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THE BUILDING AT TOUMBA
Excavations in the 1980s on a low hill near the village of Lefkandi on Euboea exposed the remains of a large structure of the early Geometric period (Popham et al. 1993). It was soon evident that the building was exceptional for its period in several respects, chiefly in terms of purpose, of size and of typology. The discovery of two burial pits, located roughly in the middle of the building, containing significant remains showed that here was no simple residence. It is thought that at the end of its existence it came into connection with some kind of Heroic burial (Popham et al. 1993, 99-101; see also Pakkanen, J. and P. 2000; Kistler and Ulf 2005). For the first half of the tenth century bc the building is very large, with a width of approximately 10 m and a length of 45 m terminating in an apsidal curve towards the west. This far outstrips any structure known in Greece of that period. Also unique is the exterior aspect of the building as it was reconstructed (Fig. 1), namely with a covered perimeter walkway or 'veranda' held up on a circuit of wooden posts (Coulton 1993, 58).
Fig. 1.
Restoration of the building according to J.J. Coulton.
[Figure Omitted; See PDF]
This feature is of special interest to any student of western architecture given that centuries later the peristasis or external colonnade would become the hallmark of the Greek temple. J.J. Coulton, the architectural authority for the site, did consider alternatives such as a fence, but due to an 'alignment' of the two different series of posts (on the inside and on the outside of the building) his preference became the 'veranda' and this was the solution shown in the final excavation report (Coulton 1993, 45). This reconstruction quickly became widely accepted, finding its way into articles and textbooks covering Greek architectural development (Gruben 2001, 26-7). Indeed, the Toumba building became the 'predecessor of the Greek temple' (Pakkanen J. and P. 2000, 242; Lippolis, Livadiotti and Rocco 2007, 46), and hence the potential missing architectural link from the Dark Ages to Archaic Greece. Yet to date not a single other building is known which for a certainty incorporated a