MORE EARLY HELLADIC SEALINGS FROM GERAKI IN LACONIA, GREECE

Abstract

In 2002, excavations conducted by the University of Amsterdam at the acropolis site of Geraki (Laconia) revealed a storage room attached to the EH II defensive wall, apparently a casemate built into that wall. Along with pottery and abundant destruction debris were many fragments of clay sealings, some stamped with seal impressions. Sealings had already been discovered at Geraki in 1997 (OJA 18.4, 1999 = Geraki I). Together with the new sealings, Geraki becomes second only to Lerna in terms of the quantity of published sphragistic material from the EH II Aegean. This report considers their significance in terms both of recent finds in the Aegean islands and western Anatolia and their implications for exchange relations across the Aegean. Two appendices describe the formation of the contexts of the new sealings, and a further 12 sealings found elsewhere on the site, suggesting still other areas with sealing activity on the acropolis. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..