases depicting horses grazing, racing, and parading. Sculpture is also full of horse imagery, from monumental equestrian statues (a bronze leg and gilded sword are all that remain from one of these) to tiny terracotta figurines, perhaps a child’s toys. As well as presenting many examples of horse imagery found in the Agora, the author reports on recent finds near the ancient hipparcheion, the stables of the Athenian cavalry. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside The Games at Athens Authors: Neils, J., Tracy, S. V.Publication Date: 2003ISBN: 0876616414Picture Book: 25 This attractive book presents a general introduction to the Greater Panathenaia, the week-long religious and civic festival held at Athens every four years in honor of the city’s patron goddess, Athena. The highlight of the city’s festival calendar, with its musical, athletic, and equestrian contests, tribal events, processions, sacrifices, and other activities, the Greater Panathenaia involved all the residents of Athens—not just adult males but women, children, metics (resident aliens), foreigners, and even slaves. The facilities, administration, program events, prizes, and associated monuments are described. Google Books | English PDF | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Women in the Agora Authors: Rotroff, S., Lamberton. R.Publication Date: 2006ISBN: 0876616449Picture Book: 26 Using evidence from the Athenian Agora, the authors show how objects discovered during excavations provide a vivid picture of women’s lives. The book is structured according to the social roles women played—as owners of property, companions (in and outside of marriage), participants in ritual, craftspeople, producers, and consumers. A final section moves from the ancient world to the modern, discussing the role of women as archaeologists in the early years of the Agora excavations. Google Books | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside Marbleworkers in the Athenian Agora Author: Lawton, C.Publication Date: 2006ISBN: 0876616547Picture Book: 27 The 5th-century B.C. poet Pindar remarked on the rich sculptural decoration of the Athenian Agora, and, indeed, over 3,500 pieces of various types of sculpture have been uncovered during its excavation. This full-color guide sheds new light on the marble industry in and around the Agora, including rich evidence for sculptors’ workshops, their tools, and techniques. The text discusses the works of both famous and anonymous artists. Google Books | Buy Online | Search for Items Inside","http://agathe.gr/publications/picture_books.html","Webpage","","","","Agora:Webpage:13d1c3f4a073ae9908f4b8a37cf3f883","Agora","","Publications: Picture Books","","","" "","Agora 13","","PublicationPage","","The Neolithic and Bronze Ages; Index; Catalogue Hüyük","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-299::/Agora/Publications/Agora/Agora 013/Agora 013 299 (278).png::1449::2048","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-13-299","Agora","","Agora 13, s. 299, p. 278","","","" "","Katie Rask, Marty Wells; ASCSA Corinth Excavations; End of Season Report; Blue Team; North of Nezi; ; The following is a summary of the excavations carried out in the area north of Nezi field during the 2009 season. Three teams worked in this area over the three sessions. In the first session, 29 March – 24 April, Ryan Boehm and Joanna Potenza were supervisors. They focused on four areas: the westernmost room bounded by walls 5631 and W54; the room bounded by walls 10080, 10076, 10077, 10087 and W55, both east of the central courtyard of a Byzantine house (E: 274.70 – 281.69; N: 1026.30 – 1032.55 including the southern walls); the room bounded by walls 10081, 10082, 10083, 10086, and 10079, an addition built outside of the eastern edge of the house (E: 282.15 – 284.95; N: 1027.15 – 1030.25); and a series of roads running N-S east of this addition (E: 285.4 – 286.65; N: 1029.30 – 1032.40). In the second session, 27 April - 22 May, Katie Rask, Dreya Mihaloew and Martin Wells were supervisors. They focused on the room between walls W55 on the north (N 1034.30), 6267 on the south (N 1026.97), 10086 on the east (E 282.15) and W54 on the west (E 273.95). Rask and Wells continued supervising in the same room during the third session, 25 May -12 June. This report provides a summary and interpretation based on the season as a whole.; ; Our objective this season was to expose the 11th century levels for the purpose of opening up this house for public display. The director was Guy Sanders, the field director Alicia Carter, the pickman Thanasis Notis, the shovelman Tasos Kakouros and the barrowman Vasilis Kollias. The dry sieve was operated primarily by Sula Anastasopoulou, Kollias, Rask, Mihaloew, and Wells.; ; Previous Activity: 1961; ; Under the directorship of Henry Robinson, Section F of the Byzantine house was explored by William Berg III in the spring of 1961. At some time after the completion of excavation (either in 1961 or later in the 60s when excavation in the Agora Southwest was closed) portions of the room were back-filled, while other areas were left exposed. Following his work, no archaeological activity was undertaken in the area except for a cleaning in 2007, when it was weeded, covered with plastic, and back-filled.; ; In the room which was the focus of our excavation throughout all three 2009 sessions, Berg had exposed walls W54, W55, 10080, 10083, 10086, 10088,10094, 5631, an E-W drain (5938), and well 6288. Additionally, he sunk trenches in all four corners of the room; these may have been further excavated while searching for the Roman road. The combination of back-filled and exposed areas, as well as the recording practices in the 1960s, had an effect on our ability to interpret the pre-60s stratigraphy. For this reason, extensive study of Berg’s photographs and excavation notebooks was undertaken in order to determine how his activity impacted the space of the room prior to our renewed excavations. A detailed discussion of the four corner trenches is attached as Appendix B of this report. More general references to Berg’s results are included in the pertinent discussions below.; ; ; Frankish (1210-1458); ; The Frankish period seems to have witnessed a great deal of activity and renovation in our space, with the most active period being the second half of the 13th century. Of the features dated to this period, most can be placed either in the third quarter or in the later part of the century. During this time span, the form and use of the room changed on several occasions. A wide variety of new or changed elements in the room indicate this, including the addition of rooms, walls, a drain, thresholds, floors and fills. ; ; Well 6288; ; One of the main actions pointing to the changing use of space was the closing of well 6288, which was filled sometime in the third quarter of the 13th century. Because the excavation and processing of the well was a significant part of the season’s work, and because its contents will be the subject of considerable further study, in what follows we will provide a detailed description of our results from the well’s excavation. Afterwards, the discussion will return to the other 13th century activity. ; ; The well had originally been examined on May 13, 1961 (NB 229, p. 109) and designated Well OA-107 (coordinate designation) at that time. Berg excavated it for less than a meter and recorded no finds. He postulated that it belonged to the Turkish period and did not excavate deeper because of its narrowness. Our own investigation began by removing 0.45 m of backfill and debris before excavation. Initially we attempted to determine context changes based on differences in soil composition and inclusions; however, after approximately 2.0 meters of excavation, the Director advised that we should change contexts approximately every 0.30 m. This was our primary method of excavation, but we also changed contexts when stratigraphically necessary. All the material from the well was dry sieved with 7mm screens and 3mm starting with context 6420. Water flotation samples (15 L) were also collected from every context. 32 contexts were removed in total, but the bottom of the well was not reached nor was the structure (6288) itself excavated.; ; The material removed from the well indicates three discernible dumping actions dating to the Frankish period, between 1270-1290 C.E. The character of these deposits, however, suggests that the well was filled over a short time. The latest dumping layer (6286, 6291, 6297, 6360, 6361, 6365, 6368) fills the top 2.75 meters of the well. The contexts comprising the layer included a large amount of pottery, bone material, and various smaller finds such as iron nails, glass, and bronze objects. The proceeding (and underlying) dumping action revealed a dramatic decrease in the number of inclusions, with a very small amount of pottery and bone, and a significant increase in the ash and charcoal content of the soil (6369, 6371, 6374, 6378, 6383, 6386). Below and proceeding the ash deposit was another dumping action (6394, 6400, 6405, 6412, 6416, 6420, 6430, 6438, 6447); this deposit was characterized by soil with a high clay content and very little ash, extremely large amounts of pottery (with a high proportion of fine ware) and a very large amount of animal bone. ; ; At a depth of 11.70 m (elev. 73.40 m) we reached the water table (context 6518). The pottery and bones were still present at their normal high amounts so we continued excavating for another 37 cm, to a depth of 11.88 (elev. 73.03 m), at which point we felt that it was unsafe to continue. The last context was 6524. ; ; The latest pottery found in the well dates to a twenty-year span (1270-1290), but the three dumping actions apparent amongst the contexts are not chronologically separate, despite their stratigraphic relationships. In addition, the presence of complete vessels suggests primary deposition, but the occurrence of incomplete and fragmentary body sherds also indicates the secondary deposition of pottery. This interpretation is supported by the bone material. The excellent preservation of delicate and small bones (e.g., of fish, cats, birds), as well of the articulation of some bones, can be indicative of primary deposition; on the other hand, a large amount of weathered and fragmentary bones suggests the secondary deposition of animal remains.; Personal communication with Thanos Webb, the excavation’s zooarchaeologist, emphasized the distinct nature of the bone material that had been removed from the well. The preservation was very good, with little weathering and the presence of smaller and more fragile elements. There was an abundance of different anatomical elements, representing parts from the entire skeleton. The surface modification of the bones was also distinctive, with the butchery marks on multiple elements being far more extensive than that on bones from areas outside the well. Finally, the species representation from the well was also conspicuous, ranging from common domesticates to large birds and fish, and with an age distribution ranging from fetal to mature. Additionally, large amounts of microfaunal remains and fish scales were collected from the dry sieve. These have yet to be analyzed.; ; In addition to the pottery and bones, we recovered small finds of both a utilitarian and luxury nature. These included stone and bone tools, iron nails, bronze lumps, worked bone artifacts, spindle hooks and whorls, and glass. Twenty-seven coins were recovered. Nearly half of these were illegible, and of those which we could date, most were Late Byzantine and Frankish. None need to be later than the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, chronology in agreement with our pottery. A complete list of the contexts and coin dates can be found in Appendix A of this summary.; ; The well structure itself was not excavated, so our only evidence for the construction date of the well comes from our limited excavation of the fill (6536) inside the construction cut (6535). The pottery from this context dated to the 10th/11th centuries. Given the large amount of dumped 10/11th century fill in other parts of the room which stratigraphically date to the 12th century (see below), the small sample provided by the construction trench cannot assuredly date the well’s first use phase. Still, if one considers the dating of the contexts surrounding the well (see below), we can speculate that well was in use from the 10th/11th centuries until it was closed at the third quarter of the 13th century.; Other 13th century activity; ; The character of the other 13th century actions in the room also reflects an alteration of the space. In the 3rd quarter of the century, sometime around the closing of the well, a long drain (5938) was laid running E-W and extending eastward out of the room. In order to extend the drain completely to the road, a small portion of wall 10083 had to be removed. The pebble/cement floor associated with the drain (5934) suggests that the room continued to act as an outdoor space, as it had previously in the 12th century. Two piers (5957, 10077) set up at the room’s south east boundary and a threshold (5919) placed between served to monumentalize the passageway between our room and the one to the south. At the same time, another pier (6148) was placed to the north on an axis with the eastern pier; it was placed against the west end of wall 10087 and can be dated by the fill which it cuts to the south (6141). Together the three piers must have served a supporting function for an upper level or arch. By the end of the century the threshold had been walled up and two connecting N-S walls (10094, 10080) were added at the western pier to slice the entire room in half, separating the well and staircase from the room’s eastern portion. ; ; In order to build wall 10094 it seems that digging activity of some sort was undertaken, probably to clear the space for construction. We have not settled on a firm interpretation of the activity here, however. Originally we believed we had found a robbing trench for another pier foundation (6273), located on an axis with the other three. Further excavation revealed that the pier foundation cut was part of a longer N-S cut (6254/5, 6240, 6565, 6569) truncated by Berg’s corner trench (6570). The lower portion of the cut contains fill with 12th century dates (6274, 6581); the robbing of the upper portion, evidently begun at the southern end, can be associated with the 13th century (6225, 6240). Conclusions about the history of activity in this region are tenuous, but may include, for example: a) an earlier wall was robbed out in the 12th century, another placed in the same cut at a higher layer, and that robbed out in the 13th century, b) a wall was removed at some point and a pier foundation was sunk in its place to coincide with the other three, then removed for 10094. ; The removal of other features was also necessary to reshape the space. For example, an E-W wall (6052) ending at 10086 must have been removed to accommodate the threshold placed just at its south. The robbing trench left behind by the wall’s removal was later cut by pit 5935. This pit may have been dug to remove a large pithos, evidenced at the south end of the pit by its deeper circular depression, perhaps located at the corner of walls 6052 and 6424 and therefore outside the boundary of our room and adjacent to its south (see Appendix B).; ; 12th century; ; Whereas the 13th century activity in the room involved the movement and construction of numerous built features, at present it seems that the 12th century activity, while extensive, cannot be linked to any extant architectural elements within the room. Instead, the 12th century activity is marked by a series of leveling and dumping activities that can be situated in two general time periods, the early 12th century and the second half of the century.; The most dramatic of these is a deep layer of multiple dumping actions in the southern part of the room. In the early part of the century, an extensive cut was made that truncated a grey clay floor in the west and extended to the eastern edge of the space. The cut was filled with many deposits of a mixed nature; in particular, several lenses of fill contained pottery of multiple periods and included large dumps of roof tiles (e.g., 6191: 21.4kg, 6186: 24.9kg). The mixed nature of the pottery deposit suggests that it was removed from another context before deposition in the room. In fact, the majority of the lenses were dated by pottery to the 10th/11th century (6629, 6626, 6622, 6194, 6196, 6198, 6225), while the dumping activity can be securely dated to the 12th century by the lowest fill level (6662). ; ; Redeposited 10th/11th century material was also used to make up the matrix of a series of pebble floors in the room’s NE corner (6593, 6592, 6591). The floors were truncated on all sides, but can be dated by a deep fill beneath (6605) containing early 12th century pottery and very well-preserved bones (with nearly complete and fragile examples, suggesting primary deposition). Because the patchy pebble floors exhibited wear patterns compatible with the pooling of water, during the early part of the century we suspect the room to have been an outdoor space. ; The evidence for architectural adaption in the courtyard during the twelfth century is scanty. A feature running N-S east of the well may have been removed (see above). An E-W wall (6426) may also have been removed, since a series of robbing trenches were found (6042, 6046), but since the wall has not been fully excavated, we cannot be certain of its chronology. ; ; 10th/11th century; ; Our understanding of the 10th and 11th century phases of the room is currently incomplete, since our efforts have focused primarily on removing 12th and 13th century remains. As mentioned, many of the dumped fills that we have encountered were dated by pottery to the 10th/11th century, but belong stratigraphically to later periods. We also have 10th/11th century dates for the patchy floors and some of the fills below them in the NE part of the room, but these are stratigraphically dated to the 12th century as well. ; ; A large drain was located outside the room, east of wall 10086 under the later additions to the Byzantine house, curving from the southwest (10079) north and west to 10083. Situated under what was once the wider Medieval road, the drain was covered by squared limestone slabs probably removed from the nearby Roman road. The fill and surface above the drain contained pottery of the 10th and 11th century, but as the cut and fill excavated seems to have been related to a later repair, we are not able to establish a firm chronology for the drain’s construction. Moreover, given the stratigraphically later 10th/11th century fills common in the room, the date should probably remain speculative for the time being.; Otherwise, we have no structures that can be assuredly dated to the 10th and 11th centuries. In the western portion of the room, a grey clay floor has been uncovered through which the well was cut. The fill inside the well construction cut was dated to the 10th/11th century, as were the fills above this floor and the cut. However, as stated above, given the limited excavation of the construction cut, the unexcavated well structure, and the disturbed nature of this part of the room, we only tentatively date the well construction to this period. ; ; Suggestions for further excavation; ; One area of particular interest for future research is the architectural phasing of the area. This is especially relevant since the room appears to have served as a courtyard in the 12th century and its boundaries seem to have shifted on several occasions. For this reason, it might be worth considering the room’s relationship to the other external courtyards. It is also a possibility that the space’s form and function changed as the larger building was broken into smaller units. ; ; In keeping with the premises of open-area excavation, we have endeavored to extract all 13th century and later levels from the room (the exception being the unexcavated well deposits below the water table). Nearly all 12th century levels have been removed. We recommend that the following steps be taken to clear any remaining 12th century evidence before proceeding to the earlier Byzantine periods. ; ; 1)Any remaining fill from the unfinished portion of 6662 should be removed, particularly the dumped fill in the area north of 5935 and west of 6556/7. The relationship between that fill and the eastern area of the room should be further clarified (particularly in the region of wall 10086 and cut 5935). ; 2)If permission to remove wall 6426 has been acquired, then it should be taken out and the area beneath it examined in more detail. It may have been partly robbed out in the 12th century, but its construction date has not yet been identified.; 3)The staircase (6324, 6325, 6333) can be further examined by excavating the space between the lower and upper steps. It is probable that the staircase was added after the well was closed, since it partly overlies the well packing, but a more precise date for its construction would be helpful.; 4)The triangular area 6648 laid against walls 10086 and 10087 should be excavated. We believed that it may have been outside cut 6678, but its stratigraphic make-up should be determined more precisely, since its last level to be removed was part of the larger context 6648.; 5)The grey floor south of the well should be examined in an effort to understand its use phases, the date and function of wall 6422 and the collection of rocks visible in the 1960s sondage section.; 6)The uneven fills in the northeast part of the room should be removed to explore their make-up and to determine if they actually date to the 10th/11th century or if they are part of the 12th century leveling action. Their removal will also allow the investigation of the floors beneath them that had been cut by 6678. ; 7) If the lower levels of the room are reached, three particular questions that have been created by earlier excavation might be addressed:; A. What were the circumstances of the skeleton’s deposition in the NE corner? (See Appendix B) Why was the body haphazardly laid out and why was its skull covered by 10087?; B. What is identification of the line of stones at the bottom of the N-S cut (6273)? The soil south of the stones seemed to be full of hollows. Might it be an earlier well, as Thanasis has suggested, or another type of open space?; C. A N-S wall was uncovered by Berg in the NW trench (6570) and re-found in 2009. It appears to be a finely constructed wall abutting the earlier phase of W55, forming a precise corner. How does this change the plan of the building and the understanding of the long entrance alley to the north? Does the wall have any relation to the Byzantine house at all or is it entirely pre-Medieval?; ; ; Appendix A: Well coin dates; ; Context Coin # and date; 6286; #123 Corinth medieval 1245-1250; 6291; 6297; 6360; 6361; 6365; 6368; 6369; 6371; 6374; 6378; 6383; 6386; 6394; 6400; 6405; #99 medieval illeg.; #102 Manuel I 1167-1183; 6412; #103 medieval illeg. 1092-1399; #104 Villehardouin 1250-1260; #107 illeg.; 6416; #114 illeg. 1092-1261; #115 Roman Imperial; 6420; 6430; #119 Manuel I 1143-1180; #120 medieval illeg. 1092-1261; #121 illeg 324-599; #122 Greek – Corinth 400-146 BC; 6438; 6447; #126 illeg. 1092-1261; #127 illeg. 1092-1399; #128 illeg. 1250-1330; #161 illeg.; 6455; 6469; #137 Alexius I 1085-1092; #139 illeg.; #140 illeg. 1204-1261; 6474; #142 Manuel 1 1143-1180; 6483; #149 illeg.; 6486; #146 medieval illeg.; #150 illeg.; #151 Byzantine illeg.; 6492; 6497; #153 medieval; #154 Byzantine; #155 Byzantine; 6515; 6518; 6524; ; Appendix B; NB = Berg’s notebook, #229.; PV = Photograph volume 18, 1960 II; ; Berg included a number of plans of Section F, which he updated throughout the season as new information came to light. His drawings have been useful for reconstructing his activity at the time, although his plans do often focus on architecture to the expense of other important features (e.g., he never depicts well 6288). His adherence to the overall grid is often inexact. It appears that his elevations, in contrast, are quite accurate; they can be tested both at the 13th century drain (5938) and at the bottom of 6173.; ; Two of the corner trenches were cleaned during 2009’s Session1 by Potenza and Boehm, that in the southwest (5935) and southeast (6223).; ; 5935: This area was originally excavated by Berg on June 10th, 1961 (NB: 192, 195). He mentions working in the area between his walls #33 (10080/10094), #27 (10086/10087), and #23 (10076/10077). Although Berg does not describe the excavation of a deep pit or bothros, a figure-eight-shaped pit is visible in the end-of-excavation photographs (PV: p 32, 61-24-4); it was cleaned, defined and recorded by Potenza and Boehm as cut 5935. Berg’s silence on the issue of the pit may be due to the fact that its excavation was done on the last day of the season, with work ending at noon. The material was saved as Lot 662. Because the stratigraphy was so disturbed by both Berg’s excavation and by later weathering, 5935’s original digging cannot be placed securely in the room’s sequence of events. It clearly occurred after the filling of 6042/6046 (RT for 6052), which it truncates, but otherwise we can not exactly place it on the Harris Matrix and have thus left it floating.; ; 6623: Berg refers to this area, excavated on June 6th, 1961 (NB: p. 182), as the space between his walls #34 (W54), #33 (10080/10094), and #25. No photographs of the specific area were taken, but it is depicted in the post-season views found in PV. The photos indicate that in this area, Berg excavated everything to the level of the top of the well, with two specific features down to a lower level. The first is the sondage taken at the corners of W54 and 6267/5361; it was cleaned by Potenza and Boehm but not given a number. According to the photos, Berg’s excavation of the sondage revealed the northern face of 6267/5361, the wall located about a meter or so north of Berg's Wall #25 and the southwest boundary of our own trench. Berg did not include wall 6267/5361 on his plans, but it does seem to have been drawn on the 2009 Nezi field plan. The pit that he excavated at this time has a large number of jumbled rocks on its east face (under wall 6422). It is unclear if 6422 was excavated by Berg, but on his final plan (p. 188) he draws a small structure that jogs east and then south from W54 in a similar way to how we originally interpreted 6422; this may be a reference to his sondage and the jumbled rocks therein, or to 6422. Also likely, however, is that the structure drawn by Berg refers to a pile of larger rocks possibly visible north of the sondage and south of the staircase in photo 61-26-5 (p35); again, this interpretation is based on a general photograph of the area as there was no detailed description in Berg’s notebook. ; ; The second delineated feature visible in the photographs is a circular pit to the east of the sondage and up against Berg's wall #33 (our 10080). This is probably what Berg refers to on p. 182 as a circular pit just west of his wall #33 and north of his wall #25. He indicates that the pit had a plastered southern face and was filled with fine white ash. The pottery was saved as Lot 683. He excavated the pit to an elevation of 84.16m. Our season’s closing elevation was 84.18m, a difference of only .02m, and was taken approximately under the pit’s location as visible in the photographs (at the bottom of 6662). ; ; The placement of Berg’s corner sondage had some bearing in our interpretation of contexts 6620 and 6338. 6620 was made of an extremely soft and ashy fill that was exposed by Potenza and Boehm’s cleaning at the beginning of the season, and was partly removed by 6338 and further sweeping. Its softness and the its straight northern boundary suggested that it might be back-fill. In the 1961 photographs, the sondage does not appear to be located so far north, leaving the possibility that the softness of the soil was a result of exposure to the elements, foot traffic and other 2009 excavation activity. Nevertheless, it is still possible that the area was excavated further after the 1961 end-of-season photos were taken and that 6620 was composed of re-deposited earth - if so, the excavation activity must have been completed after Berg's 1961 efforts. See PV: p. 34, 61-26-4; p. 35, 61-27-1, 61-27-2, 61-26-5.; ; The two corners in the northwest (6570) and northeast (6173) were cleaned by Rask and Wells in 2009’s Session 2 and 3: ; ; 6173: This northeast corner was originally excavated by Berg on June 9th, 1961 (NB: p. 192) and continued on June 10th, the final day of the season. Berg stopped digging at a hard surface found at 84.20m, at which point the wall foundation trenches for W55 (#34) and 10086 (#27) were visible. At this level he also uncovered a skeleton lying in a disheveled E-W position with its head beneath10087 (PV: p. 25: 61-15-3). Berg makes clear in his notebook that the area would not be excavated any further beyond their stopping point at 84.20m, the level of the skeleton. Our excavation has shown, however, that some time later digging must have taken place, as an irregular pit cuts through the hard surface at which Berg stopped (our measurement shows the disturbed hard surface to be 84.10m, slightly lower than Berg’s stopping point at 84.20m). The later digging cut through the wall foundation trench noted by Berg and continued to a presently undetermined depth. It is unclear when this digging happened and by whom it was undertaken.; ; 6570: The northwest area was originally exposed on May 26, 1961 (PV: p. 35, 61-27-7). It began as a soft fill that was excavated to a hard level at 84.06m. He speculated that the soft fill was W54/55's foundation trench (p.151). The hard soil was then removed from W54 eastward towards Berg's wall #33 (10094/10080). Berg originally drew #33 as extending from our room northward beyond W55 (plan, p. 101); if the wall truly extended that far north than its northern portion must have been removed by Berg. Unfortunately, the end-of-excavation photographs do not clarify the matter, although they do seem to indicate that Berg excavated a N-S trench possibly crossing over W55 that terminated in a large round pit to the north (PV: p. 36, 61-27-3). It is not possible to say much more from the photographs nor to determine if that cut/pit had any relation to the activity in our room. Moreover, no mention is made in Berg's notebook of the wall we designate 10095 and which seems to have been the easternmost point of their trench here. It is drawn on two of his plans, although it seems to be indicated in the wrong spot on his last plan (p. 157 and 188). The area of 6570 was excavated down “to levels of obviously Roman or Classical date"" (p. 167) and was presumably closed on May 30th, 1961. The pottery from Berg's exploration was saved as Lots 672, 673, 675.; ; Our interpretation of the N-S cut 6273 was affected by 6570, since Berg’s excavations truncated the cut. It is also unclear if Berg partially exposed the line of rocks at the preserved northern end of 6273.","","Report","","2009 Excavation summary","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2009 by Martin Wells, Katie Rask (2009-06-17 to 2009-06-18)","Corinth","","Nezi Field 2009 by Martin Wells, Katie Rask (2009-06-17 to 2009-06-18)","","","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"