Iron Age Mortuary Practices and Material Culture at the Inland Cemetery of Tsikalario on Naxos: Differentiation and Connectivity

Abstract

Naxos, the largest of the Cycladic islands, offers a nuanced insight into Iron Age funerary behaviour in the Cyclades and relations between social groups as reflected in the archaeological record. The focus of this paper is the cemetery of Tsikalario in the hinterland of the island, with emphasis on two burial contexts which exhibit a range of activities related to funerary ceremonies and the consumption of grave-offerings. The grave-tumuli found in the Tsikalario cemetery comprise a mortuary ‘phenomenon’ not found otherwise on Naxos during the Early Iron Age. Such a differentiation in mortuary practice can be interpreted as a strategy used by the people of inland Naxos to distinguish their funerary habits from the more typical Naxian practices of, for example, the inhabitants of the coastal Naxos harbour town. This distinctive funerary practice can speak in favour of an attempt by the kinship group(s) that buried their deceased in the cemetery of Tsikalario to articulate status and identity. Beyond these tumuli, evidence from a different type of grave context at Tsikalario – Cist Grave 11 and its vicinity (Burial Context 11) – offers an additional example of a well-thought-out staging of funerary beliefs in the inland region of Naxos. Not only does it illustrate the coexistence of other types of burials in the cemetery, but, alongside the tumuli and their finds, it also demonstrates, through the symbolic package of the grave-offerings and the multifaceted network of interactions they reveal, that inland Naxos participated in the intra- and supra-island circulation of wares and ideas.

The Terracotta Animal Figurines From Despotiko: The Life of Humans and Objects in the Early Iron Age Cyclades Beyond Polarities

“…Figurines also served as kterismata at the necropolis of Tsikalario in the Naxian interior, where most burials date to the eighth century BC. Three anthropomorphic and two avian terracotta figurines were recovered from the interior of a cist grave, possibly of an adolescent or a child (Charalambidou 2013; 2017, 383–4; 2018, 165, figs 35–9). Another bird figurine was located outside the grave (Charalambidou 2018, 167, fig.…”

“…Three anthropomorphic and two avian terracotta figurines were recovered from the interior of a cist grave, possibly of an adolescent or a child (Charalambidou 2013; 2017, 383–4; 2018, 165, figs 35–9). Another bird figurine was located outside the grave (Charalambidou 2018, 167, fig. 49).…”

“…The numerous Late Helladic IIIC water birds at the site of Kynos in central Greece have been associated with fecundity rituals operating in settlements or shrines, 46 a function also assumed for those coming from the so-called ‘ritual zone’ at Lefkandi. The symbolism of the examples from the Naxian graves is, on the other hand, mentioned as funerary (Charalambidou 2018, 186). Whether the Despotiko birds should also be seen as symbols of fertility, or of a female deity, particularly Artemis or her potnia predecessor (Christou 1968, 52, 141–7; Bevan 1986, 262–3, 272–3, 283), cannot be concluded.…”

The Iron Age Cyclades and Crete: Different Approaches to Connectivity Speculatively Related to Food Security

“…There is debate as to whether this was an import, or an heirloom brought back to Naxos by a sailor involved in the Al Mina trade (Charalambidou 2017, p.377.). An intriguing example of diffusion are small terracotta birds, not commonly found in the Cyclades, yet twenty-six have been found on Naxos from burial contexts in Naxos Town and Tsikalario (Charalambidou 2018;. Other terracotta birds have been found on Cyprus, Rhodes, Samos, Crete (from the sanctuary of Hermes and Aphrodite at Syme Viannou), and in the Cyclades on Andros at Zagora, at Siphnos on the northeast slope of Chora, and in Delos (Charalambidou 2017, pp.384-6, Figs 11, 12.).…”

Island on a Pendulum: Naxos Between Isolation and Connectivity

“…For an analytical review on the geographical formation of the polis and its topography, seeSfyroera (2018). 9 Such as surface surveys (e.g.,Treuil, 1983;Érard-Cerceau et al, 1993) and excavations of cemetery(Charalambidou, 2018), sanctuaries (Gyroulas:Lambrinoudakis & Ohnesorg, 2020; Melanes: Lambrinoudakis, 2005), great technical projects including the aqueduct(Lambrinoudakis & Sfyroera, 2010), farmsteads(Kreeb, 1988), towers(Charalambides, 2003;Haselberger, 1972) etc.…”