Under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies, the University of Cincinnati conducted excavations at the site of Ayia Irini, on the island of Keos, from 1960 to 1968, with follow-up tests through to 1971. The excavations were directed by Jack Caskey, and following his death, the study and publication programme was directed by S., from 1982 to 2005. In addition to her major co-ordinating and editorial role, S. also authored or co-authored two of the ten volumes which have appeared to date, volume 3 on House A, which appeared in 1984, and the volume under review, brought to press with care and skill by colleagues following her death in 2005.
Ayia Irini is one of the key sites for understanding the Bronze Age of the southern Aegean, with a major, though interrupted, prehistoric sequence of occupation defined as Periods I (c. 3500–3000 b.c.), II–III (c. 2500–2200 b.c.) and IV–VIII (c. 1900–1100 b.c.). The last extended phase is particularly relevant to this volume, which focusses on Periods VI and VII, with some looking back to Period IV, published as volume 7, and forward to Period VIII, still in preparation. Located on the nearest major island of the Cyclades to mainland Greece, its material culture forms a crucial link between these two cultural regions, and abundant imports and influence from Crete, increasingly from Period IV, tie the site to the third major cultural region of the southern Aegean. For Periods VI and VII, Ayia Irini has been a crucial site for exploring various processes of interaction, influence and acculturation (bundled together under the term ‘Minoanisation’), not least by S. in a series of insightful publications.
S.'s publication (with Willson Cummer) of House A documented comprehensively the central mansion of the community in Periods VI and VII, universally accepted as the residence of the community's leaders in the earlier Late Bronze Age. This interpretation is justified by its exceptional size, architectural elaboration and focal position at the centre of the community, accessed from the small town square, just inside the main gate and adjacent to the Temple. The present volume is very much a companion piece, employing the ceramic and artefact classifications and terminology defined there, and relying on a detailed understanding of construction techniques and architectural details established in that very well-preserved building, to decipher the far less well-preserved details in the complex architectural remains of the Western Sector.
Together, the two volumes represent most of the contiguously excavated core of the site, constituting a broad transect across the peninsula from north-west to south-east. The Western Sector in particular provides a chronological slice through the history of the site; it was in this more disturbed area that later walls were removed to allow the extensive exploration of underlying strata, yielding the clearest picture of Periods I–IV at the site. Together, the two volumes document a social cross-section through the Period VI–VII community, from the grand House A through a range of structures of various sizes and degrees of elaboration exposed in the Western Sector.
As with all of S.'s publications, this volume is clearly and succinctly written, well organised, straightforwardly argued and forthright about the confidence she has in specific interpretations. There are two practical limitations, both beyond S.'s control. As J. Davis explains in his foreword, S. worked on this volume from 1994 until 2005, when she died of cancer, and despite all her efforts, the volume was not quite complete, though it is clear from the writing throughout and from several earlier papers, quoted in the conclusions, that she had worked out a coherent understanding of the entire sector, which informs all the presented account. What is missing are a summary of the House C area, effectively provided in the conclusions by extensive quotation from a lecture given by S. in 2004, and an overall conclusion. Because of the very complex pattern of localised construction and re-working of deposits, any over-arching synthesis would have been difficult or impossible; effectively, the study is complete. S. would probably have developed a few general points, which are outlined in the summary presented by Davis in the conclusions. Davis notes that S. had planned a fuller treatment of the ceramics in a second volume, and an editorial decision was made to present in this volume the material which she would have incorporated in that analysis. As published, the volume provides the framework and documentation from which others can develop further interpretative studies.
The second limitation is obvious throughout in the detailed discussion of individual contexts, but is noted explicitly in Davis' foreword: like any excavation, that at Ayia Irini is a product of its time. The excavations finished just as archaeologists were starting to appreciate the complex formation processes of archaeological deposits, and develop methods for monitoring and accounting for them. Broadly paralleling this was the development of approaches for excavating complex urban stratigraphies. But in the Aegean, excavation then and now almost invariably focusses on structures and exceptional finds, rather than behaviourally meaningful deposits. In this case, as in so many others, the site was excavated rapidly, the complexity of the deposits was often not fully appreciated, and much material was discarded before its value was recognised. The frank appraisal of the limits imposed on interpretation by the recovery, processing and documentation procedures, is essential for assessing the confidence we can have in any interpretations drawn. S. identifies ambiguities and expresses her views clearly; with such explicit statements of the bases for her interpretations, the reader can have considerable confidence in her assessment and interpretation of the evidence.
The Western Sector documents an extremely complex sequence of continuous development through Periods IV–VIII, over the course of 450 years. Deposits and structures of Periods IV and V were exposed in more limited soundings, while Period VIII levels were extremely badly eroded over most of the site. The focus in this volume is therefore principally on remains of Periods VI and VII, with some reconsideration of IV and V, particularly where earlier walls and deposits were re-worked or influenced later constructions. The chronological framework is structured around several major, site-wide destructions, defining the ends of Periods IVb, V and VII. Each of these is dated by its ceramics, but in between these broad horizons are minor and localised (within a structure, often within a single room or space) architectural repairs, re-buildings and re-organisations, which cannot be dated precisely since the timescale of such modifications is shorter than the distinctions we can recognise through the associated ceramics. In addition, there often are no diagnostic ceramics (either originally recovered, or retained for study) which can be directly associated with an architectural modification or deposit. Some alterations can be ascribed to sub-phases (e.g. IVa, b and c; VIIa, b and c), but these may represent intervals of 20–80 years, and two features or deposits assigned to the same sub-phase need not have been in use contemporaneously.
Unlike the largely coherent House A, at any point in time, the Western Sector was divided among some seven to ten different structures or distinct activity areas, focussed on five core structures, with intervening spaces shifting association among them. These were organised with respect to three major features: the ruins of the Period IV fortification wall, which in this area helped to define a major terrace running across the steep slope; the massive Period V fortification wall which went out of use for defence after Period V, but was repaired and still defined the edge of the community; and the spring immediately outside the fortification walls, the source of fresh water for the community from the later Early Bronze Age onward. S.'s detailed study of this feature makes clear that it was not elaborated as a hidden defended water source, as constructed at several mainland Mycenaean citadels, but to maintain access through the massive midden which accumulated against the exterior of the fortification wall.
In the extracts from earlier presentations integrated into the conclusions, S. explored two general ideas: that the community was urban and that it was planned. Ayia Irini certainly participated in an urban culture, closely inspired by earlier and contemporary developments on Minoan Crete, and elaborated there in fully urban form in a limited number of significantly larger and more differentiated communities, but most urban analysts would consider it problematic to define any community with only a few hundred inhabitants as an urban centre. But we should not expect anything like a simple yes/no answer. With a very significant proportion of Period VI–VII Ayia Irini excavated, we have a far more effective overview of an entire community than we have for any other contemporary site. S. has framed the question, and has provided the basis for investigating how the site worked as an integrated community.
Concerning her second question, the clearest planning is simple and direct, at the core of the site, linking the monumental gate in the fortification wall, the small square, House A and the Temple. As S. argues, access to the water source was always a key element in the layout of the Western Sector, but the shifting routes she documents as the area developed through time suggest a great deal of ad hoc adjustment, as individual spaces were realigned with different structures, routes were blocked and others created. Access through the area was maintained, but seems not to have imposed the same long-term structure on this sector as surrounds the central square. This contrast is probably significant, with the relative stability of the latter emphasising permanence and continuity at the social and ritual core of the community.
This is a tremendously important volume for understanding one of the best documented and most thoroughly published of prehistoric Aegean centres. S.'s painstaking and detailed documentation, and penetratingly insightful interpretation of its complex record, are a testament to the breadth of interest, open-mindedness and commitment she brought to the project, and make this an exceptional resource for addressing a very wide range of questions in southern Aegean prehistory.
