Kouroi Fragments Deposited in Sanctuary Contexts (20 min)

Presenters

Nikos Gkiokas, Duke University

Abstract

My dissertation, “An Archaeology of Kouros Statues: Recontextualization of Kouroi Fragments in Their Find Spots,” examines the uses and meanings these objects developed in their depositional contexts. I focus on fragments deriving from 38 different sites. Most sites, 21 in total, are sanctuaries. The archaeological record from these sanctuaries shows that the deposition of kouroi fragments in postinitial use settings is practiced from the late Archaic to the Modern periods. Over these centuries, kouroi fragments have been deposited in a variety of different architectural settings within the sanctuaries, such as in walls, pits, floors, terraces, roads, and so on. The repetitiveness of similar depositions and the fact that in many cases the resetting of the material is a significant collective project imply that they are the outcome of structured behavior.

Practical necessity has been standardized as the thread that links these depositions. However, while practicality is always present, it is wrong to pinpoint it as the sole agent. In this paper, I argue that the sacred context and/or the iconographic force of the kouroi fragments also define the reasoning of the structured behavior. Concurrently, the deposition and the new setting enrich and offer new life to the kouroi fragments. I examine two torsos discovered in the sanctuary of Apollo at Aktion; a torso and an upper torso deposited beneath the terrace of the sanctuary of Apollo at Emporeio (Chios) and the fragments of a kouros found in the terrace fill of the sanctuary of Aphaia (Aegina). Much reflection has been produced on the meaning and patterned behavior associated with sculpture placed in the frieze or the pediments of temples and at ground level. The presence and deposition of sculpture beneath the surface still await such attention. My paper begins to redress this oversight.