HESPERIA 7I (2002) A N EW B RONZE AG E PagesII9-I48 SITE INTHE CO R I NTH IA THE ORNEAIOF STRABOAND HOMER? ABSTRACT A newlydiscovered Bronze Age site is reportedat Doratiin the Corinthia, overlookingthe NemeaRiver. Surface material indicates that this was a large Mycenaeansettlement, with structurespotentially well preserved,and that earlierperiods of the BronzeAge arealso represented.The locationof the sitemakes it possibleto identif;rit tentativelyas the CorinthianOrneai men- tionedby Strabo,who implies(contra Pausanias)that this is the site referred to in the Catalogueof Ships.I suggestthat Strabo is correct,and that Dorati mayinfactbe Homer's Orneai. Accepting this identification helps clarilithe logicbywhich sites in Agamemnon'srealm are listed in the Catalogue. A previouslyunknown Mycenaean site overlookingthe NemeaRiver in the northeasternPeloponnese has recentlycome to my attention.1It is largeand the surfacematerial copious, diverse, and of highquality, yet no mentionof it hasappeared in anyscholarly publication.2 Therefore I offer 1. On November14, 1999,I first forvisiting the sitewith me;and Lolos, (Liondiand the adjacentNemean visitedthe areaof Dorati,north of the Miller,Stroud, and Tzonou for reading plain).It is ca. 11 km northwestof the modernvillage of Soulinari,in the earlierdrafts of this article.I owe a areaof modernSolomos, the western companyof P.Panagopoulos of Der- specialthanks to Herbstfor preparing extentof the EasternKorinthia Ar- veni (nearKiato), who hadlearned of it the accompanyingmaps. Finally, I am chaeologicalSurvey Project, and it is fromlocal residents as the possiblesite gratefillto the anonymousHesperia immediatelyeast of the areaincluded of a Classicaltemple. On September reviewersfor theirsuggestions. in Lolos'stopographical survey of the 20, 2000,I reportedthe site to the 2. The sitehas never been excavated Sikyonia(Lolos 1998). The site is not FourthEphoria of Prehistoricand or systematicallysurveyed. It is approx- mentionedin Blegen1920, Gebauer ClassicalAntiquities in Nauplionand imately5.5 km northof the summitof 1939,Alin 1962,Syriopoulos 1964, fileda draftof this articlewith the Mt. Apesas,the northernlimit of the Wiseman1978, or Sakellariouand ephorat thattime, E. Spathari;in regionsurveyed byWright et al. (1990) Pharaklas1971. It is not includedin Octoberof 2001 I fileda seconddraft forthe NemeaValley Archaeological anygazetteer of Mycenaeansites, such with the currentephor, A. Mantis. Project(NVAP), and 14 km northeast asHope Simpsonand Dickinson I thankthem both for their comments. of the New Nemeavalley, partially sur- 1979,Hope Simpson1981, and, more I wouldalso like to thankN. Bookidis, veyedin conjunctionwith NVAP recently,Isthmia VIII, pp. 469-482, M. Boyd,B. Burke,L. Costaki,J. (urbanarea of AncientPhlius: Alcock andMountjoy 1999, pp. 197-242 Herbst,G. J. Lolos,S. G. Miller,G. 1988and 1991) and now being stud- (Corinthia),which deals only with Sanders,R. S. Stroud,and I. Tzonou iedbyJ. Maran and H.-J. Weisshaar siteswith published pottery. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org I20 JEANNETTE MARCHAND herean introductory description of thesite followed by some observations aboutits topographicallocation and possible identification, in the belief thatit will figuresignificantly in subsequentdiscussions of the number, size,and nature of BronzeAge settlementsin the Corinthia.3 LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE Thesite is locatedon topof a bluffonthe eastern side ofthe Nemea River, overlookingthe Silyonianand Corinthiancoastal plains (Fig. 1). This bluffisthe northernmost extension of a ridgeofthe foothills of Mt.Apesas thathas been eroded away on thewest by the Nemea River and on theeast byanother large tributary rema, orseasonal riverbed (Fig. 2, labeledDaveli), so thatit nowextends as an isolated promontory or finger of landstretch- ing towardthe north.The ridgesupports a thicklayer of topsoil,covered withpine trees where it hasnot been cleared, above a stratumof conglom- eraterock. Below this thicklayer of rock,the ridgeconsists primarily of soft marlthat has sufferedsevere erosion on all sidesexcept the south. Consequently,the unsupportedupper conglomerate shelf has broken up 3. This and paperis basedon a number fallenaway at the northern end, and here the ridge now forms a natu- of visitsto the site,alone and in the rallydefensible "acropolis," not unlike that at the similarly sited Aetopetra companyof colleagues.No surveywas fartherto theeast. The site is locatedon thisnatural conglomerate strong- conducted.The presentdiscussion is in noway hold,which at the northernend formsa relativelyflat, double-pronged meantto representthe results plateaumarked by a Greek ofa systematicfield project; its aimis ArmySurvey column at 190masl (Figs. 2-4). tobring Themodern attentionto the site andto toponymis Dorati.4 recommendthat such a projectbe con- A partiallypaved road running from north to southgives access to the ductedin futurebefore more destruc- ridgeand bisects the site;it maycorrespond to the routeof an ancient tioncan occur. road.5On the easternside of thisroad, two vineyards have been planted, 4. Dorati(Nxopaq) is the toponym listedon the GreekArmy onewithin the lastdecades, the otherwithin the lasttwo years (Fig. 2:1 mapof the and2, Corinthia(1:50,000). The localsknow respectively).Rubble and habitation debris (grinding stones, tripod thearea by the legs, nameDarani (Nxa- fragmentsof largestorage jars) from an ancient settlement have been pav), a toponymthat appears on the clearedfrom the vineyards and piled high along the road and the northern GreekArmy map of 1:5000and refers edgeof the cultivatedarea, and the vineyardsthemselves are dense with specificallyto the promontoryat the potteryfragments. northwesternend of the sitewhere To the westof the thesurvey column shown on Fig.2 is road,a relativelyflat field (Fig. 2:3), cleared and located. cultivatedatsome timein thepast, is overgrownwith weeds, but pottery is 5. An ancientroad in thislocation stillvisible on the surfaceand continues to theedge of theplateau. In late andcontinuing south along the crest July2000, when a longsection a meterwide was plowed along the north- ofthe ridgetoward Apesas would westernedge of the plateau,a largeamount of high-qualityMycenaean parallelthe routeon the westernside ofthe NemeaRiver potteryin verygoodcondition was turned up. Below the steep walls ofthe betweenTarsina conglomerate andKoutsi via Stimanga,documented shelf(Fig. 2:4), surface pottery continues down the eroded inLolos slopes 1998,pp. 14() 142.A further of the ridgeto boththe eastand west as faras one cannow safely indicationof the likelihoodthat this descend,but all of this materialcan have been washed or pusheddown routecan be tracedback to antiquity fromabove during clearing of theland: the surface material and the natu- (althoughnot necessarilyall the way raltopography suggest that in thenorth the site was primarily backto the BronzeAge) is the presence confinedto ofpreserved thetop of the two-prongedplateau. Local residents wheelruts along the ridge, reportthat pottery furthersouth above the modernvillage canbe foundin quantityall the way to thechurch of AgiaParaskevi to the ofSoulinari. A NEW BRONZE AGE SITE I2I Figure 1. Dorati and the Corinthian Gulf plain.J. Herbst Figure2. Sketchplan of Dorati J.Herbst JEANNETTE MARCHAND I22 Figure3. Dorati fromthe north. The site occupiesthe flat top of the highestplateau in middledistance. Mt. Apesasis visiblebeyond. Photoauthor northwest(Fig. 2:5), on the Soulinari-Vrachatiroad. I havenot been able to investigatethis possibility, but at the church of AgiaParaskevi there is a naturalspring that still provides water year-round. This springmay have beenthe primarywater source for the settlementduring the summer.6 At the southernend of the site,where a narrowmarl ledge connects the conglomerateplateau to the restof the Apesasridge, the situationis slightlydifferent. Here at thehighest point of thesite the plateau narrows andthe conglomerateshelf comes to an end,so thaton the eastand west thereare steep slopes rather than a sheerrock face. Most of thisarea has not been cultivatedand there is a good possibilitythat portions of the settlementare preserved here over a largearea and to a considerabledepth. To the eastof the road,a largestand of thickpournaria, or holm oak, coversa knollconsisting of a largequantity of rubblethat cannot have beennaturally deposited (Fig. 2:6). Where these shrublike trees are pen- etrable,Bronze Age pottery is visible interspersed densely among the rubble. Muchof this relativelyloose material on the surface(presumably debris fromstructures of the settlement)was probably pushed and piled into its presentlocation during the creationof the adjacentroad and vineyard, particularlyat the centerof the standof treeswhere a moundhas been formed. It appearsthat there was a goodreason why the areawas not cleared: sectionsof in situconstruction of considerablesize and depth are visible in the adjacentscarp to the east,beginning at andjust belowthe current surfacelevel. Four large walls, parallel to eachother and perpendicular to theslope of thehill, can be clearlyseen protruding from the present scarp. A seriesof narrowterraces planted with olive trees has been created here (Fig.2:7), descending down the slopebelow the standof oaksand the southernmostvineyard; the walls have been exposed between the levelof 6. Localsalso tell me thatthere used the top