Snakes and other microfaunal remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia

2019-11-07

Front cover of Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 12, 2019All content of Opuscula 12 (2019) is available with open access. Printed edition distributed by Eddy.se AB. Also available at Amazon.com, Adlibris, and Bokus. View volume at ERIH PLUS.

Snakes and other microfaunal remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia

By Petros Lymberakis (Natural History Museum of Crete, Greece) & Giorgos Iliopoulos (University of Patras, Greece)

Abstract

The microfaunal remains recovered at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia (Poros island, Greece) are abundant and varied. They belong to a number of different animal taxa, including snakes, frogs, lizards, and some micromammals. They have been found in several locations but the largest concentration originates in a closed Late Hellenistic/Early Roman deposit within a cistern (Feature 03). The snakes in this assemblage are numerous, belonging to terrestrial and aquatic species, and to both venomous and non-venomous varieties. Bones of some of them along with certain frog bones show traces of burning, which may suggest some type of manipulation before the deposition. The microfaunal remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia also strongly suggest that these types of animal were involved in ritual activities—dead or alive.

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Bibliographical information

Petros Lymberakis & Giorgos Iliopoulos, ’Snakes and other microfaunal remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 12, Stockholm 2019, 233–240. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977799-1-3. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-12-06

Bioarchaeological remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia

The section on the bioarchaeological remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia, published in the OpAthRom 12, includes seven articles:

Arto Penttinen & Dimitra Mylona | Physical environment and daily life in the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia, Poros. The bioarchaeological remains. Introduction

Dimitra Mylona | Animals in the sanctuary. Mammal and fish bones from Areas D and C at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia. With an appendix by Adam Boethius

Dale Serjeantson | Animals in the sanctuary. Bird bones and eggshell

Petros Lymberakis & Giorgos Iliopoulos | Snakes and other microfaunal remains from the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia

George E. Syrides | Marine and terrestrial molluscs in the sanctuary. The molluscan remains from the 2003–2004 excavations in the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia

Maria Ntinou | Trees and shrubs in the sanctuary. Wood charcoal analysis at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia, Poros

Anaya Sarpaki | Plants in the sanctuary. Charred seeds from Areas C and D at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia, Poros

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