Kakovatos

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The settlement hill of Kakovatos from the north

Kakovatos ( Greek Κακόβατος ) refers to a small modern Greek coastal town and an archaeological site about 1.5 kilometers inland. Kakovatos is located about three kilometers south of Zacharo in the municipality of the same name in the ancient landscape of Triphylia in the west of the Peloponnese in the Ilia region . Three Tholos graves and the remains of a settlement from the 16th to 15th centuries. Century BC BC testify the importance of the place in the early Mycenaean epoch . Today only the places of two graves and the topographical location of the residential buildings on the Acropolis are recognizable.

Research history

In the years 1907-08, Wilhelm Dörpfeld mainly researched three dome graves he discovered. He exposed the associated settlement area on the hill south of these graves in large parts, but did not publish the results of his work conclusively. Dörpfeld believed to have discovered the “sandy” pylos of Nestor described in the Iliad . In 2009 the excavations were resumed by classical archaeologists from the University of Freiburg under the direction of Birgitta Eder in cooperation with the Greek Antiquities Service (7th Ephorie under the direction of Georgia Chatzi-Spilopoulou). The field work was completed in 2011 and the processing of the finds is ongoing.

Archaeological evidence

Dörpfeld's excavations brought to light a whole series of early Mycenaean grave goods from the graves, which were already partly looted at the time, which are now kept in the National Museum of Athens and prove that small-scale domains are also highlighted in Triphylia, as in the landscapes of Argolida , Laconia and Messenia Settlement and burial sites for early Mycenaean elites developed. In addition to Mycenaean pottery in the form of so-called palace style amphoras from the early 15th century BC BC found u. a. also amber jewelry (more than 500 amber beads), amethyst and glass beads, ivory inlays, gold jewelry and a sheet of gold decorated in the shape of an owl, which has close parallels in contemporary graves of Messenia. A Minoan- Mycenaean signet ring , which was allegedly acquired by Arthur Evans and is said to have been found at Kakovatos, is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (so-called Ring of Nestor) and is considered a "masterpiece of Minoan-Mycenaean glyptic". The origin from Kakovatos is however unconfirmed. The most recent datable finds from the graves belong to the Late Helladic IIB period, i.e. the 15th century BC. Chr.

The building complex on the hill south of the Tholoi has been completely exposed by the recent excavations. As far as the extremely intense erosion of the hill allows statements, the development seems to have mainly concentrated on the west of the hill, the so-called "Acropolis", as also resulted from various prospections and field inspections. Between 2010 and 2011, the building complex, which was already partially researched by Dörpfeld, was uncovered and published in preliminary reports with the remains of two utility and storage rooms sunk into the existing ground (including for figs) and a large retaining wall below the hill plateau. The remains of the building complex that have been preserved were apparently laid out in SH IIB and destroyed by fire in the second half of the 15th century (phase SH II B). A huge retaining wall was visible from the west, above which the building complex was visibly enthroned over the coastal plain.

interpretation

Wilhelm Dörpfeld identified the settlement near Kakovatos with the Homeric Pylos, the seat of the mythical king Nestor . In addition to the rich graves, the topographical location of Dörpfeld led to this thesis: Nestor's Pylos, described in many places in the Iliad as "sandy", was better suited to Kakovatos than the modern place Pylos or ancient Pylos nearby, to Homer's statements. The so-called Palace of Nestor , a few kilometers from Pylos, was only discovered around 30 years after Dörpfeld's research at Kakovatos and from 1952 onwards it was systematically excavated by Carl Blegen . Since then, this site has been known as the Mycenaean Pylos, which Homer also often mentions. An identification of the settlement of Kakovatos with the Homeric Pylos also speaks against its early destruction and abandonment.

The early Mycenaean building complex of Kakovatos is one of the rare examples of outstanding settlement structures from the early Mycenaean period, of which in many cases only the tombs are known. Due to the additions in the Tholos tombs, Kakovatos was one of the most important places in early Mycenaean Greece with connections to Messenia and the Argolis. The abandonment of this place in the 15th century BC is of historical importance. BC, which in the early Mycenaean epoch stands out among the other places in the region. It stands to reason that this is in connection with other historical upheavals of the 15th and 14th centuries BC. To be interpreted in Greece (e.g. the fall of Knossos , the abandonment of Menelaion , end of the "warrior graves") and to recognize the possible takeover by a foreign power (Pylos?).

Web links

literature

  • Wilhelm Dörpfeld : Alt-Pylos I: The dome graves of Kakovatos. In: Athenian communications. 33, 1908, pp. 295-317, ( archive.org , panels XV-XVII  - Internet Archive ).
  • Kurt Müller : Alt-Pylos II: The finds from the dome graves of Kakovatos. In: Athenian communications. 34, 1909, pp. 269-328.
  • Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Alt Pylos III. The location of the Homeric castle Pylos. In: Athenian communications. 38, 1918, pp. 47-139.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birgitta Eder : On the historical geography of Triphylia in Mycenaean times. In: Fritz Blakolmer, Claus Reinholdt, Jörg Weilhartner, Georg Nightingale (eds.): Austrian research on the Aegean Bronze Age 2009. Files from the conference from March 6th to 7th, 2009 at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Salzburg. 2009, p. 109.
  2. ↑ Ingo Pini: The 'Ring of Nestor'. In: Oxford Journal of Archeology. 17, 1998, pp. 1-13.
  3. ^ Annual report 2009. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. 2010-1 supplement, p. 105 f.
  4. ^ Annual report 2009. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. 2010-1 supplement, p. 105.
  5. ↑ Annual Report 2010. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. 2011-1 booklet. Pp. 95-97. Annual report 2011. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. 2012-1 supplement, pp. 92–94.
  6. ^ Hector W. Catling: Some Problems in Aegean Prehistory c. 1450-1380 BC. In: JL Myres memorial Lecture. 14. Oxford 1989.

Coordinates: 37 ° 27 '  N , 21 ° 39'  E