Daskalogianni square (municipal building), Heraklion - 2007

Daskalogianni square (municipal building), Heraklion. Liana Starida, Eleni Kanaki, Periandros Epitropakis, Z. Aletras, Ch. Mpilmezi and N. Marnellou (13th EBA) report that during the summer of 2007 a salvage excavation commenced at the basement of a municipal building in Daskalogianni square in Herakleion.

During the excavation a large vaulted rectangular cistern was discovered with its dome being mostly destroyed and the entire structure being filled with soil and stones. The cistern was covered with mortar which is well preserved. In its interior, three potential stands were identified on the S and N sides respectively. A square opening was detected at the NW part of the cistern, while on the SW part the dome seems to have stayed in place due to a concrete column on a cobblestone created in the cistern; next to it there was a small drain, potentially extending towards the S. The W wall of the cistern is in contact with another hastily made one extending towards the S. Two rectangular cavities with burning traces were created on that wall.

During the removal of the deposit in the interior of the cistern, pot sherds of the Ottoman and the Venetian periods was found, however dating based on them would might not be useful since the cistern was completed during the 1960s during the construction of the modern municipal building.

[Entry created by C. Koureta]