Reconstructing the Ancient Context of a Grave Assemblage from Notion (15 min)

Presenters

Christina DiFabio, American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Abstract

In this paper, I recontextualize an assemblage of grave goods from the ancient Greek port-city of Notion in western Anatolia as whole as possible since its original excavation in 1907. Theodore Macridy of the Imperial Ottoman Museum excavated a tomb in Notion’s necropolis and accessioned the found objects into the museum (now the Istanbul Archaeology Museum). Macridy published short descriptions of the objects, saying that they accompanied cremation burials, but with little other information. My study of these finds in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum is the first in-depth reevaluation of the grave assemblage since Macridy’s excavation. Through object research and comparing this assemblage with results from the Notion Archaeological Survey, of which I was a team member, I have reconstructed the ancient context of the grave assemblage as completely as possible. The grave goods included multiple pairs of gold earrings, a gold wreath, seven gold coin impressions, bronze jewelry and cosmetic equipment, and terracotta figurines, which all attest to the richness of the tomb. I propose that the tomb belonged to at least one local elite woman during the height of Notion’s occupation in the Hellenistic to Early Roman Imperial periods (third century B.C.E.–first century C.E.), corresponding to the time when the site underwent an urban renovation in the Hellenistic period. I show that most objects date to the mid-Hellenistic period (third–second centuries B.C.E.), with a few dating to the Early Roman Imperial period (late first century B.C.E.–first century C.E.), suggesting either that the tomb was used multiple times, or the earlier objects were heirlooms. Overall, I present how the grave assemblage provides a glimpse into the lives and afterlives of the local elite at Notion, and how it demonstrates that Notion was integrated with artistic trends and trade in the larger Hellenistic world.