Early Thermos : new excavations 1992-2003 / I. A. Papapostolou.

"The present monograph, translated by Miriam Caskey, is a condensed, but in some places also revised and supplemented edition of the Greek publication entitled Thermos ... 2008"--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part One. The Excavation : 1. Introduction -- 2. The Stratigraphic Sequence From The Middle Helladic To The Early Archaic Period -- The Middle Helladic horizon -- The Late Helladic period -- The Early Iron Age -- The destruction of Megaron B and the period of the ash altar (8th - late 7th century) -- The period of the elliptical enclosure (7th century) -- The construction of the Early Archaic temple -- 3. The Construction and Type of Megaron B : The walls -- The question of the inclination and curvature of the walls -- Building materials -- The roof -- The floor -- The type of the building -- Megaron B and the Mycenaean "megaron" -- The Early Iron Age settlement -- 4. The Ceramic Metal and Stone Finds - A Brief Surve : The Pottery -- Middle Helladic - Late Helladic handmade pottery -- Mycenaean pottery -- Pottery of the Iron Age) -- The Metal Finds -- Figurine -- The Stone Tools -- 5. The Middle Helladic Tradition at Thermos in the Early Iron Age Part Two. Cult in Early Thermos and the Development of Aetolian Ethnicity - 6. The Archaeological Evidence for Cult and Ritual -- Cultic remains of the Late Helladic period -- The evidence for cult during the period of Megaron B -- The evidence for cult in the 8th and 7th centuries -- 7. Aspects of Cult -- The holocaust sacrifices in Thermos -- Cultic use of the bothroi -- Cult of a sacred stone -- Feasts, purification rites and the black layer -- Sacrifices on a raised altar? -- The question of Ancestor and Hero Cult -- Cult of Daimons -- Apollo -- 8. The Early Sanctuary and Aetolian Ethnicity -- Thermos in relation to the sociopolitical configurations of the Early Iron Age -- The Catalogue of Ships and Aetolia -- The evidence for settlement centres -- Aetolian myths and ethnicity -- Communal cult at Thermos.

The author's interest in Thermos goes back to the time when he served as Ephor of Antiquities for Achaia and Aitoloakarnania (1976-1983). It was his obligation to deal with archaeological matters of that site, such as the arrangement of the agora. Thus, when, in 1983, at the request of the Archaeological Society in Athens, he undertook the continuation of the excavation of Thermos, which had been conducted by Rhomaios until 1932, he began with the agora. Yet the burning archaeological questions of Thermos had mainly to do with the monuments and with the stratigraphical sequence below the horizon of the early archaic temples, in the context of the prehistoric settlement with Megaron A, the establishment of the first centuries after the disintegration of the Mycenaean world, Megaron B with its hypothetical colonnade and the ash altar. In archaeological circles, indeed, the prevailing idea was that those questions, which had already been raised again in the past by Drerup, Wesenberg, Schmaltz, Coulson, Mallwitz and others before them, should indeed be reexamined. Much time had passed, moreover, since the first revealing researches of the two succesive excavators, George Soteriades and K.A. Rhomaios (1897-1916). The present monograph, translated in english by Miriam Caskey, is a condensed, but in some places also revised and supplemented edition of the greek publication entitled "Thermos. Megaron and the Early Sanctuary".