Σωστική ανασκαφή στο δυτικό νεκροταφείο του αρχαίου οικισμού στο Αρχοντικό Πέλλας κατά το 2008
Part of : Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη ; Vol.22, No.1, 2008, pages 119-128
Issue:
Pages:
119-128
Parallel Title:
Rescue excavation in the west cemetery of the ancient settlement at Archontiko Pellas
Abstract:
Towards the end of June 2008 pirate digging led us to study one Late Iron Age and three Archaic tombs in the field belonging to the Filtsos brothers from where we had begun the rescue excavation of the west graveyard eight years previously. Later, the rescue excavation to the west of the cemetery road brought to light another forty tombs, four from the Late Iron Age, twenty-eight Archaic, and the remainder from the Classical and Early Hellenistic periods. Of the eighteen male burials, six belonged to Class I warriors (buried with spearheads and dagger: T 715, T 719, T 726, T 730, T 734 and T 736), six to Class II (with sword, spearheads and dagger: T 711, T 717, T 727, T 731, T 728 and T 740) and the final six to Class III (with helmet, sword, spearheads and dagger: T 709, T 720, T 735, T 739, T 741 and T 742). A similar classification system, based on number of grave goods, was used for the female burials: Class I was represented by tombs T 714 and T 721, Class II by tombs T 722, T 732 and T 733, and Class III by tombs T 712 (Fig. 10-11) and T 738 (Fig. 12-13). These last two burials were remarkable for their large number of rich and varied grave goods. Of the Early Hellenistic burials, tomb T 724 (Fig. 14) is particularly interesting for its secondary cremation, interred with three clay vessels, a copper myrtle wreath, a copper kylix-kantharos and a life-size clay head of a beardless youth (Fig. 15) with closed eyes, a portrait of the deceased as an initiate into the Orphic-Dionysiac mysteries, which were known in Pella and in Macedonia generally. To date a total of 917 tombs have been excavated, within an area of roughly one hectare. Persons belonging to the same social groups were buried in clusters, by family and clan. For the most part the clusters include burials from all three periods: Archaic, Late Iron Age (2nd half 7th c. - 580 BC), and Classical / Early Hellenistic (480-279 BC). It may thus be deduced that the Macedonian advance to Archontiko and the Axios had taken place not after the Persian Wars, but much earlier. The Macedonians had long since spread into Pieria and then (after the middle of the 7th century BC) into Bottiaia, the plain between the Aliakmon and Axios rivers. They next occupied the region of Paionia, north of Pella and west of the Axios, and later Eordaia and Almopia. Excavation work has shown that the oldest Archaic tombs in the Archontiko graveyard and those of other cities and settlements in the heartland of the early Macedonian kingdom that contain goods imported from Chalcidice, the Aegean islands, Ionia, Attica and Corinth date from the Middle Corinthian period (580-560 BC), that is, the early years of the reign of Alketas, grandfather of Alexander I. With the subsequent opening of the economy the population obtained steady access to large quantities of luxury goods and materials, attesting to the development within Macedonian society of complex forms of organisation in administration, commerce and finance. The acquisition of status symbols and luxury goods presupposes access to new sources of wealth, the production and distribution of surplus goods, and political organisation, with the establishment of the Temenid dynasty and the strengthening of the aristocracy. The further expansion of the Macedonians to the head of the Thermaic Gulf and into Chalcidice was due to the evolution of their military organisation with the adoption, by part of their army, of the hoplite phalanx, that is, the arms and tactics that had been used by the southern Greeks two centuries before the reign of Philip II.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
νεκροταφεία, Πέλλα, συνέδρια
Notes:
Περιέχει εικόνες
