The "Pyramid" of Hellenikon

Hellenic Ministry of Culture ^ | 1995-2001

[SunkenCiv]

According to evidence from the excavations and the typical features of the structure which dates to the end of the 4th century B.C. and not to the prehistoric period, as some scientists have been recently willing to demonstrate. During the later years of Antiquity, the "Pyramid" was considered as a burial monument , a "polyandreion", while nowadays there is no doubt that it was a fort of the type of small strong-holds which controlled the arterial roads and which are known from other regions of the Argolid... Excavations of the monument whose stone structure had remained stable for 2400 years, were undertaken by Th. Wiegand in 1901, but mostly by L.Lord in 1938. Both published the results of their excavations in specific monographies.

[SunkenCiv]

Blam agrees that it has been a slow week, and it has been especially slow for Greek stuff for a while now, so this oldie, which was previously excerpted here and here, will serve as an FR topic.

---

Google · Archaeologica · Mirabilis · ArchaeoBlog · Texas AM Anthropology News
Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo
History Podcasts · Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · post a topic

---

[SunkenCiv]

A Blast from the Past.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[eleni121]

Definitely a dated article...and inaccurate too boot!

the latest research demonstrates that the pyramids of Greece predate the Egyptian pyramids.

http://www.grecoreport.com/pyramids_in_ancient_greece.htm

[SunkenCiv]

There appears to be no such thing as "optical thermo-photo illumination", so the 2400 year old dating stands.

[SunkenCiv]

That source may as well be Von Danniken.

http://www.grecoreport.com/pyramids_in_ancient_greece.htm

"There is therefore no way, other than from ill-will and bad intentions, for the findings to be credibly disputed. Historical information based on Apollodorus, Pausanias, and Diodorus Siculus tends to make the date of the highest error factor of the Hellenikon pyramid the most likely; that is 2720 +580 = 3300 B.C. Mr. K. Koutrouvelis, in his speech at the International Conference on Greek Pre-History in Olsted, Germany (9 to 11 December 1994), presented his chronological determination of the Trojan War. He based his theory on Homer's description in the Iliad (xviii. 483-489), wherein the poet describes the position at the time of specific star formations. According to Mr. Koutrouvelis, this gives him, and any astronomer, the information necessary to determine the date of the Trojan War, which he concluded took place circa 3078 to 3087 B.C. This time period coincides with other information from Homer, as well as with the observations of the astronomer Hipparchus (circa 130 B.C.), who mentions the same phenomena."

[SunkenCiv]

Luminescence Dating
http://archaeology.about.com/od/lterms/g/luminescence.htm
http://archaeology.about.com/cs/datingtechniques/a/timing_4.htm

[SunkenCiv]

for later:

Scirus search

[SunkenCiv]

Dating of Two Hellenic Pyramids by a Novel Application of Thermoluminescence
P. S. Theocaris
I. Liritzis
R. B. Galloway

Abstract: A new variant of thermoluminescence dating has been employed to determine the age of construction of two pyramids, one at Hellenikon and the other at Ligourio in Argolid, Peloponnese, Greece. The dating technique concerns the inter-block surfaces of the limestone building blocks and relies on the electron traps responsible for thermoluminescence in the surface layer of the carved limestone blocks having been bleached by sunlight prior to the blocks being incorporated into the structure. Nine determinations of age have been made, complemented by one which relates to a Mycenean wall of known age. From the average ages, the date of construction of the Hellenikon pyramid was found to be 2730±720and of the Ligourio pyramid 2260±710. The date of the Mycenean wall was determined as 1110±340, in agreement, within the measurement uncertainty, with the established date of 1280. However, the pyramids were previously attributed to Classical/Hellenistic times, mainly on the basis of somein situpottery finds. The present dating approach revises the age of the pyramids and shows them to be prehistoric.

[blam]

[eleni121]

There appears to be no such thing as "optical thermo-photo illumination", so the 2400 year old dating stands.

---

What a blanket fantasy statement! Do you suppose that your credentials in this field exceed those of the scientists at the "Nuclear Chronological Assessment Laboratory at the School of Physics of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, and at the Archaeometrics Laboratory of the Demokritos National Science Research Center, in Greece" who actually did the optical thermo-photo illumnination" testing?

I doubt that very much!