Excavations at Kouphovouno, Laconia: Results from the 2001 and 2002 seasons

Annual of the British School at Athens

Volumn 102, Issue , 2007, Pages 12-100

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EID: 77954327438     PISSN: 00682454     EISSN: 20452403     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (134)

1. See W. G. Cavanagh, 'WYSIWYG: settlement and territoriality in southern Greece during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods', JMA 17 (2004), 165-89. For lists of Neolithic sites see Phelps 30, 45, 65-6.
2. Renard.
3. Cavanagh-Mee-Renard.
4. See further below the sections on each area.
5. Dr Lagia would like to thank the excavators for the invitation to participate in the Kouphovouno excavation, the orthopaedist Dr V. Vernardaki for his valuable advice on the study of the pathological lesions, and Annaïg Fremont for helping significantly in the processing of the skeletal remains in the laboratory.
6. H. Duday, P. Courtaud, E. Crubezy, P. Sellier, and A.-M. Tillier, 'L'anthropologie "de terrain": reconnaissance et interprétation des gestes funéraires', Bull. et Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris, n.s. 2, no. 3-4 (1990), 29-50;
7. M. Roksandic, 'Position of skeletal remains as a key to understanding mortuary behavior', in W. Haglund and M. H. Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives (New York, 2002), 109-10.
8. Buikstra-Ubelaker 95-106.
9. S. R. Saunders, 'Subadult skeletons and growth-related studies', in M. A. Katzenberg and S. R. Saunders (eds), Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton (New York, 2000) 138-41.
10. Buikstra-Ubelaker 16-21.
11. W. M. Krogman and M. Y. Işcan, The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine, 2nd cdn. (Springfield, IL, 1986) 234-47; A. Lagia, K. Moraitis, C. Eliopoulos, and S. Manolis, 220, (Athens, 2000), 138.
12. C. F. A. Moorrees, E. A. Fanning, and E. E. Hunt, 'Formation and resorption of three deciduous teeth in children', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 21 (1963), 205-13;
13. C. F. A. Moorrees, E. A. Fanning, and E. E. Hunt, 'iid., 'Age variation of formation stages for ten permanent teeth', Journal of Dental Research, 42 (1963), 1490-1502.
14. Scheuer-Black.
15. D. H. Ubelaker, Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation (Washington, DC, 1989), 65-71.
16. Scheuer-Black 468.
17. S. T. Brooks and J. M. Suchey, 'Skeletal age determination based on the Os pubis: a comparison of the Ascádi-Nemeskéri and Suchey-Brooks methods', Journal of Human Evolution, 5 (1990), 227-38.
18. C. O. Lovejoy, R. S. Meindl, T. R. Pryzbeck, and R. P. Mensforth, 'Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium: a new method for the determination of age at death', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 68 (1985), 15-28.
19. S. Loth and M. Y. Işcan, 'Morphological assessment of age in the adult: the thoracic region', in M. Y. Işcan (ed.), Age Markers in the Human Skeleton (Springfield, IL, 1989) 105-36.
20. R. S. Meindl and C. O. Lovejoy, 'Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 68 (1985), 57-66.
21. Buikstra-Ubelaker 52-3.
22. Ibid. 36.
23. Krogman and Işcan (n. 11), TABLE 8. 5.
24. Ibid. (n. 11), 348.
25. e.g. A. C. Aufderheide and C. Rodríguez-Martín, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology (Cambridge, 1998);
26. D. Resnick, Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Disorders (Philadelphia, 1995);
27. D. J. Ortner and W. G. J. Putchard, Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains (Washington, DC, 1981);
28. C. Roberts and K. Manchester, The Archaeology of Disease (New York, 1995);
29. S. Hillson, Dental Anthropology (Cambridge, 1996).
30. On the fine wall-plaster at Lerna see Wiencke 275-6.
31. J. L. Caskey and E. G. Caskey, 'The earliest settlements at Eutresis: supplementary excavations 1958', Hesp. 29 (1960), 126-67 at 139-50.
32. Wiencke 25-6.
33. Ibid., passim.
34. Ibid. 559-69.
35. Ibid. 563.
36. Ibid. 571.
37. Ibid. 531.
38. Ibid. 606.
39. Renard 159 and pl. 45. 1-2,
40. Ibid. 585-8.
41. Ibid. 587.
42. Ibid. 592-7.
43. Ibid. 601-2.
44. Elena Zavvou kindly showed us the pottery from Anthochori, which is predominantly late EH I and early EH II.
45. See Renard 128-9 and pl. 52 for EH bases with mat impressions from Kouphovouno.
46. Wiencke 547-9.
47. Renard 140 and pl. 35 for two restored examples.
48. Wiencke 535.
49. Ibid. 608-9.
50. Ibid. 607.
51. FC 60 and FS 101: L. E. Talalay, Deities, Dolls and Devices: Neolithic Figurines from Franchthi Cave, Greece (Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece; fasc. 9; Bloomington, IN, 1993), 19-21 and pl. 15.
52. Papathanassopoulos, 225, no. 33.
53. NM3927, NM3930, and NM3932, see Cavanagh-Mee-Renard 53-5 for a discussion of these figurines and further references.
54. D. N. Tripathi, Bronzework of Mainland Greece from c. 2600 BC to c. 1450 BC (Göteborg, 1988), 54, 250 and FIGS. 122-5 for EH and 96, 265-6 and FIGS. 278-84 for MH tweezers.
55. Consequently the two levels 0002 and 0003 have not been included in the statistics.
56. Two adult goats and two sheep on the basis of respectively 2 and 6 bone remains.
57. MNI: Minimum Number of Individuals, NISP: Number of Identified Specimens.
58. The cheeks, the tongue, and traces of skinning.
59. A. Gardeisen, 'Interprétation des restes fauniques dans les tombes protohistoriques du sud de la France', in Colloque en hommage à J. F. Salinier, Pratiques funéraires protohistoriques entre Massif central et Pyrénées: nouvelles données. Puylaurens (Tarn), 15-16 janvier 2000 = Archéologie Tarnaise, 12 (2004), 211-15.
60. This piece has been examined by Luis García, Zoological Museum of Barcelona, who is a specialist in avian fauna.
61. Observation made when strewing the bone material from the burials in collaboration with A. Lagia.
62. The area between the skeleton and the stones delimiting the eastern wall of the grave, where the infant remains were found, was thoroughly excavated.
63. A. Bouwman, J. Prag, K. Brown, and T. Brown, 'Middle Helladic kinship: families, faces and DNA at Mycenae', in G. Touchais, A. P. Touchais, S. Voutsaki, and J. Wright (eds), Mesohelladika: The Greek Mainland in the Middle Bronze Age (forthcoming).
64. According to cranial suture closure, the individual pertains to a young adult age group. Besides the many questions concerning accuracy in age estimation based on cranial suture closure (V. Galera, D. H. Ubelaker, and L.- A. C. Hayek, 'Comparison of macroscopic cranial methods of age estimation applied to skeletons from the Terry Collection', Journal of Forensic Sciences, 43 (1998), 933-9), it has also been observed that when there is maintenance of the metopic suture, as in the case of 0009, there is an overall delay in suture closure, hence giving a false estimation of age at death.
65. A. Galloway, Broken Bones: Anthropological Analysis of Blunt Force Trauma (Springfield, IL, 1999), 107.
66. Ibid. 193-6.
67. Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín (n. 24), 95.
68. Ibid. 97.
69. Ibid. 81-2; Resnick (n. 24), 1266.
70. The following teeth were lost before death: all second and third maxillary and mandibular molars of the right side, the second right maxillary premolar, all left mandibular molars, plus the central incisors of the mandible.
71. Rmax M1 occl, Lmax M2 cerv, Lmand P1 neck, Rm and M1 crown and root.
72. Calculus deposits are frequently associated with poor oral hygiene or carbohydrate consumption, S. Hillson (n. 24), 259-60.
73. D. S. Weaver, New Methods for the Determination of Sex, Age, and Rates of Growth of Infant and Child Skeletal Remains in Prehistoric American Indian Populations (Albuquerque, NM, 1977).
74. Scheuer-Black 204.
75. D. J. Ortner and M. F. Erickson, 'Bone changes in the human skull probably resulting from scurvy in infancy and childhood', International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 7 (1997), 212-20.
76. M. Schultz, 'Paleohistopathology of bone: a new approach to the study of ancient diseases', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 44 (2001), 106-47.
77. Vitelli i. 139.
78. Phelps 70.
79. J. C. Lavezzi, 'Corinth before the Mycenaeans', in C. K. Williams and N. Bookidis (eds), Corinth, The Centenary 1896-1996 (Corinth: Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, xx; Princeton, 2003), 68-71.
80. Zachos 51.
81. M. Koumouzeli, AAA 22 (1989), 144-6, 155-60.
82. Phelps 77.
83. A. Douzougli, (Dimosievmata tou Archaiologikou Deltiou 66; Athens, 1998), 65-6.
84. Phelps 77: at Corinth it is particularly common in LN II, Lavezzi (n. 74), 70.
85. See Phelps, FIG. 41. 27 for a similar vessel from Corinth.
86. Phelps 115.
87. Vitelli ii. 104.
88. Zachos 52-5.
89. Koumouzeli (n. 76), 157-8.
90. Zachos 52; Phelps 107.
91. Zachos 121-2.
92. Ibid. 121.
93. See W. Cavanagh, J. Crouwel, R. W. V. Catling, and G. Shipley, Continuity and Change in a Greek Rural Landscape: The Laconia Survey, ii (London, 1996), FIG. 12. 1. 12.
94. H. B. Siedentopf, Alt-Ägina IV 2: Mattbemalte Keramik der Mittleren Bronzezeit (Mainz, 1991), pl. 114. 739 for a similarly decorated kantharos base from Kolonna.
95. Papathanassopoulos 229, no. 46; M. Séfériadès, 'Préhistoire: le commerce des spondyles, de la mer Égée à la Manche', Archéologia, 309 (1995), 42-50;
96. M. Séfériadès, 'id., 'Spondylus Gaederopus: some observations on the earliest European long distance exchange system', in S. Hiller and V. Nikolov (eds), Karanovo, Band III: Beiträge zum Neolithikum in Südosteuropa (Vienna, 2000), 423-37.
97. Teeth present: max Rdm1 = Cr1/2, Ldi2=Cr3/4-c, mand Ldm2 = Cr1/2.
98. The size of the petrous is that of a full-term fetus (41.42 mm), I. Gy. Fazekas and F. Kosa, Forensic Fetal Osteology (Budapest, 1978), 153.
99. Anterior fontanelles close by the end of the first or second year, Scheuer-Black 107.
100. The two halves of the mandible join at the midline during the first year of life, ibid. 144.
101. Approximate length of the right femur: 75 mm. According to Ubelaker (n. 14), 71 the age is that of a newborn to 0.5 years.
102. See nn. 69-70.
103. Distribution of porosity on the skull of 313: the wing of the right sphenoid, the squamous of the right temporal, the basilar of the occipital, the right maxilla, and the zygomatics.
104. D. J. Ortner, E. Kimmerle, and M. Diez, 'Probable evidence of scurvy in subadults from archaeological sites in Peru', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 108 (1999), 321-31;
105. D. J. Ortner, W. Butler, J. Cafarella, and L. Miligan, 'Evidence of probable scurvy in subadults from archaeological sites in North America', American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 114 (2001), 343-51.
106. Ortner et al. (n. 98), 322.
107. We are extremely grateful to Clare Pickersgill, who examined the pottery from Area E and provided detailed notes on the Roman sherds.
108. Vitelli i, FIG. 56a.
109. Ibid. 121.
110. Again we are grateful to Clare Pickersgill for her observations on the pottery from Area F.
111. W. Cavanagh, C. Mee, and P. James, Laconia Rural Sites Project (BSA Supp. 36; London, 2005), esp. 302.
112. N. Lambert (ed.), La Grotte préhistorique de Kitsos (Attique), missions 1968-1978 II (Recherches sur les grandes civilisations, Synthèse no. 7; Paris, 1981), 410; Papathanassopoulos 337, no. 294.
113. Talalay (n. 46), 18-19 and pl. 17 c.
114. Vitelli i. 439, FIG. 61 d.
115. Cavanagh-Mee-Renard.
116. Cavanagh et al. (n. 104), 16-17.
117. Ibid. 17-19.
118. J. Rutter, 'Some thoughts on the analysis of ceramic data generated by site surveys', in D. R. Keller and D. W. Rupp (eds), Archaeological Survey in the Mediterranean Area (BAR S155; Oxford, 1983), 137-42.
119. Cavanagh-Mee-Renard 102-3.
120. K. Müller, Tiryns, Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen des Instituts, iii: Die Architektur der Burg und des Palastes (Augsburg, 1930), 80-8.
121. Wiencke 27-9, 50, 55-6, 73, 75, 78, 111-12, 118-19, 140, 191-2.
122. T. F. Tartaron, D. J. Pullen, and J. F. Noller, 'Rillenkarren at Vayia: geomorphology and a new class of Early Bronze Age fortified settlement in Southern Greece', Antiquity, 80 (2006), 145-60.
123. Cavanagh-Mee-Renard 100 FIG. 29.
124. Comparative studies: S. Triantaphyllou, A Bioarchaeological Approach to Prehistoric Cemetery Populations from Central and Western Macedonia (BAR S976; Oxford, 2001);
125. A. Papathanasiou, A Bioarchaeological Analysis of Neolithic Alepotrypa Cave, Greece (BAR S961; Oxford, 2001);
126. J. L. Angel, The People of Lerna (Washington, 1971);
127. J. L. Angel, id., 'Health as a crucial factor in the changes from hunting to developed farming in the Eastern Mediterranean', in M. N. Cohen and G. J. Armelagos (eds), Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture (London, 1984), 54-56;
128. S. C. Bisel and J. L. Angel, 'Health and nutrition in Mycenaean Greece: A study in human skeletal remains', in N. C. Wilkie and W. D. E. Coulson (eds), Contributions to Aegean Archaeology (Dubuque, 1985), 197-209;
129. J. H. Musgrave and M. Popham, 'The Late Helladic IIIC intramural burials at Lefkandi, Euboea', BSA 86 (1991), 269-96;
130. E. Stravopodi, S. K. Manolis, and A. Neroutsis, in A. Sampson (ed.), (Etaireia Peloponnesiakon Spoudon no. 7; Athens, 1997), 456-82.
131. Respective lesions on the third infant (213b) are not observable due to the incompleteness of the remains.
132. Triantaphyllou (n. 117), 144.
133. Ibid. 145; Triantaphyllou observed higher calculus and low caries rates in her early populations (EN, EBA), suggesting that the early populations consumed high levels of meat, while the diet of the late populations (LBA, EIA) was richer in carbohydrates.
134. Cavanagh-Mee-Renard 102.