View source for Iklaina

{{Infobox Greek Dimos
 |name = Iklaina
 |name_local = Ίκλαινα
|type = community
|image_map = 
|map_caption = 
|periph = [[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|periphunit         = [[Messenia]]
|municipality = [[Pylos-Nestoras]]
|municunit = [[Pylos]]
 |pop_community = 285
 |population_as_of = 2021
 |elevation = 190
 |coordinates = {{coord|36|59.7|N|21|43.4|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
 |postal_code = 240 01
 |area_code = 27230
 |licence = KM
 |website =
 |image_skyline = 
 |caption_skyline = 
}}

'''Iklaina''' ({{langx|el|Ίκλαινα}}) is a historic village in the municipal unit of [[Pylos]], [[Messenia]], [[Greece]]. The settlement, which is situated in low hills approximately {{convert|10|km|abbr=on}} northeast of [[Pylos]], stands upon the remains of a [[Late Bronze Age]] (ca. 1600-1100 BC) city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/travel/iklaina-archaeology-greece.html|title=Unearthing Everyday Life at an Ancient Site in Greece|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=3 October 2022}}</ref> An archaeological site has been surveyed and excavated there by the [[Athens Archaeological Society]] and the [[University of Missouri–St. Louis]] under the direction of [[Michael Cosmopoulos]]. Finds include an early [[Mycenae]]an palace, giant terrace walls, murals, an advanced drainage system, and a clay tablet dating from between 1450 and 1350 B.C. that features an early example of writing known as [[Linear B|Linear B script]].<ref name=ng33011>{{cite news | url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110330-oldest-writing-europe-tablet-greece-science-mycenae-greek/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110401192141/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110330-oldest-writing-europe-tablet-greece-science-mycenae-greek/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = April 1, 2011 | title = Ancient Tablet Found: Oldest Readable Writing in Europe  | first = Ker | last = Than |date = March 30, 2011 | work = [[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] | accessdate = April 1, 2011}}</ref> Other cultural periods represented are the [[Classical antiquity|Late Classical]] and [[Byzantine|Byzantine periods]].

== Archaeological research ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2024}}
The systematic excavation of the ancient settlement at Iklaina started in 2006, following a survey of the site that had taken place during the five years prior to the excavation. The archaeologists located residential buildings dating to the end of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek period]] to the beginning of the [[Hellenistic period|Late Hellenistic period]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Iklaina Archaeological Project|url=http://www.iklaina.org|accessdate=9 October 2022}}</ref>

The discovery of a large terrace, 23 x 8 m, built in the [[Cyclopean]] building method using massive blocks of stone, proved to be particularly important. The “Cyclopean Terrace”, as it is called, supported a large building, of the [[megaron]] type. The building may have had two or three stories and is identified as the Cyclopean Terrace Complex. Although this building had been partly destroyed, the excavations revealed some of its surviving parts and defined its architectural form: it was a building complex consisting of three wings, built around a rectangular central court. The movable finds prove that the last phase of that building was the LH IIIA2 period, i.e. about 1330 B.C.

During the 2009 phase of the excavation, more than 2500 fragments of wall-paintings came to light. One  fragment depicts a ship with three human figures and [[dolphin]]s, as well as a procession of women.

This building complex on the Cyclopean Terrace was completely destroyed in LH IIIA2 period and was never rebuilt.  Later building activity was carried out in the northern part of the settlement, however, where the so-called "Megaron Γ" was constructed. This appears to have at least three rooms and a porch. A hearth and storage rooms were found. In the buildings of the southern side, parts of a particularly elaborate sewer system also were discovered.

The most important discovery, however, took place in a dump next to the central sewer that contained burnt shards. A fragment of a [[Linear B]] tablet was discovered there that bore writing on both sides. This tablet dates to the LHIIB-IIIA1 period, i.e. around 1450-1400 B.C., which makes it the earliest [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] tablet that has been found to date on the mainland of Greece.

Furthermore, during the excavation period of 2012, an open-air sanctuary was discovered, also unique for that period, and for mainland Greece in general. Another important find of the same excavation period was a large rectangular building (Building X), in front of which passed a paved street, of an exceptionally elaborate construction, possibly a processional street, which led the way from the houses of the settlement to the complex of the Cyclopean Terrace.

The available evidence indicates that Iklaina was a powerful Mycenaean centre in the LH IIB/ IIIA1 period. The large building complexes, the rich finds, the refined taste, and the advanced level of technical knowledge of the inhabitants suggests that Iklaina could have been the capital of an autonomous small state that may have clashed with a neighboring state at [[Ano Englianos]], which may have subdued the former and demoted it to a secondary capital of one of the provinces of [[Pylia]].
 
A final destruction of the ancient city seems to have occurred about [[1200 B.C.]]

== Village population ==

{| class=wikitable
! Year !! Population 
|-
| 1981 || 352 
|-
| 1991 || 342 
|-
| 2001 || 361
|-
| 2011 || 313 
|-
| 2021 || 285
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.iklaina.org Website of the Iklaina Archaeological Project]
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050209152200/http://www.unc.edu/awmc/iklainaarchproj.html - [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]
*http://archaeology.about.com/b/a/073254.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050922182251/http://archaeology.about.com/b/a/073254.htm |date=2005-09-22 }}

{{Pylos-Nestoras div}}

[[Category:Populated places in Messenia]]
[[Category:Pylos-Nestor]]
[[Category:Pylos]]
[[Category:Mycenaean sites in the Peloponnese (region)]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Late Bronze Age collapse]]