Corinthian Infiltration: The Interior of Some Houses at Lakka Skoutara

Of the dozen or so houses at Lakka Skoutara (for more on that see the index at the end), there is only one that is clearly 19th/early 20th century, roofed, and accessible.  It afforded us a glimpse of the interior of these houses.  It was not really locked, the padlock merely served as a weight to keep the wire chain pulled through the door handle.

One of the interesting challenges confronting archaeologists who study buildings is trying to work out the interior organization of domestic space.  One the key problems is the use of highly perishable materials to mark divisions in the interior of domestic space or add decorative flourish.  In our 19th and 20th century houses at Lakka Skoutara, for example, interior walls were made of a very simple mud and lime plaster which also served to shape the contours of the hearth and mantle. 

In houses that have stayed in use, the plaster has sometimes been replaced by concrete. For example, the concrete additions are visible in the mantle below:

While plaster floors are typically easier to identify in excavation, wood members of flooring like the wood threshold below are typically more ephemeral:

There are, of course, more common interior features that I should include here.  For example, our old friend provisional discard:

The concrete basin in the above photo was for collecting resin.

For more on Lakka Skoutara:

Lakka Skoutara: The Survey
The Houses of Lakka Skoutara
Collapse
Provisional Discard
Construction in the Corinthia

Comments

[reinsen]

Hi, I recently heard that more and more archeologists work on modern or more "present-time-related" heritages. But Iam not sure about the point....when exploring antique stuff, it is not only intersting, it tells us something about our own past, and might even tell us something about us today - ut whats your interest in those more or less rotten houses?