Prehistoric Greek Water Works Found [ Mycenaean citadel of Midea ]

PhysOrg / AP ^ | August 25, 2007 | Nicholas Paphitis

[SunkenCiv]

Dating to the mid-13th century B.C., the stone passage passed under the massive walls of the Mycenaean citadel of Midea and probably led to a nearby water source, authorities said Friday. The passage would allow the people of Midea, about 93 miles south of Athens, safe access to drinkable water even in times of enemy attack... Only three such networks - major engineering feats requiring intensive labor - from Mycenaean times have been found so far. Excavations in late June and July at Midea revealed cut rock steps leading to the triangular passage, whose entrance was covered with a large stone lintel. At the entrance to the 5-foot-high passage, archaeologists found quantities of broken clay water jars and cups. The 6-acre site was girdled with a wall of huge stone blocks, built around 1250 B.C. Excavations have also uncovered several buildings - some decorated with painted plaster walls - pottery, a clay figure of a goddess, seal-stones and an amethyst vase shaped like a triton shell. Controlling a strategic road in the northeastern Peloponnese, Midea was first occupied in the later Neolithic period, in the 5th millennium B.C. It flourished during Mycenaean times and was destroyed by earthquake and fire at the end of the 13th century B.C. - after which the site diminished in size and significance. Traces of habitation have also been located from the Archaic (7th and 6th centuries B.C.), Roman and Byzantine periods. Greek state archaeologists and archaeologists from the Swedish Institute at Athens, a private foundation financed by the Swedish government, have systematically excavated Midea since 1983.

[SunkenCiv]

The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean:
Lesson 21:
Mycenaean Public and Funerary Architecture:
Fortifications, Drainage Projects,
Roads, and Chamber Tombs:
The Copais of Boeotia
Trustees of Dartmouth College

The Copaic basin was a seasonal lake, never very deep, until the late 19th century A.D. when it was permanently drained and converted into the well-irrigated plain which is now one of central Greece's most fertile agricultural areas. From inscriptional evidence, it is known that drainage programs were undertaken in the Copais in Classical Greek and Roman times as well. The modern drainage of the Copais has also revealed that the basin was drained in late Mycenaean times, only to become reflooded sometime near or shortly after the end of the Mycenaean period due to the plugging, whether natural or artificial, of the sinkholes (or katavothroi) at the northeast end of the basin. The Mycenaean drainage of the Copais, a massive hydraulic engineering project, provides the only reasonable explanation for the existence of a major Mycenaean palatial site at Gla on a low limestone island rising up from the floor of the basin near its northeast corner. This site is now normally interpreted as a fortified administrative center and military strongpoint designed to protect the drainage network whose focus lies not far to the northeast of the site... The scale of this vast undertaking, which includes the construction of the enormous citadel at Gla, dwarfs any other Mycenaean building project yet known.

see also the Tiryns Dam.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Dave for the link.

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

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Dave for the link.

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)

[SunkenCiv]

My apologies for the double ping. I don’t think I did that...

[SunkenCiv]

“Only three such networks - major engineering feats requiring intensive labor - from Mycenaean times have been found so far.”

One such network was built in Mycenae itself, and has been interpreted as siege relief.

[Lady Jag]

Timely, considering the fires they are suffering with today.

[SunkenCiv]

a major Mycenaean palatial site at Gla

"He who seeks the Holy Grail may find it in the Castle of Glaaaaaaaaaa!" [inscription]

[Lady Jag]

South of Arcadia and west of Laconia

[george76]

To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the ping. This is interesting.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds serious. Of course, someone will be blaming it on President Bush and his rape of gaia.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/08/27/2003375979

“...At least 51 people were dead and three people were arrested on suspicion of arson.”

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]