Lefkandi-Xeropolis study season 2015

Assessment and Analysis: Study season

Study took place over two periods in Spring and Summer of 2015. The former focused on study of the exceptional figurines from Region II and small finds from both Regions I and II, while the stratigraphical sequences of the ‘Ritual Zone’ were also examined to provide contextual information for bioarchaeological specialists. In the latter, work continued towards the completion of the study and the preparation for publication of Region I; preliminary study of the ‘Ritual Zone’ in Region II was also initiated. In addition to archaeological study, the project engaged in outreach activities, offering guided tours, with Dr Dimitrios Christodoulou (Ephoreia of Antiquities of Euboea), for the local community and the cultural society of Vasiliko, as well as for 200 army officers from the military academy at Chalkis. The Spring season allowed new BSA Knossos Curator Caroline Thurston (Oxford) to study terracotta figurines and models. Irene Lemos worked on the stratigraphy of Region II of the Xeropolis sites, particularly the ‘Ritual Zone’. Caroline studied 58 previously uncatalogued fragments from Region II, all identified in post-excavation processing. Striking was the identification of five boat models, as against the two already known from the 2003–2008 excavations. There are also many fragments of wheelmade quadruped figurines, while a piece of a Mycenaean chariot group and two bird figurines were also identified. The Summer season was devoted to checking the assignments of all the archaeological units and their finds allocated to the buildings in Region I. Starting with those structures that are to be entirely published, finds allocated to each building and their various phases were double checked, especially those discovered in Building M (the so-called ‘Megaron’) and the buildings in area P (studied in 2014). Irene Lemos, together with Dr A. Georgiou (Bronze Age) and Dr A. Vacek (Iron Age) continued cataloguing ceramics mostly from Region I, but also Region II. I. Whitbread (Leicester) and A. Liveriatou (Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia) commenced petrographic analysis of clay samples collected in the 2014 season, undertaken in collaboration with the BSA’s Fitch Laboratory. Study of 2,466 bone specimens from the ‘Ritual Zone’ of Region II suggested that these samples were similar in species representation to other areas of the site. Further analysis of body part representation, burning patterns and taphonomy supported the hypothesis that the animal bones associated with Structure B in Region II were little disturbed and might attest to consumption or feasting activities. Selected remains of deer (predominantly antlers), dogs and lions demonstrated the varied nature of ritual activities at Xeropolis. Among the three lion bones found to date, the single specimen from Region II stood out as constituting food waste. It appears therefore that, although evidence for certain aspects of ritual behaviour in Region II is clear, the behaviours attested were a component of related practices taking place beyond the ‘Ritual Zone’ in otherwise ‘domestic’ spheres. The main food plants encountered include cereals (einkorn, emmer, barley), various legumes (lentils, bitter vetch, grass pea), fruits (grape, olive, fig) and several wild species. Particularly interesting finds were free threshing wheat, exclusively in Structure C, and coriander from Structure A (also found in ‘Megaron’ deposits). It is possible, therefore, that plant foods in the Xeropolis ‘Ritual Zone’ played a performative role in communal activities. Marine shells were mostly found inside rather than outside the Structure, and included murex shells, horn shells, thorny oysters, fan shells, oysters, limpets, as well as a variety of other shells in small quantities. They are usually heavily crushed, but neither their degree nor pattern of fragmentation differs from those observed in other areas of the site. Nevertheless, both the important concentrations in this structure as well as the association of these finds with other lines of evidence (pottery, animal bones, seeds) may offer an interesting compilation of data that can confirm or refute the ritual vs. everyday consumption of marine foodstuffs.

Active in 2015.