Sanctuary of Athena (and Apollo?)

GENERAL

The site of Koukounaries occupies an acropolis on the SW of the bay of Naousa, on the NE side of the island. The site was occupied from LH IIIC down to the mid 7th c. B.C. The sanctuary of Athena lies on a terrace on the SE slope of the hill. Due to its location it can be considered as urban. The temple of the goddess and a deposit were excavated. A hearth, found at the center of the plateau of the site was associated with an earlier cult of a fertility or a chthonian deity.

MONUMENTS

TEMPLE OF ATHENA. The temple consists of a rectangular room, 9,50 x 6,40 m and is orientated E-W. The walls are made of schist stones. The monolithic threshold is 1.42 m long and belonged to a large double door. A bench made of schist runs along the north and east walls of the building. A circular marble base (diam. 0,31 m) for the positioning of a wooden column was axially placed at the western part of the room, while a second one can be restored in the eastern part. Finally, a bin-like structure constructed of upright schist slabs was found at the center of the temple. It might have served as an offering table.

The temenos, a rectangular area, measuring 7,00 x 7,32 m, lies east of the temple. Its east and north sides were bordered by walls. Against the north wall, a post-Geometric stone structure (1,58 x 0,80 m) has been identified as an altar. A second stone structure, found at a deeper level, has interpreted as its predecessor, being in use before the construction of the temple and the peribolos of the temenos. It must have served an open-air cult. The presence of Mycenaean sherds may indicate a continuous use of the area since the Late Bronze Age.

On the terrace below the temple, a large deposit came to light. It contained stones of the temple walls, as well as fragmentary pottery and other votive material, which must have been removed from the temple and the sacred area.

HEARTH. A MG hearth was uncovered at the upper plateau of the hill, beneath the floor of a LG structure in square E4. It contained an ash layer with fragmentary pottery, mostly open vessels and oinochoai, spindle-whorls, a clay phallus, as well as animal bones and sea shells. The hearth is perhaps associated with a household cult of a fertility or a chthonian deity.

CAVE. On the top of the hill, cult activity must have taken place in a cave during the Geometric Period.

FINDS                                                              

TEMPLE OF ATHENA:

Clay Vessels

Lamps

Loom Weights

Figurines (mostly seated females wearing a polos)

Jewellery (bird figurine, presumably a pendant, fibulae)

Armour (arrowhead)

Clay plaques, with suspension holes, representing in relief or paint the female deity

Animal bones: Burnt

Mollusks

Comments: The vast majority of the finds was discovered in the votive deposit. The interior of the temple was disturbed and no significant finds were found in the undisturbed contexts.

HEARTH: Clay phallus, sherds, animal bones and sea shells

CHRONOLOGY

The material from the temple extends from the end of the 8th c. (Late Geometric Period) to the 4th c. (Classical Period).

The finds from the deposit, S of the temple terrace cover the same chronological period.

The material from the temenos dates from the Middle Geometric to the Classical Period. Late LH IIIC, Protogeometric and Subprotogeometric sherds suggest previous ritual activity in the area. A number of Early Cycladic finds are mentioned.

It seems that the earliest cultic activities took place in the open air, before the construction of the temple which has been placed at the transition from the 8th to the 7th c. or around the middle of the 7th c.

IDENTIFICATION

The deity has been identified on the basis of inscribed dedications (graffiti?), ΑΘΗΝΑΙΗΣ, upon clay vessels. Athena must have been worshipped together with Apollo, as indicated by a few graffiti.

RECORDS

Excavation Date: 1973, 1976-1978,1983-1989

Institution/Excavator: Greek Archaeological Society/Schilardi D.V.

Excavation Type: Systematic

REFERENCES

Primary Publications:

• Schilardi D. V. 1973. Paros, Report II: the 1973 Campaign, JFA 2: 82
• Schilardi D. V. 1976. Ἀνασκαφαὶ Πάρου, Praktika 1976: 289
• Schilardi D. V. 1977 Ἀνασκαφὲς στὴν Πάρο, Praktika 1977: 373
• Schilardi D. V. 1978. Ἀνασκαφὴ στὴν Πάρο, Praktika 1978: 203
• Schilardi D. V. 1983. Ἀνασκαφὴ στὴν Πάρο, Praktika 1983: 286-293
• Schilardi D. V. 1984a. Πάρος, Ergon 1984: 70
• Schilardi D. V. 1984b. Ἀνασκαφὴ στὴν Πάρο, Praktika 1984: 286-293
• Schilardi D. V. 1985a. Πάρος, Ergon, 1985: 53
• Schilardi D. V. 1985b. Ἀνασκαφὴ στὴν Πάρο, Praktika 1985: 117-143
• Schilardi D. V. 1986. ἈνασκαφὴΠάρου, Praktika 1986: 179-200
• Schilardi D. V. 1987. ἈνασκαφὴΠάρου, Praktika 1987: 219, 227-236
• Schilardi D. V. 1989. ἈνασκαφὴΠάρου, Praktika 1989: 257-262
• Schilardi D. V. 1983. The decline of the geometric settlement of Koukounaries at Paros, Hägg R. (ed), The Greek Renaissance of the Eighth Century B.C.: Tradition and Innovation, Proceedings of the second International Symposium at the Swedish Institute in Athens, 1-5 June 1981, Stockholm, 175-177
• Schilardi D. V. 1988. The temple of Athena at Koukounaries, Hägg R. (ed), Early Greek Cult Practice, Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 26-29 June 1986, Stockholm,41-48
• Schilardi D. V.  1996. Il culto ed il santuaria di Athena a Koukounaries, Lanzillota E. (ed), Le Cicladi ed il mondo Egeo. Atti del Seminario internazionale di studi, Roma, 19-21 novembre 1992, Rome, 33-64
• Schilardi D. V.  2002. The Emergence of Paros the Capital, Pallas 58: 229-240

Secondary Publications:

• Gounaris A. 2005. Cult places in the Cyclades during the Protogeometric and Geometric periods : their contribution in interpreting the rise of the Cycladic poleis, Yeroulanou M., Stamatopoulou M. (eds), Architecture and Archaeology in the Cyclades, papers in honour of J.J.Coulton, Oxford, 62, n° 44
• Mazarakis Ainian, A. 1997. From Rulers’ Dwellings to Temples. Architecture, Religion and Society in Early Iron Age Greece (1100-700 B.C.), Jonsered (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 122), 107, 185-188, 329
• Mermoz J. 2010. La vie religieuse des Cyclades de l’HR IIIC à la fin de la période archaïque, Lyon, PhD Thesis, 91-96
• Morris I. 1988. Tomb Cult and the Greek Renaissance: the Past in the Present in the 8th Century B.C., Antiquity 62: 147, 751, 753