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Excavations at Assiros Toumba 1986. A Preliminary Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

K. A. Wardle
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Abstract

The principal discoveries in 1986 at this prehistoric settlement in Macedonia were two Iron Age apsidal buildings and a late Bronze Age storeroom with masses of cereals and other crops preserved by charring.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 82 , November 1987 , pp. 313 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1987

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References

1 Wardle, K. A., ‘Excavations at Assiros Toumba 1975–1980’, BSA 75 (1980) 229–60.Google Scholar ‘Assiros: a Macedonian Settlement of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age’, Archaia Macedonia 3, 291–305. Archaeological Reports (1975–6) 19; (1977–8) 44–7; (1980–1) 30–2; (1981–2) 36–7; (1982–3) 40–1.

2 Grants for the 1986 season were generously made by the British School at Athens, the British Academy, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the National Geographic Society of America, the Society of Antiquaries, the Twenty-Seven Foundation, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Cambridge.

3 BSA 75 (1980) 244–53, 256–61.

4 Trenches JA, JC, and KA.

5 Ibid. figs. 4 and 5.

6 Ibid. 250.

7 Trenches JB-JL.

8 Ibid, plate 19c and d.

9 Jones, G., Wardle, K., Halstead, P., Wardle, D., ‘Crop Storage at Assiros’, Scientific American (March 1986) 96–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Trench NA/HC.

11 Trench HB.

12 Directed since 1984 by Hourmouziades, G.. Cf. Arch. Repts. (1984–1985) 41Google Scholar; (1985–6) 58.

13 Hänsel, B., ‘Ergebnisse der Grabungen bei Kastanas in Zentral Makedonien 1975–78’, JRGZM 26 (1979) 167–202.Google ScholarPrähistorische Archäologie in Südosteuropa: 2 Helmut J. Kroll, Kastanas die Pflanzmfunde; 3 Alix Hochstetter, Kastanas die handgemachte Keramik; 5 Cornelia Becker, Kastanas, die Tieknochenfunde.

14 David Smyth, surveyor and Graham Norrie, photographer, and Diana Wardle have contributed illustrations to this report.

15 From north to south, trenches NB, NC, ND, and SB.

16 Trenches OB, NI.

17 Trenches NE, NF, NG, NH.

18 Cf. BSA 75 (1980) pl. 20a.

19 Renamed trench JO.

20 Water sieving was carried out by a team under the control of Dr Glynis Jones of Sheffield University.

21 The potshed was directed by Diana Wardle, while Sara Parfitt stood no nonsense from either the sherds or the Director.

22 Particular thanks are due to Iannis Papadopoulos of Nea Nikomedeia who once again gave up his leave to be our foreman.

23 The dates suggested for each phase are notional, based where possible on Mycenaean pottery etc. as discussed in the first report. The additional evidence from the new excavation, particularly from Phases 8 and 9, of which only small areas had previously been dug, cannot yet be assessed in detail.

24 BSA 75 (1980) pl. 20 d.

25 . Cf. the ‘bat hut’ at Eretria, Antike Kunst 17, 70 fig. I, and the Heröon at Lefkandi, , Arch. Rept. (1982–1983) 12–15Google Scholar, and Antiquity (November 1982) 170 fig. 2.

26 Loc. cit. and BSA 77 (1982) 247 n. 47.

27 Arch. Repts. (1980–1) 31.

28 Lefkandi, M. R. Popham and L. H. Sackett, ‘Excavations at Lefkandi Euboea, 1964–66’, fig. 68; Smyrna, , BSA 53–4 (1958–1959).Google Scholar

29 Eretria, Antike Kunst loc. cit.; Perachora, H. Payne, Perachora I, The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia 27 ff.; Antissa, , BSA 32 (1931–1932) 42 pl. 18.Google Scholar

30 BSA 75 (1980) 253 fig. 15, ‘rooms’ 6 and 7.

31 Schliemann, H., Troy and its Remains (1875) pl. xxii–lii esp. 357, 375, 426, 492Google Scholar. H. Schmidt, Heinrich Schliemann's Sammlung Trojanischer Altertümer Taf. i–ix esp. 5220.

32 For simplicity the room numbers of Phase 6 have been kept for the rooms of earlier phases where these have basically the same wall alignments. Where an earlier room was replaced by several smaller ones, only one of the room numbers from the upper level will be used and the others will be ignored. Thus the room below Rooms 6–9 of Phase 7 will be identified as Room 9 in Phase 8. All finds are assigned to phase and room with a five digit code in the study records, e.g. 00708 refers to Phase 7, Room 8, etc.

33 Cf. Stemmed piriform jars from Saratse and Kastanas. W. A. Heurtley, Prehistoric Macedonia 223 no. 448, pl. xix. JRGZM 26 (1979) 186, Abb. 14: 4 and 5.

34 The local fabric is very distinctive and its manufacture from local clay has been confirmed by spectrographic analysis carried out by Dr Jones at the Fitch Laboratory. Jones, R. E., Greek and Cypriot Pottery, (1986) 108–12.Google Scholar

35 BSA 75 (1980) 239 pl. 19b.

36 Scientific American (March 1986) 101. See also G. E. M. Jones, The Use of Ethnographic and Ecological Models in Interpretation of Plant Remains (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation for the University of Cambridge 1983) chapter 5.2.1.

37 A much larger quantity of intact spikelets was found in this room than in the other areas dug earlier, confirming the hypothesis put forward earlier on the basis of a few intact spikelets and the quantities of chaff. Scientific American (March 1986) 100.

38 According to J. Percival, The Wheat Plant (Duckworth 1974) grain accounts for 50 per cent of the bulk of wheat in spikelet form. From their field work G. Jones and Paul Halstead estimate that the grains of barley represent 70 per cent of the unthreshed bulk (pers. comtn.). The actual total of foodstuff in this storeroom will thus depend on the proportions of wheat to barley in the room which cannot yet be precisely estimated, and the figure given here is a guide only.

39 Clark, C. and Haswell, M. estimate in The Economics of Subsistence Agriculture (4th edn., Macmillan 1979)Google Scholar that each adult member of a family needs about 200 kg. of cereal per annum.