Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece

by William A. McDonald, John Rosser (Editor), William D.E. Coulson (Editor)

Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece was first published in 1983. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. This volume is the third of four reports (and the second to be published) on the findings of an excavation in the Southwestern Peloponnese of Greece. In the 1960s an interdisciplinary group known as the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition first explored the region of Messenia, then focused on a specific site, the Nichoria ridge, where fieldwork was completed in 1975. Volume I in the Nichoria Series, published by Minnesota in 1978, dealt with the site and environs as they existed in prehistoric times and evolved to the present, and with specific analytic techniques. Volume II (in preparation) will present the cultural evidence for human occupation of the ridge in its most flourishing phases, the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and Volume IV will provide an overview of the site within the context of the Messenian region and the wider Aegean setting. Volume III deals with the two major occupation phases after the Bronze Age - the so called Dark and Early Iron Age (about 11500–800 B.C.) and the Middle Byzantine period (about 961–1205 A.D.) Previous documentation on these periods has been meager; information on the Dark Age was based on the contents of scattered graves and cemeteries, and the absence of stratified habitation debris made it difficult to establish a dependable relative chronology. The Nichoria study, however, derives from the first intensively excavated Dark Age settlement on the Greek mainland, and it should help illuminate these poorly understood epochs in Greek history. In fourteen papers, the authors describe architectural remains, pottery, burials, and small finds of metal and clay, and discuss their significance. Among their findings is archaeological evidence that Nichoria may be equated with one of the major towns recorded in Linear B tablets as part of the kingdom of Pylos. The discovery of a very large apsidal building of the Dark Age, which seems to have been a communal religious center and home of the chieftain, may represent an important early link in the evolution of the classical Greek temple. And the ruined homes of a medieval farming village provide the first material evidence recovered outside of Corinth for secular life in the Peloponnese during the Middle Byzantine period.

568 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

About the author

William Andrew McDonald was an American archaeologist born in Ontario, Canada. In 1935, he graduated from the University of Toronto with first class honors in classical studies. In 1936, McDonald received his Master's degree in ancient history from the same university. He studied classical archaeology at Johns Hopkins University and received his Ph.D in 1940. His dissertation entitled The Political Meeting Places of the Greeks is still regarded as an important fundamental study of Greek public architecture. From 1938 up until 1939, McDonald was a student of the American Classical School in Athens and participated in excavations at Pylos and Olynthos. Under his supervision, the first Linear B tablets were discovered at Pylos on April 3, 1939. In 1953, McDonald continued excavating at Pylos up until Carl Blegen convinced him to focus his efforts towards surveying the territory comprising the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Pylos. During this time, McDonald undertook his first of many interdisciplinary projects whereby he collected modern place-names across southwest Greece. In 1958, McDonald began to collaborate with Richard Hope Simpson who was conducting an archaeological survey of Laconia. In 1961, McDonald contributed to the establishment of the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition, which emphasized the interdisciplinary rather than multidisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists, natural scientists, social scientists, and humanists. The expedition resulted in 1,400 square miles (3,600 km2) of territory being surveyed. The results of the overall expedition were published in preliminary reports in the American Journal of Archaeology and in a comprehensive volume entitled, The Minnesota Messenia Expedition: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Regional Environment.

From 1969 up until 1975, McDonald concentrated his efforts towards the excavations at Nichoria, which was a significant Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age settlement in Messenia. McDonald chose Nichoria because he believed that it was time for archaeologists to research more ordinary ancient remains rather than focus on recovering monumental sculptures, architecture, and other artistic artifacts that usually end up being displayed in museums. McDonald's meticulous work at Nichoria first appeared in preliminary reports published in Hesperia. The full details of McDonald's work were published in three volumes entitled Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece. For his scholarly work, McDonald was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1958 and in 1967. He was also interested in communicating to the general public about the excitement of archaeology. His vivacious account of Bronze Age archaeology in Greece entitled Progress into the Past: The Rediscovery of Mycenean Civilization was written from both an historical and biographical standpoint. The book was successful since it was updated and reissued in 1990.

McDonald is also recognized for his ability to teach. From 1939 up until 1943, he taught at Lehigh University. Afterward, he taught at the University of Texas from 1945 up until 1946 and also taught at Moravian College from 1946 up until 1948. He joined the faculty of the Department of Classics at the University of Minnesota in 1948 and maintained his position there up until his retirement in 1980. Moreover, he was instrumental in establishing the Honors Division of the College of Liberal Arts and served as its first director from 1964 up until 1967. For his significant contributions to undergraduate education, McDonald was awarded the Standard Oil-Horace T. Morse Award in 1967.

In 1973, McDonald was appointed as Regents' Professor of Classical Studies, which was the University of Minnesota's highest award. Shortly afterward, he contributed to establishing the Center for Ancient Studies, which was an interdisciplinary graduate program in archaeology that was an extension of the Minnesota Messenia Expedition. He served as its first director from 1974 up unti