Excavations at Assiros Toumba 1975-1980, Annual of the British School at Athens, 76, 1980, 229-260

Excavations at Assiros, 1975-9: A Settlement Site in Central Macedonia and Its Significancefor the Prehistory of South-East EuropeAuthor(s): K. A. Wardle, Paul Halstead and Glynis JonesSource: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 75 (1980), pp. 229-267Published by: British School at AthensStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30103020 .

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EXCAVATIONS AT ASSIROS, 1975-9

A SETTLEMENT SITE IN CENTRAL MACEDONIA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE PREHISTORY OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

(PLATES 19-22)

Archaeological research into the prehistory of Central Macedonia started at the end of the last

century with the explorations of Makridis, Schmidt, Triiger, Wace and others, who reported on the numerous mound settlements and the surface material to be found on these, or undertook minor excavations.' Extensive excavation began fortuitously with the entrenchments of the French and English expeditionary forces who arrived in 1916 to open a new front against the Austrians and Bulgarians and 'dug in' in a wide arc from the Vardar

(modern Axios) to the Struma (modern Strymon) to the north of Thessaloniki. Enlightened officers, both French and English, encouraged the recovery of antiquities wherever possible, as well as undertaking the topographical study of many of the mounds. The finds were collected

together into a temporary museum in the White Tower, and were later reported by Picard, Rey, Gardiner and Casson at the end of the war.2

Systematic investigation was started by the British School at Athens with excavation

campaigns directed by Casson at Chauchitsa, and Kilindir (Kalindria)5 and by Heurtley and other collaborators at Vardaroftsa (modern Axiochori), Vardino (Limnotopos), Saratse (Perivolaki), Kritsana, Agios Mamas and Molyvopyrgos, during the period 1920-30. This work was admirably summarised by Heurtley in Prehistoric Macedonia, published in 1939, which remains the main authoritative survey.4 Other work in Central Macedonia during this period was limited in scope and has only been sketchily reported,5 with the exception of the neolithic levels discovered at Olynthos.6

It was already clear that the cultural remains from the prehistoric period reflected the natural geographical situation of Macedonia, bordering the Aegean to the south, and having access to the north by means of a number of passes and river routes to the Skopje basin, the Stara Planina, and the Danube valley beyond.' In each period represented, from the late neolithic to the iron age, the pottery and other artefacts included examples of types paralleled in areas both north and south. The neolithic and early bronze age material could be linked

Heuzey-Daumet, Mission de Macedoine 226, 243, 412. Zeit. f Ethnologie xxxiii (1901) 43; xxxiv (1902) 62; xxxvi

(1905) 91. LAAA ii (1909) 159. Makridis excavated at Lembet (formerly known as Platanaki) and his finds were commented on by Wace in BSA xx (1913-14) 129.

2 BCII xl (1916) 257, 293; xli-xliii (1917-19) 1. BSA xxiii

(1918-19) 1, 10.

BSA xxiv (1919-21) 1; xxvi (1923-25) 1. Antiquaries Journal vi (1926) 59.

4 W. A. Heurtley, Prehistoric Macedonia (hereafter PM) and BSA xxvii (1925-26) 1; xxviii (1926-27) 195; xxix

(1927-28) 117; xxx (1928-30) 113. D. H. French has compiled an invaluable Index of Prehistoric Sites in Central Macedonia (privately circulated in 1967) in which the early references to

sites under different names are collected together and located where possible. N. G. L. Hammond in A History of Macedonia. Vol. 1: Historical geography and prehistory, has

provided a useful survey of recent work in all parts of Macedonia. Where a site has been published and is well known under its older name, I shall continue to use this. Otherwise I shall use the modern name.

" E.g. Stivos (French L7), excavated by Kotsias. Sokhos (French L16), Keramopoulos PAE 1937, 74.

S G. E. Mylonas, Excavations at Olynthus. 1, The

Neolithic Settlement.

Hammond,op. cit. describes Macedonian geography and discusses routes to other regions.



230 K. A. WARDLE

quite closely to that from Thessaly,s while that from the late bronze and early iron age, though predominantly of distinctive local forms, contained examples of Aegean imports and imitations of these, together with many types of shapes and decoration found in the Danube area.9

The excavations were, for their day, well conducted and well recorded - although by the

contemporary standards in Britain much more could have been done.'0 The interpretation of the finds was based on the then current ideas about the role of northern invaders in almost

every period of Greek prehistory, and some of the conclusions, such as the attribution of twisted handles and channelled wares found at Vardaroftsa to Lausitz invaders," now seem inconceivable. In addition, it should be remembered, the stratigraphic and chronological basis of much of the work in southern Greece, to which Heurtley had to look for both parallels and

chronology, was still exceedingly uncertain. Even in the Mycenaean period there was no workable chronology for the later stages until 1941.12 With hindsight and the experience of my own excavation in this area it is only too easy to point to errors or weak points in the structure which Heurtley and others so carefully established: nevertheless I am more inclined to marvel at the broad clarity and accuracy of the work of these pioneers.

Since the war, research in southern Greece has advanced rapidly, thanks to the large number of new excavations and to the careful analysis of the results. In Central Macedonia, however, there has been a long interval in which little has been done to build on or re-examine

Heurtley's results. Other parts of Macedonia have received more attention, particularly for the neolithic period, with major excavations at Nea Nikomedeia in Western Macedonia,'3 and at

Sitagroi and Dikili Tas in the Drama plain,"4 but also for the iron age, notably the large scale

investigation of the tumulus-grave cemetery of Vergina." Despite the continuing interest in

hypothetical northern invaders, most notably under the guise of Dorians, and their effects on

Mycenaean Greece, that can be found in discussions from that of Milojc'ic'6 to Desborough, Bouzek, or Snodgrass'7 among many others, the evidence remained principally that discovered

by Heurtley in 1925 at Vardaroftsa. In the meantime, as research and excavation in the Balkans have made rapid progress, archaeologists there have come more and more to rely on the chronological links through Macedonia for any discussion of the date of their late 2nd and

early 1st Millennium cultural groups.'8 Essentially, the evidence remained the same for fifty years until the start of two entirely new excavations in 1975 whose objective was the verification

8 Thessaly was, of course, well known from the work of

Tsountas, and that of Wace and Thompson, Prehistoric

Thessaly. See PM 63 for a discussion of the neolithic material and 79 for the early bronze age. These contacts tend to be

submerged in the general discussion, 113, 117, by the

question of Danubian origins for almost all groups. 9 PM 93, 103. Childe's The Danube in Prehistory with its

masterly survey of material from Central and SE Europe provided many examples of parallels - whether real or

apparent only - for Macedonian discoveries. 10 Mortimer Wheeler was already working out those

methods put into practice in classic form at Maiden Castle in 1934.

11 PM 103 "The normal course of ceramic development was

interrupted by the Lausitz invasion". Miloj'ik had already denied this connection in Arch. Anzeiger 1948, 30 but the idea had persisted in both general and specific form, e.g. Hammond op. cit. 305-9 passim.

12 A. Furumark, Mycenaean Pottery, Classification and

Analysis and The Chronology of Mycenaean Pottery, moved these studies onto a far higher level of accuracy.

13 PPS xxviii, 267. ADelt xvii (1961-62) B' Chronika 231; xix (1964) B' Chronika 368.

14 Sitagroi: Antiquity xliv (1970) 131; PPS xxxvi (1970) 296; A. C. Renfrew The Emergence of Civilization (passim). Dikili Tas: BCH lxxxvi (1962) 922; lxxxvii, 843; xcii, 1062; xciv, 799.

15 M. 'AbQ6Vtxos, BEQ-yva. I Tb Nexpoocrace^ov rTO

16 Arch. Anzeiger 1948, 12.JRGZM 2 (1955) 153. 17 V. R. d'A. Desborough The Last Mycenaeans and Their

Successors 217. J. Bouzek, Opuscula Athen. 9 (1969) 41. A. M. Snodgrass, The Dark Age of Greece 305, 322.

18 C f. N. K. Sandars, 'From Bronze Age to Iron Age, a

sequel to a sequel' in Studies in Honour of C.F. C. Hawkes: The European Community in Later Prehistory, Eds. Boardman, Brown and Powell, 9.



EXCAVATIONS AT ASSIROS, 1975-9 231

and expansion of Heurtley's results with regard to this period in particular. At Kastanas on the Axios, Bernhard HWinsel has undertaken excavation for the German

Institute with the collaboration of Aikaterina Rhomiopoulou,'9 following a detailed study of the final bronze and early iron age of the lower Danube,20 while at Assiros in the Langadas basin, I have directed four seasons of excavation on behalf of the British School after studying excavated and collected material from both Epirus and Macedonia.21 Although the simultaneous excavation of two sites of broadly the same type and period some fifty km. apart was fortuitous, the results have been complementary rather than identical and each has

provided new information and partial answers to some of the problems.22

AsSIROS - THE SITE

Assiros Toumba is typical of the many bronze age settlement mounds known in Central Macedonia, (PLATE 19a). It is situated at the north-western end of the Langadas basin, about 25 km. north of Thessaloniki on the Serres road (FIG. 1), at the point where the rolling hills, which form the edge of the basin on this side, level out. The coarse soils of the hills to the north of the site are now largely used for cereal agriculture, while the more finely divided soils at their foot are frequently used for vegetable gardens, of which a group now surround the toumba. The surrounding landscape is generally open, though oak woods were extensive in this area before mechanisation enabled large fields to be brought under the plough. Erosion of the soils has been extensive to the north of the site and it is possible that the site itself is surrounded by the consequent alluvium, but there is little dating evidence for these processes and it is difficult to reconstruct the landscape at the period when the site was occupied.23

The mound lies near the junction of two stream beds which will have facilitated access to water, even in summer, when a pool could have been formed by damming one of them. The water table was very near the surface until recently, when the demands of irrigation increased

considerably, with a well of between 2-3 m. being sufficient to ensure water. The local

property owners report that the area immediately around the mound on the south and east was waste ground, with marshy hollows which they subsequently filled in. No other natural feature has been disclosed by excavation which could account for the choice of site.

The original dimensions of the mound were approx. 110 m. x 70 m. and soundings around the edge have not yet revealed any settlement strata beyond this perimeter, (FIG. 2). It is

roughly oval in shape, with the long axis roughly north-south. Continual rebuilding in mud and brick raised the level of the settlement by over 14 m. during its period of occupation, while the sides of the resultant mound were built as steeply as possible to maintain the area for

occupation within. By the period of abandonment of this settlement the available area had dwindled to some 70 m. x 40 m. The steep sides and small plateau of this mound are very

19 B. Hdinsel, 'Ergebnisse der Grabungen bei Kastanas in Zentralmakedonien 1975-1978',JRGZM, in press. (Hereafter Kastanas).

20 Beitrdge zur regionalen und chronologischen Gliederung der dlteren Hallstattzeit an der unteren Donau. (Hereafter Donau).

21 The results of my Ph.D. dissertation, 'The Greek Bronze

Age West of the Pindus', submitted to London University in 1972, are partly summarised in 'Cultural Groups of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in North West Greece' Goddzsnjak Sarajevo xi (1977) 153. Preliminary research on Macedonia was carried out during my tenure of an Alexander von Humboldt Stipendium under the supervision of the late Prof.

V. Miloj'if at Heidelberg to whom I owe much for his

encouragement and assistance. Preliminary accounts are

published in Archaeological Reports 1975-6, 19 and 1977-78, 44, as well as in 'News Letter from Greece' AJA lxxxii.

22 I am most grateful to Prof. Hinsel for information about the site, for the opportunity to see his finds on several occasions and for the chance to read his preliminary report on Kastanas in manuscript.

2 Dr. Donald Davidson (Strathclyde University) has made a preliminary study of soils and erosion around Assiros. Some of his results are published in Eds. R. A. Cullingford, D. A. Davidson and J. Lewin Time Scales in Geomorphology, 143-158, fig 11.3.



232 K. A. WARDLE

AREA OF

MAIN MAP,

KEY

Prehistoric site

Village Modern road

0 5Km

LANGADAS BASIN and THESSAL ON/IKI

O Thermi

4

Pylaia THERMA/IC -GULF-

THES

LAKE KORONEIA Toumba

Kaval ari

LANGADAS Khrysavy!

Perivolaki

Asprovrys

Neokhoroude Liti

Drymos/

)3

r2

Assiros

1

oUos UMBA

Krithia

Gal likon

FIG. 1 Assiros 1975-79.




SITE PLAN and West-East Profile

0 25m I _

Trenches excavated Modern buildings Bottom of slope of toumba

KEY

ELEVATIONS A.M.S.L.

160

150

140

130

25E 50E 75E 1OOE 125E 15 OE

25N

THESSALONIKI

20-5KM

150N

125N

lOON

75N

50ON

MAIN

ROAD

SERRES

E

K

P

U

Z

140

A

F

L

Q

V

B

G

M

R

W

WELL

TRACK

IC

H

N

C S

X

156m

155M

150M

115m

D

J

T

Y

O

FIG. 2 Assiros 1975-79.



234 K. A. WARDLE

similar to many other Central Macedonian bronze age sites, and contrast with the neolithic mounds which are more spreading.

Disturbance of the mound before our excavation was confined to a levelling operation to the south-east corner for building a small two-room house, (PLATE 19a), the planting of a large number of conifers just before the last war and a small number of military trenches on the summit dating to the civil war. No cultivation had apparently ever been attempted. The site was first reported by Wace in 1909, while sherds have been published by Gardiner and Casson.24

Assiros lies quite close to a number of other prehistoric sites: within the boundary of the modern village lie Toumba tou Lakkou, 5 km. north, and Agia Anna (south) 5 km. east, both of which have been surveyed by David Smyth.25 The excavated site of Saratse (Perivolaki)26 is c. 10 km. south while Khrysavyi, where abundant local Mycenaean has been found, is the same distance to the south east.27 It seems likely, though there is no proof, that all these were

occupied simultaneously and that this end of the Langadas basin was densely settled in the

prehistoric period. From study of excavated material and surface collections made at sites in Central

Macedonia, it seemed to me that all the varieties of Macedonian painted and incised ware could be present at Assiros, which lies in the area of overlap between the different types, and that Mycenean pottery would also be present in sufficient amounts to permit more precise dating of the local features which it accompanied. Situated on an ancient route from the sea at Thessaloniki leading north eastwards towards Bulgaria, it appeared that Assiros should also have a reasonable balance between imports of Aegean types and contacts with the Danube area. Thus among the principal aims of the excavation was the establishment of a pottery sequence for the local Macedonian types, and correlation with forms from other regions allowing an assessment of both cultural and chronological relationships. The wider study of a settlement, its plan and economic basis, were also important tasks.

THE EXCAVATION

Excavation started in 1975, with the sponsorship of the British School at Athens, and the

permission of the Greek Archaeological Service. I am particularly grateful to the Director of the Thessaloniki Museum, Aikaterina Rhomiopoulou, for her help and advice.28 With the

exception of 1978, when earthquakes disrupted life and caused considerable damage in the

region around Thessaloniki, four seasons of work have been carried out in the same three main areas, (FIG. 2).

In 1975, a start was made with a section through the eastern side of the mound in three long steps, each 2 m. in width,29 in order to obtain a section of the full sequence of levels, including the earliest, and to examine the steep side of the mound for traces of terrace or defensive walls,

24 LAAA ii 1909 161 and British Museum Catalogue of Vases 1.19, where it is described under the old name, Giuvesne. Also D. H. French loc. cit. site L 6.

25 Toumba tou Lakkou was first reported by Casson BSA xxiii (1918-19) 61, also French, site L 13. Agia Anna has not, as far as I know, been reported previously: surface indications

suggest occupation in the neolithic and bronze age, but

principally in the first half of the 1st Millennium BC. Agia Anna (north), about 500 m. away seems to be a late Roman site.

26 PM 26, and BSA xxx (1928-30) 113. 27 French, site L 15.

28 My thanks are due to many helpers. In particular, David

Smyth undertook survey work and planning and has prepared the plans and sections in this report. Diana Wardle managed the potshed and has restored and drawn all the pottery illustrated here. Photographs are by Paul Booth, Chris Mee, Graham Norrie and the late Peter Schalk, as well as some of

my own. Funds were provided by the British School, British

Academy, Craven Fund Oxford, Marc Fitch Fund, Russell Trust, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Birmingham among others.

29 This section was cut in three trenches, from W to E, JA, JC, KA.




which seemed to be a logical possibility, (FIG. 3). On the summit towards the north end of the mound individual trenches were laid out to examine an area of some 150 m2. where an opening in the trees allowed this."3 On the western side of the summit a trial trench which disclosed a burnt iron age destruction level was enlarged to explore a greater area.31

In 1976 work concentrated on the upper and lower steps in the long section, together with the main area on the summit which was excavated to a depth of 3.5-4 m. to reach substantial mud brick structures of the later bronze age.

In 1977 the natural ground surface was reached in the outer part of the section, while the baulks between the separate trenches in the main area were removed to enable the plan of the buildings to be seen more clearly. The principal effort, however, was devoted to exploring a further 150 m.2 of the superficial deposit between the main area and the western trench to recover the plan of the iron age destruction level in greater detail.32 A further trench was opened on the middle of the east side of the mound to verify the results of the main section."3 In 1979 work was confined to the upper trenches in the long section.

Despite the relatively small size of the excavated areas, large amounts of pottery, including many complete or restorable vases, small objects of clay, stone and metal, and good samples of carbonised seeds and animal bones were recovered. Study of this material is well under way but the account which follows is necessarily provisional."~

136 E 125 E 118E 108 E

C: W

Lu

--j

0

Lu

-18

-16

-12

-10

"8

-6

-4

.2

:PT

KEY

Limit of archaeological levels

Limit of excavation

Destruction level

Mudbrick wall

Packed clay

Stone

FIG. 3 Assiros 1975-9 East Slope Simplified Section.

3M Trenches JB, JD-JJ and baulk JDJ. 31 Trench HB. 32 Trenches HC and NA. 33 Trench OA. 34 Specialist studies are being carried out by P. Halstead of

animal bones, G. Jones of plant remains, D. Reese of molluscs, and by the British Museum Laboratory of 14C samples. The finds are presently stored in the storerooms of the old museum in Thessaloniki.



236 K. A. WARDLE

BRONZE AGE

Long Section (FIGS. 4 & 5) The natural ground surface proved to slope downwards towards the centre of the mound

and the lowest point reached was nearly 1.5 m. below the level of the surrounding fields. Below this were riverine sands and gravels which should perhaps be associated with the stream running past the site on the west. The earliest deposits contained no structures and only small quantities of sherds and charcoal and there is no indication how they built up (phase A).35 Above these deposits was constructed a bank of clean red clay which has a minimum width of 4m and was preserved to a height of 1.5 m.,a. This was placed right at the present edge of the mound and may well have served as a defensive wall (phase B). Within this bank were built the first of a series of mud brick walls which were all similarly oriented and positioned, often using the stump of an older wall as the foundation for a new one. These walls were built with alternate courses of bricks and clay of equal thickness but from different sources so that a boldly striped effect is apparent. Traces of posts were found at intervals along these walls but the area excavated was not large enough either to determine the function of the posts, or the nature of the structures. Six phases of these walls were identified, (phases C-H), of which it was

possible to explore the two uppermost over a greater length. Two parallel walls 3.5 m. apart indicate the width of the room in phase H (FIG. 4), while the wall on the west appears to have been set against a massive bank of packed clay and mud brick which rises about 15 m. in from the edge of the mound, b. It is not clear whether this bank already existed much earlier and had continually been rebuilt, since excavation has not yet reached a deep enough level, but it is certain that it continued to exist and formed a terrace wall which served to retain the structures within at a higher level, reaching a height of at least 3.5 m. with several rebuilds.

Above the mud brick walls and outside this terrace bank, the character of the deposit changed to gravelly levels containing many fragments of coarse pottery, pieces of bone and charcoal. The fact that these levels run nearly horizontal indicates that some retaining wall must have existed beyond them to the east. Such a wall is found about half a metre higher. It lies 2.5 m. east of the terrace wall, and is built of clay packed between two mud brick faces to give a width of nearly 1.5 m., and a similar preserved height, c (FIG. 5). Between this and the terrace wall were gravelly deposits of similar character to those which underlay it, which could naturally be interpreted as a street or pathway. It seems likely that the outer wall was defensive and that the pathway within it could represent the kind of sloping access to the summit of the site which would undoubtedly have been required unless a stairway in stone or cobbles was constructed. The steep slope of the mound would otherwise already have made the passage of animals or the transport of building materials or foodstuffs to the settlement very difficult, especially after heavy rain when the clay used for all the mud brick becomes very soft and sticky.

An attempt was made to test this hypothesis by opening a further section 25 m. south at about the same level, but although masses of mud brick were found, indicating the presence of a similar terrace wall, no outer wall was found, nor any street-like deposits.

Further up the main section the outer wall appears to have been renewed after the passage of some time, d, while the level of the terrace bank was repeatedly raised as new buildings on the summit of the mound increased its height. Piles of irregular stones were found at intervals

3 For convenience the building levels at the base of the mound have been labelled from the bottom up, to the point where the outer wall is encountered. If it proves possible to

relate the building levels inside and outside the terrace bank

they will be re-named in accordance with the numerical series used for the upper part of the mound.




718E

9.00-

8 "21-

8-02 765

-7.30 7.12

1695

130

E

108

5 NL

ERODED

EDGE

OF

MOUND

106

5 N

ELEVATIONS AB S 0 -9 -8 -67 .5 .4 .3

178E

2

125

E

138 E

0 F E D C A9 A

a

H 0 PHASE

b

Limit

of archaeological

levels

Limit

of excavation

Mudbrick

wall

Packed

clay

Stone

KEY

FIG.

4 Assiros

1975-79.



238 K. A. WARDLE

KEY

Limit

of excavation

Destruction

level

Mudbrick

wall

Packed

clay

Stone

108

E

118E

127E

b

d

C-

PIT

TOPSOIL

o z to Lu

-18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -6 1 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 PHASE

FIG.

5 Assiros

1975-79

East

Slope

Section

(Upper).




against the face of the terrace bank which may have served to revet it, or could have fallen from above.

In the upper part of the long section a series of collapsed mud brick and stone walls seems to indicate the existence of a free-standing wall built above the terrace bank, and set back at least a metre from its edge. Although the terrace bank clearly reached its present height in stages, the different levels at which Mycenaean pottery first occurs above and below it give some indication of the effective height of the terrace at any moment. Outside they occur at the 10 m. level, while inside they are above the 15 m. level.

Main area

To the west of the collapsed brick and stone walls were the first occupation levels of the settlement at this stage, for no buildings were found outside the terrace bank after the 7 m. level. Phases 14-10 have so far only been identified at the upper end of the long section,36 and consist of the stumps of mud brick walls with their respective floors and collapse, each placed in approximately the same position and alignment as its predecessor. The destruction level of phase 9 was also encountered in the northern end of the main area (below rooms 12 and 14) where large quantities of carbonised cereals and pulses were found."7 Small hollows in the floor of room 14 at this level could have held the pointed bases of storage jars containing these seeds (PLATE 19b). The first substantially preserved mud brick walls belong to the following phase (8). At this level the walls are still constructed in the same manner with courses of bricks and clay, but the source used for both materials is the same, so that it is not always possible to pick out the coursing readily.

Phase 7 (FIGS. 6 & 7) The deepest level reached generally in the main area is the floor level associated with the

substantial buildings of phase 7 (PLATE 19c), about 3.5 m. below the present ground surface. Some of the walls of this phase were clearly built to the same plan and on the older walls of the preceding phase, but others, such as those dividing rooms 6-8, did not rest immediately upon earlier ones.

The area of the settlement excavated represents about one fifteenth of the total available at this level of the mound. Parts of fifteen different rooms or external spaces were identified and examined. It was usually easy to determine whether a particular area had been roofed or not by the nature of the deposit found there. Interiors had floors of clay which was simply trampled down after the construction work was completed, without any special preparation. These surfaces remained relatively clean and were difficult to identify in excavation since they were formed of the same material as the building debris below and the clean collapse above. Open yard areas were distinguished by the spreads of charcoal, potsherds and bone fragments on the surface which was regularly renewed and raised. There was less indication in these yard areas of clean spreads of clay debris from levelling operations, and it is likely that internal and external floor levels varied considerably from one building phase to the next.

The excavated area is roughly divided in two by a street or passage (10) about 1.5 m. wide, (PLATE 19d), whose surface had been continually renewed with levels of greenish gravelly material, very similar to that found in the pathway on the side of the mound, together with fragments of bone and pottery. To the south of this is a range of four rooms of roughly equal

36 Phases have been numbered from the top of the mound downwards as encountered, and these numbers will be

retained in further reports. 37 See appendix.



240 K. A. WARDLE

119N 19 18 17 16 15

PIT

PIT

PIT

TOPSOIL

1 2 3 5 6 7 PHASE

Wall

Face

Destruction

level

Stone

Mudbrick

wall

KEY 101

N

112-75

N

FIG.

6 Assiros

1975-79

Main

Area

South-North

Section.

DATUM SITE ABOVE ELEVATIONS




108E 100E 101 N 16-00

4 2

15 80

-16-95

5

1590.,

15-57

3

1

16-05 -1747

16-01

17-40 15 S16-02

16 38

16-30

7 C6 8

16-10

16 40 16-12 !6"24

-17-37

-15-50

16-01

15-56

16-27

17"32

16-46 16-10 16.16

16-95-

16-32

10 -17-00

16"39 e

11

14-57

14 89

16-2 7 16-29

16-90

15-35

17-75 12

(13)

15-98 16-30

D4

119 N

0 1 2 3 4 5m

KEY

Room number

Mudbrick wall

Stone

Sherd

Post hole

Later pit

Sugges ted wall

IL

FIG. 7 Assiros 1975-79 Main Area Phase 7 Late Bronze Age.



242 K. A. WARDLE

size, c. 4 m. x 2 m., (6-9). Unfortunately later pits cut into these rooms at exactly those places where doorways might be expected and it is therefore uncertain how they were entered. A

pithos was probably set in the floor of one of these rooms (8) in this phase but otherwise their function is uncertain, and there were no other finds on the floors. To the south again are two enclosed yard areas (3 and 5) where quantities of pithos sherds and other debris were scattered.

Mycenaean pottery from these two areas suggested that the buildings were already in use in

early LH IIIC, c. 1200 BC. To the east is the open area between the buildings and the terrace bank described above (15) while to the west and south are other spaces which are too small for their purpose to be identified, (1, 2 and 4). To the north of the passage are four more spaces of which 11 and 12 were probably unroofed. The earthquakes of 1978 caused the partial collapse of the west section to reveal a further pithos set in a pit in the floor of area 11, possibly against its west wall, e.

If the rest of the summit of the mound was similarly occupied, and if no great area has been eroded away, we might expect the settlement at this period to consist of 100-120 rooms and

open spaces. The walls of this phase were constructed of mud bricks 40 cm. wide, 60-70 cm. long and

7-10 cm. thick. They were formed of clay dug from the natural deposits around the site and

tempered with the addition of fine grit to prevent cracking during the drying process. Chaff or straw was not used for bricks. Vertical timbers were placed at intervals of c. 2 m. at the corners and along the length of the walls. The mud bricks seem to have been built up to these timbers as an infill, rather than as the main load-bearing structure. The weight of the roof was

presumably carried on the timber uprights. No evidence suggested that the buildings were more than a single storey in height. No horizontal ties were found in the walls.

After a period of use during which the floor levels in the yards and street were raised several times the buildings were levelled, or, at least, the internal floor levels were raised by about 50 cm. with relatively clean mud brick debris containing scattered carbonised seeds and grape- pip skeletons, together with a number of small beads of bronze and shell, particularly from rooms 7 and 8.

Phase 6 (FIG. 8)

After the floor levels were raised, the mud brick walls were rebuilt where necessary along almost the same lines, though the wall dividing rooms 11 and 12 shifted east and there is some indication that the street (10) was cut off at its western end. The function of each area remained the same. The pithos found in the west baulk of room 11 proved to have remained where it was set in the preceding phase and its mouth was now almost level with the floor surface. In places the timber uprights were renewed, not in the line of the wall but beside it, where they can have played no role in strengthening the wall, but must surely have been

necessary to support the roof. After a short period of occupation the buildings of this phase suffered destruction in a

violent conflagration, which not only left a deep level of ash, charcoal and half-fired brick on the floor, but also preserved many vases on this floor, together with some of the internal constructions. Pithoi were found in several rooms, notably 8, 11 and 14, while sherds from these large vases were scattered everywhere. Several whole vases were recovered from the floors of rooms 6, 7 and 11, while a group came from room 14, including a linear Mycenaean cup in local fabric which suggests that the destruction date is c. 1150-1100 BC, FIG. 14, 29. A group of clay bins or containers preserved by the fire, were found in the north west corner of room 11, f: these were tempered with straw, unlike the mud bricks. In room 7 a circular structure with



108 E

4 16-55- 17,02

2

16"95

1668

5 15-57

D3

100 E 10INN

DI

16-90( -17-47

-17-40 15

76"54 1725

1706 OVEN

17.03

90

8 7 6

115.50 "17737 61812

15-56

17- 3 4 16"93

1708 116.10

16.27

17732--

10

16"93

-17-46

17"34-

17"41-

14'89

e

15-35

-17.75

17.07 11

17-58-

12

17 47

13

15"98

14

17228

119 N

rtv

0 1 2 3 4 5m

KEY

Room number

Mudbrick wall

Stone

Sherd

Post hole

Later pit

Suggested wall

0D


FIG. 8 Assiros 1975-79 Main Area Phase 6 Late Bronze Age Destruction Level.



244 K. A. WARDLE

raised walls bearing the impression of wickerwork on their interior has been provisionally interpreted as an enclosed oven, though no solid base was found. Two features with raised

edges in room 1, of which the southernmost was placed on a raised platform, may also have served as hearths. In the burnt debris were many lumps of clay bearing the impressions of

roughly split timbers and of small branches and reeds which probably originated in the roof

covering. The whole area was extensively disturbed by pits cut from the level above.

Phases 5-3

With this destruction the alignment of the walls changed for the first time. New walls were built alongside those of the preceding phase as can be seen in the section of the main area, FIG. 6, towards the southern end. The floor level of this phase was not raised by very much. The

many pits which cut the levels below were probably dug in this phase and their size suggests that many of them were to hold the pointed bases of pithoi. These buildings also suffered destruction by fire. No features characteristic of the early iron age have yet been noted in this level.

The destruction floor is overlaid in the southern part of the main area by a soft grey deposit, unlike any encountered elsewhere: within the depth of this deposit were discovered the remnants of several building levels using different forms of construction. Apart from

fragments of the usual mud brick walls, there were post settings surrounded by small stones and complex walls of small, irregular stones - not used at any other period for minor walls, (PLATE 20a). Clearly these traces of buildings indicate the passage of some period of time: they also indicate that whatever the origin of the grey material it does not represent simple abandonment. Further study will be necessary to show whether early iron age features are present in these levels.

Macedonian Pottery (FIGS. 9-13) The pottery of the bronze age at Assiros changed little from the earliest levels to the latest.

The standard fine ware, which forms between 20 and 30% of any assemblage, is hand-shaped from moderately purified clay with some small grits but there is no sign of the addition of any tempering medium. It is evenly fired to give a lighter or darker brown surface while the core remains light grey in colour in all but the thinnest sherds. The surface is generally well burnished before firing, though the larger the vessel the less thoroughly this is carried out. Sherds of medium ware - well made but with rather porous surfaces - are often from the larger shapes where only the upper or rim portion is burnished. Fine ware from the earliest levels tends to be of a higher quality and is generally fired to a lighter colour than the later

examples which, especially after the regular introduction of locally made Mycenaean wares, are darker and poorly finished.

There is a wide range of shapes in this fine ware, and it is not yet possible to see changes in

preference for one shape rather than another during the history of the site. Many of the basic vase shapes, moreover, continue in use in the iron age. The most typical open shape is the wide bowl with wishbone handles and with small protuberances on either side of the rim at right angles to the handles, 1, 26. The handles themselves rise directly from the rim. The wishbone handle has long been known as a Macedonian form and it seems to go back to the early bronze age at some sites."8 The flattened terminal of the wishbone may be more or less elongated, but usually splays out. No example was found with a pedestal foot. Other small bowls, which seem

38 PM 81.




1 2

3 4 5

6 7

8

9

0 5 10cms

FIG. 9 Assiros Phases A-H Bronze Age.



246 K. A. WARDLE

10 11

12

13

14 15

16 17 0 5 lOcms

FIG. 10 Assiros Phases 14-7 Late Bronze Age.




0 5 l0 cms

18 19

FIG. 11 Bronze Age incised and paste filled. See also Plate 21.

to be rarer, may have lug handles or suspension lugs, 12, 22, 23. No rim fragment could be attributed to any of the typical Macedonian early bronze age types with inverted, or T-rim. Double vessels comprising a pair of semiglobular bowls with a single loop handle rising above their junction occurred occasionally in all levels.

Among the closed vessels the jug with cut-away neck is the most frequent form, 10, 14, 20, 24. The neck-portion of the jug slopes back to the point where the single handle is attached without any sharp angles or elaboration. Curiously, no example of this shape was found in the lower levels, perhaps because of the small size of the sample there. Medium size storage jars with ovoid bodies, four vertical handles, tall necks and a sharply everted rim were in regular use, to judge from the number of rims from all levels, though it was rare to be able to reconstruct more than small fragments, 3, 6. There were also several examples of juglets with

rising loop handles, 4, 11. Small globular jars with two vertical handles and a prong on each handle are represented by several handle fragments in addition to the complete example illustrated, 21. Unusual vessels include the small ovoid jar with pedestal base, two loop and two

lug handles and suspension holes at the rim, 7, and the small version of the four-handled jar placed on a similar pedestal, 15. Unattached pedestals were found in every level.

Decorated ware is not very common, though small pieces of incised and paste filled decoration were found in almost every stratum. The fabric of these is rather coarser than the

plain fine ware and they are often burnished dark brown or black. The decoration seems to have been executed with a rough comb-like device - perhaps a small bundle of twigs. This

technique provided a key to the paste fill of white, pinkish or very rarely red, which was

applied after firing to cover the keying completely and provide the impression of broad bands of solid decoration. Heurtley called this Third Incised Style."9 The patterns are generally large spiral or rectilinear meanders, with zigzags or pendent triangles as fill ornaments. The most common shape in this technique is a globular jar with a narrow mouth and two loop handles

rising well above the rim. A particularly fine example was found shattered outside the terrace wall on the side of the mound and fortunately was almost complete, while two smaller

'1" BSA xxvii (1925-26) 19.



248 K. A. WARDLE

20

21

22 23

24

25

26 27

0 5 l0cms

FIG. 12 Assiros Phase 6 Late Bronze Age.

examples of the same shape came from phase 9, (FIG. 11, PLATE 21 a, b and e). Other fragments come from a tall-necked jar with two or more vertical handles on the shoulder. This ware seems to give way in popularity to the local Mycenaean and becomes rarer in the upper levels.

Both the shape and decoration of this incised ware have close parallels in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Roumania, where they are typical of the later bronze age, but have an ancestry stretching back to the early bronze age.40

40 Cf. for example S. Morintz, Contributii Arshaeologice La Istoria Tracilor Timpurii, I Epoca bronzului in patiul carpato-balkanic: Zimnicea-Plovdiv group, 55; Zimnicea fig. 32:3; Razkopanica fig. 34:11; Verbicioara culture, phase IV-

V, 61; Corlate fig. 35; VlIdesti fig. 36:9; Govora-sat figs. 40, 41: Tei culture, phase IV-V, 71; Fundenii Doamnei fig. 42:5;

Giuleqti-Sirbi fig. 43. Also H~insel Donau 52 f. Taf. 4, 5, 9, 10.




FIG. 13 Assiros reconstruction of cooking stand.

0 5 l0cms

Other forms of incised decoration, such as Heurtley found at Saratse, are not present at Assiros, except for a single spindle whorl,41 (PLATE 22e). A few sherds of painted ware, using a purple brown matt paint belong to the style known as "Macedonian Matt-painted", and were found in levels antedating the introduction of Mycenaean. This type of ware is considerably more common in the Vardar valley and to the west.42

The majority of the pottery is coarse or cooking ware made from gritty clay, poorly shaped and unevenly fired. Despite the shattered condition of most of this friable pottery a sufficient number of vessels could be reconstructed to give an idea of the types in use, and to allow the

majority of feature sherds to be assigned to one or other of the few basic forms. There are small necked jars with two vertical handles set below the rim, neckless jars with a single vertical handle, 9, 16, and simple handleless pots of varying size, 27. Most of the fragments, however, seem to belong to a form of cooking vessel which, so far as I am aware, has not been reported before from Greece, though examples can be identified with hindsight, and the type has been noted in central Yugoslavia.4" This vessel consists of a large coarse jar with two vertical handles,

41 Second Incised Style, BSA xxvii (1925-26) 18. PM figs. 72 and 73.

42 Eg. Vardaroftsa, BSA xxvii (1925-26) 20. This kind of ware is very common on the surface at such sites as Episkopi,

near Veria: French site VE 4.

43 I am grateful to F. Winter and A. Bankoff for drawing my attention to these parallels but have not yet been able to

investigate them. Eg. Vardino, PM 234, no. 474 and pl XXII.



250 K. A. WARDLE

or occasionally flat lugs, below the rim and a globular or conical belly. The base may be flat, but was probably more often rounded, to judge from the lack of base fragments in this ware. This jar was set in a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical stand which was attached before firing to form the composite vessel. Although it has not yet been possible to reconstruct a complete example except in drawings (FIG. 13) the individual fragments are very distinctive. There are pieces from the jar body which seem to divide into an inner and an outer wall which represent the junction between the two parts: some of these divisions run only part of the way around the jar and stop where smoke vents were provided between the stand and the jar. Large 'corners' indicate the openings which cut the line of the base of the stand to allow fuel to be placed under the jar. Small round or triangular openings in the wall of the stand will have provided ventilation. Presumably brushwood or charcoal was placed in the space below the jar, within the stand, to heat and cook the contents of the jar.

Decoration on the coarse ware is very rare, 17: plastic cordons with finger impression appear in the upper bronze age levels at about the same time as Mycenaean pottery. These often run between the handles of the cooking jars.

Large storage jars - pithoi - were frequent in all levels though the fabric of those in the early period of the site's occupation was much better. The pithoi had tall ovoid bodies, pointed bases, and a variety of rims. The early examples often had 'hole mouths' with no rim at all, while the rims of later ones were often heavy and out-turned with flat tops. Pithoi apparently remained in use for long periods even after being damaged, and the rims were often trimmed back to enable continued use. A pithos of exactly similar shape and fabric was shown to me in the modern village, where it had been found many years ago, probably on another local prehistoric site, and had been mended with cement to enable its use for wine storage.

The date of the earliest levels at Assiros is hard to assess. The lack of early bronze age types, which are found at several neighbouring sites, including Saratse, shows that occupation at Assiros must have started towards the end of the 3rd Millennium.44 A single sherd seems to imitate the developed Grey Minyan forms with ribbed stems, though the fabric is Macedonian, 5. This suggests a date of 1800-1700 BC for the level in which it was found, about 2 m. from the base of the mound. A date around 2000 BC for the first occupation may therefore be reasonable. The presence of a tiny Mycenaean sherd at the same level should perhaps be discounted since it seems very unlikely that the mound could have reached a height of 12 m. in 300 years.

Mycenaean Pottery (FIG. 14)

Apart from two small fragments which have probably strayed through the action of roots or burrowing animals, and a few pieces in the wash on the slope of the mound, the earliest Mycenaean sherds occurred in the street levels on the side of the mound between the terrace bank and the rebuilt wall outside it at c. 10.5 m. above site datum. Outside the terrace bank they were regularly found in the levels above this, but within it the earliest examples are at the 15 m. level. The earliest Mycenaean is all imported to Assiros and is of varying quality. Some is of such a fabric as would be expected in the Argolid, while other pieces are poorer and might come from a provincial centre of manufacture. The sherds are generally small and belong to types current at the end of LH IIIA 2 and the beginning of LH IIIB, such as kylikes, piriform

'4 BSA xxx (1928-30) fig. 6 etc. Some indication of the date of the end of the early bronze age in Macedonia may be given by 14C dates from Sitagroi: Bln-781, 2135 -150, Bln-780

1920 +-100 b.c. for phase vb, A. C. Renfrew The Emergence of Civilization, 219.



29

28 30

31

32

33 34

35 36 37

mono. in

0 5 lOcms

FIG. 14 Assiros Local Mycenaean.



252 K. A. WARDLE

jars, alabastra and stirrup jars, indicating a date of c. 1400-1350 BC for the arrival of Mycenaean ware.

Although study of this material has not yet been systematic, first impressions suggest, despite the relatively small size of the sample from the section through the mound, that local imitation of Mycenaean pottery began during the latter part of the LH IIIB period, and by phase 7 had become very common. This local imitation is readily identifiable visually, since all pieces have the grey core of the local burnished wares, while the fabric is generally porous and the paint dull. Spectrographic analysis carried out by Dr. Richard Jones of the Fitch Laboratory at the British School at Athens has confirmed that the clay used for local burnished wares is the same as that for the local Mycenaean type, and very different from any of the imported pieces examined.

These local imitations are normally accurate copies of Mycenaean shapes such as kraters, 28, deep bowls, 34-36, kylikes, shallow bowls and cups, 31, 29, together with closed shapes such as the jug or hydria, 33, and, probably, the stirrup jar, 30. Occasionally local shapes, such as the cut-away neck jug, 32, and the large double vessel were made in Mycenaean fabric. Although local forms of decoration become rarer, the plain local burnished forms continue in common use and there is no question of their being supplanted by the Mycenaean. It must be presumed that two different workshops existed at the same time, the one producing the traditional hand-shaped wares, the other the new wheel-turned Mycenaean.

Decoration on the local Mycenaean is generally simple: small numbers of rather irregular linear bands, together with wavy lines on all shapes. Complex motives are rare though one krater was decorated with a fine antithetic spiral pattern.

Unlike the fine imported Mycenaean, which becomes rarer with the passage of time, the

poorer quality imports continue to be present in small number. Analysis of some of these

fragments indicates a Macedonian clay type, though quite distinct from the local clay. The

possibility that Mycenaean settlements, where pottery was made in the full Mycenaean tradition, existed at this period on the coast of Macedonia, especially Chalcidike, should be seriously considered.

It is not yet possible to relate all the local products of Assiros to their southern Greek antecedants, though in the case of Kastanas, Podzuweit has observed that there seems to be no isolation even in the LH III C period.45 It seems likely from the types present that the material from phase 7, including the krater with antithetic spirals, dates to the earliest phase of LH III C, while the whole cup from the destruction floor of phase 6, 29 is of more advanced form and

might even belong to the later stage of LH IIIC around 1100 BC.

Fragments of Mycenaean continue to be found in the iron age levels, but there is no indication that these are anything other than survivals and it does not seem possible at Assiros to confirm the observation at Kastanas that simple linear-decorated pottery continued to be made after the demise of the Mycenaean style in southern Greece.

Finds other than pottery No large quantities of objects were found, and the early period is especially poorly

represented because of the small area excavated. Nevertheless a good range of objects of different materials was recovered.

Stone artefacts include a surprising number of polished axes of simple trapezoidal shape in a variety of stone. These are too numerous to have been survivals and must presumably have still

45 C. Podzuweit, in Hinsel, Kastanas, see 19 above.




been in regular use in this area. Fine chert blades with retouch on one or both sides exhibit clear sickle-gloss.46 Rough pounders and rubbers with no regular shape occurred from time to time, as did saddle querns. Flat pieces of schist which seemed to be from discs which may have served as pot stands or pot lids were quite common. Bronze knives must, however, have been in regular use since whetstones of various sizes, including small examples with a pierced hole for

suspension, are reasonably common,47 (PLATE 22a). A number of moulds for casting different objects were found in the uppermost bronze age levels, including a small chisel and an awl, on opposite sides a flat axe or chisel, a decorated shaft perhaps from a socketed spearhead. A further mould with a roughly incised pattern remains a mystery, (PLATE 22b). An unexpected find from phase 7 was a sword pommel of Mycenaean type in marble.

Bronze objects were very few in number, but included a fine curved knife with cast rib to strengthen the back, (PLATE 22c). Another example has been found in Macedonia at Kilindir, but the type is closer to the Danubian curved knives than to any Mycenaean form.48 The fill between phases 7 and 6 included several small bronze beads, and fragments of spirals, perhaps from ornaments, while a needle and a bronze coil were also found.

Two iron beads were found in superficial but pure bronze age levels. A large number of bone points were found in all levels, but there were also two bone pins

with decorated heads and a curious decorated plaque of bone, as well as a hook and a spatula, (PLATE 22d). Several examples of bones were found with longitudinal grooves indicating that some thread or cord had regularly rubbed along them, but the nature of this use is not clear. Shell was used for some tiny beads.

Clay artefacts included a large number of spindle whorls, usually plain and biconical, though various types of incision, sometimes elaborated with paste filling, were also found, (PLATE 22e). Pierced clay discs may have served the same purpose. Heavy conical clay loomweights occurred from time to time, but were poorly fired and very friable.

EARLY IRON AGE Phase 2 (FIG. 15)

Above the soft grey deposit mentioned above (phase 5-3) was constructed a new series of rooms in mud brick. The remains of this level are very close to the surface and the action of tree roots, burrowing animals and leaching has made it very difficult to identify any structures apart from the portions of wall preserved in the fierce destruction fire which befell the inhabitants of this period. The heat from this fire was so intense that in some areas the mud bricks had been thoroughly fired to give the appearance of intentionally fired brick. Nevertheless a coherent plan could be obtained which is rather different from that of the bronze age. Five large rectangular rooms, each c. 7 m. x 5 m., (1-5) lay across the mound, while the areas to the south of these may represent open spaces, (6 & 7), (FIG. 15, PLATE 20b). It is not clear whether these are separate dwellings or part of a larger complex.

The bricks used in these walls are narrower than the bronze age mud bricks, c. 30 cm. wide and rather shorter, c. 50-60 cm. Because of the excellent preservation of some of the

accidentally fired bricks it was possible to see the keying obtained by scoring the flat surface with the finger tips prior to drying. The appearance of a fallen length of a wall suggested that these walls were built with regular courses of bricks, with only a thin mud-mortar to bind them together. No trace of timber uprights was found but these could have been obscured by the

6 1I am grateful to Alison Watson for studying and

commenting on this material. 47 P. Halstead has noted from his study of the faunal

remains that many of the butchery marks could only be made

by metal, not flint, knives. 48 PM fig. 104 dd. Cf. Hiinsel, Donau 31, Abb. 2.



254 K. A. WARDLE

92E 78E

PI T

TOPSOIL

156

155

154

153

152

u,

Lu

WEST-EAST SECTION

17-13-

16-83

PIT 16-79

109 Nr

78E 105 N

16W46

16.71

16-81

17-17-

16-78

1, -1684

15-91 ILLJL-I

P/IT

92E 85E

174 9

17-75

.' 17-44 1 17-44

17-22

17-76-

2

17"43

3

17.68 1

17 79 17-57 17-35

-17-20

KEY

Room number

Mudbrick wall

Stone

Sherd

Suggested wall

Burnt destruction

1

FIG. 15 Assiros 1975-79 Phase 2 Early Iron Age.




92E

Lu

Lu

19

18

17

16

15

106-E

1 11-55N

- 18-52

18-46 18,33

-18"36 18-26

18-33

18-62

18-34-

18-15

17818 -18-45

106E 10IN

18-15

5

18-05 17.93

18 02

18-27-

4

-17-90

17-69

17-96 7

92E 100E

0 1 2 3 4 5m 1 I



256 K. A. WARDLE

proximity to the ground surface. In places earlier stone walls of phase 3 were used as footings. Floors were very difficult to identify, since they were no more than trodden earth.

Internal features were found in two rooms which may represent storage areas, while against the east wall of room 5 was found a series of built compartments formed of mud brick and stones which had been used for the storage of a group of loomweights together with broken jar handles which presumably served the same purpose, (PLATE 20c). It seems likely that a wooden bench, with brick supports, had originally been built here and that the spaces between the

supports were used as simple cupboards. Broken pottery, from both large and small vessels, was strewn on the floors of rooms 2, 3 and 5.

Phase 1

Immediately below the ground surface, and above the destruction debris of phase 1, was discovered a wide scatter of pithos sherds, as well as two traces of structure. In the main area a few stones lying together suggested a rectangular building, while to the south was a kind of

platform of irregular stones lying in concentric arcs, (PLATE 20d). This could perhaps have been the foundation for some circular building, but part, at least, had served as a pavement to

judge from the way that sherds had been trodden into the surface and wedged between the stones. At this point the site was abandoned, perhaps because the available area for

occupation was too small to be viable. The settlers may have moved eastward to Agia Anna, where there is abundant iron age material.

Pottery (FIGS. 16-19)

The basic fabric and repertoire of shapes in use in the iron age levels at Assiros has not

changed greatly from that of the preceding bronze age. As mentioned above, the stratigraphic evidence for the period between phases 6 and 2 is not yet clear enough to judge either the point at which iron age features were first introduced or whether the introduction was sudden or gradual.

The ware is very similar to that of the bronze age, but rather thinner and harder fired. It is often difficult to assign sherds or simple features to one period or to the other. The shapes, however, are rather more angular and the decorative features of these shapes are quite distinctive, particularly the angular twisted handles.

Shapes that continue from the bronze age are the cut-away neck jug, 41, 42, 44, the two handled jar with knobs on the handles, 40, the storage jar with four vertical handles and everted rim, 46, and of course the wishbone-handled bowl, 38, 39. The latter shape has become narrower and deeper, the rim rather more angular and the handle often vertical. The

cut-away neck jug regularly has a twisted handle while the neck is more angular. New shapes in fine ware include small amphora-like vessels with loop handles on the shoulder which seem to imitate wheel-made forms, though it is not possible to say whether their antecedants are

Mycenaean or Protogeometric, 45. Another innovation is a large globular jar with a heavy upright rim and a large spout placed at the junction of the rim and shoulder. Two twisted loop handles are set on the shoulders, 50, (FIG. 18).

Decoration is still sparse, but has nothing to do with bronze age forerunners. There is no more rough incision for paste filling but rather restricted bands of neat, sharp jabs or cuts as on the spouted jar, 50. Channelling is more frequent and occurs on the shoulders of cut-away neck jugs, 44, and on a large amphora with loop handles, 43.

A single example of the 'turban rim' characteristic of the iron age strata at Vardino, and




38

39

40 41 42

43 44

0 5 l0cms

FIG. 16 Assiros Phase 2 Early Iron Age.



258 K. A. WARDLE

45

46

47

48 49

0 5 lOcms





50 0 5 0cms


also at Vardaroftsa and Kastanas," was found above the destruction floor of phase 2. Conical knobs or warts occur on several vessels, usually at handle level, and a particularly interesting example of this type of decoration on a cut-away neck jug combines groove-encircled knobs after the style of 'Biickelkeramik' with neat incised triangles, 41 (PLATE 21c and d). This vessel has close parallels in southern Bulgaria, and suggests the westernmost distribution of a form of decoration, with several variations, known from the Troad to the Dobrugea.i0 This link is confirmed by a single example of grooving on the flattened upper surface of a handle fragment

49 Vardino, PM 217, nos. 415-6. Vardaroftsa, BSA xxvii (1925-26) fig. 12: o. Kastanas. fig. 17:2.

"0 Hinsel, Donau, 113. Babadag, Dacia N.S. VIII (1964) 101. Troy, Blegen, Troy IV, figs. 280, 281.



260 K. A. WARDLE

51 52

53 54 55

0 5 lOcms


which has close parallels both in Thrace and on Thasos," (PLATE 22f). New shapes can be seen in the cooking ware, though the distinctive stand is still in use.

There are ovoid jars with strongly everted rims and one, 47, 48, or two, 49, vertical handles. 'Pie crust' decoration is used on the rims while knobs are found on the body.

No Protogeometric imports or imitations or any other wheel-made ware was found in this level, apart from the Mycenaean survivals. This contrasts with Kastanas where very early PG

types have been recognised. A more advanced stage of iron age pottery is to be found in the uppermost building level,

phase 1, (FIG. 19). The ware is very much thinner, and harder fired and is often reddish or brick coloured, while the well burnished pieces are grey rather than brown. The cut-away neck

jugs have very angular necks and the grooving on the handles is deeper and more sharply angled, 51, 52. Incision occurs more regularly, especially on the rims of wishbone-handle bowls. These handles may either be short and horizontal with narrow ends, or larger and

nearly vertical with fan-like terminals. These terminals are sometimes elaborated into an animal or human protome, (PLATE 21f). The protrusion on the rim of this shape still exists but is short and rather angular. Knobs are still found but channelling seems to have gone out of use.

A few wheel-made sherds were found in this level, including the fine grey grooved ware known from many sites in the Vardar valley, 54. Two linear sherds were also found of which

51 Kentria on Thasos: AAA 1970 III, 216. ADelt 1972, B" Chronika 520, pl. 451 f. especially 457. Thrace: e.g.

Venedikov and Fol eds. Megalithi Thraciae, fig. 238.




one imitates a shape not current in southern Greece until the eighth Century BC.52 No

examples of the local Protogeometric found with this class of Macedonian iron age ware at Saratse have come to light at Assiros.51

The date of these two phases of iron age pottery cannot be determined precisely. At Saratse the local PG would suggest a date of 900 BC or later, while the wheel-made sherd at Assiros could suggest a date as late as 750 BC. The lower destruction level (phase 2) must be at least a

century later than the date of the Mycenaean cup in phase 6, to allow for the intervening building phases, that is to say later than 1050 BC, possibly as late as 1000 BC, but earlier than the stage represented at Saratse. A tenth century date would therefore be reasonable.

Finds other than pottery The shallow iron age deposits did not produce many finds other than pottery. Schist pot lids

and clay spindle whorls continue in use as do the heavy conical clay loomweights which were found in several places, including a group in room 5, together with a group of pot-handles trimmed to shape, while a flat trapezoidal schist weight with incision was found against the west wall of room 3. Another group of similar handles was found in phase 1 lying as if tied with a string.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the full study of the finds from Assiros is still at an early stage it seems possible to draw conclusions in several areas. The nature of a bronze age settlement can now be better defined, together with the repertoire of material to be found there. The date of the change from bronze to iron age can now be revised, even if the processes involved are still not clear. The relationship of iron age Assiros to other excavated sites, including cemeteries, can be seen more clearly as can the extent of the heritage from the bronze age and the links with the

regions to the north and east. In the bronze age we see a strong and continuous local tradition, exhibited not only in the

pottery but also in the plan of the settlement, which persisted unchanged for the better part of a millennium. The form of the settlement with its substantial terrace banks and probable defensive walls suggests a well organised and centralised community, rather than a simple village. If my impression of the area excavated so far as predominantly storerooms, rather than living quarters, is correct, then there is further reason to suppose a sophisticated social organisation. It may be that the majority of the community did not live on the mound itself, but was scattered in small hamlets in the neighbourhood, for the scale of the building works suggests a rather larger population than might be contained within the close perimeter of the mound. Recent investigations in the neighbourhood of Kastanas have found indications of an open settlement about 1500 m. from that site.54 We should perhaps visualise the mound at Assiros, and those elsewhere in Central Macedonia, as the defended nuclei of larger communities in the same way that both Middle Helladic and Mycenaean settlements in southern Greece often cluster round a strongpoint which at its most sophisticated may contain a palatial establishment. Confirmation of the defended nature of the bronze age sites in this area has recently been made by chance at Khrysavyi where a bulldozer has exposed a massive rubble wall approximately 3 m. high, which can surely have no other function.

52 Personal communication from Prof. J. N. Coldstream who has examined this sherd.

" PM fig. 111. 54 Hinsel, Kastanas, Abb. 26.



262 K. A. WARDLE

From the evidence at Assiros, as from sites such as Vardaroftsa, Agios Mamas and Saratse,55 it would seem that the local Macedonian pottery cannot readily be separated into middle and late bronze age stages. Many of the sites which have been considered late bronze age could date back to the beginning of the 2nd Millennium. Only at Molyvopyrgos does Grey Minyan provide certain evidence for a middle bronze age date, and here the character of local pottery is itself not clear.56

Throughout the bronze age history of Assiros the links with the lower Danube and Bulgaria can be seen clearly, especially in the incised ware as indeed at Vardaroftsa and at Kilindir and

Chauchitsa,57 which are both even closer to that frontier. Pottery of this form is rare on the coast where the sites are further removed from northern influences. The only change in the course of the bronze age is the introduction and adoption of Mycenaean pottery, but there is no accompanying effect on the settlement itself.

The date of transition to the iron age should now surely be lowered to match that generally accepted for southern Greece. It has long been assumed, particularly by those working in south east Europe, that the discovery of channelled wares in a burnt destruction level at Vardaroftsa

together with Mycenaean pottery of the 'granary' class provided a date of 1100 or even 1150 BC for the start of the iron age - especially since the bearers of the tradition would have arrived some time before the destruction itself.58 Re-examination of the so-called Lausitz wares found by Heurtley in this destruction level"5 shows them to be no different from the pottery of the iron age at Assiros, where they post-date Mycenaean, or at Kastanas, where they even

appear to post-date the earliest Protogeometric.60 The date of the Mycenaean from the burnt level is also unclear - the sherds are decorated with simple linear motifs such as apparently continue to be used quite late at Kastanas. Finally it may be reasonable to view the unity of the destruction level itself with a certain amount of circumspection, especially since two building levels are found within it.6' At Assiros, for example, no less than four separate destruction levels were encountered in little over half a metre, and it was not always possible at first to match up the different levels in different trenches.

Sandars has already suggested that the chronology of the iron age phases in the lower Danube area should be reconsidered since it relies on parallels in the Aegean whose contexts are still not securely dated.62 These parallels are, on the one hand, the channelled wares in Macedonia and on the other the 'Biickelkeramik' at Troy. As we have seen the new evidence from Macedonia suggests that the iron age developments there took place nearer to 1000 BC than 1100 BC, and there remains the question of the date of the destruction level at Troy which contained several whole 'Biickelkeramik' vases, (Troy VIIb 2). Although Blegen was satisfied that the Mycenaean sherds found in this level provided a date for it around 1100 BC, these sherds are small scraps, in contrast to the whole vases of the destruction floor, and only

55 Although Heurtley has assigned some types to the middle bronze period, such as his Second Incised Style, this is

relatively rare and the bulk of the material is hard to

distinguish, PM 89, 204. 56 BSA xxix (1927-28) 165, fig. 46. '7 PM 214, nos. 403-5, fig. 92.

58 BSA xxvii (1925-26) 10, 21, 63, PM 125, E.g. Snodgrass loc. cit. 323, Panayotov Studia Thracia 1 (1975); H. Muller-

Karpe Beitriige zur Chronologie der Urnfelderzeit 123, and M. Av6Q6vtxos, BeQ-ytvc I 190, on the other hand, have

already discussed the down-dating of this level. ' Loc. cit. fig. 12. I am not sure on what grounds Heurtley

distinguished between his 'Lausitz' handles (PM fig. 87; a-f)

and his Macedonian ones (fig. 106: c-e). No obvious difference was apparent when I examined this pottery.

60 Hinsel, Kastanas, Abb. 15:9 early PG (Schicht 11); Abb. 16 iron age (Schichten 9 & 10).

61 Loc. cit. 10 " . . . a layer about one metre thick

composed entirely of the debris of burnt reed huts. Two settlements at least are represented, both destroyed by fire.

(ca 5.50 - 4 m. Settlements 16, 17). In PM 38 Heurtley did not emphasise this point and it appears to have been generally overlooked. It is not clear whether any attempt was made to

separate these two settlements in excavation. 62 vide n. 18.




one which is not sufficiently characteristic to allow it to be assigned with confidence either to the Mycenaean or Protogeometric period, is any larger.63 It would perhaps therefore be more reasonable to divorce the 'Biickelkeramik' from the Mycenaean and date the destruction level rather later. A post-Mycenaean date for Troy VIIb 2 would not, I believe, conflict with evidence for the development of channelled wares in Bulgaria or in Roumania.64

At Assiros, at least, it is clear that the pottery of the iron age owes much to the bronze age tradition, especially in its ware and overall shape. The new traits of decoration belong to a broad spectrum of pottery groups which develop at the end of the bronze age from the middle Danube to the Black Sea and from the Troad to Macedonia.65 It should be emphasised, however, that there is a wide variation in preferred shapes and styles of decoration within this

spectrum as Hiinsel has demonstrated. Few of the vases from Assiros, for example, have exact

parallels in both shape and decoration further north or east. The relationship between the incised and paste-filled wares of the bronze age at Assiros and Bulgaria seems far closer, though even here only a single aspect of the whole pottery assemblage is in question. The same

picture is true of other settlement sites in central Macedonia, where there is no gap between the bronze and iron age levels, such as Vardino, Vardaroftsa and Kastanas.

At Assiros the transition is marked by a change in building practices and in settlement plan but this need be of no more than local significance. At Kastanas the continuity of the building tradition in the bronze age is not nearly so marked.66 More sites would need to be excavated before this change could be shown to be part of a general pattern. Another change which can be observed is the shift from the restricted mound settlements of the bronze age to larger but

probably still defended settlements which form a plateau rather than a mound - the so-called 'table' of early descriptions. Assiros may well have been abandoned in favour of the larger site at Agia Anna, while at Vardaroftsa the characteristic 'table' builds up around the base of the bronze age mound in the iron age, though the mound itself continues to be occupied for a

period. Anchialos and Olynthos are both examples of the plateau type of settlement which do not seem to have been occupied in the bronze age. This does not, however, seem to be a change which took place immediately at the end of the bronze age but rather a gradual process during the early part of the iron age. Some bronze age sites, such as Khrysavyi, already have the 'table' form. Many of these plateau type sites proved so suitable that occupation continued at least until the end of the Hellenistic period.

The relationship between Assiros and iron age sites in Western Macedonia is harder to assess. These are principally cemeteries, such as Vergina, Pateli and Florina,67 as well as isolated grave groups at Kozani, Aiani etc.68 It is unfortunate that we have no bronze age cemetery evidence from any part of Macedonia with which to compare these sites. Three distinct groups of ceramic material can be distinguished on the grounds of their decoration, though many shapes, such as the cut-away neck jug and the tall-necked jar are common to all areas. In Central Macedonia east of the Vardar, channelled decoration is common as we have seen, and incised decoration becomes more frequent. At Vergina there is a little channelled decoration, but the majority of the Macedonian pottery is undecorated. Local imitations of

Protogeometric, principally pendent-semicircle skyphoi in wheel-made ware, are frequent but

probably not to be dated before 900 BC. To the south and west of Vermion there is abundant

63 C. Blegen, Troy IV, fig. 279, especially: 13. 64 Pace Panayotov etc, n. 58. 65 Hiinsel, Donau 88-117. 66 Abb. 6-8. 67 Pateli: Izvestiya Russkavo Arkheologisheskavo Institut

Konstantinopolye iv: 3 (1898) 149; vi: 2-3 (1900) 472. Albania IV, 40. AE 1933 520. PM pl. xxiii. Florina: excavations by Kotsias, in Florina Museum.

68 BSA lxvi (1971) 353.



264 K. A. WARDLE

matt-painted decoration in a style using pendent triangles, particularly from Pateli, which has close parallels in Albania and in Epirus at Vitsa.69 Earlier versions of the same type of decoration can be seen at Barc in the Koritsa basin, where vases of this type were found with late LH IIIC in a tumulus burial,70 or at the settlement sites of Bouboushti, Maliq, and Tren, where precise dating is uncertain, but a final bronze age date is possible.7'

Given that the appearance of this painted ware in Western Macedonia is later than in Albania, and that the channelled wares of Central Macedonia are only part of a much larger group to the north, it seems reasonable to accept that ceramic influences from the north were introduced at the beginning of the iron age, and that there were at least two sources for these. Nevertheless it cannot be over-emphasised that these are influences only, which modified rather than supplanted the existing pottery types, where we know these, as at Assiros. The

potters of the iron age were surely descended from Macedonian bronze age ancestors. Since we have no information about earlier grave types, the use of tumulus burial at Vergina

cannot be evaulated: at Pateli - far nearer the area of Albania where the practice of tumulus burial goes back to the end of the middle bronze age72 - the graves are simple cists or pits grouped together in large numbers but without tumuli individually or collectively.73 In one

part of this cemetery a grave enclosure 24 m. in diameter was recorded. At Vitsa the graves are

frequently stone lined, or stone covered, and crowded together. Although there are late imitations of Mycenaean without context at Vergina it does not seem possible to date the

majority of the burials earlier than 900 BC,74 and a similar late date is almost certain for Pateli and Vitsa. Thus there is no consistent picture of burial types in northern Greece at this period, nor can many of them be assigned to the very beginning of the iron age.

There seems to be no especial reason for assuming that any of the destruction levels, which occur frequently at Assiros for example, should necessarily be assigned to hostile activity. Domestic catastrophes are equally devastating, especially considering the probable roof construction of branches and thatch covered with mud. In any case a destruction after the arrival of new forms, as postulated at Vardaroftsa since 1925, should hardly be attributed to newcomers who have already settled in. The appearance of the same forms only after a destruction would be far more convincing, but still need not imply the settlement of invaders.

At present it seems to me that the evidence from Assiros, at least, and probably from other sites in Macedonia argues for continuity as much as for major change. If, as is frequently asserted, new population groups did arrive in Macedonia at the end of the bronze age, whether over a shorter or a longer period, they were surely assimilated by the existing population, not

all-conquering invaders who drove them out. Even if the possibility of widespread migration into Macedonia is accepted, the revised date suggested above, on the basis of the new evidence from Assiros and Kastanas, would not permit the collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation in southern Greece to be attributed to these northern newcomers. Such a migration should rather be seen as one of the far-reaching consequences of the collapse.

Although Assiros is more remote from the mainstream of Aegean culture, whether

Mycenaean or Protogeometric, than such sites as Kastanas or Vardaroftsa, it is perhaps a more characteristic example of a Macedonian settlement and the continuing study of the material

69 Studime Historike 1969: 3, 159. The excavator of Vitsa, J. Vokotopoulou, has kindly allowed me to examine this material, of which preliminary reports have appeared in ADelt, Chronika for 1965 and the years following.

70 Studime Historike 1972: 4, 81.

71 Bouboushti: BSA xxviii (1926-27) 158. Maliq: Studia Albanica 1966: 1, 255. Tren: Studia Albanica 1967: 1, 143.

7" BUSS 1956: 1, 181, Vodhinb. BUSS 1957: 2, 76, Vajzi. 73 Izvestzya, n. 67.

71 A. M. Snodgrass, The Dark Age of Greece 132.




from this site will surely allow further precision of the role of Macedonia as an intermediary between the southern Aegean and the Danube region.

K.A. WARDLE APPENDIX

Bio-archaeological remains from Assiros Toumba

Assiros Toumba has proved reasonably rich in both the quality and quantity of its bio-

archaeological remains and so lends itself to a study of prehistoric patterns of refuse disposal on the site. As well as throwing light on the internal structure of the settlement and the location of activities therein, this study is also clarifying the behavioural status of the samples of seeds, bones and shells recovered, which should allow more reliable statements to be made about the economic basis of the site's prehistoric inhabitants.

As well as the collection by hand of rich samples, more dispersed carbonised plant remains were recovered from the bulk processing of soil with a froth flotation machine. 7 Over one hundred samples were taken from seventy more or less discrete contexts of a. variety of dates and these, together with a series of impressions taken from pottery, provided evidence for the

range of species present at Assiros. Only the thirty largest, discrete, carbonised samples were used for the more detailed consideration of crop processing techniques, agricultural practices and economic importance. Variables taken into account for this part of the study include the concentration of cultigens in the soil, the quantity of weeds accompanying the cultigens, the characteristics of the weed species (seed size, height of plant etc.) and the condition of the

grain. The accurate identification of some weed species presents problems and so a surface-

scanning electron microscope is being used as an additional aid. Some nine thousand fragments of bone and shell (mainly the former) have so far been

recovered from the trenches. Sieving was not practised systematically, but some quality control is provided by material retrieved from the wet-sieving of all soil passed through the froth flotation machine. As well as the usual identification of individual fragments of bone and shell, spatial patterning in the distribution of different categories of bone refuse is also being analysed in terms of weight: the amount of bone from different parts of the carcase (e.g. 'meat' and 'waste' cuts) and from different sizes of animal (cow/equid, pig/red deer etc.) has been recorded for each deposit.

From preliminary study, some patterning in the distribution of material around the site is

already apparent for the late bronze age. For example, the excavator has noted the greater build-up of refuse in 'yards' than 'interiors', while storage vessels seem to predominate on the

top and cooking vessels on the side of the mound. The carbonised seed samples exhibit a more or less continuous range of variability, but samples at one extreme seem to represent cleaned crops and those at the other extreme seem to consist predominantly of residues from cleaning. The clearest cases of the latter come from midden deposits on the side of the mound, while the cleanest crop samples come from a burnt structure on the top of the mound. The variety of

samples recovered from the top of the mound, however, suggests a wider range of domestic activities than could have been predicted solely from the cultural remains. The osteological remains are more plentiful than the botanical, but consistent differences between individual structures in the distribution of types of bone refuse have not yet been identified. Bone remains from the central, built-up portion of the mound, however, include a substantially lower

77, Similar to the machine described by H. N. Jarman, A. J. Legge and J. A. Charles in E. S. Higgs (ed.), Papers in

Economic Prehistory (Cambridge, 1972) 39 ff.



266 K. A. WARDLE

proportion of cattle bones than do the midden and road deposits on the side of the mound. Variation in the spatial distribution of bones has elsewhere been observed to be more marked for cattle than for pigs and sheep/goats76 and may reflect a greater level of bone discard before cooking and eating in the case of the larger animal.

Study of the spatial patterning of both organic and inorganic remains is still at a preliminary stage and so the interpretation of the bio- archaeological evidence in terms of economy can only be undertaken at the most general level. So far very little plant material has been recovered from the earliest levels, but the plentiful remains from the late bronze age and the sparse evidence from the early iron age indicate much the same range of cultigens: the cereals include the wheats einkorn (Triticum monococcum), emmer (T. dicoccum), spelt (T. spelta) and

probably bread/club or macaroni wheat (T. aestivum or T. durum), both two-row (Hordeum distichion) and six-row, hulled barley (H. vulgare) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum); pulses are represented by bitter vetch ( Vicia ervilia) and lentil (Lens sp.). Not all the cereals need have been grown as crops in their own right and lentils are only represented by a handful of seeds. Between the lower and upper occupation levels of the late bronze age there is an apparent concentration on a narrower range of wheat species, but this may simply reflect the particular contexts from which the samples are drawn. Pips were recovered from the

following fruits: grape (Vitis vinifera), fig (Ficus carica) and blackberry (Rubus fructicosus). Two seeds of Linum sp. (flax or linseed - a species which is often underrepresented among carbonised remains) indicate a possible source of fibre and/or oil. In terms of the range of

cultigens and edible plants present at the site, the picture at Assiros is very comparable with that recently obtained from the nearby and broadly contemporary site of Kastanas.77

Initial inspection of shells from the site by David Reese of St. John's College, Cambridge, showed the presence of cockles (Cardium sp.), some of which appeared on morphological grounds to be of estuarine origin. Other marine shells had been pierced, perhaps for use as ornaments, and one example of Murex trunculus, which had been collected dead, had

presumably been brought from the coast specifically for this purpose. These observations, combined with the possibility of spectrographic attribution of sources to imported pottery, are of interest for tracing the exchange relationships of the community at Assiros.

The larger mammalian fauna at Assiros includes cow, pig, sheep, goat, dog, ass, horse, red deer, fallow deer and roe deer and is virtually identical to that reported from Kastanas:" the horse is not reported at Kastanas, but so far only the early bronze age fauna is available, while at Assiros the presence of the horse is only confirmed in the early iron age levels. At both sites bones of the domesticates are far more common than those of deer, but at Kastanas cattle, and to a lesser extent pigs, predominate heavily over sheep/goats, while at Assiros the bones of both

sheep/goats and pigs far outnumber those of cattle. The possibility that this divergence, too, reflects a difference in time is suggested by a marked decrease in the proportion of cattle bones between the lower and upper bronze age levels at Assiros. In fact an increase in the frequency of sheep/goat at the expense of cattle seems to be a general feature of later neolithic and bronze age faunal spectra from Greece79 and may relate to a growing emphasis on wool

production or to the development of a more extensive pattern of agriculture. At Assiros, the

76 P. Halstead, I. Hodder and G. Jones, Norwegian Archaeological Review xi (1978) 118 ff.; P. Halstead and G.

Jones, Anthropologika i (in press). 77 H. Kroll, in Kastanas n. 19 above. 78 H. Reichstein, in Kastanas. At Assiros, remains of hare,

cat and tortoise have also been recovered from the trench; the material from the wet sieve has not yet been studied but

definitely includes remains of reptiles, small rodents, birds, fish and molluscs - also fragments of eggshell (David Reese, pers. comm.).

79 P. Halstead in I. Hodder, G. Isaac and N. Hammond

(eds.) Pattern of the Past: Studies in Honour of David Clarke

(Cambridge, 1980).



EXCAVATIONS AT ASSIROS, 1975-9267

preponderance of female over male sheep does not suggest an emphasis on the production of wool. The presence of three species of deer is a clear pointer to the existence of woodlands in the vicinity (and indeed these survived until very recently), but the remains of both hare and tortoise - encountered quite frequently at Assiros but virtually unknown at early bronze age Kastanas - may indicate the expansion of open country. Certainly, the considerable increase, between the early and late bronze age, in the number of settlements known in the Langadas region is likely to have had some impact on the local environment. It is hoped that study of the floral and faunal material from Assiros will illuminate the relationship between this alteration in settlement pattern, on the one hand, and environmental, economic and socio-political changes, on the other.

PAUL HALSTEAD

GLYNIS JONES



B.S.A. 75 PLATE 19

(a)

(b)

iT

(c)

(d)

EXCAVATIONS

AT

ASSIROS

1975-9

(a)

Site

from

south-east;

(b)

storeroom

with

settings

for

pithoi,

phase

9; (c) Phase

7, mud

brick

buildings;

(d)

Phase

7, street



PLATE 20 B.S.A. 75

..........

a (a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

EXCAVATIONS

AT

ASSIROS

1975-9

(a)

Phase

3, stone

wall

with

doorway;

(b)

Phase

2, mud

brick

building,

(c) Phase

2. loom

weights

and

jar

handles;

(d)

Phase

I, cobbling

and

?foundations.



B.S.A. 75 PLATE 21

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

EXCAVATIONS AT ASSIROS 1975-9

(a) and (b) Bronze Age jar with incision and paste filling; (c) and (d) Iron Age jar with incision (white fill added for photography); (e) Late Bronze Age jar with incision and paste filling, phase 8; (f) Iron Age handles with

protomes, phase i



PLATE 22 B.S.A. 75

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

EXCAVATIONS AT ASSIROS 1975-9

(a) Stone whetstones; (b) Stone moulds; (c) Bronze knife; (d) Bone pins; (e) Clay spindle whorls; (f) Iron Age decorated sherds



Excavations at Assiros Toumba 1975-1980, Annual of the British School at Athens, 76, 1980, 229-260

Documents

Transcript of Excavations at Assiros Toumba 1975-1980, Annual of the British School at Athens, 76, 1980, 229-260