eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

put aside for many regions of Greece due to an increasing body of archaeological evidence
(e.g. Lemos 1999, p.24, Papadopoulos 2004), it remains an apt term for many scholars when
dealing with Arkadia (John Bintliff pers. comm. February 1999; Birgitte Eder pers comm.
September 2002). Until recently, overviews of the period in question have noted that little, if
anything, happened in Arkadia at this time and a scanty amount of remains were known for
the preceding Mycenaean period (e.g. John Prag pers. comm. December 1998; Osborne 1996,
p.71; Snodgrass [1971] 2000, p.90; Coldstream 2003, p.156; Howell 1970). Indeed,
Dickinson (1994, p.3) shows a map of the regions of Greece in the BA with Arkadia omitted
and in Snodgrass’ seminal work of 1971 `The Greek Dark Ages`, Arkadia is described as
residing in ‘total obscurity’ between the dates of 1050 and 750BCE ([1971] 2000 p.135, see
Fig.1.1). The cumulative impression has been that Arkadia was thinly inhabited in the BA,
practically deserted and thus sliding into ‘total obscurity’ in the so-called Dark Ages, and only
gaining any prominence when Sparta was spreading its wings in the seventh century BCE,
which led to numerous conflicts with Tegea (e.g. Herodotus Histories 1.64; Snodgrass [1971]
2000; Osborne 1996, p.184).
A conclusion such as this does not develop by accident. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the
available archaeological evidence for the period was negligible and the overriding perception
of Arkadia was as an antiquated backwater. It can be argued today that the material record for
the LBA and EIA in Arkadia and particularly for the middle years ranging from
approximately 1100 – 800BCE remains sparse indeed. This is especially in relation to some
other areas of Greece, such as Messenia with Nichoria (Coulson et al. 1983) and Euboea with
Lefkandi (Popham et al. 1979, 1990, 1993, 1996) and to that from later periods i.e. Classical
and Roman, both in Arkadia and beyond (e.g. Megalopolis, Gardner et al. 1892). For some
scholars this has been enough to deter investigation into the region: the perceived lack of
archaeological evidence means their preference is for those areas believed to offer more
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