Mycenaean Aegina. Kolonna – Lazarides: the tale of two settlements (in Greek)
Νάγια Πολυχρονάκου-Σγουρίτσα In P. Adam-Veleni & K. Tzanavari (eds), Δινήεσσα: τιμητικός τόμος για την Κατερίνα Ρωμιοπούλου (Thessaloniki 2012): 69-79
Abstract
The settlements blossomed on Aegina during prehistoric times, Kolonna, in the NW part of the island, and Lazarides, in the E. Kolonna, located in a low promontory, flourished from the 3rd millennium BC, maintaining trading contacts with several sites in the Aegean and, probably, beyond, whereas Lazarides, in an environment totally different, began developing from the end of the 17th c. BC. Until the end of the LH II/LH IIIA1 period Kolonna has been the most powerful site on the island and the Saronic Gulf. However, from the 14th c. until its abandonment in the 12th c. Kolonna seems to have lost its leading role. From the 14th c. BC the evidence from Lazarides, from both the settlement and the cemetery with spacious chamber tombs, suggests a cultural peak. The excellent construction of the buildings, excavated to date, over a course of four field seasons (1979-1980, 2009-2011), constructed with stones in an average height of 1 m., provided with strong well worked stone thresholds and covered with slabs and soil brought from the centre of the island, as well as the built chamber tombs, imply a prosperous settlement. Moreover, the finds which comprise several categories of items, such as a great amount of pottery, of LH I/II – LH IIIB2/early LH IIIC date, various figurines, seals, jewels made of several materials, artifacts of stone, bone and ivory and an interesting group of metal objects, of lead, bronze and even iron, point to the participation of the inhabitants of this site to the intensive exchanging mechanism of the Mycenaean Koine. Furthermore, the great number and variety of potter’s marks, a bone object of the “stylus” type, clay discoid objects (tokens), weights, among which a lead one in the shape of a mould-made duck (20gr), a sherd with eight vertical dashes in two rows, probably numbers, and the imported materials confirm the trading activities and the wealth of the people there. Lazarides was abandoned without destruction in the beginning of the 12th c. BC, whereas Kolonna continued until the middle of the 12th c. and became again a significant centre during the historical era.
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