Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece (53 page)

Site locations also change somewhat in different periods. Generally 25%–30% of all sites are located within 500 m of the coast, with the exception of the Geometric and Medieval periods, times when security may have been more of an issue (Jameson et al. 1994: 257 and 245, table. 4.4). During the Geometric period only small sites appear to have existed, and in Late Geometric a couple of medium-size sites (Jameson et al. 1994: 252 and 238, fig. 4.20). The overall settlement pattern for the Protogeometric–Late Geometric/Subgeometric phase is interpreted as nucleated, each area of the landscape having one dominant nucleated site. During the Archaic-Hellenistic period dispersed settlement around urban centers (Jameson et al. 1994: 253–54, table 4.8; 374–83) characterized the countryside. The Late Classical/Early Hellenistic (350–250 BCE) is singled out as the period with the largest number of sites, especially small rural sites (Jameson et al. 1994: 383–85). A preference for fertile valley bottoms for settlement sites appears in Geometric times; but valley slopes and rolling hills in are preferred locations in the Classical through Middle Roman phases (Jameson et al. 1994: 257–58, 373). The settlement and exploitation of thin soils and “marginal” lands began only in the Classical period, not earlier (Jameson et al. 1994: 258).

Methana

The Methana Peninsula is located at the top of the Argolic Peninsula, just to the east and north of Epidauros and Troezen (Mee and Forbes 1997). The Methana Survey was carried out during the 1980s. Protogeometric pottery of the Early Iron Age (1050–700 BCE) appears at the three key settlement sites (
fig. 10-6
). Two of these are villages: MS69 (Ogha) and its related sanctuary at MS68, and MS60 (Maghoula). The other settlement eventually became the polis center of Methana (MS10). All these settlements are located within easy reach of the sea and good agricultural land (Gill and Foxhall 1997: 57). In this period settlement was clearly nucleated, and land was exploited from villages. During the Archaic period (600–480 BCE) six sites in total were occupied, and the three main sites grew substantially and continued to dominate their respective sectors of the peninsula. Limited exploitation of the Plain of Throni and the interior begin, but only in areas of excellent agricultural land. There is also an increase in the number of rural sanctuaries (Gill and Foxhall 1997: 57–59). The Classical period shows (480–323 BCE) twenty-two certain sites (but a Classical component appears on forty-eight) (
fig. 10-7
).

The growth of the polis center (MS10) as the main site of the peninsula occurs at this time. There is now also an increase in the number of isolated rural sites, which
appear to date largely to the last third of fifth century BCE and generally seem to have been very short-lived. For the first time there is substantial exploitation of marginal areas and less good agricultural land. During the fourth century BCE fewer rural sites appear, many in small clusters, and none are located more than 200 m above sea level (Gill, Foxhall, and Bowden 1997: 62–67). There are twenty-eight certain Hellenistic (323–100 BCE) sites, and fifty-four sites have a Hellenistic component. Of these, 40% lack a Classical component, suggesting some reorganization of settlement, perhaps in connection with the role of the peninsula as a Ptolemaic base. Overall, fewer Hellenistic than Classical sherds were identified. Most Hellenistic sites remain within 500 m of the sea, and as in the Classical period, they are concentrated on the western side of peninsula, where the polis site is located. However, there is also a significant concentration of sites at altitudes over 600 m above sea level. The main urban site (MS10) appears to shrink slightly while both village sites (MS67 and MS60) shrink dramatically (Gill, Foxhall, and Bowden 1997: 69–71).

FIGURE 10-6. Methana, Early Iron Age and Archaic sites (Gill and Foxhall 1997: 58, figs. 5.1 and 5.2).

Berbati-Limnes

The Berbati-Limnes Survey was carried out in the Berbati Valley, the fertile plain to the east of Mycenae, and the contrasting upland area around Limnes Village (Wells 1996). Only one possible Protogeometric sherd (tenth century?) was recovered, in addition to two excavated graves, one Early Geometric and the other Middle Geometric, already known from the area. Otherwise nothing was found dating to the period between the twelfth century BCE and the middle of the eighth century BCE (Wells 1996: 177). Geometric and Archaic material appears at twelve find spots; nine of these have material of the eighth century BCE, nine have material of the seventh and sixth
centuries BCE, and four have material from all three centuries (Ekroth 1996: 214–15, figs. 33 and 34) (
fig. 10-8
). Find spots 20 and 24 form the core of the most important Geometric settlement in the Berbati Valley and contain the only definite Late Geometric I material; other find spots (7, 18) appear to be related to this settlement. In Late Geometric II, occupation spread from find spots 20–24 to two additional locations: the Phytesoumia spur with five find spots, and the area around the hill of Ag. Athenasios. All these areas continued to be inhabited into the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. Late sixth- and early fifth-century BCE material is largely missing from the Berbati Valley assemblage, although occasional Late Archaic sherds appear at existing settlements (Ekroth 1996: 213). The mountainous Limnes area remained unoccupied during the Geometric–Archaic period, but there is some thin background sherd scatter, particularly along the ancient road (Ekroth 1996: 215).

FIGURE 10-7. Methana, Classical sites (Gill, Foxhall, and Bowden 1997: 64, fig. 6.1).

FIGURE 10-8. Berbati-Limnes Survey. Geometric-Archaic find spots (Wells 1996: 214, fig 13). Courtesy of the Swedish Institute at Athens.

Activity during the Classical and Hellenistic periods is documented at thirty find spots in Berbati, with an additional five in the rugged Limnes area (Penttinen 1996: 229) (
fig. 10-9
). There are thirteen definite fifth-century BCE sites, with some activity documented at another four. Most are located in the north-central part of the valley to the north of the main road between modern Nekrotapheion and the Roman bath. Find spot 426 in the far west of the survey area was occupied, and the slopes to the west of Kephalari remma appear to have been being visited at this time. The peak of settlement activity appears in the late fourth–early third centuries BCE, and a new pattern of settlement seems to emerge at this time. New sites increase the settlement density around Nekrotapheion. Sites on both sides of Kephalari remma at 300 m above sea level now begin to appear. Smaller clusters of sites appear to the west of Mastos, close to modern Panaghia. In the Limnes area the development of settlement is slightly different. Find spot 42 at Vigliza was probably permanently occupied, but find spots 309 and 307 appear on inaccessible mountain slopes. From the second century BCE there is a general decline in the number of sites (Penttinen 1996: 271 and 272, table 1).

Laconia

The area of the Laconia Survey covers the approximate center of the territory of ancient Sparta (Cavanagh et al. 2002: 1). The only evidence of activity during the Early Iron Age (1050–700 BCE) appears at the cult centers of Zeus Messapeus and the Menelaion, and is limited to the very end of the eighth century BCE. Nothing earlier appears in the rural territory (Catling 2002: 153), though there is material from Sparta itself. The Early Archaic period (700–600) remains a blank apart from the same two sanctuaries, and there is no indication of agricultural exploitation of anything except the best agricultural land on the plain (Catling 2002: 156).

The later Archaic and Early Classical period (600–450 BCE) sees a shift from nucleated settlement to widely dispersed small and medium-size rural sites. However, very little of the material recovered is earlier than the mid-sixth century BCE, and much dates from the second half of the sixth century (Catling 2002: 157). At least eighty-seven definite sites appear in this period, and nine new sanctuaries. Some evidence for later Archaic-Classical activity appears on seventy-two further sites (Catling 2002: 160–61). Almost all of these (74%) are small sites, but there is a small group of seventeen larger sites (19%), which could be high-status rural habitations or large farms, and six (19%), appear to be villages, small towns, and in one case a fortress (Catling 2002: 161–63). When the was area settled in the second half of the sixth century BCE, there was a discernible preference for occupation of the most fertile and easily worked soils (Catling 2002: 171–72), and avoidance of upland areas even in this peak period of rural occupation.

FIGURE 10-9. Berbati-Limnes Survey. Classical-Hellenistic find spots (Wells 1996: 274, fig 37). Courtesy of the Swedish Institute at Athens.

The Classical period (450–300 BCE) sees a sharp reduction in the total number of habitation sites, from about mid-fifth century BCE (Catling 2002: 184, 225). However, there is a concomitant trend toward increased site size, so this perhaps indicates a more nucleated phase. The eighty-seven habitation sites of Late Archaic times go down to forty-six over the Classical period; small farmsteads decline from sixty-four to twenty-seven (74% to 57%). Larger farms decline from seventeen to ten (20% to 23%); and there is a rise in village/hamlet sites from four to seven (5% to 16%), as well as two large sites (Catling 2002: 175–78). Sites continue to concentrate in the areas of the best soils (Catling 2002: 182–84). During the Hellenistic period (third–first centuries BCE) forty-eight definite and twenty-seven probable sites can be identified, although in this area the Hellenistic ceramic repertoire is less diagnostic than for the Archaic–Classical periods (Shipley 2002: 257, 260–61).