Agios Vasileios, Laconia

Agios Vasileios
Άγιος Βασίλειος
Agios Vasileios is located in Greece
Agios Vasileios
Agios Vasileios
Shown within Greece
LocationLaconia, Greece
Coordinates36°58′45″N 22°28′42″E / 36.97917°N 22.47833°E / 36.97917; 22.47833
TypeSettlement
History
Founded17th-16th BC
Abandoned14th-13th BC
PeriodsBronze Age
CulturesMycenaean Greece
Site notes
Excavation dates2009, 2012
ArchaeologistsAdamantia Vasilogamvrou
ConditionPartly buried

Agios Vasileios (also spelled Ayios Vasileios or Ayios Vasilios; Greek: Άγιος Βασίλειος) is the site of a Mycenaean palace, located 4 kilometers east of the village of Xirokambi in Laconia, Greece. It was west of the Eurotas River commanding the plain, some 10 km south of Sparta.[1] The site is cut by the modern Sparta--Gytheio national road. It is named after a chapel by the side of the road.

History

Ayios Vasileios was lightly inhabited during the Early Helladic I–II period (c. 3200-2200 BC) then abandoned for a time. It was re-occupied in the Middle Helladic III period (c. 1700–1550 BC), again lightly. The site grew in the Late Helladic period (c. 1550–1050 BC) reaching a maximum size of about 20 hectares before facing destruction and abandonment. There was minor occupations in the Classical, Hellenistic and Medieval and later periods.[1]

Middle Bronze Age

In the Middle Helladic period, the site was re-occupied toward the later phase MH III (c. 1700-1550 BCE).

Late Bronze Age

This palace was first constructed in the LH IIIA period (1400–1300 BC), destroyed by fire in the LH IIIB period (c. 1300–1200 BC), partially rebuilt, and finally destroyed again not long afterward. Finds include an archive of Linear B tablets, kept in a room adjacent to the colonnade; cult objects such as figurines made of clay and ivory; a collection of twenty bronze swords; and fragments of wall frescoes.[2][1]

Late Helladic II

The first palace was built and later destroyed.[1]

Late Helladic III

The second palace was rebuilt in LH III. Ceramics dates throughout LH IIIA-C. There is litte material from LH IIIA1. In LH IIIA2 (early) has material represented in several areas of the palace. The buildings around the large court were destroyed by fire at the end of LH IIIB.[1] In LHIIIB2 scattered rebuilding and abandoned in late LH IIIB2 or early LH IIIC.

Excavations

The site rises 200 meters above the plain and a stream flows down the north side of it into the Eurotas river. It was first examined during an archaeological survey in the 1950s which reported wall remains and numerous pottery sherds including a few from the Early Helladic (EH) period.[3][4] Another survey in the early 1990s found numerous EH sherds mainly 50 to l00 meters south and south-east of the modern chapel.[5][6]

After a Linear B tablet was found accidentally on the slope of a hill, near the Byzantine chapel of Agios Vasileios (St. Basil), in 2008; two more tablet fragments were found in a survey conducted the same year. One tablet involved a large number of daggers (or short swords) "e-pi-zo-ta" and the third tablet referred to textiles, woven fabric.[7][8] Excavations, carried out by the Archaeological Society of Athens and directed by archaeologist Adamantia Vasilogamvrou, began in 2009. Small finds included a number of bronze swords, pottery, figurines, and fresco fragments.[9][10] In the 2012 season more linear B tablets, a small Egyptian figurine and a large number of fresco fragments, primarily near Building B and in a collapsed chamber tomb in the adjacent cemetery used as a dump, from the Late Helladic IIIA period were found.[11] By the 2015 annual season the known site area had grown to 3.5 hectares with three building (Building A, Building B, Building C) and a cemetery having been excavated and finds included a bulls head rhyton. In a courtyard of Building A a possible cultic area, dated to LH III B2-C period, was found with hearths, a feasting deposit, and an altar. The altar was oriented northeast to southwest featuring horns of consecration and with a number of large, wheelmade bovid figures.[12][13][14] Subsequent seasons have brought to light a palace complex with a large central courtyard with colonnaded porticos along the sides. More Linear B inscriptions were found in subsequent excavations.[15][16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e [1]Wiersma, C., Bes, P., van IJzendoorn, M. W., Wiznura, A., & Voutsaki, S., "The site of Ayios Vasileios in Laconia from the prehistoric to the early modern period. Results of the pedestrian field survey", Journal of Greek Archaeology, (7), pp. 122-172, 2022 https://doi.org/10.32028/jga.v7i.1713
  2. ^ Greek Archaeologists Unearth 3,600-Year-Old Mycenaean Palace near Sparta - Sci dot News - Aug 28, 2015
  3. ^ Waterhouse, H., "Prehistoric Laconia: a note", The Annual of the British School at Athens 51, pp. 168–171, 1956
  4. ^ Waterhouse H, Hope Simpson R, "Prehistoric Laconia: Part I", Annual of the British School at Athens 55, pp. 67–107, 1960
  5. ^ Banou, E., "Beitrag zum Studium Lakoniens in der mykenischen Zeit (Quellen und Forschungen zur antiken Welt 20)", Munich: Tuduv Verlagsgesellschaft, 1996
  6. ^ Banou, Emilia, "New Evidence on Early Helladic Laconia", The Annual of the British School at Athens, vol. 94, pp. 63–79, 1999
  7. ^ Morgan, Catherine, et al., "Archaeology in Greece 2009-2010", Archaeological Reports, no. 56, pp. 1–201, 2009
  8. ^ Aravantinos, Vassilis L., and Vasilogamvrou, Adamantia, "The first Linear B documents from Ayios Vasileios (Laconia)", in Carlier, Pierre, de Lamberterie, Charles, Egetmeyer, Markus, Guilleux, Nicole, Rougemont, Françoise, and Zurbach, Julien (eds) Études mycéniennes 2010. Actes du XIII, 2012e colloque international sur les textes égéens. Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20-23 septembre 2010, Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra, pp. 41-54, 2010
  9. ^ Cavanagh, W. G., "The Greek Mainland in the Prehistoric Period", Archaeological Reports 57, pp. 19-26, 2010-2011
  10. ^ Hope Simpson, R., "The Mycenaean settlements in the Sparta Plain and the ancient traditions", Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 51, pp. 315–335, 2009
  11. ^ Archibald, Zosia, et al., "Archaeology in Greece 2012—2013", Archaeological Reports, no. 59, pp. 1–119, 2012
  12. ^ [2]Galumbeck, Alix, "The Cultic Significance of Wheelmade Terracotta Figures in Late Helladic III C Eleon, Greece", PhD Dissertation, University of Victoria, 2024
  13. ^ Archibald, Zosia, et al., "Archaeology in Greece 2014–2015", Archaeological Reports, no. 61, pp. 1–135, 2014
  14. ^ Moutafi, I. and Voutsaki, S., "Commingled burials and shifting notions of the self at the onset of the Mycenaean era (1700–1500 BCE): the case of the Ayios Vasilios North Cemetery, Laconia", Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 10, pp. 780–90, 2016
  15. ^ [3]Vasilogamvrou, Adamantia, et al., "An assemblage of Linear B administrative documents from Ayios Vasileios, Laconia: preliminary report on the study of the documents in their archaeological context", Ariadne, pp. 45-84, 2025
  16. ^ [4]de Neef, W., Voutsaki, S., Ullrich, B. et al, "A palace under the olive trees. Investigating the spatial organization of the Mycenaean palatial center at Ayios Vasileios (Laconia, Greece) through large-scale magnetic gradiometry", Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 34, 2022
  17. ^ Voutsaki, S., Wiersma, C., de Neef, W., & Vasilogamvrou, A., "The Ayios Vasileios Survey Project (Laconia, Greece): questions, aims and methods", Journal of Greek Archaeology, 4, pp. 67–95, 2019
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agios_Vasileios,_Laconia