Professor Irene Lemos: List of publications

A joint geoarchaeological research programme developed by CNRS, together with the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, the British School at Athens, the Harokopiou University of Athens and the local archaeological services (Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea), has endeavored to reconstruct the Holocene coastal landscape evolution in the vicinity of major archaeological sites along the southwest shoreline of Euboea Island (Greece), together with the history of human occupation. The sites of Lefkandi, Eretria, Amarynthos and the Lilas delta were selected for their rich archaeological record. During the work, 26 boreholes were drilled in the corresponding coastal plains. Laboratory analysis comprised the identification of mollusks and ostracods, together with granulometric analyses of the sediments, to characterize the different sedimentary environments. 71 radiocarbon dates provided a robust chronostratigraphic framework for the studied sites. In addition, a pollen sequence from Amarynthos was studied to reconstruct the vegetation history from ca. 5.500-4.300 (Neolithic times) and from 1.100-850 cal. BC (Early Iron Age). The results enable us to: (i) Reconstruct the Holocene shoreline migrations from the Lilas delta, in the north, to Amarynthos in the south. Three major phases of shoreline progradation are recorded at the end of the IVth/beginning of the IIIrd Millennium BC, at the beginning of the Ist Millennium BC and during the Ottoman period (xvth-xixth Cent. AD), while a marine incursion occurred only in Eretria during the IInd millennium BC; ii) reconstruct the sea level curve for the last 8 millennia in the West-Central Aegean Sea. A significant role of local tectonic vertical movements (uplift) is evident, attested by the presence of several hiatuses in sedimentation; (iii) reconstruct for the first time the vegetation history in the surroundings of Amarynthos, from Neolithic times and Early Iron Age, within the broader South Aegean-Attica environmental context, which has never been achieved before. Human activities (grazing and cereal cultivation) are recorded since at least Late Neolithic times where an open landscape dominated until at least the Early Iron Age.

In this paper, I will explore the period after 1200 BC which marks the beginning of significant transformations that took place after the collapse of the Mycenaean administration system. In particular, I will focus on the earlier part of the period and trace the changes in settlement planning, burial rites and cult. Specific regions and sites will be discussed which highlight not only important breaks but also continuities from the Mycenaean past. Recent discoveries and debates will also be summarised, illustrating the significance of this period

The relative chronology of the Aegean Iron Age is robust. It is based on minute stylistic changes in the Submycenaean, Protogeometric and Geometric styles and their sub-phases. Yet, the absolute chronology of the time-span between the final stages of Late Helladic IIIC in the late second millennium BCE and the archaic colonization of Italy and Sicily toward the end of the 8th century BCE lacks archaeological contexts that can be directly related to events carrying absolute dates mentioned in Egyptian/Near Eastern historical sources, or to well-dated Egyptian/Near Eastern rulers. The small number of radiocarbon dates available for this time span is not sufficient to establish an absolute chronological sequence. Here we present a new set of short-lived radiocarbon dates from the sites of Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth in Greece. We focus on the crucial transition from the Submycenaean to the Protogeometric periods. This transition is placed in the late 11th century BCE according to the Conventional Aegean Chronology and in the late 12th century BCE according to the High Aegean Chronology. Our results place it in the second half of the 11th century BCE. Copyright: © 2013 Toffolo et al.

This book is the most fundamental reinterpretation of Ancient Greek history, culture, and society in thirty years.

This is an up-to-date survey of Aegean archaeology at the beginning of the Iron Age (late eleventh and tenth centuries BC).