The Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The Bronze Age (2 vols)

Michael B. Cosmopoulos

City: Athens

Year: 2015

Publisher: Archaeological Society at Athens

Series: Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens No. 295-296

Description: Paperback; 2 vols; vol I: 459 p., 238 figures, 9 tables, 21 x 28 cm; vol II: 288 p., 50 figures, 82 plates, 21 x 28 cm

From the preface

The investigation of the great Attic Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis began as soon as loannis Kapodistrias took office as governor of the newly founded Greek state. It was Andreas Moustoxidis, a well-known intellectual of the period, and his collaborator, the painter Athanassios Iatrides, who conducted the first small-scale investigations at the site, in efforts to uncover monuments and discover inscriptions. The next phase in the exploration of the Sanctuary was undertaken by the Athens Archaeological Society, whose systematic excavations over the course of several decades freed the ancient ruins from the houses of the village that had been built on top. Several outstanding archaeologists, including the Εphors Demetrios Philios, Andreas Skias, and Konstantinos Kourouniotis, the architect loannis Travlos, and professor George Mylonas, unearthed the monuments of Eleusis and with their studies laid the foundations for a complete knowledge of the Sanctuary. The most recent and youngest scholar of the Sanctuary of Demeter is professor Michael Cosmopoulos, member of the Athens Archaeological Society and Fellow of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, whose study and publication of the Bronze Age finds sheds new light on the prehistory of Eleusis. For under the Classical Sanctuary there existed since the Middle Helladic period an important Bronze Age settlement, which had been partially investigated by the afore-mentioned excavators, but never systematically studied or published. With the two volumes of the present work, Michael Cosmopoulos has filled an important gap in the scholarship of Eleusis. He studied thousands of finds from the old excavations and conducted an important stratigraphic excavation at a previously unexplored part of the Sanctuary, in order to determine the succession of the chronological periods in the lives of the inhabitants of prehistoric Eleusis using current archaeological methods.

Contents

Editor’s preface [XIII-XIV]
Preface [XV-XVIII]
Abbreviations [XIX]
Introduction [1-5]

ARCHITECTURE, STRATIGRAPHY, BURIALS

Introduction [9]
Area 1: The South Slope [9-70]
Area 2: The East Slope [71-149]
Area 3: The Hilltop [150-161]
Summary [162-190]

POTTERY

Classification and Definitions [193-196]
Early Helladic [197-206]
Middle Helladic [207-315]
Late Helladic I [316-344]
Late Helladic IIA [345-365]
Late Helladic IIB [366-377]
Late Helladic ΙΙΙΑ1 [378-388]
Late Helladic ΙΙΙΑ2 [389-404]
Late Helladic IIΙΒ1 [405-415]

Late Helladic IIIB2 [416-420]

Late Helladic IIIC [421-428]
Submycenaean [429-433]
Undecorated Pottery [434-436]

SMALL FINDS

Introduction [439]
Figurines [439-440]
Spindle Whorls and Loomweights [440-441]
Metal [441]
Stone Tools [441]
Chipped Stone [441-442]
Worked Bone [442]
Frescoes [442-443]

CONCLUSIONS [447-459]
LIST OF FIGURES [461-468]
LIST OF TABLES [469]
INDEX [471-478]

Full contents