Markopoulo: 33rd Kilometer
| PK | C7066 |
| TITLE | Markopoulo: 33rd Kilometer |
| WGS84 | 37.895384° N, 23.960557° E |
| Accuracy | Unknown |
| LAT/LON | 37.895384, 23.960557 |
| LON/LAT | 23.960557, 37.895384 |
| DMS | 37° 53' 43.3824" N | , | 23° 57' 38.0052" E |
| W3W | degradation, extinction, bashful |
| UTM | 34 S, 760326.52, 4198340.93 |
| EGSA87 | 496383, 4193921 |
| Elevation m | 52 |
| Elevation feet | 170.6 |
| Region | Attica |
GENERAL SITE TYPE Cem
TYPE
1. Chamber Tomb. Simpson and Dickinson [1979], 212 'He (Kyparissis, rhc) excavated one chamber tomb here, ... '2. Chamber Tomb. Stubbings [1947], 7 'At a point 'on the left of the road to Porto Raphti, about 40 m. beyond the 33rd kilometre stone from Athens' some more Mycenaean chamber-tombs were explored in 1927 by N. Kyparissis.'
3. Chamber Tomb. Simpson [1981], 49 'A chamber tomb was later excavated by Kyparissis ... at a point described as being near the 33rd km. stone on the road from Athens to Porto Rafti, to north of the road.'
4. Pottery. Simpson [1981], 49 'The tomb excavated by Kyparissis contained only LH IIIC vases.'
PERIOD (High Chronology)
1. Late Helladic: (1700 BC - 1050 BC)
a. Stubbings [1947]: 7, ' ... some more Mycenaean chamber-tombs were explored ... '
2. LH IIIC: (1190 BC - 1060 BC)
a. Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 212, ' ..., whose contents were purely LH IIIC.'
b. Simpson [1981]: 49, 'The tomb excavated by Kyparissis contained only LH IIIC vases.'
NOTES
1. The various positions of the sites on the Markopoulo-Porto Raphti roads are poorly documented and the exact position of the '33 km.' site may not now be recoverable.
The position of the Ligori site, on the other hand, has been rediscovered at about 1.2 km. from the coast (Privitera [2013] 141) and I used that information in placing C1569 (Markopoulo-Ligori).
As for the '33 km.' site we have the testimony of Stubbings [1947] 7 who quotes Kyparissis as being 'on the left of the road to Porto Raphti, about 40 m. beyond the 33rd kilometre stone from Athens'. Its position is said by Simpson and Dickinson [1979] 211 'to lie 2-3 km. distant' (i.e. from Ligori) but they do not specify in which direction.
I can find no evidence that the Greek government any longer puts up road signs giving distances from point to point and so I carefully measured 33 km. beginning at Syntagma Square in Athens and, following a likely route, reached the position 37.895228° N, 23.960666° E which is just under 3000 m. to the W of the Ligori position. I am placing the '33 km' site at that position although, depending on the exact starting point in Athens it could easily be as much as a kilometer further to the E and towards the position of Ligori.
What seems clear, especially since the definite rediscovery of Ligori, is that these two necropolises are not the same (this was suggested by Stubbings [1947] 7) and that the '33 km.' site is to the W of the Ligori site and, likely, on the same road. The proposed relationship of these two sites is consistent with Simpson and Dickinson's idea that the '33 km.' site appears 'to lie 2-3 km. distant' from Ligori and, in this case, to the W.
2. Kyparissis apparently first reported these chamber tombs in 1927. Stubbings [1947] 7 suggests that these chamber tombs are the same as those at Ligori (C1569): "These would appear to be part of the same cemetery as that investigated by Stais at the site he refers to as Ligori." That is very unlikely for reasons given in the previous note.
rhc
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Privitera [2013]: Privitera, Santo. Principi, Pelasgi, e pescatori: L'Attica nella Tarda Eta del Bronzo. . Paestum: Pandemos. 2013., '28. Porto Rafti - Ligori', pg. 140.
2. Simpson [1981]: Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1981., 'B 29 Markopoulo: Ligori etc.', pg. 49.
Online here.
3. Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: Simpson, Richard Hope and O.T.P.K. Dickinson. A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age, Vol. I: The Mainland and the Islands. Paul Åströms Förlag, Goteborg. 1979., 'F 32A Markopoulo: 33rd km. stone etc.', pg. 211.
Online here.
4. Stubbings [1947]: Stubbings, F.H.. ‘The Mycenaean Pottery of Attica’, The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol 42, pp. 1-75, 1947., 'Porto Raphti road, Pikermi, Velanideza, Vourvatsi.', pg. 7.
Online here.