Archaeological Finds In Greece

[ramonmercado]

Archaeological Dig in Greece Returns Important Finds
http://www.physorg.com/printnews.php?newsid=141489676

The research team, which includes UA faculty and students, are fascinated with the recent discovery of fulgurite, or "petrified lightning," at Mt. Lykaion. (Photo courtesy of Teresa Moreno)
Click here to enlarge image


(PhysOrg.com) -- New and interesting information is coming out of an archaeological dig at Mt. Lykaion in Greece – an interdisciplinary project University of Arizona students and faculty have worked on since 2004.


New and interesting information is coming out of an archaeological dig at Mt. Lykaion in Greece – an interdisciplinary project University of Arizona students and faculty have worked on since 2004.

That project is not only informing researchers about the rituals and beliefs of those who lived in ancient Greece but also accentuating the significance of the mountaintop site in southwestern Arcadia, which contains an ash altar, a sanctuary, a stadium, bathhouses, a fountain house, stoa, a hippodrome and other structures.

“It’s a site that is tied to so much happening, from the Classical Age to the early Bronze Age,” said George H. Davis, a Regents’ Professor in geosciences, noting that not only did the athletic games occur at Mt. Lykaion, but it is potentially the legendary birthplace of Zeus, the Greek king of gods.

The project began in 2004 and, this year, the team has worked to excavate trenches in the ash altar, the upper and lower sanctuary, the bath, the stadium and other areas.

“We started finding interesting things and continued to explore things more because of their great antiquity,” said Mary Voyatzis, head of the UA’s classics department and one of the project’s co-directors.

The other co-directors are David Romano, a senior research scientists at the Unversity of Pennsylvania, and Michaelis Petropoulos of the Greek Archaeological Service.

The team has unearthed large amounts of Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age ceramics that date back to at least 3000 B.C, and probably earlier – which is unusual for such a location.

“Some of the material we have found is significantly older than what what was uncovered in the santuary at Olympia,” she said, adding that the site of the original Olympic Games is about 20 miles away. The earliest evidence of religious activity at Olympia is 11th century B.C., Voyatzis added.

“So we’re wondering which way the influence was in fact going," she said.

At the moment, the research team is in the process of writing a number of research papers about their results and have one more summer to excavate, though the team will request an extension to continue their work through the summer of 2010, Voyatzis said.

Greek archaeologists investigated the site about 100 years ago, but the current project is far more extensive and is more scientifically based. Also, the project includes geological, geophysical, architectural and historical surveys, stratigraphical excavation and analyses of faunal and floral remains.

So important is the project and the recent findings that the University of Athens has deemed the project is the “most important archeological excavation now underway in Greece.”

Several UA students – studying classics, geosciences, anthropology and architecture – are working on the project. Also, Teresa Moreno, an associate conservator for the Arizona State Museum, has worked on the excavations.

“What we found this year was very exciting because we got down to bedrock in a small part of the altar and found a layer of what appears to be purely Mycenaean pottery – a style of pottery that ranges from the 15th century through the 12th century,” Voyatzis said.

Excavators of the altar have uncovered a great deal of material, including pottery evidence ranging in date from the 14th century through the 3rd century B.C. They also have found silver coins, a bronze hand figure holding a silver lightening bolt, Hellenic fineware and – a curious find – petrified lightning.

“It kind of glistens in the sun and is porous like slag,” Voyatzis said.

“When (George) Davis saw it, he said it was exciting that we found a decent-sized piece,” she added. “It makes you wonder what the ancients understood about this natural phenomenon and why Zeus was worshipped on mountaintops.”

Though the researchers are not yet clear whether the petrified lightning, or fulgurite, was brought to the mountain or if it was created there, its presence is quite compelling. The fulgurite is created when lightening strikes and melts loose sand or soil, forming a kind of glass.

"To us, this find represents a tangible piece of evidence for the presence of Zeus at this very spot,” Voyatzis said. “That’s what it felt like to us.”

Davis, also the former UA provost, said such geological finds will become increasingly more interesting with time.

He wonders if lightning struck during a ceremony, creating the fulgurite. You just knew Zeus or Poseidon was around,” Davis said.

“It is tremendously interesting to me as a geologist but when it becomes fully grasped by the archeologists I think it will have an influence on their thinking as to why Mt. Lykaion had such an influence on peoples’ lives. Then we’ll understand the power of that site.” Davis also has recently found active fault lines near the ash altar.

“There is no doubt in my mind that at some point in the 3,000-year period when this site was active, I bet people felt earthquakes,” he said, “but I think there were people who also witnessed displacement of the land surface."

Provided by University of Arizona

 

[_Lizard23_]

I love fulgurites.

But, to me, stuff like

"To us, this find represents a tangible piece of evidence for the presence of Zeus at this very spot,” Voyatzis said. “That’s what it felt like to us.” .........
He wonders if lightning struck during a ceremony, creating the fulgurite. You just knew Zeus or Poseidon was around,” Davis said.

is just silly .... I'm sure they're only trying to make it all sound more interesting, but it comes across like they're claiming that finding evidence of lightning at a place sacred to a lightning god somehow proves something about the existance of the gods, which is putting the cart before the horse a bit

 

[ramonmercado]

Zeus could have been an alien with a raygun.

 

[_Lizard23_]

Probably the same one as 'The Devil with a Laser Beam' up Mont Pelée in the current FT!

 

[LaurenChurchill]

I assumed he meant it reinforced their belief that it was a main centre for the Zeus cult and that the petrified lightning would be something worshippers would have brought to the temple.

 

[staticgirl]

Yes it seemed a weird thing to say at first but reading on I realised they were trying to add a bit of romance and get inside the mind set of the ancients...

Great article, really interesting.

 

[ramonmercado]

More news from Mt Lykaion.

New evidence from excavations supports theory of the 'Birth of Zeus'
http://www.physorg.com/news152819760.html

On the leftis Dan Diffendale, research assistant, Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, in the ash altar of Zeus trench, at the discovery of a group of Mycenaean kylikes, circa 13th century BCE. Summer 2008. To the right is a small bronze hand of Zeus holding a silver lightning bolt (approximately 2 cm), circa 500 BCE, excavated at the ash altar of Zeus, Mt. Lykaion, Summer 2008. Credit: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology


In the third century BCE, the Greek poet Callimachus wrote a 'Hymn to Zeus' asking the ancient, and most powerful, Greek god whether he was born in Arcadia on Mt. Lykaion or in Crete on Mt. Ida.

A Greek and American team of archaeologists working on the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project believe they have at least a partial answer to the poet's query. New excavation evidence indicates that Zeus' worship was established on Mt. Lykaion as early as the Late Helladic period, if not before, more than 3,200 years ago. According to Dr. David Gilman Romano, Senior Research Scientist, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, and one of the project's co-directors, it is likely that a memory of the cult's great antiquity survived there, leading to the claim that Zeus was born in Arcadia.

Dr. Romano will present his team's new discoveries—and their implications for our understanding of the beginnings of ancient Greek religion—at a free public lecture, The Search for Zeus: The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, Tuesday, January 27 in the Rainey Auditorium of the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

New evidence to support the ancient myth that Zeus was born on Mt. Lykaion in Arcadia has come from a small trench from the southern peak of the mountain, known from the historical period as the ash altar of Zeus Lykaios. Over fifty Mycenaean drinking vessels, or kylikes, were found on the bedrock at the bottom of the trench along with fragments of human and animal figurines and a miniature double headed axe. Also found were burned animal bones, mostly of goats and sheep, another indication consistent with Mycenaean cult activity.

"This new evidence strongly suggests that there were drinking (and perhaps feasting) parties taking place on the top of the mountain in the Late Helladic period, around 3,300 or 3,400 years ago," said Dr. Romano.

In mainland Greece there are very few if any Mycenaean mountain-top altars or shrines. This time period — 14th-13th centuries BC — is approximately the same time that documents inscribed with a syllabic script called Linear B (an archaic form of the Greek language) first mention Zeus as a deity receiving votive offerings. Linear B also provides a word for an 'open fire altar' that might describe this altar on Mt. Lykaion as well as a word for a sacred area, temenos, a term known from later historical sources. The shrine on Mt. Lykaion is characterized by simple arrangements: an open air altar and a nearby sacred area, or temenos, which appears to have had no temple or other architectural feature at any time at this site.

Evidence from subsequent periods in the same trench indicate that cult activity at the altar seems to have continued uninterrupted from the Mycenaean period down through the Hellenistic period (4th - 2nd centuries BCE), something that has been documented at very few sites in the Greek world. Miniature bronze tripods, silver coins, and other dedications to Zeus including a bronze hand of Zeus holding a silver lightning bolt, have been found in later levels in the same trench. Zeus as the god of thunder and lightning is often depicted with a lightning bolt in his hand.

Also found in the altar trench was a sample of fulgurite or petrified lightning. This is a glass-like substance formed when lightning strikes sandy soil. It is not clear if the fulgurite was formed on the mountain-top or if it was brought to the site as a dedication to Zeus. Evidence for earlier activity at the site of the altar, from the Final Neolithic and the Early and Middle Helladic periods, continues to be found.

More info: http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/lykaion/lykaion.html

Source: University of Pennsylvania

 

[EnolaGaia]

Chilling mountaintop find may confirm dark Greek legend

ATHENS, GREECE — Archaeologists have made a sinister discovery at the top of a Greek mountain which might corroborate one of the darkest legends of antiquity.

Excavations this summer on Mount Lykaion, once worshipped as the birthplace of the god Zeus, uncovered the 3,000-year-old skeleton of a teenager amid a mound of ashes built up over a millennium from sacrificed animals.

Greece's Culture Ministry said Wednesday that the skeleton, probably of an adolescent boy, was found in the heart of the 30-meter (100-foot) broad ash altar, next to a man-made stone platform.

Excavators say it's too early to speculate on the nature of the teenager's death but the discovery is remarkable because the remote Mount Lykaion was for centuries associated with the most nefarious of Greek cults: Ancient writers — including Plato — linked it with human sacrifice to Zeus, a practice which has very rarely been confirmed by archaeologists anywhere in the Greek world and never on mainland Greece.

According to legend, a boy was sacrificed with the animals and all the meat was cooked and eaten together. Whoever ate the human part would become a wolf for nine years. ...

Full Story:

http://www.wral.com/mountaintop-dig-finds-chilling-echo-of-dark-greek-legend/15917514/

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-10-15-24-10

 

[hunck]

Ancient execution: 80 shackled skeletons found in Greek cemetery

At least 80 skeletons were unearthed at an ancient cemetery, their wrists bound by iron shackles, with the remains believed to be those of the victims of a mass execution.
Some of the skeletons in the Falyron Delta necropolis cemetery are lying in a neat row, while others are piled on top of each other, their jaws hanging open.

"They have been executed, all in the same manner. But they have been buried with respect," said Stella Chryssoulaki, head of excavations at the site.

"They are all tied at the hands with handcuffs and most of them are very, very young and in a very good state of health when they were executed,” she added.

But why they were executed remains a mystery – and the orderly way in which they were buried suggests they were more than slaves or everyday criminals.

One theory is that they were supporters of an Athenian noble and Olympic champion by the name of Cylon, who staged an attempted coup in Athens in 632 BC with the help of his father-in-law, the tyrant of Megara. Once the coup failed, Cylon managed to escape from harm – but his supporters were killed.

"Perhaps with the DNA tests that we will do on these skeletons we may confirm or not this hypothesis that these deceased, these young people could be...part of a coup...an attempt by a noble to take power by force," Chryssoulaki said.

The cemetery, which dates from between the 8th and 5th century BC, was unearthed during the construction of a national opera house and library between downtown Athens and the port of Piraeus.

 

[ramonmercado]

This city is actually in Turkey but it is an ancient Greek settlement.

A 2,500-year-old city in modern-day Turkey has gone up for sale in an effort to protect it from treasure hunters and decay, it's been reported.

The city ancient Greek city of Bargylia is near the Aegean resort of Bodrum, and its owners are advertising the site with a 35m lira ($8.3m; £6.1m) price tag, Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reports.

The 133 hectare (330 acre) site is currently private property, and cattle graze among the theatre, acropolis, fortification walls and necropolis which are listed locally as a Grade 1 archaeological site.

A long-abandoned monastery serves as an animal shelter, the paper says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-43990343

 

[Comfortably Numb]

New Building Found at Epidaurus’ Asclepieion in Sensational Archaeological Discovery

Source: greece.greekreporter.com
Date: 29 January, 2020

The Asclepieion of Epidaurus on the Peloponnesian Peninsula is one of the most important ancient sites in the entire world.

Today, it owes a great deal of its fame to the theater, a wonder of acoustics which is still in operation today, but in ancient times it served as a medical sanctuary, and serious illnesses were healed there.

People from all over the Eastern Mediterranean region flocked to Epidaurus in antiquity to find cures for their various maladies. It was a spacious resort which included guesthouses, a gymnasium, a stadium and the famous theater, which served to “elevate the soul,” which ancient Greeks saw as the goal of all theatrical plays, both tragedies and comedies.

Along with its many luxurious facilities, the Asclepieion of Epidaurus offered beautiful, serene natural surroundings, with lush vegetation and stunning views of the surrounding mountaintops.

According to the poet Hesiod, who was active between 750 and 650 BC, Asclepius, the son of Apollo who was considered the ancient Greek god of medicine, was born in Epidaurus.

A new building found at Epidaurus’ Asclepieion area, which was dedicated to this god, gives new insight into the famous sanctuary, mainly concerning the early years of its creation.

https://greece-greekreporter-com.cd...ieion-in-sensaional-archaeological-discovery/

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Cursed Death Messages Surface From Poisoned Athens Well

Source: ancient-origins.net
Date: 3 February, 2020

A 2,500 year-old water well in Athens has been discovered holding dozens of curse tablets.

The 30 small lead tablets were found engraved with ancient curses and hexes at the bottom of a 2,500 year-old well in the area of Kerameikos, in the ancient Athens main burial ground. Dr. Jutta Stroszeck, director of the Kerameikos excavation on behalf of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens said the ritual texts were an attempt to “invoke the gods of the underworld” but the person that ordered the curse is never mentioned by name, “only the recipient”.

Tokens For an After Death Venture

Previously discovered curses from tombs dating to the Classical period (480-323 BC) had been related to people that had died in an untimely manner and through what appeared to be plain old bad luck. These folks were deemed as being most suitable for carrying spells to the underworld. According to an article in Haaretz Dr. Stroszeck said there was good reason for the transition of “ill-will from graves to wells” in ancient Athens.

Since 1913 the excavations conducted by the German Archaeological Institute in the Kerameikos area have unearthed about 6,500 burials from ornate tombs and graves marked with stelai, reliefs, marble vases, and sculpted animals which were deemed important on the journey to the realm of the dead to the underworld.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/curse-0013241

 

[ramonmercado]

Figurines unearthed at sanctuary.

An aerial view of the 2,800-year-old temple at a sanctuary in Greece. (Image credit: Greek Ministry of Culture)

Archaeologists excavating a 2,800-year-old temple at a sanctuary in Greece have uncovered several artifacts, including figurines of a dog, a woman and a snake, according to the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Some of these figurines may have been used as votive offerings, or gifts to the gods, intended for Poseidon, a Greek god of the sea.

The sanctuary, dedicated to Poseidon, is located in the ancient city of Elikis (also known as Helike) on the northern coast of the Peloponnese in Greece. In addition to the artifacts, the archaeologists analyzed sediments at the site, finding that the sanctuary flooded several times around 2,800 years ago, they said in a translated statement. Eventually, the sanctuary fell into disrepair when Elikis was destroyed in an earthquake and tsunami that occurred more than 2,300 years ago.

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...-at-greek-temple-may-be-offerings-to-poseidon