Well Built Mycenae, Fascicule 14: Tsountas House Area
By (author) Kim Shelton
Paperback (Published)
(May 2022)
ISBN: 9781803271545
6.77 x 9.57 inches
Price: $42.00
On back order
Presenting results of excavations in the ‘Cult Centre’ area at Mycenae, the Tsountas House Area contains two buildings and multiple access ramps. This study is essential for understanding the conception and function of Mycenaean religious space and the socio-political development of cult.
Well Built Mycenae, Fascicule 14: Tsountas House Area presents the results of the excavations in this area at Mycenae conducted under the direction of Wace (1950) and Taylour (1959-60) in collaboration with Papademetriou and later Mylonas. Located in the ‘Cult Centre’, the Tsountas House Area contains two buildings and multiple access ramps. It represents both the earliest and latest constructions in this sanctuary complex. First investigated by Tsountas in the late 19th century but never fully published, the remains were fully restudied, and the excavation expanded to discover the first evidence of ritual architecture, features, and paraphernalia. This study is essential for understanding the conception and function of Mycenaean religious space, the associated features and finds, and the socio-political development of cult in the earliest known religious installation at Mycenae. It is also important for a diachronic understanding of the Cult Centre’s development from an individual extra-urban shrine to a sanctuary complex enclosed eventually within a fortified citadel. The contextualised discussion of the unique finds and evidence for ritual and practice directly informs the continuing dialogue about popular and official religions and the role of a palatial administration.
Foreword (E. B. French and K. A. Wardle) Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION Note on the Polygonal Tower Historiography of Excavation and Publication Chronological Theories PART 1. THE HOUSE Description and Excavation The House The Entrance Court A Room B Megaron C Rooms D1 and D2 Stairs G Basement (Rooms F1-3 and Corridor E) Forecourt H Walls J, K, and M Wall N and Offset O The Forecourt Deposit The Finds The House Forecourt H Wall K Summary Use of the House PART 2. THE TSOUNTAS HOUSE SHRINE (G) Terminology Description and Excavation The Shrine Room G The Shrine - Lower Floor The Shrine - Upper Floor Area Q The Finds Room G The Shrine Area Q Summary Use of the Shrine Part 3. ACCESS TO THE AREA Description and Excavation Stairway and Central Drain K The Culvert Lower End of Stairway and Drain K The Sacred Way The Upper Ramp from Threshold m to the Middle Ramp The Upper Ramp The Middle Ramp The Lower Ramp and Passage J Area Z The West Cyclopean Wall The Finds Stairway and Drain K The Upper Ramp The Middle Ramp The Lower Ramp and Passage J Area Z Summary and Use Part 4. CONCLUSION Endnotes Bibliography, Foreword (E. B. French and K. A. Wardle
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Note on the Polygonal Tower
Historiography of Excavation and Publication
Chronological Theories
PART 1. THE HOUSE
Description and Excavation
The House ;
The Entrance
Court A
Room B
Megaron C
Rooms D1 and D2
Stairs G
Basement (Rooms F1–3 and Corridor E)
Forecourt H
Walls J, K, and M
Wall N and Offset O
The Forecourt Deposit ;
The Finds
The House ;
Forecourt H
Wall K
Summary
Use of the House
PART 2. THE TSOUNTAS HOUSE SHRINE (G)
Terminology
Description and Excavation
The Shrine ;
Room G
The Shrine — Lower Floor
The Shrine — Upper Floor
Area Q
The Finds ;
Room G
The Shrine
Area Q
Summary
Use of the Shrine
Part 3. ACCESS TO THE AREA
Description and Excavation
Stairway and Central Drain K
The Culvert
Lower End of Stairway and Drain K
The Sacred Way ;
The Upper Ramp from Threshold m to the Middle Ramp
The Upper Ramp
The Middle Ramp
The Lower Ramp and Passage J
Area Z
The West Cyclopean Wall ;
The Finds
Stairway and Drain K
The Upper Ramp ;
The Middle Ramp ;
The Lower Ramp and Passage J
Area Z
Summary and Use
Part 4. CONCLUSION
Endnotes
Bibliography
Kim Shelton is Director of the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley. She directs the excavations at the Sanctuary of Zeus, Ancient Nemea, the Petsas House, Mycenae, and the TAPHOS chamber tomb project at Aidonia. As a specialist in ceramics and the political economy of the prehistoric Aegean, her research is focused on workshop dynamics and their relationship to the market economy of pottery, the regional needs of a diverse population, and the Mycenaean palatial administration. Her research on ancient Greek ritual and religion explores the earliest manifestations of Greek religious ritual through permanent architectural establishments and ritual paraphernalia from the Bronze Age to the Archaic periods. She has worked at Mycenae for more than 30 years with the Archaeological Society of Athens and the British School at Athens.
- By (author) Kim Shelton
Similar Books
A Companion to Christianity and Sport in Europe and North America (19th-21st centuries)
Volume 1: Western and Eastern Europe
A Connecting Polemic in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Correspondence of Leo III and ʿUmar II
Volume 6
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Caesar’s Visions and Impact on the Roman Empire
Revisiting the Archaeological and Historical Record of the 40s BC
Volume 2
Construction Processes in Historical Western Societies (5th c. BC – 10th c. AD)
Case Studies on Techniques, Models, and Costs
Contesting Labeled Identities
The Sociology of Gentilics in Biblical and Northwest Semitic Literature
Creating the Woman in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 16th Melammu Workshop, Innsbruck, 2–3 June 2022
Volume 13
Cultic Kisses
Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
De/colonizing Theologies
Glocal Histories, Contemporary Challenges, Theoretical Reflections
Volume 4
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
