Preliminary report of the Malthi Archaeological Project, 2015–2016

This article offers preliminary results and tentative interpretations of new work at the previously excavated settlement of Malthi in Messenia, south-west Pelopponese. The work included an intensive survey of the site architecture, as well as test excavations of spaces within and outside of the fortification wall. We propose updated observations on the chronology and phasing of the site based on pottery dates from the new excavation and comment on the preserved architecture as it compares to other settlements of the period. The settlement appears to have been first inhabited in the second half of the Middle Helladic period. Little, if any, architecture from this phase can be securely identified today. At the beginning of the Late Helladic period a fortification was erected, and the entire layout of the site was transformed. The construction likely took place as a single project, as argued by the original excavator, and so indicates a significant investment of labor and capital. Such an undertaking speaks not only to local access to wealth at this time, but also compares well with changes in other Early Mycenaean communities. For yet unknown reasons, the settlement was abandoned no later than in Late Helladic IIIA1.