Excavation of a 13Th-Century Church Near Vasilitsi

hesperia yy (2008) EXCAVATION OF A Pages497S37 13TH-CENTURY CHURCH NEAR VASILITSI, SOUTHERN MESSENIA ABSTRACT A small-scaleexcavation in the area ofVasilitsi, southern Messenia, revealed the remnantsof a previouslyunrecorded 13th-centurytriple-aisled cross- vaulted churchwith a series of burials along its northwall. In addition to ceramicsand a marblebasin, a small hoard of Venetian torneselliwas found. The authordiscusses the church'speriod of use and details of its architecture and construction,as well as the identityof its builders and the settlement pattern of this largely unknown area. Parallels from published histories, surfacesurveys, and excavations fromother regions of medieval Messenia and Greece are discussed. An osteological reporton the burials is presented as an appendix. - In the past fewdecades, various regions of Messenia particularlytheir - Byzantine,Frankish, and Ottomanphases have attractedgreat interest amongarchaeologists, thereby providing a usefulbody of comparandafor currentwork in the area.1This report,which presents the results of exca- vationsin 2000 in southernMessenia, focuses on the remainsof a small 13th-centurychurch, probably built by a travelingguild of craftsmenfol- lowingLate Byzantineexamples in southernGreece. Architectural remains, alongwith skeletal, numismatic, and ceramicfinds, allow a glimpseof the dailylife of a smalllate medievalrural community.2 1. See,e.g., Nichoria III, pp. 353- tornesellihoard, while Stavroula Dou- Ephorateof Byzantine Antiquities, 434; Dimitrokallis1990; Hodgetts and bogianni,Thanos Katakos, and Giorgos Kalamata. Lock 1996;Davis et al. 1997;Davis Tsairiswere responsible for the con- LilianKarali examined burials 1-3 1998;Bennet, Davis, and Zarinebaf- servationof the finds. Marina Geor- in theLaboratory of Environmental Shahr2000; Davies2004; Zarinebaf, goutsouproduced the profile drawings Archaeology,Department of Archaeol- Bennet,and Davis 2005; see also ofthe ceramic vessels, and Giorgos ogyand Historyof Art, University of Sigalos2004, pp. 113-114. Maraveliasthe photographs. Final Athens.Her osteologicalreport, which 2. MariosMichailidis executed the changeson all artworkwere executed appearsas an appendixto thisarticle, church'splans and reconstruction,while byIrakleitos Antoniades, architect. was carriedout in cooperationwith IoannisPapamikroulis, architect, and Currentlythe finds are stored in the IsminiKavoura and DaisukeYamagu- IoannisHaritos, topographer, produced ArchaeologicalRepository of Pylos chi,both postgraduate students. Nia theoriginal drawings. Alan Stahland (ARP), at theFortress of Pylos, Giannakopouloscontributed to the JulianBaker identified the coins of the whilethe coins remain with the 26th palaeopathologicalstudy. © The American School of Classical Studies at Athens 498 NIKOS D. KONTOGIANNIS Figure1. Planof southern Messenia. Archiveof the Archaeological Receipts Fund,Athens The churchruins stand isolated and nearlyburied on a hillsidebetween the modernvillage of Vasilitsiand the area knownas Selitza,3located at Messenia'ssouthern tip, Cape Akritas(Fig. 1). Althoughthe ruinsstill formthe center of local veneration of the Mother of God (Theotokos),the sitehas been ignored in thebibliography and untilrecently remained unex- ploredby archaeologists.4The church is builton a steepmountain decline, withits lengthwise axis (east-west) transverse to theslope. More thanhalf of the structurehad collapsedand lay buried.The survivingparts of the building,visible even beforeexcavation (Figs. 2-4), includedthe south aisle of the main naos,covered by a low,longitudinal vault resting on two piers,the intact dtakonikon, the central apse (bema)up to thespringing of its arch,and the walls of the rectangularnarthex to the springingof the barrelvault. 3. Selitzais a wordof Slavic origin existingbuilding (cf. the case ofthe cordingto theMinistry of Culture's thatsignifies "village." The sameplace- Panaktonchurches: Gerstel et al. 2003, archive),the Ephorate requested a nameis usedfor an areanortheast of p. 174). thorougharchitectural study and Kalamata. In 2000,the residents of Vasilitsi, restorationproject. The residents 4. The churchis notfound, e.g., in citingthe religious significance of the submitteda proposal to reconstruct Sigaloss listof 10th-to 19th-century churchruins, requested permission a newcross-in-square church. Field- churchesin Messenia(Sigalos 2004, fromthe 5th Ephorate of Byzantine workwas undertakenin November- appendixD, pp.234-236). I havebeen Antiquities(then responsible for the December2000, both to assessthe unableto determinefrom the local area)to rebuildit. Since the building proposedreconstruction and to record inhabitantswhether the Virgins vener- was previouslyrecorded as a likely survivingmaterial that would date the ationis a survivalfrom the medieval "earlymodern construction" (a "post- building. periodor a laterattribution to a pre- Byzantinedouble apse" church, ac- EXCAVATION OF A 13TH-CENTURY CHURCH 499 Figure2. Generalview of the site beforeexcavation, from the north- When thesurface vegetation was cleared,it became apparent that the east. PhotoN. D. Kontogiannis downward-shiftingearth had createdthe unevennessof the site:the survivingparts of the south side ofthe church remained above ground, while thoseon the northernand easternsides were completely buried (Fig. 2). There was a pressingneed to address the instabilityobserved in the remainingparts of the masonry;therefore, it was decidedthat a limited excavationshould be conductedin orderto uncoverthe buildings north partand completeits plan, and thatimmediate measures should be taken to consolidatethe masonry. THE EXCAVATION Six trencheswere dug on thenorth and eastside of the church (Fig. 3).5In all trenches,under a thinsurface layer of darkbrown earth, roots, stones, and tiles,we excavatedthe building'sdestruction layer, which contained largequantities of stonesthat had fallenfrom the building's upper levels, as well as brokentiles from the roof. Some ofthe stones still bore traces of thelime mortarthat was used in thewall construction.We also collected manyfragments of the paintedplaster that once coated the buildings interior.There was no sign of plaster,however, on the exteriorsurfaces of the survivingwalls. The absence of tracesof fire,charred wood, and charcoalsuggested that the buildinghad collapsedfrom natural causes, 5. Bothin thefield notebooks such as or a afterthe church and forthe offinds in the erosion,earthquake, landslide,perhaps long recording had been abandoned. Ephoratestorerooms, the trenches werenumbered following the Greek Underneaththe destructionlayer, the foundationlayer of the church alphabet(A, B, T,A, E, It). Here I was excavatedjust above the softnatural bedrock. Signs of the original have theLatin adopted letteringA-F. flooringof the building were noted in twotrenches (A and B).The excava- The upperpart of a largeashlar stone tionfulfilled its of the entirenorth side of the church.The thathad remainedin situand servedas goal revealing easternside was freedfrom earth and theremains of all three of the lintelof the passage between the naos apses were withthe lower of two northern andthe narthex was usedas theleveling sanctuary recovered,together part pointfor all measurements. piers(Figs. 5, 6). 5OO NIKOS D. KONTOGIANNIS Figure3. Plans showingthe church, trenches,and threeintact burials. M. Michailidis EXCAVATION OF A 13TH-CENTURY CHURCH 5OI Figure4. Churchremains, in longitudinal(above) and transverse The timeperiod during which the building functioned can be deter- section.M. Michailidis minedby the small finds and pottery. The earliest diagnostic ceramics, com- ingmainly from burials discovered along the church's north wall, can be attributedto themiddle or thesecond half of the 13thcentury, while late-18th- to 19th-centurypottery was foundin and abovethe destructionlayer, pointing to activityin thearea at thattime, probably after the collapseof the roof. 5O2 NIKOS D. KONTOGIANNIS Figure5. Generalview after excavation,from the northeast. Photo N. D. Kontogiannis Figure6. Exteriorof apses after excavation,from the southeast. PhotoN. D. Kontogiannis Trench A TrenchA encloseda largesection of the church'seast end,including the sanctuary(Fig. 3). It extendedfrom the centralapse and the easternsur- vivingpier northward, covering the partof the churchthat lay buried in this direction.The trenchwas rectangular,with overalldimensions of 3.50 (L.) x 2.60 m (W.). The earththat covered this area slantednorth- ward,resulting in elevationdifferences in thetrench. The highestpart lay insidethe building, at a depthof ca. 1.73 m fromthe leveling point, with the lowest(northern) part of the trenchoutside the building,at a depth of ca. 2.38 m. Withintrench A, the survivingwalls of the churchs centralapse re- tainedparts of theoriginal plaster, with traces of color.Under the rectan- gulararched window, whose lower part survives at thecenter of the conch, EXCAVATION OF A 13TH-CENTURY CHURCH 503 Figure7. Centralapse withthe remainsof the altar. Photo N. D. Kontogiannis a low shelfwas revealed(p.H. ca. 0.40 m).The shelf,constructed of stone slabsand littleor no mortar,was not structurallybonded to the apse wall (Fig. 7). The discoveryof plasterbehind it indicatedthat the shelfwas added afterthe initialconstruction and decorationof the church.It can be interpretedas thebuilt-in altar of thechurch, a typicalfeature in small ecclesiasticalstructures. A similarfeature also survivesin the diakonikon. Part of the originalfloor of the churchwas uncoveredin

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