Remains of ancient factory found on Salamina acropolis
An ancient factory dating from the late 13th to the early 12th century BC is the latest finding at the Mycenaean acropolis of Salamina. Two big buildings situated close to each other are part of an extensive organized complex, which included a guarded entrance. Other significant finds include part of a copper ingot or talent from Cyprus. Yiannis Lolos, director of Ioannina University’s excavations on Salamina, says the Mycenaean settlement in the Kanakia area can be identified as the «ancient city» of Salamina, which was recorded by the geographer Strabo, who noted that it was deserted in his era (1st century BC – 1st century AD). In other words, it is the oldest capital on the island. Lolos sums up the research done to date: «The late Mycenaean coastal settlement at Kanakia, Salamina, is known to have existed in the Middle Helladic and Early Helladic ages. It comprises an acropolis (the main built-up areas of which cover about 4.5 hectares) and smaller peripheral dependent neighborhoods. In addition to the 12 buildings and urban traces found in 2000, two large buildings (with a triangular fortified entrance) were excavated in autumn 2001, with the support of Ioannina University, the municipality of Salamina and private sponsors.» The first building is a large two-story factory measuring 11.5 x 18 meters, with work areas and other areas. Stone tools, quantities of mineral ores used for coloring, pieces of two clay tubs, low platforms and some work benches were found in the workshop. The second building has a large fortified entrance of an unusual shape, to enable those entering the building to be observed: It is a double triangular gate, the only one of its kind from late Mycenaean Greece or Cyprus. The guard on the gate must have been impressive. Lolos explains that the guard would have included slingers and archers, because a sling stone and a special stone tool for working on arrows were found. References in the «Iliad» indicate they were used in Mycenaean times, but the only visual representation of them is on the famous silver «Siege Rhyton» from Mycenae. The excavation also turned up significant finds related to the connection between Mycenaean Salamina and other Aegean island centers and Cyprus in the late 13th to early 12th century: A painted jug with a spout typical of the 12th century BC and part of a talent made from pure copper imported from Cyprus. The copper ingot has four extremities. «Apart from its importance for the study of international trade in the late Bronze Age, its special shape and the fact that it was found in two prehistoric shipwrecks on the Asia Minor shore, this find contributes to the promotion of marine archaeology,» says Lolos. The wide distribution of copper talents along sea routes is evidenced by the cargoes of ships wrecked at Kimi, Evia, during the the time of Minoan naval domination: The Uluburum of 1305 BC the Helidoni in 1200 BC, and other marine finds of unknown provenance. This fragment was found on the steep southern slope of the acropolis on Salamina, where most of it was protruding from the ground. It measures 11.5 x 9 centimeters and weighs 1.7 kilos. This is the third instance of a pure copper/bronze coin (the others were in Mycenae and Thebes) being found «in its imported, standardized form in a major administrative and commercial center of late Mycenaean Greece.» Ioannina University will continue systematic excavations on Salamina this September, focusing on the interior of the building complex. As Lolos says of the complex on the acropolis, «A building entrance which is guarded is certainly the gateway to a public building.»
