http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=journal&journal_code=PHA Recent articles poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179602 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179602 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:52:50 GMT The extensive survey conducted in the 1950s by H. Waterhouse and R. Hope Simpson in Laconia located a large number of sites of the Early Helladic period. Most important settlements seemed to be concentrated in the plains of Sparta and Helos and in the area of Neapolis and Elaphonisos on the south-west side of the Malea peninsula. Since the work of Waterhouse and Hope Simpson, more extensive and intensive survey, rescue and other excavations have resulted in the discovery of many unknown Early Helladic sites. These are located in the inland regions of Laconia (including Sparta and the central Eurotas basin), the plains of Helos and Molaoi, the western and even more so the eastern coast of the Malea pensinsula. One of the most exciting discoveries may be that of a fortification wall, part of a broader Early Helladic defensive system, in central Laconia. The discovery of these new sites promises new insights into the history of Early Helladic Laconia, in regards to both density of habitation and social organization. All the coastal settlements appear to be oriented to the sea routes of the period, while the settlements of the hinterland exploited and controlled fertile areas and were located at the roads connecting the inland with the coasts of the Laconian Gulf and the Aegean. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179603 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179603 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:54:57 GMT In comparison with other regions of the mainland, Early Helladic Laconia is not well known or understood. In this paper an attempt is made to clarify the situation in Laconia in the Early Helladic period, by asking some important questions, arising from research in other, better explored regions. Such questions relate to issues such as the beginning of the Early Helladic period, with special reference to the Early Helladic I ceramic phase, the emergence of settlement patterns during the Early Helladic II period, the existence of an Early Helladic III ceramic phase and the comparison of the Early Helladic picture of Laconia gained so far, with the situation in the Late Helladic period. The paper focuses on the Eurotas valley and the Helos plain, the two Laconian areas most densely occupied throughout the Bronze Age. In addition to data made available through publication, it is based on data gained through extensive survey undertaken by the author, as well as on some preliminary remarks from the current study — in collaboration with Louise Hitchcock and Anne Chapin — of sherd material kept in the collections of the British School and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179604 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179604 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:56:00 GMT This paper offers an overview of chronological developments in Lakonia in the light of recent publications, with particular emphasis on finds from the Laconia Survey, the Laconia Rural Sites Project and the Kouphovouno Excavations. Evidence for the pottery sequence is examined and the themes of cultural continuity and discontinuity, settlement structure are discussed. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179605 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179605 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:57:12 GMT This paper presents the preliminary results of the ongoing research at the now submerged prehistoric town at Pavlopetri on the Malea peninsula in south-east Laconia. Through the assessment of the archaeological data available from the 1968 and 2009 survey seasons, this paper aims at presenting the evidence for the Early Helladic occupation of the town, reconstructing the local community’s contacts with their Laconian neighbours and beyond, and at placing the harbour town within the context of Early Bronze Age seafaring and exchange networks. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179606 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179606 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:59:54 GMT In 2008 one week of tests below an eroded Early Helladic II floor surface on the acropolis of Geraki revealed the interior face and stone fill of a defensive wall antedating the defenses of the EH period. In 2009 further exploration of this feature, and tests within the stone fill of the wall itself, provided a number of deposits of pottery and stone tools that can be associated with the construction and use of this earlier wall. This paper describes the excavation of the wall and the stratigraphy of the relevant deposits. Some parallels for the early date of the defensive structure are suggested and its implications for Laconia in the FN period are briefly discussed. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179607 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179607 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:03:14 GMT A brief report is presented on the pottery from eight discrete deposits in the area of the newly discovered fortification wall (Wall 31) on the acropolis of Geraki (see S. MacVeagh Thorne in this volume). One of the deposits belongs to the destruction horizon of Early Helladic II late that is attested in different parts of the acropolis. The pottery of six other deposits can be assigned, on a combination of fabrics, surface treatments, shapes and decorations, to some time in the Final Neolithic period. These deposits thereby provide a firm date for Wall 31 with which they are associated. poj@peeters-leuven.be http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/PHA.18.1.2179608 http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2179608 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:00:48 GMT Conclusions