An Orientalising and Related Bird Bowls Recently Excavated at the Athenaion at Francavilla Marittima1

1 An Orientalising and Related Bird Bowls Recently Excavated at the Athenaion at Francavilla Marittima1 by SØREN HANDBERG and JAN KINDBERG JACOBSEN Figures catalogue List of abbreviations The current article deals with a number of The Athenaion on the Acropolis of the fragmentary bird bowls deriving from several Timpone della Motta votive layers situated against the S/SE wall Today a total of five buildings are known to foundations of Temples Vc and Vd of the have been erected on the summit of the hill Athenaion on the Acropolis of the Timpone Timpone della Motta. In the 1960s the first della Motta at Francavilla Marittima. In total three buildings (building I-III) were excavated seventy-eight fragments dating to the period under supervision of the Dutch archaeologist from the last quarter of the 8th century BC to Maria W. Stoop, who dated the buildings to the end of the 7th century BC can be the late 6th/early 5th centuries BC. The three identified. The fragments, many fitting buildings had wall foundations built of together, belong to two groups, the so-called rounded riverbed cobbles and conglomerate bird kotylai and the Sub-Geometric bird blocks.2 A different interpretation of the bowls. Almost all contexts in this area had three structures was published by the German previously been disturbed by clandestine scholars Dieter Mertens and Helmut digging, which resulted in finds of fragments Schläger.3 Mertens and Schläger interpreted belonging to the same bowl in as many as six the structural remains of building I-III as different excavation contexts, some quite far belonging to two successive building phases, apart. The clandestine excavations of the recognising postholes carved out in the 1970s also account for the fragmentary state conglomerate bedrock as evidence for a of many of the vessels found on the building phase prior to the wall foundations. Acropolis. In this article a chronological Based on the excavated material Mertens and sequence of the bird bowls will be presented Schläger dated the posthole buildings to the and related to the stratigraphical setting in 7th century BC and the buildings with the which they were found. Also, an evaluation of wall foundations to the 6th century BC. A the possible meaning and function of the bird fourth building was excavated at the northern bowls in relation to cult rituals once practised part of the Timpone della Motta in the 1980s in Temples Vc and Vd will be offered. under the supervision of the Soprintendenza 2 Archeologica della Calabria. Our knowledge of the structure is limited since the results of the excavation are yet to be published. Sadly, a common feature of the four buildings is that only limited stratigraphical information was obtained during excavation, leaving behind a substantial gab in the understanding of the Fig. 1. Fragment of Late Geometric bird kotyle (drawing: Helle B. Thusing). development of the sanctuary. However, in recent years excavations have been conducted building Vb. Temple Vc was rectangular and at the site by a Dutch excavation team from shows obvious similarities with Greek temple the University of Groningen under the plans by the presence of an eastern pronaos supervision of Prof. Dr. Marianne Kleibrink. and a western adyton. The dating indications These excavations have revealed remains of a for the construction of Temple Vc derive fifth building with five chronologically mainly from finds in the lowest stratum in the succeeding phases, erected at the same spot postholes, among which were fibulae of the a on the southern edge of the Acropolis. The staffa lunga and a drago types and local matt- buildings are usually referred to as painted pottery. Inside the temple sherds of Building/Temple Va, Vb, Vc, Vd, and Ve. the Thapsos class excavated just above the The bird bowls examined in this article relate conglomerate bedrock also support this to Temples Vc and Vd. These two temple foundation date. However, the majority of the 4 buildings are described briefly. material relating to Temple Vc was found in Temple Vc. This temple was layers just S/SE of the postholes, where it constructed in the last quarter of the 8th appears to have been placed against the outer century BC replacing an earlier Iron Age wall of the building. The bird bowl sherd timber dwelling (Vb), which showed clear described in cat. no. 1 is related to this traces of ritual use attested by a hearth with building, whereas the remaining bird bowl dedicated bronze objects and a standing loom sherds are related to the subsequent Temple 5 of monumental size. Temple Vc measured Vd. ca. 22 x 7.20 m. and was constructed with the Temple Vd. Just before the middle of use of a native building technique, in which the 7th century BC a new building was wooden posts were placed in large postholes, erected at the site of the former Temple Vc. carved out in the conglomerate, a technique The postholes in the conglomerate bedrock that had already been used for the previous were dismantled and filled with a stratum of 3 yellowish soil, the same soil was used to level few sherds belonging to the phase of Temple the area and subsequently served as the floor Vd were recorded, indicating that some of the new temple. The walls of this temple disturbance of the votive layers occurred probably consisted of mud bricks placed on a when Temple Vc was replaced by Building stone foundation, which was constructed in Vd. foundation trenches, carved out in the The Greek as well as the native pottery from conglomerate bedrock. Once again the best the S/SE votive deposit consists mainly of chronological indications for this Temple drinking cups and pouring jugs. Overall, the were obtained from the postholes; from the Greek pottery in these layers accounts only yellow stratum in and around the postholes a for less than 5 percent of the finds but since it large number of dedicated objects were provides the best dating tool we will focus on excavated. The dedications, in particular finds it. of Protocorinthian pottery, suggest that the The Greek pottery from the votive temple was erected around 660/650 BC.6 As layer relating to Temple Vc consists mainly of had already been the case in the previous sherds of drinking cups, belonging to the Temple Vc, the majority of the archaeological Thapsos and pseudo-Thapsos groups, dating material relating to this temple was found in to the last quarter of the 8th century BC. deposits of votive material located S/SE of Dating to the same period are fragments of Building Vd. East Greek Late Geometric oinochoai, globular pyxides of the Thapsos class, sherds The stratigraphy of the S/SE deposits of votive of Late Geometric II Corinthian kyathoi and material sherds from black glazed kantharoi probably The S/SE layers of votive material were found imported from Achaia (NW Peloponnesos) in the excavation pits AC13, AC16/16A, dating to the late 8th/early 7th century BC.7 AC17/17A, AC21, AC22/22A and Also belonging to this context are sherds of AC23/23A. Due to extensive clandestine early Protocorinthian kotylai and the bird digging much of the original stratigraphy was kotyle sherd described in cat. no. 1. The destroyed, only in AC16/16A had an upper overwhelming majority of jug and cup shapes compact layer of soil protected the lower among the pottery deposited near Temple Vc layers. A deposit layer of votive material point towards the dedication pattern that related to Temple Vc was found in AC16A- became dominant in the subsequent Temple context 26 and 29. Though these contexts had Vd where miniature water jugs (hydriskai) not been disturbed by clandestine digging, a and cups were dedicated in large numbers 4 together with lesser amounts of aryballoi and painted and impasto pottery of local pyxides. manufacture dated exclusively to the 8th century BC. No 7th century BC material was found at all in context 13. The lower votive layer (AC16A- context 18, AC16-context 20 and AC17A- context 16) again contained extensive groups of pottery vessels - often complete, but also sherds of local and Greek origin. The sherds Fig. 2. Fragments of a bird bowl, ca. 650 BC from the bird bowls described in cat. nos. 4, 8, (drawing: Helle B. Thusing). 9 and 15 were excavated from this lower layer. Frequent finds of bronze jewellery, The votive material relating to Temple bone and amber beads, faience objects and a Vd was obtained from two vertically number of terracotta statuettes also occurred separated layers: the upper votive layer in this layer. Once again the majority of the (AC16A-context 9) was 2-3 cm. thick, and the pottery dates between 660 and 610 BC with, lower votive layer (AC16A-context 18, as mentioned above, only few sherds of AC16-context 20 and AC17A-context 16) had earlier date (ca. 680-660 BC) and sporadic a thickness of ca. 10 cm. In the upper votive finds of late 8th century Greek pottery, layer a large number of sherds of local and notably of the Thapsos class, along with Late Greek origin were excavated along with Geometric East Greek pottery, which fit in sporadic finds of bronze jewellery, bone and with phase Vc of the Late Geometric II timber amber beads and a number of terracotta temple. statuettes. The majority of Greek pottery The general interpretation of these 7th consists of Corinthian imports, dating century BC deposit layers is that the objects between ca. 660-610 BC. Likewise a smaller (many almost complete) in the lower votive number of sherds of East Greek origin were layer were not found in any clear pattern, nor recorded e.g.

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