The Mycenaean Fountain and the Transformation of Space on the Athenian Acropolis: 1200 to 675 B.C.

ABSTRACT:This article reconstructs the stratigraphy of the Mycenaean Fountain on the North Slope of the Athenian Acropolis, excavated in 1937 and 1938 under the direction of Oscar Broneer. Although Broneer published a detailed report in 1939, his publication was not exhaustive, and the significance of the Early Iron Age finds was overlooked. Drawing on the original excavation notebooks and a complete restudy of all retained ceramic material from the Mycenaean Fountain, I argue for two major filling events: the first early in Late Helladic IIIC (ca. 1200–1170 b.c.) and the second in the Early Archaic period (ca. 700–675 b.c.). The latter provides new evidence for the date of the first temple of Athena on the Acropolis.