1-82

Mycenaean settlement at Vourvatsi

• Πολυχρονάκου-Σγουρίτσα, Νάγια

The Mycenaean settlement at Vourvatsi is for the moment identified only by seven chamber tombs, which are part of the cemetery at this site. The tombs were excavated in the 1920s by N. Kyparissis, who briefly published the site; of the finds discovered, he commented, again briefly, only on the pottery.Furumark had already included the most important of these vessels in his monumental volume, as examples of various types and decorative motifs. A little later, F. Stubbings published many of the vases found at Vourvatsi in his study of the Mycenaean pottery of Attica, and noted their typological and decorative features. In 1975, M. Benzi published a large number of these vessels and incorporated them into the then known material from Attica. Recently, P. Mountjoy has again published the most interesting examples of this pottery, with excellent drawings, and redated them. Nevertheless, the pottery, and more importantly the site, have not been the subject of a comprehen sive examination. This fact has necessitated a new, full publication of the material, particularly after the new evidence that has emerged from the publication of the Mycenaean finds from Eleusis, Salamis, Aigina, Athens, Kalamaki, Alyki Voulas, Varkiza/Vari, Stoa 3 at Thorikos and above all the acropolis on the Kiapha Thiti hill next to Vourvatsi.The existing catalogue includes the vessels already published, with additional comments on the manufacture, types and decoration of most of them. At the same time, several newly identified vases are published, along with some sherds of particular interest from the numerous examples discovered in the storerooms of the Prehistoric collection, and the very few finds other than the pottery.The use of the cemetery at Vourvatsi is assigned to the period from the beginning of the 14th c. to the beginning of the 12th c. BC, on the basis of the 305 complete or largely preserved vases and the vast quantity of sherds. In these two centuries intense a ctivity can be detected on the part of the Mycenaeans settled there, who seem to have maintained relations with the inhabitants of the majority of the settlements of Attica (especially those on the west coast and the Mesogeia), the neighbouring islands of Salamis, Aigina and Kea, the Argolid, and Boeotia. It also emerges from the finds that there was direct or indirect communication with settlements in the Cyclades (Melos and Naxos), the Dodecanese (Kos, Rhodes and probably Kar- pathos) and Crete.The prosperity of the settlement at Vourvatsi can be detected at present only from the pottery output, which included a large group of tinned vessels. Factors contributing to this prosperity were the fertility and self-sufficiency of the region, and also its strategic location, which controlled the passes in Mount Hymettos leading from the coast of the Saronic gulf to the Mesogeia and vice versa. This road is still used as the main street linking various areas. The general area in which the cemetery lies was inhabited as early as the Chalcolithic period, as is clear from the finds on the Kiapha Thiti hill, just to the south of the tombs. The settlement there, which flourished greatly during MH III/LH I, was abandoned at the beginning of the 14th c. BC (LH IIB/IIIA). The reasons for the abandonment were probably social and economic changes and also the consolidation of cultural changes during the crucial LH III Al period. At this time the settlement that used the cemetery seems to have developed in the lower slopes, at least, of the east side of the hill, as is suggested by the evidence from the recent rescue excavation by the II Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. During the period of life of the settlement, there was probably a lookout post on the summit or south-west side of the hill, from which it is easy to keep watch over the sea and the bay of Varkiza, and also the bay of Vouliagmeni, in which ships sailing by could find safe anchorage. The route is still followed by ships travelling from the Saronic gulf to the Aegean and vice versa.I n contrast with the neighbouring settlement at Varkiza/Vari, where there is evidence suggesting that it continued into an advanced phase of the early LH IIIC period, the settlement at Vourvatsi ceased to exist at the beginning of LH IIIC. The cause is probably to be sought in the abandonment of several sites in the Mesogeia, where the few remaining sites were now connected not with the west coast of Attica, where the settlements were also gradually abandoned, but with the east coast, and via this, the Aegean in general.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Archaeology and art
• Decorative arts

Οφείλω ευχαριστίες στην Κ. Δημακοπούλου, διευθύντρια τότε του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου, και στον Γ. Σταϊνχάουερ, προϊστάμενο επίσης τότε της Β' Εφορείας Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων, για την άδεια να μελετήσω το υλικό από το Βουρβάτσι. Την Κ. Δημακοπούλου όμως ευχαριστώ ιδιαίτερα και για τις παρατηρήσεις που ε'κανε διαβάζοντας τη μελέτη μου. Για τις διευκολύνσεις κατά τη διάρκεια της ε'ρευνάς μου στο Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο ευχαριστώ θερμά τις Λ. Παπάζογλου και Μ. Βλασσοπούλου, καθώς και τη Μ. Κοκκε'βη. Ιδιαίτερες υχαριστίες εκφράζω στην Όλ. Αποστολοπούλου-Κακαβογιάννη, η οποία με τόση προθυμία με ξενάγησε στην ανασκαφή της στους ανατολικούς πρόποδες και στη νοτιοδυτική πλαγιά του λόφου Κιάφα Θήτη και πολύ ευχαρίστως μου έδειξε το υλικό που προήλθε από αυτές τις έρευνες στην αποθήκη του Μουσείου της Βραυρώνας. Επίσης, με ενημέρωσε για την πρόσφατη ανασκαφή στο Βουρβάτσι λόγω της διαπλάτυνσης της οδού Βάρης-Κορωπίου και με ξενάγησε και πάλι στο χώρο. Θερμά ευχαριστώ επίσης την P. Mountjoy για τις καίριες υποδείξεις και συμβουλές της.Τα σχέδια εκπονήθηκ ν από την 1ω. Τσιώμη και οι περισσότερες φωτογραφίες έγιναν από τον Η. Ηλιάδη. Τα σχετικά έξοδα καλύφθηκαν από τον Ειδικό Λογαριασμό Έρευνας του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών., Περιέχει εικόνες, βιβλιογραφία και συντομογραφίες, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες