Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-19T09:35:25.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The archaeology of the Greek uplands: the early iron age site of Tsouka in the Rhodope Mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Nikos Efstratiou
Nikos Efstratiou*
Affiliation:
University of Thessaloniki
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The upland areas of Greece have long been outside the main focus of archaeological interest. With regard to prehistoric research, mountains were never seen as potential habitation areas, and recovery techniques had to address unusual environmental and geomorphological situations. Research in the Rhodopi mountains initiated by Komotini Museum attempts to illustrate some aspects of this upland archaeology. This article presents the results of excavation at an early iron age site which appears to give an insight into the habitation behaviour of the Thracian mountain population at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. It is proposed for the first time that a number of the so-called Thracian places found scattered all over the Rhodopi mountains are not, as at first thought, fortified acropoleis but sites with special functions, serving an agricultural and pastoral economy. It is further suggested that ethnoarchaeological observations can serve as valuable explanatory hypotheses which can be tested against the available excavation data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 88 , November 1993 , pp. 135 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 I would like to express my deepest thanks to the numerous people who helped my adventure in the Rhodope uplands for the last six years. The Sarakini Ethnoarchaeological Project could never had started without the trust and support of Mr D. Triandaphyllos, Ephor of the Museum of Komotini. I thank him from here once again. To my friend Hasan Halil Ibram who introduced me to the closed world of the Pomaks I owe the success of my research. The drawings are by Christos Sismanidis whom I would like also to thank. My thanks to Ms V. Kyriazis for her help during the excavation of Tsouka. I would like also to express my gratitude to the British School at Athens for awarding me a three-month scholarship to study aspects of my ethnoarchaeological project in England; and to Dr K. Wardle and Dr D. G. J. Shipley for their help with the text.

The area has been the focus of systematic fieldwork by a number of archaeologists, historians and social anthropologists: see Vernier, B., Représentation mythique du monde et domination masculine: un exemple de la division sexuelle du travail chez les Pomaques grecs (Thèse de 3me cycle, EHESS–Paris V; Paris, 1978)Google Scholar; Zeginis, E., Ο Μπεκτασισμός στη Θράκη (IMXA (Idryma Meleton Chersonisou tou Aimou), Thessaloniki, 1988)Google Scholar; F. Tsibiridou, ‘Exploitation du milieu et formes d'organisation sociale chez les Pomaques de Rhodope en Thrace (Grèce)’, paper presented at conference on pastoralism, ‘Il Pastoralismo Mediterraneo’ (Nuoro, Sardinia, Nov. 1991; in press); Efstratiou, N., ‘Παραγωγή και οικονομία σε μια παραδοσιακή κοινότητα της ορεινής Θράκης’ Θρακική επετηρίδα, (Komotini), 6 (1985–1986), 203–12.Google Scholar

2 Charalambidis, A., ‘Οι Πομάκοι της Ροδόπης’, Θρακική επετηρίδα (Komotini), 6 (1985–1986), 88–97.Google Scholar

3 Barlett, P., ‘Introduction: dimensions and dilemmas of householding’, in Wilk, R. (ed.), The Household Economy: Reconsidering the Domestic Mode of Production (Westview Press, USA, 1989), 3.Google Scholar

4 Hammel, E., Alternative Social Structures and Ritual Relations in the Balkans (New Jersey, 1968), 13.Google Scholar

5 Tsibiridou (n. 1).

6 Durham, M., Some Tribal Origins, Laws and Customs of the Balkans (London, 1928).Google Scholar

7 Tsibiridou, F., ‘Εθνολογική έρευνα σε ήνα χωριό της ορεινής Ροδόπης· συμβολή στη μελέτη των συλλενικών δεσμών’, Θρακική επετηρίδα, (Komotini), 6 (1985–1986), 213–23; Efstratiou (n. 1).Google Scholar

8 Efstratiou, N., ‘Prehistoric habitation and structures in northern Greece: an ethnoarchaeological case-study’, BCH supp. 19 (1990), 33–41, at fig. 2.Google Scholar

9 Efstratiou (n. 1).

10 Bakaiakis, G., A. Delt. 17 (1961–1962), 260–1Google Scholar; Triandaphyllos, D., A. Delt. 27 (1972), 536–40Google Scholar; id., A. Delt. 29 (1973–4), 817–20.

11 For more reading on pastoral model building one may consult Halstead, P., ‘Man and other animals in later Greek prehistory’, BSA 82 (1987), 71–83 Google Scholar; Lewthwaite, J., ‘Plain tales from the hills: transhumance in Mediterranean archaeology’, in Sheridan, A. and Bailey, G. (eds), Economic Archaeology: Towards an Integration of Ecological and Social Approaches (BAR S96; Oxford, 1981), 57–66 Google Scholar; C. Chang, ‘The ethnoarchaeological survey of upland summer transhumance in Greece’, paper presented at conference on pastoralism, ‘Il Pastoralismo Mediterraneo’ (Nuoro, Sardinia, Nov. 1991; in press).

12 Panayotov, I., ‘New data about the Thracian fortresses in the Rhodope mountains’, Pulpudeva, 2 (1976), 308–14Google Scholar; Cicikova, M., ‘Habitats et fortresses thraces du ler millennaire av. n. ère’, Pulpudeva, 1 (1976), 15–33 Google Scholar; Z. Goceva, ‘Les fortresses thraces’, ibid. 34–9; Velkov, V., ‘Ancient settlements in Thrace’, Journal of Indoeuropean Studies, 2 (1982), 194–216 Google Scholar; Paliga, S., ‘Thracian terms for “township” and “fortress”, and related place-terms’, World Archaeology, 19. 1 (1987), 23–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; T. Taylor, ‘Aspects of settlement diversity and its classification in south-east Europe before the Roman period’, ibid. 1–22.

13 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, H., ‘Πρωτοϊστορική Θάσος’ (unpublished MS circulated in photocopy; Kavala, 1985), vols i–iii.Google Scholar

14 Some information about the site of Roussa can be found in Triandaphyllos, D., ‘Les monuments mégalithiques en Thrace occidentale’, Pulpudeva, 4 (1980), 145–63.Google Scholar A small number of recent papers give a fair picture of the archaeological investigations undertaken so far in mountainous Rhodope: see id., ‘Οχυρωματικοί περίβολοι στην ενδοχώρα της Αιγαιακής Θράκης’, in Μνήμη Δ. Λαζαρίδη· πόλις και χώρα στην αρχαία Μακεδονία και Θεσσαλονίκη (Καβάλα, 1986) (Thessaloniki, 1990), 683–99; ‘Η Θράκη του Αιγαίου πριν από τον ελληνικό αποικισμό’, Θρακική επετηρίδα (Komotini), 7 (1990), 297–322.

15 Anagnostopoulou-Chatzipolychroni, H., ‘Επιφανειακές έρευνες στην περιοχή γύρω από τα Σύμβολα του Ν. Ροδόπης’ Θρακική επετηρίδα (Komotini), 7 (1990), 1–23.Google Scholar

16 Triandaphyllos, ‘Η Θράκη του Αιγαίου…’ (n. 14).

17 Efstratiou, N., ‘New evidence on the prehistoric habitation of Rhodope’, Ανθρωπολογικά (1991; in press).Google Scholar

18 Pentazos, E., ‘Ἀρχαιολογικαί ἔρευναι ἐν Θράκῃ’, PAE 1971. 86–93, at p. 90Google Scholar; id., ‘Προϊστορικὴ ἀκρόπολις ἐν Θράκῃ’, PAE 1972, 86–90.

19 Triandaphyllos, ‘Η Θρακη του Αιγαίου …’ (n. 14).

20 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13).

21 Efstratiou (n. 1); id. (n. 8), 33; id., ‘Production and distribution of a ceramic type in highland Rhodope: an ethnoarchaeological study’, Origini (1992; in press).

22 A small report on this trial excavation can be found in Efstratiou, N., ‘Εθνοαρχαιολογικές έρευνες στους ορειενούς οικισμούς της Ροδόπης’, Το αρχαιολογικό έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη, 1 (1987), 479–83.Google Scholar

23 No topographic plan was at that time available; thus not all the opened trenches are properly orientated.

24 Panayotov (n. 12).

25 Ethnoarchaeological observations are more convincing when they are referring to the same geographical area where cultural and historical continuity can be archaeologically established: Kramer, C., Ethnoarchaeology (New York, 1979).Google Scholar

26 Bankoff, A. and Winter, F., ‘A house burning in Serbia’, Archaeology, 32.5 (1979), 8 ff.Google Scholar This experimental burning of a traditional wooden-framed house with thatched roof was very informative regarding archaeologically retrievable material such as daub.

27 Efstratiou (n. 8), 33, figs. 3–4.

28 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13), 791 and plan 112; Casson, S., Macedonia, Thrace, Illyria (Oxford, 1926)Google Scholar; Heurtley, W. A., ‘Early iron age from Macedonia’, Ant. J. (1927), 42 ff.Google Scholar; id., Prehistoric Macedonia (Cambridge, 1939); Hänsel, B., Beiträge zur regionale und chronologische Gliederung der älteren Hallstattzeit an der unteren Donau (Bonn, 1976)Google Scholar; Wardle, K., ‘Excavations at Assiros, 1975–76’, BSA 75 (1980), 229–67.Google Scholar

29 Hänsel (n. 28).

30 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13).

31 Triandaphyllos 1972 (n. 10), 537–40; id. 1973–4 (n. 1), 819–20.

32 Pentazos 1971 (n. 18), 87–93; Triandaphyllos 1972 (n. 1), 545.

33 Triandaphyllos, D., ‘Ανασκαφή στα Ρίζια Έβρου’, PAE 1984, 95–106 Google Scholar; id., PAE 1987, 487; Bakirtzis, Ch. and Triandaphyllos, D., ‘Προϊστορικά όστρακα εκ Μεσημβρίας’ Θρακική επετηρίδα, (Komotini), 7 (1990), 201–11.Google Scholar

34 Ozdogan, M., ‘Taslicabayir: a late bronze age burial mound in eastern Thrace’, Anatolica, 14 (1987), 5–39.Google Scholar

35 id., ‘Prehistoric sites in the Gelibolu peninsula’, Anadolu arastirmalari, 10 (1986), 51–71.

36 Todorova, H., ‘über einige Probleme der südosteuropäischen Früheisenzeit’, Thrakia, 1 (1972), 67 ff.Google Scholar; Tonceva, G., ‘Chronologie du Hallstatt ancien dans la Bulgarie de nord-est’, Studia Thrakika, 5 (1980).Google Scholar

37 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13), 773, fig. 110. 2, 4, 8.

38 Hänsel (n. 28); Pentazos 1972 (n. 18).

39 Blegen, C., ‘The royal bridge’, in Weinberg, S. (ed.), The Aegean and the Near East: Studies Presented to H. Goldman (New York, 1956), 32 ff.Google Scholar; Hänsel (n. 28).

40 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13), 873; Triandaphyllos, ‘Les monuments …’ (n. 14), 145–63.

41 Triandaphyllos, ‘Η Θράκη του Αιγαίου…’ (n. 14), 297.

42 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13), 896.

43 Triandaphyllos (n. 33), 104; id., ‘Η Θράκη του Αιγαίου…’ (n. 14), 297; Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (n. 13).

44 Clarke, D., Spatial Archaeology (London, 1977), 104 Google Scholar; Champion, T. and Megaw, J. (eds), Settlement and Society: Aspects of West European Prehistory in the First Millennium BC (Leicester, 1985), 2.Google Scholar

45 Richie, A., ‘Settlement archaeology: methods and problems’, in Hill, D. and Jesson, M. (eds), The Iron Age and its Hill-forts (Southampton, 1971), 91 Google Scholar; Sklenar, K., Archaeology in Central Europe: The First Five Hundred Years (1983).Google Scholar

46 Nandris, J., ‘The Thracian inheritance’, Illustrated London News, 268 (1980), 99–101.Google Scholar

47 Panayotov (n. 12).

48 Collis, J., The European Iron Age (London, 1984), 10.Google Scholar

49 For extensive bibliography on the subject see Snodgrass, A., ‘Iron and early metallurgy in the Mediterannean’, in Wertime, T. and Muhly, J. (eds), The Coming of the Age of Iron (London, 1980), 335 ff.Google Scholar; Babic, S., ‘Graeco-barbarian contacts in the early iron age central Balkans’, Balkanica, 21 (1990), 165–83.Google Scholar

50 Panayotov (n. 12).

51 Wells, P., Rural Economy in the Early Iron Age: Excavations at Hascherkeller 1978–1981 (American School of Prehistoric Research, Bulletin no. 36; 1983).Google Scholar

52 Collis (n. 48), 21.

53 Efstratiou (n. 8).

54 Beuermann, A., ‘Strukturwandel ländlicher Siedlungen in Griechenland’, in Verhandlungen des deutschen Geographenlages (Hamburg, 1955), 409 ff.Google Scholar

55 Binford, L., ‘The archaeology of place’, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 1 (1982), 5–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar