Events
11 October 2017 Start
11 October 2017 End
8.00 p.m. Time
Belgium Auditorium 1 Jan Broeckx, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent

e-mail.: [email protected]
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Ayios Vasilios near Sparta: the Mycenaean centre of Laconia?

October 11, 2017

Professor Sofia Voutsaki will give a lecture about “Ayios Vasilios near Sparta: the Mycenaean centre of Laconia?”. The lecture is addressed to Students, Employees, Alumni, Secondary teachers, Secondary students..

The identification of the Mycenaean palace of Laconia has been one of the most
heavily debated questions since the beginnings of Mycenaean archaeology. Various
sites such as the Menelaion or Pellana have been proposed in the past. However,
the spectacular discoveries at the site of Ayios Vasilios, 12 km south of Sparta,
seem to have settled the question. The findings include monumental buildings,
valuable and unique finds, a large number of fresco fragments and –most
importantly – Linear B clay tablets, i.e. the administrative records, which in the
Mycenaean world are found almost exclusively in palaces.

The site is being systematically excavated since 2009 under the direction of
Adamantia Vasilogamvrou and the auspices of the Archaeological Society at
Athens. Teams from Groningen University, under the direction of Sofia Voutsaki,
are responsible for the excavation of the early Mycenaean cemetery and the surface
survey around the site. The presentation will give a brief summary of the
Mycenaean political geography of Laconia and of the findings at the palatial
complex, but will focus on these two components of the project in order to give a
total impression of the ongoing investigations at the site.