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system is an active fissure field marked by A
hummocky, disrupted landscape.

On Agios Elias proper there are three
normal fault zones that intimately connect
to the geoarchaeology. The Cairn Hill
fault strikes north-south, dips eastward,
and cuts and offsets the Lykaion thrust
fault at the south end of the klippe (see
Fig. 2). The north end of the trace of this
fault coincides with the location of the
proto-stadium. A second normal fault
trace (the Temenos fault) trends east-west
close to the very summit of the klippe, and
separates the ash altar area from the teme-
nos. A third normal fault (the Ravine
fault), striking northwest/southeast, dips
eastward, and cuts and offsets the Lykaion
thrust fault near the northeastern “corner”
of the klippe.

CONNECTIVITY OF THE B
ARCHAEOLOGY, GEOLOGY, AND
TECTONICS Figure 4. South-directed interpretive renderings of the landscape of Agios Elias, imagining the way
the landscape may have appeared (A) in ca. 3000 BC before the Zeus cult exploited the resources of
Upper Level of the Sanctuary this landscape, and (B) in ca. 300 BC when built structures and activity areas were prominent addi-
tions to the landscape. Bath building and hippodrome are in foreground. Path ascends processional
On the Agios Elias summit (see Figs. 2 way, passes next to Agno foundation, and then may have continued as shown, entering the temenos
and 5), the normal-fault displacements just below the ash altar on the summit. At south end of Hippodrome are stoa (largest), seats (white),
have resulted in Thin Platy Limestone administrative building (square), and fountain house (small).
Beds being perched, as a faulted block, at
the very top, structurally above the strati- fault-growth deposit of alluvium (clay and the trace of the 10°E-dipping Lykaion
graphically younger Thick White Limestone silt) that accumulated at the intersection of thrust. Immediately above the trace of the
Beds Formation. The Thin Platy Limestone westerly back-tilted limestone beds on the thrust is the Agno fountain, which was
Beds Formation weathers to smooth grassy hanging-wall, and the east-dipping Cairn described by Pausanias as flowing like the
slopes, creating a landscape conducive to Hill fault. Thus this straight and alluvium- Danube (i.e., year-round) (Book 38, see
carrying out ceremonial functions, and for padded swath of ground was an obvious Habicht, 1999), and a second spring
which the Thick White Limestone Beds choice for competitive racing. marked by the location of the ancient foun-
would have been completely unsuitable. tain (spring) house. These springs, and
Moreover, the combination of bed thick- Lower Level of the Sanctuary others (see Figs. 2 and 5), coincide with
ness and joint spacing in the Thin Platy locations just above the outcrop trace of
Limestone Beds Formation delivers nearly In the lower level of the Sanctuary of the clay-gouge smear of quasi-plastic Chert
perfectly sized and shaped portable lime- Zeus there is an intimate relationship Series Beds Formation, which formed
stone blocks (resembling cinder blocks), between the archaeological elements and
which could readily be moved around, piled,
and shaped into built structures, such as
walls and ascent ways, for ritual purposes.

The northern boundary of the temenos
trends east-west and was located at the
very base of the ash altar summit “cone,”
at the break in slope from nearly 30° to
flat. Thus the northern boundary of the
temenos lies right along the trace of the
Temenos fault, which appears to be active
(see Fig. 2). One of the best upper-level
examples of the hand-in-glove fit of the
geology and archaeology is the location
and orientation of the proto-stadium. It
trends north-south, and is located on the
trace of the Cairn Hill fault (see Fig. 2).
This trace is marked by an 8-m-wide

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