Making sense of Howell no. 24, (C1716)
In his important survey of Eastern Arcadia Howell
says this about the church of Ayios Konstandinos at Stadio in Arcadia:
“24. Stadhion (Akhourion) – Ayios Konstandinos
(plate 38c).
The
church of Ayios Konstandinos stands on a low mound at the northern edge of the
village of Stadhion. It lies about 200
m. from the crossroads at the centre of the village, to the right of a road
leading north towards Ayios Sostis.
Early Helladic … and Middle Helladic sherds … occurred in abundance over
an area about 100 m. in diameter around the church. Five obsidian fragments were also found …”[1]
And there’s more to this site than just some
sherds. The BCH, number 2423 announces, in
2007, the discovery of a habitation there.
They say this:
“Tegea, Stadium. Hill of Agios Konstantinos. The ΛΘ’ ΕΠΚΑ reports the discovery of a
settlement (fig. 1) occupied principally in the Early and Middle Helladic
periods but continuing into Late Helladic. A rectangular building with two
rooms (one over 25m2) has so far been partially excavated. The pottery
recovered includes an undecorated EH bowl and sherds of at least two storage
pithoi with rope decoration.”[2]
Going to the link which BCH provides gives us
a nice .pdf which goes into more detail about the find:
“Stadio, Agios Konstantinos Hill
Just outside Stadio stands a low hill that has been named after
the homonymous newer church on its top. Older surface surveys on the hill
resulted in the identification of prehistoric pottery. The excavation research
of the Ephorate that began in 2007 on the occasion of the request of the ecclesiastical
council for the construction of a multipurpose building, a short distance
southeast of the church, brought to light for the first time a prehistoric
settlement with continuous habitation from the Early Helladic period to the
late Mycenaean (Fig. 2). The main phase of use of the site dates back to the
Early Helladic and Middle Helladic period. At present, a partially rectangular
building with a DDB-ANA orientation has been excavated, which has a bilateral
arrangement and is similar to the most widespread type of residence in the
Aegean area since the early Bronze Age. One of the two rooms has an interior
space of over 25 m². Among the most characteristic ceramic samples are an
intact first-generation flask and fragments of at least two strands with rope-like
decoration.”[3]
So. In Howell’s time when
it was merely a sherd scatter it has now become a full-fledged habitation; even
an important one. So where is it? Ah.
That’s the problem. Let’s go to
the map.
In this first satellite view we see the general area in Arcadia
where Stadio is located. I have marked
some other well-known spots such as Nauplio, etc. Stadio is just a few hundred yards to the
east of Tegea.
In this second satellite view I show the area in a close-up. Stadio is to the lower right center. The red arrow by ‘Stadio’ points to the crossroads
mentioned by Howell. The large church in
the center of Stadio is Ayios Dimitrios.
It is not the church that Howell et al. are talking about.
Leading from Stadio to Ayios Sostis to the north the road passes
just to the east of Tegea Archaeological Park.
On the way it passes a church which is on the right. It’s the identification of that church which
is in question. Here’s another closeup:
Let’s unpack this picture.
The red circle at the lower R is centered at the crossroads of
Stadio. It is 200 m. in radius. Theoretically the church of Ayios
Konstantinos should be on or near the northern edge of that circle. There is no church in that area. Our candidate church which we identified in
the last picture (and whose name I do not know) is nearly 500 meters from the
northern edge of Stadion. That’s the
lavender circle. It is centered on the
possible church and has a radius of 484 m.
I drew several routes starting from the main crossroads in Stadion. The blue route goes to the edge of the 200 m.
circle to the west. No churches
there. The yellow route shows the main
way to Ayios Sostis. It does go past our
candidate church. The church is on the
right of that route which it should be (Howell is thinking of the route as
running from Stadio to Ayios Sostis). But
that yellow route is nearly 700 m. long.
The green route just starts at the crossroads and runs almost exactly
200 m. to the 200 m. radius circle edge.
No church at the end of the green route either. So is the church at the end of the yellow
route our sought-after church? Even
though it’s much further away from Stadio than 200 m.?
Regrettably I do not know the answer.
I suspect that at one time (it’s been nearly 50 years since Howell
wrote his description) the church of Ayios Konstantinos was located somewhere
else. The Greek people do move and
rebuild their churches from time to time so this is not impossible. There could be a clue in the EPKA
announcement where they say: ‘stands a low hill that has been named after the
homonymous newer church on its top’. (‘…τον ομώνυμο νεότερο ναό στην κορυφή του.). ‘Neotero’. This is
the comparative form and just means ‘younger’ or ‘newer’. Although I think that the Greek is mushy at
this point they appear to be trying to tell us that this church of Ayios
Konstantinos is ‘newer’; perhaps has been rebuilt. Our candidate church does stand on a barely
perceptible hill. It peaks at the
cemetery about 3 m. above the level. If
this is correct then EPKA’s announcement does refer to our church (F2689) at 37.462022
N, 22.430321 E.
But if
this is Howell's church then that raises additional
difficulties.
Case 1. It was originally located somewhere nearer Stadio. That means that the finds of Howell cannot be
associated to the EPKA finds even though EPKA clearly says ‘Older surface
surveys on the hill resulted in the identification of prehistoric pottery’.
Case 2. It was never rebuilt and is still in the same place or it was rebuilt in the same place. If EPKA is telling us that Howell’s finds and
the finds announced in 2007 are from the same place then we still have the
problem that this putative Ayios Konstantinos does not at all conform to Howell’s
directions.
I trust
that I’ve muddied the waters sufficiently for today.
For the purposes of my atlas I’m placing C1716
(Stadhion: Ayios Konstandinos) at this new church. But the difficulties are obvious. If anyone knows exactly where the church of
Ayios Konstandinos near Stadio is, or was, or what in the heck EPKA is on about then please let me know.
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Status of the Mycenaean Atlas Project
Currently prototyping an alpha online version of the Atlas. I'm probably about a month away from making it available.
I've recently received a large database of Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in continental Greece and the islands. I estimate that it will add 1200+ more unique sites in addition to additional information about the sites that I already have.
Anyone who would like to have a copy of the MAP database can send an e-mail to bobconsoli 'at' gmail.com or leave a comment on any of my posts.
A large (about 2400+ page) .pdf document which describes the entire database is available for the asking.
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I can and will make .kml or .kmz files, which can be opened directly in Google Earth, available to those who would like them.
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Notes
[1] Howell [1970] p. 91.
[2] http://chronique.efa.gr/index.php/fiches/voir/2423/
[3] ΕΦΟΡΕΙΑ
ΠΡΟΪΣΤΟΡΙΚΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΚΛΑΣΙΚΩΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ, p. 123, ‘Στάδιο, λόφος Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου’. Google translate with my edits.
Biblio
Howell [1970]: Howell,
R. "A Survey of Eastern Arcadia in
Prehistory" The Annual of the
British School at Athens. 65. November,
1970. 79-127.
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