The early phases in the Artemision at Amarynthos in Euboea, Greece

Résumé 0

Recent fieldwork conducted by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea, has uncovered a monumental complex on the western edge of a coastal promontory (Paleoekklisies) located near Amarynthos on the island of Euboea, Greece. Stone inscriptions and stamped terracotta tiles retrieved in situ provide conclusive evidence for the identification of this site with the sanctuary of Artemis Amarysia, the most prominent shrine in the territory of the ancient city of Eretria, already attested by epigraphic and literary sources. In light of the ongoing excavations, the site appears to have been continuously occupied from the Bronze Age to the Late Antiquity. In its heyday in the Hellenistic period, the sanctuary was organized around a vast courtyard lined by porticoes, and housed several votive monuments and important public decrees. Evidence for the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age occupation remains fragmentary, as pre-Classical strata have only been excavated on a limited area in deep trenches. Mycenaean finds, among which PSI-type and wheel-made bull terracotta figurines, were mostly found in slope deposits coming from the settlement on top of the hill. Continuity between the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age is attested downhill by the presence of a large wall built in Late Helladic IIIC and still in use in the Protogeometric period. A Late Geometric apsidal house and an Early Archaic monumental building with gates occupy the same location. The latter likely marked the eastern boundary of the sacred space, which was then maintained throughout the development of the sanctuary. In the centre of the sacred space, the remains of a temple probably built towards the end of the 7th century BC were discovered. At the end of the Archaic period the temple was reconstructed, and a rich deposit of offerings buried under its floor. The content of the deposit gives an idea of the variety of objects offered to Artemis in her sanctuary during that period. To date, the earliest evidence of religious activities at the Artemision are ritual vases and votives dated to the Late Geometric period. The aim of this paper is to review the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age phases in the area of Paleoekklisies and to discuss the emergence of a sanctuary at Amarynthos in relation to the development of the Eretrian polis.