HESPERIA 72 (2003) A LATE MEDIEVAL PagesI47-234 SETTLEMENTAT PANA KTO N AB STRACT Excavationsin 1991 and 1992 partiallyuncovered the remainsof the late medievalvillage that overliesthe ruinsof ancientPanakton. Dated to the 14thand early 15th century, the settlementwas built and occupied at a time in whichcentral Greece was ruledby competingWestern powers; both the identityof the residentsand the medievalname of the villageremain open questions.This reportpresents the domesticstructures excavated to date,as wellas the ceramics,coins, and tools associated with rural life andthe agrar- ianeconomy. The reportalso discusses the village's central church, its carved andpainted decoration, and the burialsthat surrounded it. INTRODUCTION Panaktonis locatedabove the villageof Prasinoon a summitofthe Parnes- Kithaironridgeline, midway between Athens and Thebes (Figs. 1, 2).1 Dominatedby the higherpeaks of Parnesto the east and Kithaironto the west,Panakton commands wide views to the north and south and is conspicuousfrom manydirections. Athens, Megara, and Thebes arehid- denbehind intervening ridges, but fromthe ruinedmedieval tower at the 1. This report representsthe work MachielKiel. We thankDavid Jacoby VasilisAravantinos, and Konstantinos ofseveral individuals.The firstfour andAmy Papalexandrou for comment- Sarris,in particular,for their collabo- sections (Introduction,Site Survey, ingon an earlydraft of this article.We rationand support throughout the Excavation Methodology,and Domes- aregrateful to the Hesperiareviewers courseof excavationand study. The ticArchitecture) andthe last(Histori- fortheir thorough and insightful com- projectwas directed by Munn,assisted cal Summary)were coauthored by ments.We alsowish to thankall of byGerstel, Patrick Thomas, Mary SharonE. J. Gersteland Mark Munn; thosenamed in the Acknowledgments LouZimmerman Munn, and Carl Gerstelis alsoresponsible for the atthe end of this article. Lipo.A list of otherstaff members discussion of the centralchurch, the The excavationswere undertaken in andexcavators is providedin the ceramicfinds, and Appendix 1. The collaborationwith the FirstEphoreia of Acknowledgments. remaining sectionsare by HeatherE. ByzantineAntiquities and the Ninth Unlessotherwise noted, all Grossman(Architectural Sculpture) Ephoreiaof Classicaland Prehistoric illustrationsare from the project andEthne Barnes and Arthur H. Rohn Antiquities.We thankthe directorsof archives. (MedievalBurials); Appendix 2 is by bothephorates, and Charis Koilakou, American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org I48 S. E. J. GERSTEL, M. MUNN, ET AL. Figure1. View of Panakton(center, on honzon) from Skourta summitof Panakton(elevation 714 masl;Fig. 3), stretchesof the main routesbetween these centers are in clearview. The site is alsosituated betweentwo importantByzantine monasteries. Hosios Meletios can be seenon the lowerslopes of Kithaironjust over4 km to the west.The churchnow dedicated to theVirgin, Zoodochos Pege,2 once the katholikon 2. It is nowgenerally accepted that of a largemonastery affiliated with HosiosMeletios, is locatedon the the monasteryshould be identifiedas northface of a ridgebounding the SkourtaPlain.3 The plain(average thatof the Motherof God,mentioned elevation530 masl)extends north and east from the foot of Panakton. in the Life of St. Meletios.See Bouras In the MiddleByzantine period, its principalsettlements were located at 1993-1994,p.34. 3. Orlandos1935. Loukisianear Prasino and at AyiosNikolaos and Ayios Georgios near 4. Munnand Zimmerman Munn modernSkourta.4The five modern settlements in thisupland basin, known 1990,pp.38-39. as the Dervenochoria,"villages guarding the passes,"include Pyli (for- 5. Koderand Hild 1976,p. 96. For merlyDerveno Salesi or Salesat),Skourta, Stephani (formerly Krora), the modernhistory of thevillages, see Panakto(formerly Kako Niskiri), and Prasino (formerly Kavasala).5 These Tsevas1928, pp.380-384. For the role of the Dervenochoriain theTurkish villages,built in the Turkishperiod, flanked an ancientand medieval acbmlnlstratlon . otP t ne reglon,. see routethat passed through the mountains and connected Attica with Boe- Giannopoulos1971, pp. 141-146.See otia.Early travelers to theregion followed the same route. Although they alsoAppendix 2. left vividaccounts of the plain'sresidents, agricultural features, and do- 6. Wheler1682, pp.333-334; mesticarchitecture, their descriptions provide little information about its Chandler1776, p. 174;Hobhouse 1813,pp.285-286; Gell 1819,pp.50 antiquities.6 56;Dodwell 1819, pp.51-52; Leake The identificationof the archaeologicalruins on this hilltop,most 1835,pp.369-370. notablythe ancientfortification walls, has been of interestto scholarsof 7. Thuc.5.3.5,18.7,39.2-3;5.42. ancientGreek history; it is nowgenerally agreed that these remains mark Forthe identificationof the site as thesite of Panakton,a Classical garrison fortress first mentioned byThu- Panakton,see Vanderpool1978. cydides.7The investigationof the Classicaland Early Hellenistic phases 8. Munn1996. 9. Laiou-Thomadakis1977. of Panaktonpromises to yieldinformation about the construction,popu- 10. Historiansand art historians lation,and function of Attic borderfortresses.8 Of no less importance, havepreviously studied questions of however,are the site's late medieval remains, the houses and small chapels identityof localpopulations under of an agrarianvillage. While medievalsettlements of this typeare well foreignrule in the medievalMediter- attestedin writtensources,9 the physicalremains of actualvillages have ranean.The Panaktonremains provide yetto befillly explored. Panakton's location within territories held byWest- the opportunityto investigatethe dynamicsof relationshipsbetween the ernrulers makes its investigationparticularly interesting and raises ques- indigenous,Orthodox population and tions aboutthe dailylives of Byzantinepeasants, now underforeign Westernrulers in an archaeological overlordship.l° context. Figure 2. Northwest Ataca and t 2 t f s -rf - \ ' <-- . ;.'Ef < A LATE MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT AT PANAKTON I49 southeastBoeotia with modern | | 2 < ov < townsand late me&eval sites around o 1ll 20 kg | ",-\__-v- theSkourtaPlain 1lilSlilililillXlililililililililililililililillilllulililililil i 11) '< --;'¢; The excavationof medievalPanakton provides a wealthof material forthe study of medievalvillages in general.Finds from the central church offerinformation about the paintingand furnishing of a smallreligious structureas well as materials for the analysis of skeletalremains and burial practicesat the village level.The study of sculptureused to adornthe build- ingreveals close connections with the work of artisansalso responsible for the 12th-centurydecoration of the nearbymonastery of HosiosMeletios andits metochia(monastic dependency) and suggests filrther avenues for theinvestigation of regionalworkshopsand the secondaryuse of ecclesias- ticalcarving. Analysis of Panakton'sceramics raises questions about the distributionof functionalwares as well as the location of a regionalwork- shopthat produced most ofthe vessels on site.The excavation ofthe village's housesyields information about domestic architecture and daily life in the late medievalperiod for a segmentof societythat has left virtuallyno writtenrecords. Twoyears of investigationhave revealed a short-livedsettlement de- pendenton agriculturalproduction.The hardship of dailylifeis evidenced by stressmarks permanently impressed on the bonesof both men and womenburied in andaround the church.That the villagers were engaged in cultivationis revealedin theagricultural tools, such as a plowshare(24), andlarge storage vessels that were found within domestic contexts (18, 19).The absenceof costlyarticles of personaladornment or numerous importedceramic vessels suggests that the economiclevel of the inhabit- antswas not high.The finestglazed vessels and most precious metal ob- jectswere associated with the church;simple sgrafflto bowls and plain waressufflced for the home.Although the precise identity of thevillagers ISO S. E. J. GERSTEL, M. MUNN, ET AL. Figure3. Panakton:medieval tower andthe medievalname of Panaktonremain open questions, we propose that the inhabitantsof the settlementwere Orthodox. Their religious identityis manifestedin findsrecovered in the church,including a pos- sibleasterisk (63) and a largesection of a templonepistyle (71). The resi- dentsremembered their Byzantine past through their reuse of sculpture carvedduring imperial control of theregion and through the possession of Byzantinecoins, long out of circulation,one of thempierced for suspen- sion (seeAppendix 1). We suggest,on the basisof textualsources, that Panaktonin thelate medieval period was held by a foreignlandlord, in the mannerdescribed in Catalandocuments for other agrarian settlements in thisregion during this period, and that the prominent tower that crowned the settlementproclaimed land ownership and demonstrated a readiness to defendterritory. SITE SURVEY The toweron the summitof Panaktonhas long been a conspicuousland- mark(Fig. 3). Due to its prominence,the sitewas occasionally noticed in 11. Gell 1819,p. 55. passingby travelers ofthe 18thand early l9th centuries,but it seemsnever 12. Skourtais not yet mentioned to havebeen visited by them. Typical are the notesmade by William Gell in 1540and 1570 but doesappear uponhis arrival at Pyli (called by him "Kako Sialesi") on hisitinerary from in the 1642poll