Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

About

The Archaeological Museum of Nafplio is a museum in the town of Nafplio of the Argolis region in Greece. It has exhibits of the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Helladic, Mycenaean, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods from all over southern Argolis. The museum is situated in the central square of Nafplion. It is housed in two floors of the old Venetian barracks.

The oldest exhibits in the museums are Paleolithic clay hearths from the Kleisoura Gorge near Prosymna (32,000-21,000 BCE), as well as stone and bone tools, shells, animal and fish bones and jewelry made from these materials that document the transition from hunting-gathering to farming recovered from Franchthi Cave. This archaeological site, excavated between 1967 and 1976, provides an unbroken series of deposits spanning the period from ca. 20,000 B.C.E. (and probably even earlier) down to ca. 3000 B.C.E., representing the longest recorded continuous occupational sequence from any one site in Greece as determined by radiocarbon (C-14) analysis.

Scholars speculate that inhabitants of the cave were probably seasonal hunter-gatherers as archaeologists found no evidence of habitation during the winter months based upon analysis of the botanical assemblage. The typical tools found were crafted of flint and chert as well as a small amount of obsidian including a backed bladelet, a tiny multi-purpose cutting tool, and small end-scrapers (for removing the flesh from hides) but no pottery or architecture.

Archaeological evidence points to a 300-600 year hiatus between Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. Scholars point to changes in animal remains and botanical assemblages that may suggest a change of environment to more open forest. Obsidian microliths were recovered suggesting obsidian was obtained from Melos about 150 km away and human burials, both inhumation and cremation were found along with Andesite millstones indicating Franchthi Cave was inhabited on a more permanent basis.

The museum's collection of clay vases and both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines testify to cultural evolution that occurred during the Neolithic period. Archaeologists discovered remains of domesticated sheep and goats, the appearance of domesticated forms of wheat, barley, and lentils as well as polished stone tools and a significant increase in grinding stones and sickle elements used to cut plants. Ceramic vessels from the Early Neolithic are dark monochrome burnished ware fired at relatively low temperatures. A small percentage are painted in red or red-brown patterns. Surprisingly, scholars have speculated that these vessels were probably only art objects used for display based on their shape, size, and decoration, as well as signs of wear and repair. A small footed clay vase found in an infant's grave is thought to indicate the development of hereditary status at this time.

Middle Neolithic pottery in the museum's collections, termed "Urfirnis", is more uniform and lighter than earlier examples. Scholars think potters had clearly learned to purify their clay more thoroughly and to fire their products at higher temperatures (ca. 800C), in significantly larger batches. These ceramics also reflect the application of a reddish slip or wash and the variety of forms and indications of heat discoloration point to their use as cooking vessels. Grave goods, including bone tools, obsidian blades, and pottery point to the accumulation of personal possessions as well as the development of hierarchal social status.

The museum's display of fine black-burnished ware is from the Late Neolithic period. It is decorated with a "ghost" of white paint giving the impression of a negative on the black surface. Pottery with a dark-on-light pattern painted with dull manganese -based paint is also presented from this period.

Scholars speculate that inhabitants of the cave were probably seasonal hunter-gatherers as archaeologists found no evidence of habitation during the winter months based upon analysis of the botanical assemblage. The typical tools found were crafted of flint and chert as well as a small amount of obsidian including a backed bladelet, a tiny multi-purpose cutting tool, and small end-scrapers (for removing the flesh from hides) but no pottery or architecture.

Archaeological evidence points to a 300-600 year hiatus between Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. Scholars point to changes in animal remains and botanical assemblages that may suggest a change of environment to more open forest. Obsidian microliths were recovered suggesting obsidian was obtained from Melos about 150 km away and human burials, both inhumation and cremation were found along with Andesite millstones indicating Franchthi Cave was inhabited on a more permanent basis.

The museum's collection of clay vases and both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines testify to cultural evolution that occurred during the Neolithic period. Archaeologists discovered remains of domesticated sheep and goats, the appearance of domesticated forms of wheat, barley, and lentils as well as polished stone tools and a significant increase in grinding stones and sickle elements used to cut plants. Ceramic vessels from the Early Neolithic are dark monochrome burnished ware fired at relatively low temperatures. A small percentage are painted in red or red-brown patterns. Surprisingly, scholars have speculated that these vessels were probably only art objects used for display based on their shape, size, and decoration, as well as signs of wear and repair. A small footed clay vase found in an infant's grave is thought to indicate the development of hereditary status at this time.

Middle Neolithic pottery in the museum's collections, termed "Urfirnis", is more uniform and lighter than earlier examples. Scholars think potters had clearly learned to purify their clay more thoroughly and to fire their products at higher temperatures (ca. 800C), in significantly larger batches. These ceramics also reflect the application of a reddish slip or wash and the variety of forms and indications of heat discoloration point to their use as cooking vessels. Grave goods, including bone tools, obsidian blades, and pottery point to the accumulation of personal possessions as well as the development of hierarchal social status.

The museum's display of fine black-burnished ware is from the Late Neolithic period. It is decorated with a "ghost" of white paint giving the impression of a negative on the black surface. Pottery with a dark-on-light pattern painted with dull manganese -based paint is also presented from this period.

Neolithic shells and jewelry, 6800-3200 BCE

Neolithic female figurines, 5300-4500 BCE

The early Helladic period (3300-2100/2000 BCE) is represented by exhibits from Tiryns, Asine, Berbati and Palaia Epidauros. Artifacts from the early Helladic period include pottery, stone, clay and bronze seals, clay sealings, bone tools, early Cycladic marble figurines, a clay hearth from Berbati and a well preserved wine cooler from Tiryns dating from 2700-2200 BCE.

Vases and other artifacts from the Middle Helladic settlements at Tiryns, Asine, Berbati as well as the Palamidi-Pronoia cemetery at Nafplion, and Midea cover the entire chronological range of the middle Helladic period (2100/2000-1600 BCE), the culture which formed the substrate for Mycenaean culture.

Main article: Tiryns Tiryns was a hill fort in the Argolid peninsula with occupation ranging back seven thousand years. It was originally excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1884–1885, and is the subject of ongoing excavations by the German Archaeological Institute at Athens and the University of Heidelberg. A flourishing early pre-Hellenic settlement located about 15 km southeast of Mycenae was built on the site during the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE and included a circular fortification constructed from two concentric stone walls. The first Greek inhabitants—the creators of the Middle Helladic civilization and the Mycenaean civilization after that—settled Tiryns at the beginning of the Middle Helladic period (2000–1600 BCE). The Acropolis was constructed in three phases, the first at the end of the Late Helladic II period (1500–1400 BCE), the second in Late Helladic III (1400–1300 BCE), and the third at the end of the Late Helladic III B (1300–1200 BCE). The city underwent its greatest growth during the Mycenaean period but it suffered from the disaster that struck the Mycenaean centers at the end of the Bronze Age. It was not abandoned, however, as archaeological evidence indicates it was inhabited continuously until the middle of the 8th century BCE.

- Main article: Asine Asine was also a city of ancient Argolis and was mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as under the rule of Diomedes, king of Argos. It is said to have been founded by the Dryopes, an aboriginal tribes of ancient Greece when Heracles and the Malians drove them out of the valleys of Mount Oeta and gave their homeland to the Dorians.

- Main article: Prosymna Berbati, the ancient name for Prosymna, was another ancient site where archaeologists found remains dating back to Neolithic times. It became a site for ceramic production and its vessels were exported throughout the northeast Peloponnese. In 1878, in the area of ancient Prosymna, Panagiotis Stamatakis found a tomb in the form of a tholos that was built in the Mycenaean epoch and that was also reused in later periods. Archaeological investigations continued under the auspices of the Swedish Institute at Athens in the 1930s and then during the 1980s and 1990s that found two settlement areas on two different sides of the Mastos hill slope, belonging to the Early and Late Helladic periods, respectively.

Main article: Tiryns Tiryns was a hill fort in the Argolid peninsula with occupation ranging back seven thousand years. It was originally excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1884–1885, and is the subject of ongoing excavations by the German Archaeological Institute at Athens and the University of Heidelberg. A flourishing early pre-Hellenic settlement located about 15 km southeast of Mycenae was built on the site during the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE and included a circular fortification constructed from two concentric stone walls. The first Greek inhabitants—the creators of the Middle Helladic civilization and the Mycenaean civilization after that—settled Tiryns at the beginning of the Middle Helladic period (2000–1600 BCE). The Acropolis was constructed in three phases, the first at the end of the Late Helladic II period (1500–1400 BCE), the second in Late Helladic III (1400–1300 BCE), and the third at the end of the Late Helladic III B (1300–1200 BCE). The city underwent its greatest growth during the Mycenaean period but it suffered from the disaster that struck the Mycenaean centers at the end of the Bronze Age. It was not abandoned, however, as archaeological evidence indicates it was inhabited continuously until the middle of the 8th century BCE.