The Houses of Lakka Skoutara

As I settle back into my American routine, I'll try to bring my readers up to date on my summer adventures.  I just returned from 10 days (or so) of fieldwork in the Corinthia at a site called Lakka Skoutara.  As I've reported here earlier, David Pettegrew and I spent much of that time recording a collection of rural houses in various states of abandonment.  To do this, we (mostly David) described the condition of the house in minute detail, measured the houses, photographed them, and this year we produced small sketch plans of a few typical houses in the area. 

So, I've included here three sketch plans and a photographs (with apologies to architects everywhere -- particularly Kostis Kourelis!).  It will be clear that these houses are rather typical Balkan type "long houses".  House 10 preserved the traditional divider that separated the area for agricultural work or animals from the area reserved for domestic activities.  House 4 is said to be the oldest house in the area and our sketch plan must represent multiple phases or significant repairs. House 10 was by far the best preserved and it is clear that it is still maintained for seasonal use, probably associated with the cultivation of olives. 

The large basin's for resin which were commonly associated with several of these houses show that resin collection was an important activity for residents of the Lakka.  In addition to basins for resin collecting, most the houses had a cistern or well near by, as well as an aloni (or threshing floor) and a oven.  Despite being identified as the oldest house, the aloni associated with House 4 must be earlier than the house as at least part of the house sits atop the aloni and it would have been impractical for the aloni to be that close to a domestic area.  Threshing grain is dusty work.  Several of the houses preserved a small area for a walled garden (see House 3 and probably House 4).  The wall probably served to keep animals out or chickens in.

House 3

House 4

House 10

Comments

[Kostis Kourelis]

Great to have your blog back as part of daily ritual. And the houses are great stuff. I love the carbohydrate axis between aloni and bake oven with everything else just a stage along the process. Interesting about the resin basin; I've never seen this before.