Tsoungiza, Greece, Early Bronze Age - archaeological recreations and simulations - The Institute for the Visualization of History

Tsoungiza
Greece

Early Bronze Age
(Early Helladic period; c.3400 - 2000 BCE)

[ setting | project | solution ]

See Late Bronze Age

Setting

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Aerial view of trench EU5 showing some of the massive walls from House A; © 1986 Nemea Valley Archaeological Project.

Tsoungiza was resettled beginning in the last third of the 4th millennium BCE. Carbon-14 dates, pottery, and stratigraphic evidence indicate that people began to live atop the hill at the beginning of the pottery phase known as the Final Neolithic and then continuously into the Early Bronze Age, known on Mainland Greece as the Early Helladic I phase when architecture begins to appear.

Architectural remains, a burnt floor, and a substantial building with roof tiles mark settlement of the Early Helladic II phase. Radiocarbon dates from this period are bracketed between 2565 and 2364 BCE. The most striking building of this period is Building A with walls over 1m thick and to which belonged terracotta roof tiles. It is clear from a surviving stone that the house had a front porch, then a narrow interior room that was probably for wooden ladder to the second floor, and at the back a large room with a central hearth. Artifacts associated with this structure included the lid of a steatite jewelry box and a rare conical lead seal with the design of a St. Andrew's cross. Along with some probable Cycladic pottery, these objects are indicative of the extent to which this settlement already was linked to the wider world through trade.

This building was followed later in Early Helladic II by Building B. Late phases of Early Helladic II, such as are known at the site of Lerna in the Argolid, have not been recovered on Tsoungiza. It may be that the settlement was abandoned, perhaps for some 500 years, since the next phase present falls within developed Early Helladic III. A number of pits and several stone foundation walls belong to this period. One unusual feature is the so-called "cistern;" it is a 1m in diameter shaft with footholds cut into its side. The shaft proceeds through the marl bedrock to a depth of 13m (c.43 feet), but it does not reach the water table and could not have been a well. Originally it may have been a large storage chamber. When excavated it was filled with debris, including Early Helladic III pottery.

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Traditional drawn trench plan overlaid with photos for Early Helladic II, Developed, Phase I,
showing the massive walls of House A; © 1997 Learning Sites, Inc

Project

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The main goal of this stage was to create models of the trench with the most abundant Early Bronze Age remains (trench EU5) and of the substantial architecture of Building A, an important early house form. The NVAP team would be using the models of Building A as the basis for discussions on the development of early domestic architecture in Greece, with issues ranging from the number of stories, to the pitch of the roof, the structural details of the upper parts of the building, and the function of the narrow central space. A later phase of the EU5 trench, belonging to Early Bronze Age III, would also be included in the test modeling.

Material from these excavations was also added to the overall site database, selected artifacts were chosen to be modeled in the computer and then converted into virtual reality, and the whole digitally interlinked as the prototype for the final publication. Text descriptions and still images were to come from the archaeologists responsible for the Early Bronze Age trenches and analyses, and serve as supplemental information.

Solution

The first task was to model Trench EU5 as it was when the excavation was completed, and then use that as the basis for a model of House A as it has been reconstructed. Then both models were converted for virtual reality navigation. Then the same was done for several Early Bronze Age artifacts. Since the model of House A was to play a role in understanding the development of early monumental architecture in Greece, the benefits of virtual reality were immediately apparent, as each version of the model could be experienced in real time and the subtlties of spatial flow, ceiling heights, window placement, and balconies could be tested from many viewpoints (not simply from static images); changes could then be implemented quite quickly and easily. The so-called Harland Village (a cluster of Early Bronze Age III buildings) was also included in the preliminary modeling process.

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Aerial Render	Exterior Render	1st Floor Render	Harland Village
Renderings of the Early Bronze Age House A (trench EU5), showing remnants of walls and pits from previous periods; © 1998 Learning Sites, Inc.

Using the data from EU5, a mockup of the publication was developed to show off the interconnections among the various datasets, and a first draft of the searchable database was created, based on a few selected objects, as a test. This set of materials underwent several draft iterations as Learning Sites moved closer toward a working prototype of the final report, adding more text, models, and images as they were completed by the NVAP team.

Reference
Page Created: February 10, 2005
Page Updated: February 18, 2005
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Page Author: The Institute for the Visualization of History