Archaeologia Austriaca 101/2017, pp. 73-142, 2017/12/21
Zeitschrift zur Archäologie Europas
Journal on the Archaeology of Europe
The ongoing excavations at Ayios Vasileios have revealed one of the most important Mycenaean palatial centres in the Peloponnese. The following study aims to establish the sequence of pottery phases of the site from the early Mycenaean period up to the conflagration that destroyed the palace at the end of the 14th or at the beginning of the 13th century BC. One of the main tasks has been the detailed analysis of well stratified material, which will clarify the development of the local pottery styles including evidence for continuity or discontinuity in the commonest pottery types and fabrics from the site. Based on the preliminary results from this study the developments and changes in the pottery tradition have been compared to those known from other centres in Laconia and beyond. An attempt has also been made to date the most important building horizons represented in the palace and to correlate them with those from the other known major sites of the region, the Menelaion in the north and Ayios Stephanos to the south.
Keywords: Ayios Vasileios, Menelaion, Laconia, Greece, Mycenaean palaces, Late Helladic, pottery sequence, destruction horizons.
