Abstract
The ash altar to Zeus, located on a peak of Mt. Lykaion (Greece), consists of a thick, anthropogenic deposit that formed as a result of repeated deposition of burnt offerings. Excavations conducted from 2007 to 2010 uncovered evidence of a long history of use of the mountain summit as a purely ritual locality. Micromorphological analyses of sediment from the southern area of the altar confirm that a majority of the sedimentary components are microscopic artifacts sourced from combustion activities. The basal units comprise the remnants of a thin soil which contains inclusions of charcoal, burned bone, and fat-derived char and is associated with Mycenaean (sixteenth–twelfth centuries BC) materials. Ritual burning activities in the southern area peaked in the Protogeometric through Classical periods (tenth–fourth centuries BC), with intensive burning associated with the practice of thysia (ritual sacrifice) yielding a deposit in which the <2 mm particle size fraction is composed almost entirely of burned bone, wood ashes, charcoal, and other charred materials. Both the basal and uppermost portions of the sequence were impacted by decalcification, which resulted in the dissolution of ashes and surficial weathering of rock fragments. Postdepositional bioturbation also contributed to the observed distribution of archaeological materials within the feature. The geoarchaeological analyses suggest that similar types of burning activities were conducted in Mycenaean and later times. This finding is relevant to hypothesized continuity of cult between the Bronze and Iron Ages and makes Mt. Lykaion one of the very few sites in the entire Greek world where ritual continuity can be demonstrated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angelucci DE (2008) Geoarchaeological insights from a Roman age incineration feature (ustrinum) at Enconsta de Sant’Ana (Lisbon, Portugal). J Archaeol Sci 35(9):2624–2633
Angelucci DE, Boschian G, Fontanals M, Pedrotti A, Vergès JM (2009) Shepherds and karst: the use of caves and rock-shelters in the Mediterranean region during the Neolithic. World Archaeol 41(2):191–214
Badhreenath S, Achyuthan H, Haricharan S, Mohandas KP (2011) Saluvankuppam coastal temple excavation and application of soil micromorphology. Curr Sci 100(7):1071–1075
Belis A (2014) Fire on the mountain: A comprehensive study of Greek mountaintop sanctuaries. Princeton University, Princeton
Bell C (1997) Ritual: perspectives and dimensions. Oxford University Press, USA
Boivin N (2000) Life rhythms and floor sequences: excavating time in rural Rajasthan and Neolithic Çatalhöyük. World Archaeol 31(3):367–388
Boivin N (2004) Landscape and cosmology in the south Indian Neolithic: new perspectives on the Deccan ashmounds. Camb Archaeol J 14(2):235–257
Bouman, M.T.I.J., van Kappel, K., & Verniers, L.P. (2012). Location, location, location: the construction and preservation of Roman burial mounds in the Dutch River delta. eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies
Brain CK (1993) The occurrence of burnt bones at Swartkrans and their implications for the control of fire by early hominids. Transv Mus Monogr 2:229–242
Burkert W (1983) Homo Necans: the anthropology of ancient Greek sacrificial ritual and myth (P. Bing, Trans.). University of California Press, Berkeley
Canti MG, Linford N (2000) The effects of fire on archaeological soils and sediments: temperature and colour relationships. Proc Prehist Soc 66:385–395
Clark JL, Ligouis B (2010) Burned bone in the Howieson’s Poort and post-Howieson’s Poort Middle Stone Age deposits at Sibudu (South Africa): behavioral and taphonomic implications. J Archaeol Sci 37(10):2650–2661
Cook AB (1925) Zeus; a study in ancient religion. The University Press, Cambridge
Cosmopoulos MB (2003) Mycenaean religion at Eleusis: the architecture and stratigraphy of Megaron B. In: Cosmopoulos MB (ed) Greek mysteries: the archaeology of ancient Greek secret cults. Routledge, London, pp 1–23
Courty MA, MacPhail RI, Wattez J (1991) Soil micromorphological indicators of pastoralism; with special reference to Arene Candide, Finale Ligure, Italy. Riv Stud Liguri 57(1–4):127–150
Cremeens DL (1995) Pedogenesis of Cotiga Mound, a 2100-year-old Woodland mound in southwest West Virginia. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59(5):1377–1388
Davis, G. H. (2008). Archaeological elements of Mt. Lykaion Sanctuary of Zeus (southern Peloponnesus) in relation to tectonics and structural geology. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 012002). IOP Publishing
Davis GH (2009) Geology of the Sanctuary of Zeus, Mount Lykaion, southern Peloponnesus, Greece, and field guide. J Virtual Explor 33(1)
Dreimanis A (1962) Quantitative gasometric determination of calcite and dolomite by using Chittick apparatus. J Sed Petrol 32(3):520–529
Duchaufour P (1998) Handbook of pedology. AA. Balkema, Rotterdam
Dunnell RC, Stein JK (1989) Theoretical issues in the interpretation of microartifacts. Geoarchaeology 4(1):31–41
Durn G, Ottner F, Slovenec D (1999) Mineralogical and geochemical indicators of the polygenetic nature of terra rossa in Istria, Croatia. Geoderma 91(1):125–150
Ekroth G (2007) Meat in ancient Greece: sacrificial, sacred or secular? Food Hist 5(1):249–272
Ekroth, G (2008) Burnt, cooked or raw? Divine and human culinary desires at Greek animal sacrifice. In A. Michaels & C.L. Ambos (Eds.), Transformations in sacrificial practices, from antiquity to modern times (pp. 87–112). Berlin
Fladmark KR (1982) Microdebitage analysis: initial considerations. J Archaeol Sci 9(2):205–220
Fogelin L (2007) The archaeology of religious ritual. Ann Rev Anthropol 36:55–71
Genova N, Meloni S, Oddone M, Melis P (2001) On the origin of some red soils from Sardinia (Italy): a neutron activation analysis investigation. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 249(2):355–360
Goldberg P (1979) Geology of late bronze Age mudbrick from Tel Lachish. Tel Aviv: J Ins Archaeol Tel Aviv Univ 1979(1–2):1–2
Goldberg P (2003) Some observations on Middle and Upper Paleolithic ashy cave and rockshelter deposits in the Near East. In: Goring-Morris AN, Belfer-Cohen A (eds) More than meets the eye: studies on Upper Palaeolithic diversity in the Near East. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp 19–32
Goldberg P, Bar-Yosef O (1998) Site formation processes in Kebara and Hayonim Caves and their significance in Levantine prehistoric caves. In: Akazawa T, Aoki K, Bar-Yosef O (eds) Neandertals and modern humans in western Asia. Plenum, New York, pp 107–125
Goldberg P, Berna F (2010) Micromorphology and context. Quat Int 214(1–2):56–62
Goldberg P, Macphail RI (2006) Practical and theoretical geoarchaeology. Blackwell, Oxford
Goldberg P, Miller C, Schiegl S, Ligouis B, Berna F, Conard N et al (2009) Bedding, hearths, and site maintenance in the Middle Stone Age of Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 1(2):95–122
Halstead P, Isaakidou V (2004) Faunal evidence for feasting: burnt offerings from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos. In: Halstead P, Barrett JC (eds) Food, cuisine and society in prehistoric Greece (vol 136–154). Oxbow Books, Oxford
Hamilakis, Y. (2003). Animal sacrifice and Mycenaean societies: preliminary thoughts on the zooarchaeological evidence from the sanctuary at Ag. Konstantinos, Methana. In E. Konsolaki (Ed.), Argosaronikos: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the History and Archaeology of the Argosaronic Gulf, Poros 26–29 June 1998 (pp. 249–256). Athens
Hamilakis Y, Konsolaki E (2004) Pigs for the gods: burnt animal sacrifices as embodied rituals at a Mycenaean sanctuary. Oxford J Archaeol 23(2):135–151
Hanson M, Cain CR (2007) Examining histology to identify burned bone. J Archaeol Sci 34(11):1902–1913
Hollenback, KL (2010) Ritual and religion. In Behavioral archaeology: principles and practice (pp. 156–163)
Huber S (2003) Eretria XIV, L’aire sacrificielle au nord du sanctuaire d’Apollon Daphnéphoros. Un rituel des époque géometrique et archaique. Payot, Lausanne
Huisman DJ, Braadbaart F, van Wijk IM, van Os BJH (2012) Ashes to ashes, charcoal to dust: micromorphological evidence for ash-induced disintegration of charcoal in Early Neolithic (LBK) soil features in Elsloo (The Netherlands). J Archaeol Sci 39(4):994–1004
Hull KL (1987) Identification of cultural site formation processes through microdebitage analysis. Am Antiquity 52:772–783
Isaakidou V, Halstead P, Davis J, Stocker S (2002) Burnt animal sacrifice at the Mycenaean ‘Palace of Nestor’, Pylos. Antiquity 76(291):86–92
Johansen PG (2004) Landscape, monumental architecture, and ritual: a reconsideration of the South Indian ashmounds. J Anthropol Archaeol 23(3):309–330
Karkanas P, & Stratouli G (2008) Neolithic lime plastered floors in Drakaina Cave, Kephalonia Island, western Greece: evidence of the significance of the site. The Annual of the British School at Athens, 27–41
Karkanas P, Bar-Yosef O, Goldberg P, Weiner S (2000) Diagenesis in prehistoric caves: the use of minerals that form in situ to assess the completeness of the archaeological record. J Archaeol Sci 27(10):915–929
Karkanas P, Dabney MK, Smith RAK, Wright JC (2012) The geoarchaeology of Mycenaean chamber tombs. J Archaeol Sci 39(8):2722–2732
Kilian K (1981) Zeugnisse Mykenischer Kultausübung in Tiryns. In R. Hagg & N. Marinatos (Eds.), Sanctuaries and cults in the Aegean Bronze Age (pp. 49–58). Stockholm
Kontopoulos K (1898) Praktika, 17–18
Kourouniotes K (1903) Excavations of Lykaion. Praktika, 50–52
Kourouniotes K (1904) Excavations at Lykaion. Praktika, 153–214
Kourouniotes K (1909) Excavations at Lykaion. Praktika 185–200
Luby EM, Gruber MF (1999) The dead must be fed: symbolic meanings of the shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay area. Camb Archaeol J 9:95–108
Macphail RI (2010) Archaeological materials. In: Stoops G, Marcelino V, Mees F (eds) Interpretation of micromorphological features of soils and regoliths. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 589–622
Matthews W (1998). Report on sampling strategies, microstratigraphy, and micromorphologyof depositional sequences at Çatalhöyük, 1997. In Çatalhöyük Archive Report
Matthews W (2003) Microstratigraphic sequences: indications of uses and concepts of space. Excavations Tell Brak 4:377–388
Matthews, W. (2005). Micromorphological and microstratigraphic traces of uses and concepts of space. In I. Hodder (Ed.), Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: reports from the 1995–1999 seasons (pp. 355–398).
Matthews W, French CAI, Lawrence T, Cutler DF, Jones MK (1997) Microstratigraphic traces of site formation processes and human activities. World Archaeol 29(2):281–308
McAnany PA, Hodder I (2009) Thinking about stratigraphic sequence in social terms. Archaeol Dialogues 16(1):1–22
McNiven IJ (2012) Ritualized middening practices. J Archaeol Method Theory 1–36
Meignen L, Goldberg P, Bar Yosef O (2007) The hearths at Kebara Cave and their role in site formation processes. In: Bar Yosef O, Meignen L (eds) Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel: the Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeology, part 1. Cambridge: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Mentzer, S. M. (2009). Bone as a fuel source: the effects of initial fragment size distribution. In: Théry-Parisot I, Costamagno S and Henry A (eds) Gestion des Combustibles au Paléolithique et au Mésolithique, British Archaeological Reports, Series 1914: Proceedings of the XV World Congress (Lisbon, 4–9 September 2006), 53–64.
Mentzer SM (2011) Macro- and micro-scale geoarchaeology of Üçağızlı Caves I and II, Hatay, Turkey. University of Arizona, Tucson
Mentzer SM (2012) Microarchaeological approaches to the identification and interpretation of combustion features in prehistoric archaeological sites. J Archaeol Method Theory 1–53
Miller, C. (2014). Formation processes, paleoenvironments, and settlement dynamics at the paleolithic cave sites of Hohle Fels and Geißenklösterle: a geoarchaeological and micromorphological perspective. Tübingen: Karns Verlag.
Miller C, Conard NJ, Goldberg P, Berna F (2009) Dumping, sweeping and trampling: experimental micromorphological analysis of anthropogenically modified combustion features. P@lethnologie 2009:25–37
Pausanias (1965) Description of Greece (J.G. Frazer, Trans.). Biblo and Tannen, New York
Pye K (1992) Aeolian dust transport and deposition over Crete and adjacent parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Earth Surf Proc Land 17(3):271–288
Rentzel, P. (2014). Spuren der Nutzung im Mithraeum von Biesheim - Mikomorphologische Untersuchungen. Chapitre 12 - Annexe. C. Fortuné, Le Mithraeum, une fouille ancienne revisitée. In Reddé (ed), Oedenburg II (pp. 796–802).
Richards C, & Thomas J (1984) Ritual activity and structured deposition in later Neolithic Wessex. Neolithic Studies, 189–218
Romano DG (2005) A new topographical and architectural survey of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Mount Lykaion. In: Ostby E (ed) Ancient Arcadia, vol 8. The Norwegian Institute at Athens, Athens, pp 381–396
Romano, D.G., Voyatzis, M.E., & (with contributions from B. Starkovich, G.D., and S. Mentzer). (2014). Mt. Lykaion excavation and survey project, part 1: upper sanctuary: preliminary report 2004–2010. Hesperia.
Rosen, A.M. (1993). Microartifacts as a reflection of cultural factors in site formation. In: Goldberg P, Nash DT (eds), Formation processes in archaeological context. Monographs in World Archaeology: 17 (pp. 141–148): Prehistory Press.
Rupp, D. (1974). The Greek altars of the Northeastern Peloponnese, ca. 750/725 B.C. - ca. 300/275 B. C., Bryn Mawr College.
Sahin, M. (1972). Die Entwicklung der griechischen Monumentalaltäre. University of Köln
Salisbury RB (2012) Engaging with soil, past and present. J Mater Culture 17(1):23–41
Schiegl S, Goldberg P, Bar-Yosef O, Weiner S (1996) Ash deposits in Hayonim and Kebara Caves, Israel: macroscopic, microscopic and mineralogical observations, and their archaeological implications. J Archaeol Sci 23:763–781
Schiegl S, Goldberg P, Pfretzschner H-U, Conard NJ (2003) Paleolithic burnt bone horizons from the Swabian Jura: distinguishing between in situ fireplaces and dumping areas. Geoarchaeology 18(5):541–565
Schiffer MB (1976) Behavioral archeology. Academic, New York
Schiffer MB (1996) Formation processes of the archaeological record. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
Shear TL (1984) The Athenian Agora: excavations of 1980–1982. Hesperia 53:1–57
Sherwood SC, Kidder TR (2011) The DaVincis of dirt: geoarchaeological perspectives on Native American mound building in the Mississippi River basin. J Anthropol Archaeol 30(1):69–87
Sherwood SC, Ousley SD (1995) Quantifying microartifacts using a personal computer. Geoarchaeology 10(6):423–428
Sherwood SC, Simek JF, Polhemus RR (1995) Artifact size and spatial process: macro- and microartifacts in a Mississippian house. Geoarchaeology 10(6):429–455
Simpson IA, Milek KB, Guðmundsson G (1999) A reinterpretation of the great pit at Hofstaðir, Iceland using sediment thin section micromorphology. Geoarchaeology 14(6):511–530
Soffer O, Vandiver P, Klima, B., & Svoboda, J. (1993). The pyrotechnology of performance art: Moravian Venuses and wolverines. In Before Lascaux: the complex record of the early Upper Paleolithic (pp. 259–275). CRC
Starkovich BM, Hodgins GWL, Voyatzis ME, Romano DG (2013) Dating gods: radiocarbon dates from the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion (Arcadia, Greece). Radiocarbon 55(2–3):501–513
Stein JK, Teltser PA (1989) Size distributions of artifact classes: combining macro- and micro-fractions. Geoarchaeology 4(1):1–30
Stocker SR, Davis JL (2004) Animal sacrifice, archives, and feasting at the Palace of Nestor. Hesperia 73(2):179–195
Stoops G (2003) Guidelines for analysis and description of soil and regolith thin sections. Soil Science Society of America Inc
Tipping R, Carter S, Johnston D (1994) Soil pollen and soil micromorphological analyses of old ground surfaces on Biggar Common, Borders Region, Scotland. J Archaeol Sci 21(3):387–401
Van Keuren S & Roos CI (2012) Geoarchaeological evidence for ritual closure of a kiva at Fourmile Ruin, Arizona. Journal of Archaeological Science
Villa P, Castel J-C, Beauval C, Bourdillat V, Goldberg P (2004) Human and carnivore sites in the European Middle and Upper Paleolithic: similarities and differences in bone modification and fragmentation. Revue Paléobiologie Gèneve 23(2):705–730
Villagran XS, Gianotti C (2012) Earthen mound formation in the Uruguayan lowlands (South America): micromorphological analyses of the Pago Lindo archaeological complex. J Archaeol Sci 40(2):1093–1107
Wadley L, Sievers C, Bamford M, Goldberg P, Berna F, Miller C (2011) Middle Stone Age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa. Science 334:1388–1391
Walker WH (1999) Ritual, life histories, and the afterlives of people and things. J Southwest 41:383–405
Walker WH (2002) Stratigraphy and practical reason. Am Anthropol 104(1):159–177
Wright JC (2004) The Mycenaean feast: an introduction. Hesperia 73(2):121–132
Yaalon DH (1997) Soils in the Mediterranean region: what makes them different? Catena 28(3):157–169
Yassoglou N, Kosmas C, Moustakas N (1997) The red soils, their origin, properties, use and management in Greece. Catena 28(3):261–278
Yavis C (1949) Greek altars, origins and typology. St. Louis University Press, St. Louis
Zilhão J (2005) Burial evidence for social differentiation of age classes in the Early Upper Paleolithic. Etud Res Arch Univ Liege 111:231–241
Acknowledgments
Portions of this work were supported by The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) and National Science Foundation (NSF) grants (BCS#1125523) to M. Voyatzis and D.G. Romano and The American School of Classical Studies at Athens Wiener Laboratory Travel grant to S. Mentzer. The authors also wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by Mr. and Mrs. N. Karabots, the Karabots Foundation, and Mrs. A. Merle-Smith. In addition, G. Davis, D. Diffendale, A. Basa, A. Belis, A. Rohn, and E. Barnes contributed valuable insights into the formation processes of the altar and assisted with sample collection in the field. The Department of Geosciences, the School of Anthropology, and the Arizona State Museum provided access to scientific equipment at the University of Arizona. Additional analyses were conducted using equipment provided by the Institute for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tübingen. Finally, the authors would like to extend warm thanks to C. Roos and E.C. Wells for organizing the Society for American Archaeology session on the geoarchaeology of ritual behavior and sacred spaces, as well as for compiling and editing the manuscripts that comprise this special volume. B. Starkovich and C. Miller provided valuable comments on the manuscript and we thank them for their work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOCX 24 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mentzer, S.M., Romano, D.G. & Voyatzis, M.E. Micromorphological contributions to the study of ritual behavior at the ash altar to Zeus on Mt. Lykaion, Greece. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 1017–1043 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0219-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0219-y