Tsoungiza

Returning to Tsoungiza: A New Chapter in Bronze Age Research

We are headed back to the hill! In summer of 2026, we are excited to announce the launch of a new three-year excavation project at Tsoungiza, the prehistoric settlement on the hill above Nemea. Building on decades of earlier work by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (1924–1927), UC Berkeley (1973–1979), and the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project (NVAP, 1981–1986), this renewed effort will open up previously unexplored areas of the site using state-of-the-art scientific methods — including systematic soil sampling, isotopic analysis, and micromorphology. Our goals are to map out how the settlement shifted and grew during the Late Bronze Age, to recover complete architectural spaces, and to shed new light on the everyday lives of the Mycenaean community that called this hill home: what they ate, how they organized their society, and how they marked out sacred space. We also aim to complete the site survey begun by NVAP and to finish excavating a remarkable "feasting deposit" that was only partially uncovered in earlier seasons. Ultimately, we want to understand how the inhabitants of Tsoungiza understood and navigated their world — their relationships with neighboring communities, with the area that would later become the Sanctuary of Zeus just to the east, and with the broader political landscape of the northeast Peloponnese.