New light shed on Greek ‘dark ages’

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 15

New light shed on Greek ‘dark ages’

By

MARIO MODIANO,

“The Times”

A rare piece of fine cloth, probably a garment, dating from tenth century BC, has been discovered by British and Greek archaeologists during a joint excavation at Lefkandi, on the island of Euboea.

The cloth, which had been used to wrap the bones of a cremated warrior, was found in a rich grave discovered under an unusual monumental building which had a peristyle of rectangular wooden columns, evidently put up to honour the dead hero.

The Lefkandi finds are already casting valuable light on the so-called “dark ages” of the prehistory of Greece (1050 to 750 BC) and may well rate among the most significant archaeological discoveries in recent years. Mr M. R. Popham, lecturer in Aegean prehistory at Oxford, who represented the British school at the joint excavation, said: “The cloth was found in such a remarkable state of. preservation that its patterning and texture are preserved.” Its age makes this a unique find in Greece, but as the threat of disintegration of the cloth is still there, experts at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens are proposing to use the latest conservation techniques before unwrapping it.

The cloth was found tucked inside a large bronze amphora. The rim of this amphora was decorated with a relief of men and animals. A bronze phiale, or shallow cup, served as a lid. Next to the amphora, inside the grave, archaeologists found a sword and a spear. At the other side of the same grave there was the skeleton of a woman richly decked in gold. She had a gold disc on each breast and a large gold pectoral which gave the impression that she wore a brassiere of gold. There were several dress pins,- earrings, and other ornaments.

In an adjacent grave shaft, the remains of four horses have been found. The pit has yet to be thoroughly excavated.

The twin grave shafts lay about two metres below the centre of the building, which

Mr Popham identifies as a monument dedicated to a hero, rather than a temple. He said the building was 10 metres wide and at least 40 metres long, and apparently was apsidal in plan. It had mud-brick walls carried on a stone socle preserved in places to a height of 1.5 metres.

Recently, excavators of Lefkandi found four extremely rich burials of the late tenth century BC which yielded fine jewellery, pottery, iron, and bronze weapons. The Lefkandi discoveries show a much higher level of wealth and social organisation than had hitherto been assumed of the “dark ages.” According to Dr Nicholas Valouris, the inspector-gen-eral of Greek antiquities, they will force a revision of current theories about the date of the resumption of contacts between Greece and the East.

“The Times” archaeological correspondent, Norman Hammond, writes: “The new discoveries at Lefkandi are among the most exciting from this long-term cooperative project in a relatively' little-excavated area of Greece. “The existence of a ceremonial building with a wooden peristyle will be of great interest to students of the dome temple, which in its triglyphs and dentils reflects apparent wooden precursors.

“The Mycenaean shrines so far known, from Phylakopi in Melos, from Delos, and from Ycenae itself, have all been of simple cellular form, but the beginnings .of peristyle architecture can now be pushed back in time almost to the end of the Mycenaean Age. “The bronze wine-serving utensils, like the weapons, show the existence in the Greek ‘dark age’ of practices celebrated in the Homeric e P“The recovery of the cloth is of exceptional importance for the light it should shed upon textile weaving and ornament in this little-known period of Greek prehistoiy, and will again give substance to the depictions of woven garments on pottery ivessels.”