Preliminary report of the Malthi Archaeological Project, 2015–2016

Opuscula 11 (2018) is available for purchase at Amazon.com, Adlibris, Bokus and bokorder.se. Distributed by eddy.se ab. Preliminary report of the Malthi Archaeological Project, 2015–2016 By Rebecca Worsham (Smith College), Michael Lindblom (Uppsala University) & Claire Zikidi (Independent scholar, Greece). Abstract This article offers preliminary results and tentative interpretations of new work at the previously excavated settlement of Malthi in Messenia, south-west Pelopponese. The work included an intensive survey of the site architecture, as well as test excavations of spaces within and outside of the fortification wall. We propose updated observations on the chronology and phasing of the site based on pottery dates from the new excavation and comment on the preserved architecture as it compares to other settlements of the period. The settlement appears to have been first inhabited in the second half of the Middle Helladic period. Little, if any, architecture from this phase can be securely identified today. At the beginning of the Late Helladic period a fortification was erected, and the entire layout of the site was transformed. The construction likely took place as a single project, as argued by the original excavator, and so indicates a significant investment of labor and capital. Such an undertaking…