Finnish excavations at Arachamites, Arkadia - 2014

Finnish excavations at Arachamites, Arkadia. Björn Forsén (University of Helsinki, Finnish Institute at Athens) reports on the continuation of excavations in Agia Paraskevi Arachamiton.

80 square metres of the Late Hellenistic edifice at Agia Paraskevi were excavated illuminating our understanding of the building and uncovering some finds. The building’s narrow eastern side has dimensions c. 45 x 11m, and most rooms are ordered in two rows and separated by a longitudinal wall on an E/W orientation (Fig. 1). Archaeological works were undertaken in Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7; these last two are now fully-excavated. Room 1, a circular room with a ceramic floor in a mosaic pattern (Fig. 2), and Room 4, that contained an oven, were found to be connected via a bathing installation. The former room’s ceramic floor and sewage system is comparable to Gortyna of Arkadia’s Room G, and the latter room’s oven alludes to a pretty similar oven in a bath at Olympia. The oven was supplied via Room 2 (rectangular shape, 4.80 x 6.20m), and Room 7 was measured 3.20 x 5.00m.

The Late Hellenistic edifice, built during the second century BC and destroyed in the end of the first century BC, hosted activities such as symposia and public meals. Some broken idols and miniature paintings on vessels found in it suggest a connection to the area’s shrine. The excavation reached some deeper layers of the building that pre-date the Hellenistic era; the oldest of them was traced back to the mid-sixth century BC. A 350s BC coin from Megalopolis as well as a silver Alexander the Great coin minted after his death, sometime between 319 and 305 BC, were unearthed. Finds at rooms 2 and 4 indicate that the Late Hellenistic edifice was built upon an earlier building erected during the second half of fourth century BC. Two seals, upon which their female owners’ names were inscribed, were also found on the Late Hellenistic building’s tiles.

[Entry created by M. Androulakakis]