Nichoria

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Nichoria is a site in Messenia of a Bronze Age (early to late Helladic ) and an Early Iron Age settlement near the village of Karpofora not far from Petalidi on the western edge of the Messenian Gulf , which separates the two western fingers of the Peloponnese , Messenia and Mani . The younger settlement is one of the few sites of the so-called Dark Ages in Greece and is therefore important for the development of hierarchies and rulers of the protogeometric period and the polis .

Archaeological excavations under the direction of George R. Rapp and William McDonald of the University of Minnesota at the relatively large settlement, which did not reach the size of a Mycenaean palace settlement, took place from 1968 to 1975 (Nichoria I-III). In the originally Bronze Age settlement, the built-up area of ​​which in the Mycenaean period was estimated to be approximately four hectares , there were one-story, rectangular buildings. In Mycenaean times, Nichoria was probably subordinate to the more important Pylos .

Apparently the place was abandoned for about a century, only to be repopulated in the 2nd quarter of the 11th century, a time of very sharp population decline throughout Greece. Organic material was used to build houses and, to a lesser extent, material from the ruins of the Mycenaean settlement was reused. The number of residents is estimated at around 60, a figure that was extrapolated from 13 to 14 families. A social hierarchy or any other differentiation cannot be recognized.

In the 10th and 9th centuries the place reached its greatest extent with about 40 families. These roughly 200 people apparently kept more livestock and hunted than in Mycenaean times, when the focus was more clearly on agriculture. Iron was first used to a significant extent as a material, but it was still very valuable. The artefacts that suggest extensive long-distance trade are missing from the 8th century at the latest. The settlement was founded around 750 BC. Burned down and abandoned.

The management family lived in a somewhat larger, 10 m long building; there was apparently also a kind of core area of ​​ritual life. Meetings and celebrations were held in it. The enlargement of the building to 15.9 m took place around 850 BC. And now included an apse . In Unit IV , activities such as storage, food preparation and consumption (including lentils , meat and beverages) could be documented. Individual rooms were not separated, except in small niches, for example in the apse opposite the entrance at the other end of the house, where remains of food and tools were found. Apparently the dining area near the front door was partitioned off.

In the last phase of the settlement (around 800 to 750 BC) the population shrank to around 100. Nevertheless, the central building was designed and expanded more massive. Possibly the head of the settlement had a position similar to that we know from Homer for the basileus .

literature

  • Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp : Case study Nichoria , in: Dies: The archaic Greece. The city and the sea , CH Beck, Munich 2015, pp. 43–49.
  • William A. McDonald: Excavations at Nichoria in Messenia: 1969-71 . In: Hesperia . tape 41 , 1972, p. 218-273 .
  • Cynthia W. Shelmerdine : Nichoria in Context. A Major Town in the Pylos Kingdom . In: American Journal of Archeology . tape 85 , 1981, pp. 319-325 .
  • Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

Remarks

  1. ^ Richard Hope Simpson: Mycenaean Messenia and the Kingdom of Pylos , Philadelphia 2014, p. 7.
  2. ^ Richard Hope Simpson: Mycenaean Messenia and the Kingdom of Pylos , Philadelphia 2014, p. 18.
  3. ^ Peter W. Rose: Class in Archaic Greece , Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 66.
  4. ^ Peter W. Rose: Class in Archaic Greece , Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 66, note 22.
  5. ^ Paul Cartledge: Sparta and Lakonia. A Regional History 1300-362 BC , Routledge, 2002², p. 166.
  6. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Welwei : Greek history. From the beginnings to the beginning of Hellenism , Schöningh, 2011, p. 62.
  7. ^ William Coulson: The Architecture: Area IV , in: Ders., John Rosser (Ed.): Excavations at Nichoris in Southwest Greece III , University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1983, pp. 18-56.
  8. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Welwei: Greek history. From the beginnings to the beginning of Hellenism , Schöningh, 2011, p. 63.

Coordinates: 37 ° 0 ′ 8 ″  N , 21 ° 54 ′ 51 ″  E