[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.