Location of the tholos tomb C576
In the southeast of the island of Zakynthos there were,
before 2005, two major discoveries that can be plausibly dated to the Bronze
Age. Since 2005 Professor van
Wijngaarden has led numerous surveys to this part of the island and
considerably enlarged our understanding of this area. But, right now, I am concerned with the two primary
discoveries which date back at least to the 1930’s.
First let’s look at the geography. This area of Zakynthos consists of an
east-facing plain bordered on the west by a range of low hills. Cape Kalogeras is the severely eroded
promontory at the upper right in our first image here. At the
base of Cape Kalogeras is the little populated area of Porto Roma.
Proceeding to the extreme south we come to
Cape Yerakas (variously transliterated as Gerakas and Gherakis). Yerakas marks the southern boundary of
Triodhia Bay. The beach which it
shelters on its east side is known as Gerakas Beach and the part of this same
beach to the north is sometimes known as Triodi (Triodhia) Beach. In the center of this little peninsula (and
dominating what has been an agricultural area) is Vasilikos. Up to the northwest is the range of small
hills I mentioned and which average about 180 m. elevation.
Now that we know where everything is let’s see
what Simpson has to say:
“The Kalogeros promontory is about a kilometre
east of Vasiliko, and immediately east of the taverna at Porto Roma. It is very eroded, and only about 150 m. east
to west by 50 m. of top surface remains.
Parts of two houses were excavated.
The pottery (destroyed by the 1953 earthquake) ranged from LH I .. to LH
III, of which a considerable quantity was found. Not far to south of the site on the
uninhabited Triodi beach on the headland of Yerakas at the farthest southeast
tip of Zakynthos, is a ruined structure thought to be the remains of a
Mycenaean tholos tomb … If this is so, it would presumably have been connected
with the Kalogeros site, since the Yerakas promontory seems too exposed for a settlement.”[1]
So. Simpson
mentions the discovery of
A. parts
of two houses on Cape Kalogeras and
B. a
potential Mycenaean tholos tomb at a place called Triodi Beach and which is
near Cape Yerakas.
These discoveries go
back to the activity of Miss Sylvia Benton and others in the 1930’s. They were reported at that time. Since then there has been further erosional
activity at Cape Kalogeras. Also the
location of the Mycenaean tholos tomb has become, since that time, … somewhat obscure.
In 2010 Dr. van
Wijngaarden led a survey in this area and one of the results was the
rediscovery of the tomb. In his survey
report he describes the situation like this:
“During
the April campaign we visited
an area near a popular beach, which
was inaccessible for survey during
the 2006 campaign.
On the slopes
of an eroding
sandstone ridge, the
team encountered
a very weathered round structure … , around which fragments of fine pottery
were scattered.
In all probability, these were the remains of a small Mycenaean tholos tomb,
which is mentioned by
several authors, but
which we had
been unable to
locate. N. Papadatos,
for many years
working in the Zakynthos museum, confirmed our ideas and informed us that in
the 1970’s some
basic restoring works aimed at stopping the erosion had been done.
Nevertheless, the structure is
nowadays very much in decay and hardly recognizable. During the summer campaign
we were able
to document the structure in some detail. It is roughly 3.50 m. in diameter and
situated on a steep
slope, which is subject to severe marine erosion. Pottery and bone fragments
were collected,
confirming
a Mycenaean date for the tomb.”[2]
Dr. van Wijngaarden
clearly connects this tomb to the one mentioned by Simpson and others. So, after having been … insecurely known it
is now located. Where? Dr. van Wijngaarden does not tell us. Can we find out? Sure.
I have already
mentioned that Triodi beach is at the north and west end of the beach created
by the shelter of Cape Yerakas. We can
see it clearly in Google Earth. The
first thing that jumps out at us is the section of extremely eroded sandstone
ridges at 37.709080 N, 20.982875 E.
Generations of wind action have carved the sandstone into weird
free-standing ridges. A good example is
this photograph from Panoramio which shows not only the sandstone ridges but
Cape Yerakas in the distance.
 |
| (Picture by nikolagalabov) |
These pictures strongly
reminded me of the ‘Calanques’ in southern France near Cassis. The photograph which Dr. Wijngaarden
reproduces shows a smooth ridge on the skyline behind the tomb. This doesn't look like the area of severest erosion.
 |
| (Picture by The Zakynthos Archaeology Project) |
As a result I think
that this picture was taken a little further down the beach. Here is a picture taken just about 100 m.
further to the east. Here the arrow
points to what looks like the same smooth ridgeline.
 |
| (picture by Kostas Ventouris) |
So, to wrap it all up I present this aerial view from Google Earth which shows the situation:
 |
| The location of the tholos tomb C576 on Zakynthos (within 50 m.) |
This argument of mine is supported by Dr. Wijngaarden's own map which is reproduced in the 2010 Summary Report.[3] Here it is:
The only point which Dr. Wijngaarden has marked in this region (F) is exactly where I propose that the tholos tomb is so I think we're good here to within 50 m.
Over the years there has been a lack of clarity about which expeditions found what and where, precisely, things were found. I hope this helps to clarify the location of the tholos tomb.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Status
of the Mycenaean Atlas Project
Currently prototyping an
alpha online version of the Atlas. I'm probably about two months 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.
To run the MAP database requires a
SQL server running on your desktop computer. MySQL is such a
server and it is powerful, industry-standard, and free.
I can and will make .kml or .kmz files, which can be opened directly in Google Earth, available to those who would like them.
I can also create .csv files for people who would like to import
Mycenaean Atlas Project data into Google Earth but would like it in tabular
form.
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Notes
[1] Simpson [1981], 155-6.
[2] van Wijngaarden [2010] 6.
[3] van Wijngaarden [2010] p. 2, fig. 2
Bibliography
Simpson[1981]: Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece. Park Ridge, New
Jersey: Noyes Press, 1981.
van Wijngaarden [2010]: van Wijngaarden, Gert Jan. ‘Zakynthos Archaeology Project 2010 Summary
report’, online here.
