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(Social) Place and Space in Early Mycenaean Greece, pp. 59-84, 2021/05/25
International Discussions in Mycenaean Archaeology
October 5–8, 2016, Athens
Kakovatos is mainly known for its three large and richly furnished tholos tombs that rival the wealthiestburials of their time on the Greek mainland. New research in Kakovatos revealed the remains of a building complex ofthe early Mycenaean period on the so-called acropolis. Excavations of the site by Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1907‒08 hadremained more or less unpublished. The recent fieldwork offered the rare opportunity to explore an early Mycenaeanhabitation site together with the group of associated tombs. The integration of data from neighbouring sites allows usto study the development of Kakovatos in the regional context of Triphylia.The stratigraphy of the excavated building complex provides valuable information about the history of the site in theearly Mycenaean period, when places of regional prominence emerged in the Peloponnese. A rebuilding of an earlierarchitectural phase took place in LH IIB, and during an advanced stage of this phase, the architectural complex wasdestroyed. Just as the tombs stood out among the tombs of the region by their size, expenditure in terms of constructionand wealth of grave offerings, the building complex on the acropolis hill was set apart spatially, clearly visible abovethe Triphylian Plain. We can recognise this as one of the strategies of early Mycenaean elites to elevate themselves symbolically, socially, economically, politically and spatially above the rest of the population.
Keywords: Kakovatos, early Mycenaean residential remains, 14C data, stratigraphy, storage, spinning bowls
