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Shawn Ross |
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Carl Blegen published limited information about post-palatial pottery; only "late Geometric" shards are discussed at any length in The Palace of Nestor. Other ancient, post-palatial pottery is treated incidentally, if at all. Concerning Medieval pottery, Blegen briefly mentions, but does not specifically date or describe, what he calls "glazed ware of Medieval times" and "plain ribbed ware." Diagnostic, post-palatial pottery from Blegen's backfill has, however, been identified by MARWP. Pottery identified by MARWP dates from the Dark Age to the Medieval era, although not all periods within this span of time are represented. Since MARWP examined only material from Blegen's backfill, all pottery was out of context; therefore, shards have been identified and dated based solely by comparison with analogous material. Furthermore, although some types of pottery are much better represented in our sample than others, any comparison of the volume of material from different periods can be only tentative and qualitative in nature. Taking this into account, comparisons with material from Nichoria, Korinth, and elsewhere in the Peleponnesos indicate pottery from three periods to be well represented at Ano Englianos. MARWP identified a large number of pieces dating to the Dark Age (Nichoria periods I-III), both local and imported material dating to the Archaic period, and a variety of Medieval pottery. Medieval pottery included the types mentioned by Blegen, as well as further examples of both plain and glazed ware, most of which can be dated to the 12th and 13th centuries. Hellenistic and Roman shards have also been identified, but in far smaller numbers. MARWP's re-evaluation of the pottery from Blegen's backfill allows a more complete understanding of occupation at this site after the Bronze Age, contributing toward a better picture of settlement patterns in Messenia and their relationship to developments elsewhere in Greece and the broader eastern Mediterranean world. |