features (Davis in Romano and Voyatzis 2014; Davis 2008,. 2009). In the Upper ...... Hull KL (1987) Identification of cultural site formation processes through.
Archaeol Anthropol Sci DOI 10.1007/s12520-014-0219-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Micromorphological contributions to the study of ritual behavior at the ash altar to Zeus on Mt. Lykaion, Greece Susan M. Mentzer & David Gilman Romano & Mary E. Voyatzis
Received: 11 January 2014 / Accepted: 14 November 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract The ash altar to Zeus, located on a peak of Mt. Lykaion (Greece), consists of a thick, anthropogenic deposit that formed as a result of repeated deposition of burnt offerings. Excavations conducted from 2007 to 2010 uncovered evidence of a long history of use of the mountain summit as a purely ritual locality. Micromorphological analyses of sediment from the southern area of the altar confirm that a majority of the sedimentary components are microscopic artifacts sourced from combustion activities. The basal units comprise the remnants of a thin soil which contains inclusions of charcoal, burned bone, and fat-derived char and is associated with Mycenaean (sixteenth–twelfth centuries BC) materials. Ritual burning activities in the southern area peaked in the Protogeometric through Classical periods (tenth–fourth centuries BC), with intensive burning associated with the practice of thysia (ritual sacrifice) yielding a deposit in which the 3 mm) recovered from units Z-III though Z-VI is consistent in composition with many stages of the thysia ceremony. Although possible ritual deposits have been uncovered at some Mycenaean sites (e.g., Pylos: Halstead and Isaakidou 2004; Isaakidou et al. 2002; Stocker and Davis 2004; Agios Konstantinos: Hamilakis 2003; Kition; Mycenae, Eleusis, and Tiryns: Burkert 1983; Hamilakis and Konsolaki 2004; Cosmopoulos 2003; Kilian 1981), their association with early thysia is weak from an archaeological perspective (Stocker and Davis 2004). The ritual process is described in detail by Homer (Iliad 2, 420–430; Odyssey 3, 418–463), but the connection of these later stories to actual events in the Bronze Age, including elements of religious practice, is highly debatable. However, as described by Romano and Voyatzis (2014), relative to the sites mentioned above, Mt. Lykaion is unique and important for several reasons. First, the archaeological materials found in association with the earliest dated burned bones, unit Z-II, are suggestive of an earlier phase of ritual use of the site during, at minimum, the Late Helladic and Protogeometric periods. In contrast, the later phase of intensive use of the site, which spans the Geometric through Classical periods, is more consistent in age with archaeological examples of thysia at other sites. Because the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces at the end of the Bronze Age resulted in abandonment of power centers and population migration, virtually no sites have yet been documented that contain possible Mycenaean ritual deposits overlain by later materials, as we see at Mt. Lykaion. Moreover, Late Helladic sites are exceptionally rare in Arcadia, and the region contains no known Mycenaean palaces.
Research goals The objectives of the micromorphological study of the altar sediments at Mt. Lykaion are twofold. First, this study aims to reconstruct the formation processes of the excavated deposits and provide a high-resolution stratigraphic context for the archaeological finds, including dated materials. The research goals are as follows: (1) to understand the depositional mechanisms for each stratigraphic unit; (2) to correlate, from a sedimentological perspective, the sequences in trenches Z and ZZ; (3) to use features of the geogenic component of the sediments to reconstruct the groundcover and environment on the mountain summit prior to the advent of ritual activity; and (4) to identify postdepositional processes that impact the composition of the sediments and the distribution of archaeological materials. A second aim is to conduct a high-resolution, diachronic analysis of the microscopic traces of ritual behavior. This is the first application of micromorphology to the study of a Greek Bash altar,^ and the only known attempt to compare the traces of Bronze and Iron Age ritual activity on a microscopic scale. The research goals that stem from this aim are as follows: (1) to compare and contrast the microscopic sedimentary traces of human activity between the Late Helladic, Protogeometric, and Archaic through Classical periods; (2) to integrate these observations with other components of the multidisciplinary investigation of the altar, in particular the faunal analyses; and (3) to compare the integrated results with studies of other ancient Greek ritual deposits.
Methods The primary method employed in this study is micromorphology. Geochemical analyses of loose sediment samples collected in conjunction with oriented sediment blocks were used to provide supplementary information about the sediment composition and postdepositional chemical environment. Samples were collected from profiles during the 2007, 2008, and 2010 excavation seasons. Oriented sediment blocks were stabilized in the field using plaster bandages. Corresponding loose samples were collected from block faces prior to application of the final plaster jacket or were removed directly from the profiles. Additional loose samples were collected at 10 cm intervals along four vertical transects in trench Z. Block and loose samples of local nonarchaeological soil horizons were collected from roadcuts and test excavations. A number of samples were also collected from excavations in the Lower Sanctuary; however, their analyses are not described here, except to provide information on the differential preservation of calcareous materials in other parts of the site.
Archaeol Anthropol Sci
A total of 38 thin sections were analyzed in this study and are described in Table 2. One sample of a local soil profile was collected from a road exposure, two samples of soils were collected from a test excavation (trench KK), three samples were collected from trench ZZ, and the remaining samples were collected from trench Z. The thin sections were studied at the University of Arizona and the University of Tübingen under plane-polarized light (PPL), cross-polarized light (XPL), dark field illumination (DFI), reflected light (RL), and blue light fluorescence (FL) at magnifications ranging from ×7.5 to ×500. Descriptive criteria follow Stoops (2003). Calcium carbonate equivalents were measured on sieved (
