A reassessment of Mackenzie’s second and third cities at Phylakopi

Neil Brodie The Annual of the British School at Athens 104 (2009) [February 2010]: 49-72.

Abstract

Duncan Mackenzie’s interpretation of the Phylakopi stratigraphy, which he presented in 1904 as the final chapter of the excavation report, continues to structure discussion of the site’s history. Mackenzie proposed a sequence of three ‘Cities’, which are seen to correspond to EC III, MC, and LC periods of occupation respectively. This paper examines Mackenzie’s interpretation in light of his own notes taken during excavation, and the results of subsequent excavations undertaken by Dawkins and Droop in 1911 and Renfrew from 1974 to 1977. It concludes that while the urban sequence at Phylakopi is probably more complex than Mackenzie appreciated, his suggestion of a three City succession is broadly correct, but that the Second City should be redated to MC-LC II, and the Third City to LC III.