Site details

Arisvi Kastro

PK	C7601
TITLE	Arisvi Kastro
WGS84	39.239229° N, 26.227121° E
Accuracy	Exact

LAT/LON	39.239229, 26.227121
LON/LAT	26.227121, 39.239229

DMS

39° 14' 21.2244" N

26° 13' 37.6356" E

W3W	resealed, name, oscillating
UTM	35 S, 433300.59, 4343609.2
EGSA87	692061, 4345401

Elevation m	60
Elevation feet	196.9
Region	NE Aegean
Subregion	Lesbos

GENERAL SITE TYPE Settlement

TYPE

1.    Hab.   Spencer [1995/2019], 25    'The earliest traces of habitation activity on the acropolis are the EBA. and MBA. sherds found in a surface inspection by Bayne and during the excavations of Chatzi.'
2.    Settlement.   Spencer [1995/2019], 25    'Inside the e. part of this wall, on the plateau of the acropolis below the small kastro, are traces of many houses. Koldewey mapped some of the house remains in the 19C when they were better preserved, at which time 'megaron' plans could be determined.'
3.    Sherds.   Spencer [1995/2019], 25    'The earliest traces of habitation activity on the acropolis are the EBA. and MBA. sherds found in a surface inspection by Bayne and during the excavations of Chatzi.'
4.    Wall.   Spencer [1995/2019], 25    'Stretches of a very substantial 2 m wide Lesbian (polygonal) masonry wall encircling the acropolis still exist on the e., n. and w. sides of the hill up to 1.5 m in height ... '

PERIOD (High Chronology)

1. Early Bronze Age: (3200 BC - 2100 BC)
    a.    Spencer [1995/2019]: 25, 'The earliest traces of habitation activity on the acropolis are the EBA. and MBA. sherds found in a surface inspection by Bayne and during the excavations of Chatzi.'

2. Middle Bronze Age: (2100 BC - 1550 BC)
    a.    Spencer [1995/2019]: 25, 'The earliest traces of habitation activity on the acropolis are the EBA. and MBA. sherds found in a surface inspection by Bayne and during the excavations of Chatzi.'

NOTE

1. I believe that it is correct to characterize this site as a BA settlement based on the report of numerous houses and a surrounding wall. But Spencer [1995] 25 warns us that 'Chatzi could not define the period to which either the houses or the enclosure wall belonged in 1972.'. And Schaus and Spencer [1994] 414 suggest that walls of the polygonal 'Lesbian' style should be dated to the Archaic. The mention of the 'megaron' plan suggests, however, that this was a settlement and active during the BA.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Schaus and Spencer [1994]: Schaus, Gerald P. and Nigel Spencer. ‘Notes on the Topography of Eresos’, American Journal of Archaeology (98:3), 411-430., 'Notes on the Topography of Eresos', pg. 411.

2. Spencer [1995/2019]: Spencer, Nigel. A Gazetteer of Archaeological Sites in Lesbos. BAR International Series 623; BAR Publishing, Oxford UK., '*116. Palaiokastro', pg. 25.