Y. Maniatis, M. Marthari and G.S. Polymeris 2023, Radiocarbon dating of the major settlement at Skarkos (Ios island, Cyclades) and inferences for the early Cycladic chronology (original) (raw)
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Radiocarbon dating of the major settlement at skarkos (1)
We have radiocarbon-dated the main settlement of Skarkos (Skarkos II) on the Cycladic island of Ios, using a set of animal bone samples. The site of Skarkos stands on a hill in a coastal plain, mid-way down the western side of Ios island and about 1 km from the island’s harbour. It is the first time this important settlement with a wealth of finds and an extraordinary building system with two-storey houses is dated in absolute terms complementing the chronology of the Cycladic EBA II period. The radiocarbon determinations show that the major phase of the settlement came to an end between circa 2550 and circa 2500 BC. The dates also confirm the archaeological evidence that the main occupation period is dated archaeologically to the EC II period (Keros-Syros culture). Furthermore, in order to embed the new Skarkos dates within the overall Cycladic chronology and define better the end of the EC II phase, we treated the Skarkos dates together with published dates from other Cycladic sites using Bayesian analysis considering two different models.
The oldest maritime sanctuary? Dating the sanctuary at Keros and the Cycladic Early Bronze Age
Antiquity, 2012
The sanctuary on the island of Keros takes the form of deposits of broken marble vessels and figurines, probably brought severally for deposition from elsewhere in the Cyclades. These acts of devotion have now been accurately dated, thanks to Bayesian analyses of the contemporary stratigraphic sequence on the neighbouring islet of Dhaskalio. The period of use—from 2750 to 2300 cal BC—precedes any identified worship of gods in the Aegean and the site is among the earliest ritual destinations only accessible by sea. The authors offer some preliminary thoughts on the definition of these precocious acts of pilgrimage.
Marthari, M. 2017. Early Cycladic sculptures as archaeological objects
in M. Marthari, C. Renfrew and M. Boyd (eds.), Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow, pp. 13-21
It was a February afternoon in 2009, in the prehistoric antiquities room of the Archaeological Museum of Naxos, when I first talked with Colin Renfrew about the publication of all the Early Cycladic figurines found in excavations. Our conversation took place among the cases in which the antiquities from Keros, and all the large figurines from Aplomata, Phiondas, and other sites are exhibited. Renfrew, as the excavator of Keros, where a large number of marble figurine fragments and vases have been recently found, wanted to look for comparanda in the excavated material. The author, as the then Ephor of the Ephorate of Antiquities for the Cyclades but also the excavator of Skarkos, wished to see all the excavated material published. Thus we joined forces and after a long collaboration our efforts materialized in the form of a symposium entitled Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, held at the Athens Archaeological Society on 27–29 May 2014. The results of this symposium are presented here. The current volume aims to publish a very important class of material, partly unknown to scholarship. At the same time, it constitutes a break from the usual way of treating and publishing Early Cycladic sculptures...
in H. Meller, D. Gronenborn & R.Risch (eds.), Surplus without the State ― Political Forms in Prehistory (10. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag), Halle 2018: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale), p.p. 167-198
The site of Skarkos is situated on a hill, close to the large, sheltered harbour of the island of Ios. The excavations conducted by the author brought to light a multiperiod prehistoric site and, most significantly, a settlement of the Cycladic Early Bronze Age II. Indeed, Skarkos is the first site to offer astonishing evidence of a settlement of the mid-3rd millennium BC (Keros-Syros Culture) in the Cyclades. The settlement has a well-organised plan, with wide streets and squares, two-storey rectangular buildings and a drainage system. In the area excavated so far, 1o insulae and 55 buildings have been uncovered. Among the most interesting finds are marble figurines and fine vessels, stamp seals and dozens of terracotta, seal impressed, cubic objects that were possibly tied like labels to sacks and other containers. The discoveries at Skarkos demonstrate that the Cycladic communities had developed a much more complex internal organisation in the peak period of the Early Cycladic world than had previously been assumed. Architektur, Siegel und Aspekte der sozialen Organisation in der Blütezeit der frühbronzezeitlichen Kykladen: Hinweise aus der Großsiedlung Skarkos auf der Insel Ios Die Fundstelle Skarkos liegt auf einem Hügel in der Nähe des großen geschützten Hafens auf der Insel Ios. Die von der Autorin durchgeführten Ausgrabungen brachten eine mehrphasige prähistorische Fundstelle zutage und – als wichtigste Entdeckung – eine Siedlung der kykladischen Frühbronzezeit II. Skarkos ist die erste Fundstelle mit erstaunlichen Siedlungsüberresten des mittleren 3. Jts. v. Chr. (Keros-Syros-Kultur) auf den Kykladen. Der Siedlungsgrundriss zeugt von einer gut organisierten Planung mit breiten Straßen und Plätzen, zweistöckigen Rechteckbauten und einem Abwassersystem. In der bisher ausgegrabenen Fläche lassen sich 1o insulae und 55 Gebäude ausmachen. Einige der interessantesten Funde sind Marmorfiguren und feinkeramische Gefäße, Stempelsiegel sowie Dutzende von kubischen Terrakottaobjekten mit Siegelabdrücken, welche an Säcken und anderen Behältern befestigt als Etiketten gedient haben könnten. Die in Skarkos zum Vorschein gekommenen Funde und Befunde weisen darauf hin, dass die kykladischen Ge meinschaften in der frühkykladischen Blütezeit weit komplexere interne Organisationsformen entwickelt hatten als bisher angenommen.
2021
This thesis applies the principles of Material Engagement Theory (MET), which examines material culture as a dynamic and integral component of human cognitive systems, to study the relationships between Cycladic marble sculpting, social cognition and social complexity. The work investigates how material culture shapes the development of intersubjectivity and generates social interactions at emergent scales. As a case study in emergent social complexity this thesis examines the development of Cycladic marble sculpting and the Early Bronze Age ritual centre of Keros. In this light, Cycladic sculpting traditions can be interpreted to have mediated the shifting burdens of social cognition during the Early Bronze Age, facilitating the emergence of novel social organisation as a response to the changing dynamics of the Aegean world. In attempting a cognitive archaeology of Keros and Cycladic sculpting, this thesis examines a broad array of scientific data as well as underutilised archaeol...
in N.C. Stampolidis, Cycladic Society 5000 years ago. Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art – Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, pp. 136-137, 144, 148, 152-153, 154, 157, 180-181, 183 and 191-192., 2016
C. Renfrew, M. Marthari and M. Boyd 2016. The curse of looting: the scourge of Cycladic archaeology.
in N.C. Stampolidis, Cycladic Society 5000 Years Ago, Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art – Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, p.p. 117-123
Context is paramount. It is only when scientifically conducted excavations recover archaeological materials in their stratigraphic context that valid inferences can be made about the circumstances in which they were buried, about their chronology and about their function. Unfortunately, however, most of the marble Early Cycladic figurines and vessels, and many other Early Cycladic atrefacts, now kept or exhibited in the world’s museums apart from the state museums of Greece (as well as nearly all those in private collections) are the product of clandestine excavations. Their findspots are unknown. The circumstances of their discovery are lost: in what circumstances they were found, with what materials they were associated at the time of their discovery are not recorded. Consequently they can add little to our knowledge and understanding of the distant Cycladic past. The looting of Cycladic antiquities represents a tragic loss of knowledge. The looting of the Early Cycladic cemeteries and the subsequent sale of their grave goods, marble figurines in particular, is an aspect of illicit activity which has had a continuous presence in the Cyclades since at least the late 18th century. The need of the great museums in Western Europe to form their collections resulted in the quest for art treasures in Greece. Along with the remains of the classical Greek world other antiquities, including Cycladic marble figurines, although sometimes described as ‘barbarian’ or ‘ugly’, were most welcome. Early Cycladic sculpture was not greatly esteemed until the early twentieth century. Then, however, the modernist movements, as represented by such sculptors as Picasso, Braque, Brancusi, and Giacometti, created a new aesthetic, in which the striking simplicity of Cycladic sculpture came to be greatly appreciated. From that time these sculptures were no longer regarded as mere curiosities, but as works of art, and began to be priced accordingly. It has, indeed, been argued by Colin Renfrew that all Early Cycladic sculptures of unknown origin, and therefore lacking secure context, which have emerged on the market after the early 20th century, more specifically after the year 1914, should be regarded as of doubtful authenticity. Since that time it is clear that numerous replicas have been produced with the intention to deceive. Ιt was in Paris in the year 1970 that the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property was adopted. Although it was not ratified at once by all the participating nations, it has now been very widely ratified and accepted and establishes a number of fundamental principles. The world’s major museums, guided by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), have now gradually adopted ethical acquisition policies, but some still do not enforce them with rigour. One might have hoped that in the light of the apparent reform in museum ethics, this perspective would be communicated to private collectors, and that demand for unprovenanced Early Cycladic sculpture on the open market would recede. However such is not the case. Auction houses widely considered respectable continue to offer for sale Cycladic antiquities which certainly have no collecting history extending back as far as 1970. The implication must certainly be that these are illicit antiquities, illegally excavated. When the public sale of illicit antiquities continues in auction houses in London and New York it is clear that the battle against looting is not yet won. Nevertheless, if museums and private collectors would refrain from acquiring any Early Cycladic material which has come to light since 1970, the year of the UNESCO Convention, ongoing looting might be diminished.
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