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Kimolos in the mycenean period

• Πολυχρονάκου-Σγουρίτσα, Νάγια

Kimolos, whose name is referred to by ancient writers, is a small island of the Cyclades, belonging to the Melian complex, and situated only 960 m. NE of Melos and 10 km. SW of Siphnos. It is mountainous, rocky, without water supplies and with steep shores, except for its SW part. There, near the bay of Ellinika and on the neighbouring islet of Agios Andreas was the town of the historical era. It is reported that on the beach of Ellinika “pre-Mycenaean” graves and Mycenaean chamber tombs have been found. Among the latter there was one with a large dromos and two chambers. On this site Mycenaean vases and sherds, mainly of the 12th century BC, have been discovered. They have been either only depicted on photos or found during the excavation of 1965 in the cemetery of later times by F. Za- firopoulou and exhibited in the Melos Museum. Only a few of them belong to the 14th-13th century BC. The rest are safely dated to the middle of the 12th century, that is to the middle phase of the LH IIIC period.The material, though restricted in number, is characteristic. It indicates the tendencies and styles adopted by the native potters as well as the similarities of the Kimolean pottery with vessels from Naxos, Crete, the Dodecanese and mainland Greece, especially the Peloponnese and Attica.The evolution of the settlement at Ellinica may be due to the favourable position occupied by the site in SW Kimolos, controlling the passage between Melos and Kimolos, and very probably to the existence of cimolite or kimolean earth. It is a kind of white argile, used from ancient times until recently for bathing, washing and the preparation of some medical substances as well as cosmetics, a usage known from the cemetery at Perati.Moreover, it might be supposed that there were other materials that could be exported, like silver and other ores. Such a hypothesis is perhaps corroborated by the fact that Kimolos was also called Argentiera or Argentara during Venetian supremacy over the Cyclades and that in the NE part of the island is a site named Siderokapsia after iron remains. To the W of this site, on the coast of Vromolimni, the existence of a Mycenaean chamber tomb has been reported.Many suggestions can be made; but it is a fact that the Mycenaean settlement at Ellinika held relations with several sites in the Aegean during the 2nd half of the 12th century BC.It is not known when this settlement was abandoned or if the transition to the historical era, to which belongs a significant material, was smooth. In any case, in 425 BC Kimolos paid 1000 drachmas as a tribute to Athens and in the 4th century BC won the possession of the neighbouring islets over Melos.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Decorative arts
• Archaeology and art

Ο αρθρογράφος ευχαριστεί ιδιαίτερα την Έφορο Κυκλάδων Φωτ. Ζαφειροπούλου για την άδεια μελέτης του μυκηναϊκού υλικού από την ανασκαφή της στα Ελληνικά της Κιμώλου, τον καθηγητή Γ.Σ. Κορρέ, ο οποίος, μόλις πληροφορήθηκε το αντικείμενο της μελέτης του, τον ενημέρωσε για το αρχείο Μουστάκα και του παρεχώρησε τις φωτογραφίες, και την κόρη του Ελ. Σγουρίτσα για την πρόθυμη εκπόνηση των σχεδίων της παρούσας εργασίας., Περιέχει σχέδια, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες