Acropolis of Ancient Feneos - 2014

Acropolis of Ancient Feneos. Konstantinos Kissas (LZ’ EPKA) reports on the continuation of the excavations at the site, where the fourth excavation season of the five-year investigational programme was held this year. This programme is a collaboration between LZ’ EPKA and the Dept. of History and Archaeology of the University of Karl-Frazens, through the Austrian Archaeological Institute at Athens. There were new results regarding the fortification, the worship on the E wing of the N hillside of the ancient city. 

The walls were built during the second half of the 4^th century BC (perhaps after the war between Antipatros and Sparta, in 331/330 BC). They are (in their entire length), two-sided, with the space between the outside and the inside wall filled (Fig. 1). Near the W part of the visible wall, part of the foundation trench of the inside wall was located. It had disturbed older urban layers, of which the lowest was dated in the 7^th century BC (Fig. 2). Furthermore, materials found in situ, as well as carvings on the surface of the natural rock indicate that the wall altered its course heading towards SW, following the morphology of the land. The question that arised from this discovery was whether a tower or a gate existed. 

In the part of the wall between the W end and tower five, excavations revealed the two-sided wall and its narrow foundation trench alongside its inside wall. The limits of the staircase of the defensive construction were also located, and the existence of six furrows, that could be either channels for the removal of water or reception for the wooden beams of the battlements (Fig. 3-4). Traces of activity during the Archaic times as well as constructional remnants of later times. 

In the E side of the N hillside, some stone plinths from the inside wall were located, alongside tower one, that bore carvings, which were interpreted as receptions of wooden beams. They must have been used for the strengthening of the fortification’s stability. Part of the foundation trench was revealed, the higher level of which was disturbed by the Hellenistic trench. Another oblong trench indicated the existence of an earlier building, possibly belonging to the sanctuary. 

In the E headland, more indicators of the sacral nature of the Acropolis were revealed, as the excavations unearthed a rectangular space of worship (Fig. 5-6). Six niches were located inside it, and an examination of them pointed towards the worship of a female deity, between the 6^th and the 5^th century BC.  One Hellenistic schist stone wall, found on top of the N part of the sanctuary, confirmed the existence of a building there, during a later time in which the sanctuary was not in use.  

E of the S hill of the Acropolis, a trench was opened in an area archaeologically investigated during the 1960s. A double gate of later times was revealed (Fig. 7-8). It mustn’t have been related with the Late Classical walls of the N hillside. Thus, the city that Pausanias saw must be investigated on the E side of the Acropolis. 

[Entry created by E. Kourti]