Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:55:24.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CONSTRUCTING THE ‘URBAN PROFILE’ OF AN ANCIENT GREEK CITY: EVIDENCE FROM THE OLYNTHOS PROJECT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2020

Lisa C. Nevett ,
E. Bettina Tsigarida ,
Zosia H. Archibald ,
David L. Stone ,
Bradley A. Ault ,
Nikos Akamatis ,
Elena Cuijpers ,
Jamieson C. Donati ,
Juan José García-Granero  and
Britt Hartenberger
...Show all authors
Lisa C. Nevett*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
E. Bettina Tsigarida
Affiliation:
Greek Archaeological Service
Zosia H. Archibald
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
David L. Stone
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Bradley A. Ault
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Nikos Akamatis
Affiliation:
International Hellenic University
Elena Cuijpers
Affiliation:
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Jamieson C. Donati
Affiliation:
IMS-FORTH
Juan José García-Granero
Affiliation:
IMF-CISC, Barcelona and University of Oxford
Britt Hartenberger
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
Timothy Horsley
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University
Carla Lancelotti
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Evi Margaritis
Affiliation:
STARC, The Cyprus Institute
Jonas Alcaina-Mateos
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Stratos Nanoglou
Affiliation:
Greek Archaeological Service
Anna Panti
Affiliation:
Greek Archaeological Service
Nikos Papadopoulos
Affiliation:
IMS-FORTH
Alessandra Pecci
Affiliation:
ERAAUB, University of Barcelona
Elina Salminen
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Apostolos Sarris
Affiliation:
IMS-FORTH and University of Cyprus
Susan M. Stallibrass
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
Chavdar Tzochev
Affiliation:
British School at Athens
Chiara Valdambrini
Affiliation:
Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma, Grosseto
*
lcnevett@umich.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that a holistic approach to documenting and understanding the physical evidence for individual cities would enhance our ability to address major questions about urbanisation, urbanism, cultural identities and economic processes. At the same time we suggest that providing more comprehensive data-sets concerning Greek cities would represent an important contribution to cross-cultural studies of urban development and urbanism, which have often overlooked relevant evidence from Classical Greece. As an example of the approach we are advocating, we offer detailed discussion of data from the Archaic and Classical city of Olynthos, in the Halkidiki. Six seasons of fieldwork here by the Olynthos Project, together with legacy data from earlier projects by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and by the Greek Archaeological Service, combine to make this one of the best-documented urban centres surviving from the Greek world. We suggest that the material from the site offers the potential to build up a detailed ‘urban profile’, consisting of an overview of the early development of the community as well as an in-depth picture of the organisation of the Classical settlement. Some aspects of the urban infrastructure can also be quantified, allowing a new assessment of (for example) its demography. This article offers a sample of the kinds of data available and the sorts of questions that can be addressed in constructing such a profile, based on a brief summary of the interim results of fieldwork and data analysis carried out by the Olynthos Project, with a focus on research undertaken during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Σκιαγραφώντας το “αστικό προφίλ” μιας αρχαίας ελληνικής πόλης: στοιχεία από το ερευνητικό Πρόγραμμα της Ολύνθου

Το άρθρο υποστηρίζει ότι μια ολιστική προσέγγιση στην τεκμηρίωση και κατανόηση των υλικών καταλοίπων σε επίπεδο πόλεων θα μας βοηθούσε στην προσπάθειά μας να απαντήσουμε σημαντικά ερωτήματα σχετικά με τη διαδικασία της αστικοποίησης, τον αστικό τρόπο ζωής, τις πολιτισμικές ταυτότητες και τις οικονομικές διεργασίες στον αρχαίο κόσμο. Ταυτόχρονα θεωρούμε ότι η συγκρότηση πιο περιεκτικών συνόλων από δεδομένα που αφορούν αρχαίες ελληνικές πόλεις θα προσέφερε σημαντικά και στη διαπολιτισμική μελέτη της αστικής εξέλιξης και του αστικού τρόπου ζωής, η οποία έχει συχνά αγνοήσει τα σχετικά στοιχεία από την κλασική Ελλάδα. Ως παράδειγμα για την προσέγγιση που προτείνουμε προσφέρουμε μιαν αναλυτική συζήτηση των δεδομένων από την αρχαϊκή και κλασική πόλη της Ολύνθου στη Χαλκιδική. Ο συνδυασμός έξι περιόδων έρευνας πεδίου από το Πρόγραμμα της Ολύνθου και στοιχείων από τα αρχεία παλαιότερων προγραμμάτων της Αμερικανικής Σχολής Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα και της Ελληνικής Αρχαιολογικής Υπηρεσίας καθιστά την Όλυνθο ένα από τα καλύτερα τεκμηριωμένα αστικά κέντρα του αρχαίου ελληνικού κόσμου που έχουν διασωθεί. Υποστηρίζουμε ότι το υλικό από τη θέση μάς δίνει τη δυνατότητα να σκιαγραφήσουμε ένα λεπτομερές «αστικό προφίλ», το οποίο αποτελείται από μια επισκόπηση της πρώιμης εξέλιξης της κοινότητας καθώς και μια σε βάθος απεικόνιση της οργάνωσης του οικισμού της κλασικής περιόδου. Η δυνατότητα ποσοτικοποίησης κάποιων παραμέτρων της αστικής υποδομής μάς επιτρέπει να προβούμε σε νέες εκτιμήσεις, για παράδειγμα σχετικά με τη δημογραφία. Το άρθρο προσφέρει ένα δείγμα του τύπου των διαθέσιμων δεδομένων και του είδους των ερωτημάτων που μπορεί να τεθούν στη σκιαγράφηση ενός τέτοιου προφίλ, βασισμένο σε μια περίληψη των προσωρινών αποτελεσμάτων από τις εργασίες πεδίου και τις αναλύσεις των δεδομένων που διενήργησε το Πρόγραμμα της Ολύνθου και με έμφαση στην έρευνα που διεξήχθη κατά το 2017, το 2018 και το 2019.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 115 , December 2020 , pp. 329 - 378
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akamatis, N. 2018. Η ερυθρόμορφη κεραμική από την Αγορά της Πέλλας (Thessaloniki).Google Scholar
Archibald, Z.H. 2019. ‘Tegeas from Torone and some truths about ancient markets’, in Archibald, Z.H. and Haywood, J. (eds), The Power of Individual and Community in Ancient Athens and Beyond: Essays in Honour of John K. Davies (Swansea), 177–211.Google Scholar
Ault, B.A. 2005. The Houses: The Organization and Use of Domestic Space. The Excavations at Ancient Halieis, vol. 2 (Bloomington, IN).Google Scholar
Ault, B.A., Lynch, K.M., Panti, A., Archibald, Z.H., Nevett, L.C. and Tsigarida, B. 2019. ‘The Olynthos Project: Classical pottery in an urban and domestic context’, in Manakidou, Ε. and Avramidou, A. (eds), Η κεραμική της κλασικής εποχής στο βόρειο Αιγαίο και την περιφέρειά του (480–323/300 π. Χ.) (Thessaloniki), 423–30.Google Scholar
Avronidaki, Ch. and Kephalidou, E. 2019. “O Ζωγράφος της Κύλικας της Ερέτριας: ένας Ευβοέας αγγειογράφος στη Χαλκιδική”, in Manakidou, E. and Avramidou, A. (eds), Η κεραμική της κλασικής εποχής στο βόρειο Αιγαίο και την περιφέρειά του (480–323/300 π. Χ.) (Thessaloniki), 115–26.Google Scholar
Barba, L. 2007. ‘Chemical residues in lime-plastered archaeological floors’, Geoarchaeology 22, 439–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beazley, J. 1940–5. ‘Miniature Panathenaics’, BSA 41, 17–21.Google Scholar
Blondé, F., Perreault, J.Y. and Péristéri, C. 1992. Un atelier de potier archaïque à Phari (Bulletin de Correspondance Héllenique Supplément 23; Thasos).Google Scholar
Boyd, T.D. and Jameson, M.H. 1981. ‘Urban and rural land division in ancient Greece’, Hesperia 50, 327–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulas, C. 1932. ‘Étude sur une classe de vases à décor en forme de réseau ou d’écailles’, BCH 56, 388–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahill, N. 2002. Household and City Organization at Olynthus (New Haven, CT).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, A. 2006. Demography in Archaeology (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology; Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chemsseddoha, A.-Z. 2019. Les Pratiques funéraires de l’âge du Fer en Grèce du Nord: étude d'histoires régionales (Bordeaux).Google Scholar
Cook, J.M. 1958–9. ‘Old Smyrna, 1948–1951’, BSA 53–4, 1–34.Google Scholar
Davies, J.K. 2016. ‘An economic historian's agenda’, in Duyrat and Grandjean (eds) 2016, 19–34.Google Scholar
De Polignac, F. 2005. ‘Forms and processes: some thoughts on the meaning of urbanization in early Archaic Greece’, in Osborne, R. and Cunliffe, B. (eds), Mediterranean Urbanization 800–600 bc (Oxford), 45–69.Google Scholar
Dimitriadou, E.M. 2019. Early Athens: Settlements and Cemeteries in the Submycenean, Geometric and Archaic Periods (Los Angeles, CA).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donati, J.C. and Sarris, A. 2016. ‘Evidence for two planned Greek settlements in the Peloponnese from satellite remote sensing’, AJA 120, 361–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drougou, S. 2005. Βεργίνα. Τα πήλινα αγγεία της Μεγάλης Τούμπας (Athens).Google Scholar
Drougou, S. and Vokotopoulou, I. 1989. “Όλυνθος η οικία B VII 1”, Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη 3, 339–50.Google Scholar
Ducrey, P., Metzger, I. and Reber, K. 1993. Eretria: fouilles et recherches VIII: le quartier de la Maison aux Mosaïques (Lausanne).Google Scholar
Duyrat, F. and Grandjean, C. (eds) 2016. Les monnaies de fouille du monde grec, VIe–Ier s. a. J.C. Apports, approches, et méthodes (Bordeaux).Google Scholar
Felsch, R.C.S. 1979. ‘Boiotische Ziegel Werkstätten archaischer Zeit’, AM 94, 1–40.Google Scholar
Felsch, R.C.S. 1990. ‘Further stamped roof tiles from Central Greece, Attica, and the Peloponnese’, Hesperia 59, 301–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filis, K. 2012. ‘Transport amphorae workshops in Macedonia and Thrace during the Late Classical and Hellenistic times’, in Kotsou, E. (ed.), Topics on Hellenistic Pottery in Ancient Macedonia (Athens), 60–85.Google Scholar
Filis, Κ. 2019. “Τα τοπικά εργαστήρια και οι εισαγωγές εμπορικών αμφορέων στο Βόρειο Αιγαίο στους κλασικούς χρόνους. Εμπορικά δίκτυα και αγορές καταναλωτικών αγαθών”, in Manakidou, Ε. and Avramidou, Α. (eds), Η κεραμική της κλασικής εποχής στο βόρειο Αιγαίο και την περιφέρειά του (480–323/300 π.χ.). Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Αρχαιολογικού Συνεδρίου, Θεσσαλονίκη 17–20 Μαΐου 2017 (Thessaloniki), 243–61.Google Scholar
Flensted-Jensen, P. 2004. ‘Thrace from Axios to Strymon’, in Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H. (eds), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford), 810–53.Google Scholar
Gatzolis, Ch.A. and Psoma, S.E., 2016, ‘Olynthos and Stageira: bronze coinage and political history’, in Duyrat and Grandjean (eds) 2016, 83–96.Google Scholar
Georgiadis, F. 2012. ‘Bird kotylai: a pottery group from Central Macedonian Sites’, in Kefalidou, E. and Tsiafaki, D., (eds) Kerameos Paides: Studies Offered to Professor Michalis Tiverios by His Students (Thessaloniki), 282–7.Google Scholar
Gude, M. 1933. A History of Olynthus (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Hansen, M.H. 1997. ‘The polis as an urban centre’, in Hansen, M.H. (ed.), The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community (Historisk-filosofiske meddelelser; Copenhagen), 9–86.Google Scholar
Hansen, M.H. 2006. The Shotgun Method: The Demography of the Ancient Greek City-State Culture (Columbia, MS).Google Scholar
Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H. (eds) 2004. An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford).Google Scholar
Hoepfner, W. and Schwandner, E-L. 1994. Haus und Stadt im klassischen Griechenland, 2nd edn (Munich).Google Scholar
Horrocks, M. 2005. ‘A combined procedure for recovering phytoliths and starch residues from soils, sedimentary deposits and similar materials’, JAS 32, 169–75.Google Scholar
Karathanasis, K. 2019 ‘A game of timber monopoly: Atheno-Macedonian relations on the eve of the Peloponnesian War’, Hesperia 88, 707–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konečny, A., Boyd, M.J., Marchese, R.T. and Aravantinos, V. 2012. ‘The urban scheme of Plataiai in Boiotia: report on the geophysical survey, 2005–2009’, Hesperia 81, 93–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopcke, G. 1964. ‘Golddekorierte attische Schwarzfirniskeramik des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.’, AM 79, 22–84.Google Scholar
Kostoglou, M. forthcoming. ‘Iron in Iron Age Greece (1200–800)’, in Antonaccio, C. and Carter, J. (eds), Cambridge Companion to the Greek Early Iron Age (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Lilibaki-Akamati, M. and Akamatis, N. 2014. Ανατολικό νεκροταφείο Πέλλας. Ανασκαφικές περίοδοι 1991–2007 (Thessaloniki).Google Scholar
McPhee, I. 1981. ‘Some red-figure vase-painters of the Chalcidice’, BSA 76, 297–305.Google Scholar
McPhee, I. 2001. ‘The red-figured pottery’, in Cambitoglou, A., Papadopoulos, J. K. and Jones, O.T. (eds), Τοrone I: The Excavations of 1975, 1976 and 1978 (Athens), 353–90.Google Scholar
Madella, M., Power-Jones, A.H. and Jones, M.K. 1998. ‘A simple method of extraction of opal phytoliths from sediments using a non-toxic heavy liquid’, JAS 25, 801–3.Google Scholar
Missailidou-Despotidou, V. 2004. “Άφυτις 2004”, Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη 18, 115–24.Google Scholar
Mylonas, G.E. 1943. ‘Excavations at Mecyberna 1934, 1938’, AJA 47, 78–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nevett, L.C. 1999. House and Society in the Ancient Greek World (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Nevett, L.C. 2000. ‘A “real estate market” in Classical Greece? The example of town housing’, BSA 95, 329–43.Google Scholar
Nevett, L.C. in press. ‘The complicated problem of seasonality at Classical Olynthos, Greece’, in Raja, R. and Lichtenberger, A. (eds), The Archaeology of Seasonality (Aarhus).Google Scholar
Nevett, L.C., Tsigarida, E.B., Archibald, Z.H., Stone, D.L., Horsley, T.J., Ault, B.A., Panti, A., Lynch, K.M., Pethen, H., Stallibrass, S.M., Salminen, E., Gaffney, C., Sparrow, T.J., Taylor, S., Manousakis, J. and Zekkos, D. 2017. ‘Towards a multi-scalar, multidisciplinary approach to the Classical Greek city: the Olynthos Project’, BSA 112, 155–206.Google Scholar
Panti, A. 2008. Τοπική κεραμική από τη Χαλκιδική και το μυχό του Θερμαϊκού κόλπου (Άκανθος, Καραμπουρνάκι, Σίνδος) (Thessaloniki).Google Scholar
Panti, A. 2019. “Μελαμβαφή αγγεία από το νεκροταφείο της αρχαίας Ακάνθου”, in Manakidou, E. and Avramidou, A., (eds), Η κεραμική της κλασικής εποχής στο βόρειο Αιγαίο και την περιφέρειά του (480–323/300 π. Χ.) (Thessaloniki), 459–73.Google Scholar
Pecci, A., Barba, L. and Ortiz, A. 2017. ‘Chemical residues as anthropic activity markers: ethnoarchaeology, experimental archaeology and archaeology of food production and consumption’, Environmental Archaeology 22, 343–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, S. 2011, ‘Estimating Ancient Greek populations: the evidence of field survey’, in Bowman, A. and Wilson, A. (eds), Settlement, Urbanization, and Population (Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy 2; Oxford), 17–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raeck, W. 2003. ‘Neue Forschungen an einem alten Grabungsort’, IstMitt 53, 313–423.Google Scholar
Reber, K. 1998. Eretria Ausgrabungen und Forschungen X: Die klassischen und hellenistischen Wohnhäuser im Westquartier (Lausanne).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. 1929–52. Excavations at Olynthus, 14 parts (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. 1930. Excavations at Olynthus Part II: Architecture and Sculpture: Houses and Other Buildings (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M., 1933. Excavations at Olynthus Part V: Mosaics, Vases and Lamps of Olynthus found in 1928 and 1931 (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. 1942. Excavations at Olynthus Part XI: Necrolynthia: A Study in Greek Burial Customs and Anthropology (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. 1946. Excavations at Olynthus Part XII: Domestic and Public Architecture (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. 1950. Excavations at Olynthus Part XIII: Vases Found in 1934 and 1938 (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Robinson, D.M. and Graham, J.W. 1938. Excavations at Olynthus Part VIII: The Hellenic House (Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
Rondelli, B., Lancelotti, C., Madella, M., Pecci, A., Balbo, A.L., Ruiz Perez, J., Inserra, F., Gadekar, C., Cau, M.A. and Ajithprasad, P. 2014. ‘Anthropic activity markers and spatial variability: an ethnoarchaeological experiment in a domestic unit of northern Gujarat (India)’, JAS 41, 482–92.Google Scholar
Saripanidi, V. 2017. ‘Constructing continuities with a “heroic” past: death, feasting and political ideology in the Archaic Macedonian Kingdom’, in Tsingarida, A. and Lemos, I.S. (eds), Constructing Social Identities in Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece (Brussels), 73–170.Google Scholar
Saripanidi, V. 2019. ‘Macedonian necropoleis in the Archaic period: shifting practices and emerging identities’, in Frielinghaus, H., Stroszeck, V. and Valavanis, P. (eds), Griechische Nekropolen. Neue Forschungen und Funde (Möhnesee), 175–96.Google Scholar
Schefold, K. 1934. Untersuchungen zu den Kertscher Vasen (Leipzig and Berlin).Google Scholar
Smith, M.E. 2007. ‘Form and meaning in the earliest cities: a new approach to ancient urban planning’, American Planning History 6, 3–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M.E. 2010. ‘The archaeological study of neighborhoods and districts in ancient cities’, JAnthArch 29, 137–54.Google Scholar
Smith, M.L. (ed.) 2003. The Social Construction of Ancient Cities (Washington, DC and London).Google Scholar
Sparkes, B.A. and Talcott, L. 1970. The Athenian Agora, vol. 12: Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries bc (Princeton, NJ).Google Scholar
Tiverios, M. 2012. ‘Classification of local pottery in Macedonia in the Late Geometric and Archaic periods’, in Tiverios, M., Nigdelis, P. and Adam-Veleni, P. (eds), Threpteria: Studies on Ancient Macedonia (Thessaloniki), 173–99.Google Scholar
Tsiafakis, D. 2008. ‘The east Greek and east Greek-style pottery’, in van Der Wielen-van Ommere, F. and De Lachenal, L. (eds), La dea di Sibari e il santuario ritrovato. Studi sui rinvenimenti dal Timpone Motta di Francavilla Marittima. II.2: Ceramiche di importazione, di produzione coloniale e indigena (Rome, 2008), 7–56.Google Scholar
Tzochev, C. 2016. The Athenian Agora XXXVII: Amphora Stamps from Thasos (Princeton, NJ).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegand, T. and Schraeder, H. 1904. Priene: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1895–1898 (Berlin).Google Scholar
Wikander, Ö. 1983. ‘ΟΠΑΙΑ ΚΕΡΑΜΙΣ: skylight-tiles in the ancient world’, OpRom 14.8, 81–99.Google Scholar
Wright, L.E. 2005. ‘Identifying immigrants to Tikal, Guatemala: defining local variability in strontium isotope ratios of human tooth enamel’, JAS 32, 555–66.Google Scholar
Wycherley, R. 1962. How the Greeks Built Cities, 2nd edn (London).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yiouri, E. 1972. “Η κεραμική της Χαλκιδικής στον 4ο αι. π.Χ.”, in Pantermalis, D., Romiopoulou, K. and Tsioumi, Ch. (eds), Κέρνος. Τιμητική προσφορά στον καθηγητή Γεώργιο Μπακαλάκη (Thessaloniki), 6–14.Google Scholar
Zaphiropoulou, Ph. 1970. ‘Vases peints du Musée de Salonique’, BCH 94, 361–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar