There are similarities, but also important differences, in EH and LH patterns of activity in the Korphos region. The Mycenaean inhabitants occupied Kalamianos and Stiri as their primary settlements, as had their counterparts in EH. These locations make sense as the lowland and upland anchors of the region, giving access to the sea at Kalamianos and agropastoral resources as well as panoramic viewsheds at Stiri. In LH IIIB, Kalamianos was a much larger and more important settlement than Stiri, while in the EBA the relationship was reversed. Mycenaean habitation at Stiri was confined primarily to the ridge top; the steep south-facing slope was apparently used only for agricultural purposes as many segments of strongly built terrace walls survive but counts of LBA artifacts are quite low.
Beyond the two main settlement sites, the differences in the distribution of remains and use of the landscape are striking. The most distinctive difference is that EBA activity, measured both by architecture and portable artifacts, was much more extensive throughout the survey area, while the Mycenaean activity pattern was more spatially limited, focused on the habitation sites and their immediate surroundings. A likely explanation for this difference is that EBA activity was the result of a long development, begun already in FN, and thus a “settling into" the landscape. Depending on how far back into FN the activity began (and this we do not know at present), a period of a millennium or more is indicated to the end of EH II. The EBA signature developed over a relatively long period of gestation leading to a flourishing and complex society in EH II.
The Mycenaean distribution, on the other hand, reflects a deliberate but short-lived transformation of physical and social landscapes in which emigrants, most likely from Mycenae, arrived in the late fourteenth century to a sparsely populated area, built a harbor at Kalamianos, and developed the hinterland to support it. The identification of Mycenae as colonizer of Kalamianos rests on circumstantial evidence, which taken together presents an argument that we have found persuasive, if not yet conclusive. It is perhaps most accurate to say that the evidence draws us to the Argolid, with Mycenae consistently the most plausible option. The Mycenaean fineware collected from Kalamianos and Stiri exhibits general affinities with the Argolid, while the architecture offers compelling parallels in construction techniques and monumentality (Tartaron et al. 2011). The large-rubble construction of buildings at Kalamianos can be classified as Type III cyclopean masonry in Claire Loader's (1999: 27—31) typology, characteristic of the Argolid and other Mycenaean core areas. The Mycenaean agricultural terrace walls, particularly at Stiri, show strong similarities to those in the vicinity of Mycenae itself. It is also possible to make a case that Kalamianos was the most conveniently located anchorage offering Mycenae access to the Saronic Gulf, Attica, and the Isthmus of Corinth, particularly since the evidence of Mycenae's presence in the northern Corinthia is slim (Pullen and Tartaron 2007; Tartaron 2010). There is a modern land route beginning at Korphos or Stiri, which follows a series of interconnected east - to west-trending basins and passes through Angelokastro and Limnes, before joining the Mycenaean road at Berbati to finally reach Mycenae after a journey of approximately 50 kilometers on foot. This route is attested by villagers in the Korphos/Sophiko area, and members of SHARP have made the walk on several occasions in a single day, requiring between nine and thirteen hours depending on fitness. It is by no means an easy walk, but even making allowances for ancient tracks rather than modern roads, a two-day journey with a donkey would not have been difficult.
Mycenae's interest beyond the connectivity offered by the maritime station was agricultural intensification in small pockets of fertility, while the upland zone also monitored the sea and connected the region to routes leading to the interior of the Corinthia and the Argolid. The timeframe of their arrival in the late fourteenth or beginning of the thirteenth century, as suggested by the ceramic evidence, coincides with the explosion of sites with Mycenaean characteristics on the islands and shores of the Saronic (see Fig. 7.10). By the late fourteenth century, the penetration of Mycenaean material culture was profound, encompassing not only styles of architecture and pottery, but also burial and cult practices, including the objects that accompanied them — such as the ubiquitous anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines that might betoken the propagation of a state religion.
Mycenae's presence in the Korphos region was intense but brief, lasting perhaps only 100 or 125 years, before the abandonment of the region circa 1200 BC, roughly synchronous with the collapse of the palace state at Mycenae. The brevity of Mycenae's presence precluded expansion into all niches in the landscape as a normal consequence of development and growth. However, the substance and monumentality of the Mycenaean constructions suggests that they were built for permanence, and surely long-term growth was expected before it was truncated by the collapse of the palaces.
World History
